Don’t Judge: mistake & solution

Since I started the blog I’ve been struggling to deliever quality content every week. I tend to be a little too perfectionist and realistically I can’t invest as many hours as I’d like on writing awesome articles.

I’m going to be experimenting with a new format. Short videos (in the 5 minute range) where I talk only about one concept and try to extract one key conclusion.

I would appreciate that you gave me feedback about the format and the content. I could make them longer if there’s enough interest. Or I could talk about specific topics that are better suited for video content.

Here is the first try. Hope you like it 🙂

 

Track, measure, improve

Most sport and esports organizations are focused on winning. But winning in a sustainable way can only be achieved with continuous improvement and iteration. Said in another way, with constant growth.

So esports teams, or any person, team or company based on performance are growth focused. Everything they do is aimed at growing as fast as possible. Growth in this context doesn’t mean increasing size or volume (hiring more people). It means increasing knowledge and the ability to execute that knowledge.

The process from increasing knowledge to performing sustainably to the greatest of our abilities is what I call UKAC:

Continue…

My team-mates suck

This is an article for competitive game play, not for soloQ

I get really mad when a player makes a comment or has the attitude of “my team-mates suck”. This usually is a passive-aggressive comment or shown by how that player interacts with the rest.

It can be said in many different ways:

  • “I can’t improve”
  • “I can’t learn”
  • “I can’t practice properly”
  • “When they do X it frustrates me and I can’t focus”
  • “I’m not motivated”
  • “It’s not fun”

These kinds of comments or attitudes prove an extremely narrow vision and show how weak that player is. Continue…

Growth and stress

This is the second part of a multiple post series about growth. Check part 1 here.

What exactly is stress? Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.

Performing is demanding because you have to showcase your skills and knowledge. Growing is even more demanding because you have to stretch those limits. You can’t hide in your comfort zone, to grow is to leave your comfort zone.


There are two steps in the growth process:

  1. Acquiring new information
  2. Consolidation of concepts

Continue…

Performance and stress

In January 2017 I flew to Chile to take part in RIOT LAS (South American professional League) Players Summit. The Players Summit is an event that all Lol professional leagues do at the beginning of every split. It’s designed to smooth a player’s transition into the professional life. They talk about diverse topics such as game changes, how to handle social media, nutrition, health and lots more.

This year I was invited to the LLN (Latin America North League) Players Summit. Luckily, this time Riot accepted my request to do it online, saving around 30 hours of flights. Continue…

AMA Deilor highlights

The 23rd of December I did an AMA on r/LeagueOfLegends. It’s been 2 years since the last one and lately I’ve been doing a few interesting things in the esports realm – Dygma, this blog, my job at Movistar Riders.

I spent 8h answering. A few topics came up frequently and there were many interesting questions. The following Q&A are some of the most interesting ones. I’ve edited them a bit to make them easier to read.

Motivation

Q: What do you think the best way to get people motivated and working hard at anything is(not specifically just in esports)?

I believe that motivation is what gets you started but you need to “fell in love” with the process and be aware of your end goal. Continue…

Shotcalling and communication in competitive Lol

TL;DR

  • Shotcalling very complex and taxing
  • Rarely is done by one player. It’s usually a team effort
  • A system is needed to reduce the mental load of communication and to be able to replicate it in stage games
  • Implementing it can be a nightmare

At the highest levels of League of Legends, communication is the key differential factor between the good and best teams.

Shotcalling is the most complex form of communication. Not only do you need to have a deep understanding of the game; you need to be capable of perceiving subtle details, process them, reach conclusions in split seconds and communicate them. While playing.

We tend to think that great shotcallers micromanage the whole team, but that’s extremely rare. In most cases shotcalling is a team effort. Everyone feeds information, a few suggest plans, make some decisions and one person has the final call. Continue…

How to become a better shotcaller

Disclaimer – During the following days I’ll be launching Raise‘s Kickstarter campaign. I’m overwhelmed with the insane amount of work so this and the following articles will be short ones. I’ll continue with the Org structure article when the insane workload ends (hopefully soon!)

The biggest issue I find in communication is when players think they communicate properly but they don’t. This leads to many conflicts.

A typical scenario is:

  • Mid says “X” to his jungler and expects him to do “Y”
  • The jungler understood “Z” instead of “X” and doesn’t do “Y”
  • Mid, jungler or both die.
  • Mid, jungler or both tilt from the face of earth.

Then they analyze the play and both say: “if you would have done this we would have killed them!” “I told you to do X, why didn’t you do it!?”

From my point of view, if you want someone to do something, you need to make sure that he has understood it. So in this case, it’s the fault of the shotcaller.

Continue…

The Lol organization desgined to excel

TL;DR

  • This is the first of a multiple part article where I analyze Lol organizational structure and propose an org structure designed to excel at hiring, developing and retaining talent.

Lol at the highest competitive levels is not about who has the better Lol Players. All rosters are already good enough. It’s about who manages their talent better.

You need to create an environment where the team and individuals can grow. And you need to have the correct staff to guide them through the path.

The problem is that Lol teams are flawed by design – they have structural issues.

Continue…