Innovation games work and are a great addition to your UX tool-kit. They save time, help to build better products, can help difficult teams to collaborate and generally are more fun. But introducing these games to an unreceptive or even receptive organisation can be a challenge. Knowing which games to use and when to use them, getting stakeholder and team member buy-in, and bringing games out of product definition workshops and in to everyday/weekly meetings can feel like an uphill battle. In this collaborative session we'll explore ways to overcome these hurdles. We'll look at strategies to get comfortable with playing games as well as ways to get your entire organisation to embrace them.

1. FROM GAME-ZERO TO GAMING IN NO TIME
Ryan Haney
UX Cambridge, Nov 2011
#uxcam #gameon @happygeneralist

2. Who are you?
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3. Game On
JUST LIKE IN GAMES, THERE ARE RULES HERE
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4. What does your __________ look like?

5. The Problem
Businesses, meetings and offices are often
designed to optimise for efficiency and
space, or not designed at all.
People who are the loudest and most self-seeking can
often dictate the conversation and direction.
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6. The Problem
Businesses, meetings and offices are often
designed to optimise for efficiency and
space, or not designed at all.
Discuss
People who are the loudest and most self-seeking can
often dictate the conversation and direction.
10 min. @happygeneralist

7. 5 Whys
WHY DON’T WE SPEND MORE TIME DESIGNING OUR
BUSINESSES FOR COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION?
1. Why?
1.
2. Why is #1 true? 2.
3. Why is #2 true? 3.
4. Why is #3 true? 4.
5. Why is #4 true? 5.
10 min. @happygeneralist

8. Discussion
vs
5 Whys
What was the difference in the
amount of ideas, diversity of opinion?
5 min. @happygeneralist

9. Knowledge
Economy
CREDIT @jasonglaspey
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10. Now we work like this
Text
CREDIT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathemagenic/3246040200/ @happygeneralist

11. And our workplaces are evolving

12. Meanwhile, technology
is becoming more
specialised
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13. How do we
get the most?
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14. Collaboration
&
Play
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15. Collaboration
“[Collaboration is] a key driver of overall
performance of companies... its impact is
twice as significant as a company’s strategic
orientation and five times as significant as
the external market environment.”
New Research Reveals Collaboration Is a Key Driver of Business Performance Around the World
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jun06/06-05VerizonBusinessCollaborationPR.mspx
@happygeneralist

16. Collaboration
“Collaboration counts for 36% of overall
business performance”
Productivity in Collaboration-intensive Knowledge Work: The Collaboration Management Imperative
http://www.cwe-projects.eu/pub/bscw.cgi/d1259456/ProductivityInCollaborationIntensiveKnowledgeWork.pdf
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17. Collaboration
OVER
1/3
of the performance of our businesses depend
on how well we are able to work together.
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18. Play
“The great benefits of play... are the
ability to become smarter, to learn more
about the world... [and] to adapt to a
changing world.”
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul - by Stuart Brown M.D.
Pg. 49
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19. Play
Play is serious experimentation

20. Play
Play allows us to take risks

21. Play
Play is natural

22. What tools do we
have to combine
these two things?
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23. Innovation
Games
AKA GAMESTORMING, FACILITATION GAMES, BUSINESS GAMES
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24. Been around since the 70s

25. Dave Gray Luke Hohmann
Sunni Brown
James Macanufo
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26. Game on
What types are
there?
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27. CREDIT
Image by Dave Gray http://www.davegrayinfo.com/

28. Game on
Lightweight Heavyweight
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29. Game on
What are they
good for?
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30. Game on
Sharing Knowledge

31. Game on
Solving Problems

32. Game on
Creating Products/Prototypes

33. Game on
Market Research

34. Why use them?
Seriously*, you need more
reasons?
How about all the time you’ll save
from failing quickly and making sure
everyone is working on the same
problem.
*Aren’t we serious enough, while getting nothing done?
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35. What’s
Stopping You?
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36. Speedboat
What’s holding back adoption of these games?
Take two post-it notes and
write down one thing that’s
holding you back on each.
When you’re done, post it
by an anchor on the poster.
The larger and deeper the
anchor, the more it’s
weighing the boat down.
8 min. @happygeneralist

37. Anchors
•Materials
•Proof
•Willingness (attitudes)
•Cultural
•Experience
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38. Strategies
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39. Brainstorm
What strategies could you employ?
Yes! This is a game too. See who can get the most ideas
at your table. 1 idea per post-it note.
4 min. @happygeneralist

40. Affinity Map
What trends do you see?
Categorise together. Don’t label categories until the end.
6 min. @happygeneralist

41. Develop Concepts
Choose 3 ideas and draw how you would implement them
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42. Strategies
Present
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43. Strategies
Some other
strategies
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44. Just wing it
Wing it
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45. Build Trust

46. Have fun

47. Collab Lab
Build an army

48. Collab Lab Collab Lab Starter Kit
1 - 1.5 hours
TIME This could be during lunch, at the end of the day
if you can still use the office or even at a coffee
shop/pub at night
Choose 1 - 3 to analyse
GAMES Depending on the time and how in-depth you
want to go on a particular game. Sometimes it’s
good to concentrate on one, and others to
compare or see how games interact together
As many warm bodies as you can get
VOLUNTEERS 3 people are a lesson, 12 is a party. If you have
more than 8-10 you can always break in to
multiple groups
Most any space will do
IDEA LAB No real lab required. Having some wall space or
a white board helps. Couches are good and it
helps to be somewhere you won’t be disturbed
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49. Collab Lab Collab Lab Format
Introduce the game
INTRO What it’s useful for and what kind of activity it is
accomplishes. I.e. opening, exploring or closing.
Play games separately or combine
PLAY Playing games at different speeds is helpful to
get an idea for how much effort they take to get
people to the final goal. Sometimes it’s helpful to
play a game multiple times in a row to
Allow plenty of discussion time
DISCUSS If playing multiple games it can be useful to
facilitate discussion in between the games as well
as after. The discussion tend to revolve around
the mechanics of the game, how people feel as a
participant (met or unmet expectations), what
applications the games have and how they can
be combined with other games we’ve played or
know about
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50. Resources
Books
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51. Resources
Gamestorming Wiki
http://gogamestorm.com
Innovation Games
http://innovationgames.com
Tastycupcakes
http://tastycupcakes.org
Websites
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52. Review
WHAT WILL YOU TAKE AWAY?
5 min. @happygeneralist

53. @happygeneralist