Sometimes new professional lessons come from unlikely places. In my case that place was playing Magic: The Gathering. This conversation focused on real world examples from both my professional life and experiences with Magic to illustrate what I’ve learned, how it can help others and how focusing on something other than the work leads to better work. For 20+ years Magic has been the premier trading card game. It’s produced a universe of content as vast as Star Wars & Star Trek combined (and fans that are just as fanatical). And since the game is based on the player building their own deck, those that play the game need to be an architect, a strategist, a problem solver, a pragmatic decision maker and a player. Over the last 2 years I've been a member of the Magic fandom. By filtering this experience through the professional lens of Digital Strategy & UX I’ve learned some important lessons that have made my work better, my career stronger & my life a whole lot funner.

1. #MTGLessons

2. VP, Director of
Digital Strategy & UX
hyc.com
Adam McCrimmon
@McAtoms
Co-Host of
WhatTheGrok Podcast
whatthegrok.com
#MTGLessons

5. #MTGLessons

6. #MTGLessons

7. Only for über nerds?
#MTGLessons

8. Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/24gnkq/what_celebrities_play_magic/

10. Best Selling Game in the World
Created in 1993
Over 20 Billion Cards Printed
Over 12 Million Players
Printed in 11 Languages
Sold in 120 Countries
More than 700k Sanctioned Events a year
#MTGLessons

11. #MTGLessons

12. More than 1,200 new unique cards created a year
16,000+ Total Individual Cards
5 Colors
20 Color Combinations
8 Card Types
24 Creature Types
136 Keywords
1.6 Million Decks
#MTGLessons

13. Lesson 1:
Get a Hobby #MTGLessons

14. Hobby:
An activity done regularly in one's leisure time
for experience, challenge & pleasure.
#MTGLessons

15. I suck.
#MTGLessons

16. #MTGLessons

17. Failure
#MTGLessons

18. CommonRationalized
This bad thing happened
but it’s not totally my fault.
This bad thing happened it’s
my fault & it’s not a big deal.
Budget wasn't big enough
There wasn’t enough time
Requirements kept changing
Got to work late
Forgot my lunch
Didn’t recycle that bottle
#MTGLessons

19. We’ve grown accustomed to
rationalized & common failure.
We’re comfortable with it.
#MTGLessons

20. Invested
This bad thing happened.
It’s my fault and it’s a big deal to me.
#MTGLessons

21. Emotionally Invested.
Full Responsibility.
Invested
#MTGLessons

22. Invested
Emotionally Invested.
Full Responsibility.
#MTGLessons

23. Invested failure is transformative.
Approach
Point of view
Assumptions
Helps you learn.
#MTGLessons

24. Momentum
#MTGLessons

25. Matthew Effect (1963)
Success can breed success, and inequality breeds
more inequality.
“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but
from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”
Robert K Merton
Sociologist
http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/merton/matthew1.pdf
#MTGLessons

26. Arnout van de Rijt
Associate Professor - SUNY
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/28/on-privilege-and-luck-or-why-success-breeds-success/
#MTGLessons

27. Success leads to success.
#MTGLessons

28. #MTGLessons

29. Hobbies provide a safe outlet for invested
failure and a pathway to personal success.
Lesson 1:
Get a Hobby
#MTGLessons

30. Lesson 2:
Embrace Limitations #MTGLessons

31. Limitations.
Constraints.
Requirements.
#MTGLessons

32. Richard Garfield
#MTGLessons

33. Richard Garfield Peter Adkison
#MTGLessons

34. Peter Adkison
#MTGLessons

35. Richard Garfield Peter Adkison
Wanted a game:
Fast Playing
Little Setup
Inexpensive
Had a contact to:
Print Pictures on Cards
#MTGLessons

36. Richard Garfield Peter Adkison
#MTGLessons

37. Richard Garfield Peter Adkison
#MTGLessons

38. Richard Garfield Peter Adkison
#MTGLessons

39. “Limitations are something that I latch onto - like working in genre, or if you're writing TV,
there are act breaks, there's a length of time it's supposed to be.The restrictions of budget
and sets can be really useful.When you can have everything, it's very hard to make things
feel real and lived in.”
- Joss Whedon
“It was really SMS that inspired the further direction -- the
particular constraint of 140 characters was kind of borrowed.”
- Jack Dorsey (Twitter)
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
-Orson Welles
#MTGLessons

40. #MTGLessons

41. Cognitive Overhead
How many logical connections or jumps your brain
has to make in order to understand or contextualize
the thing you’re looking at.
#MTGLessons

42. #MTGLessons

43. Limitations spark creativity by
forcing us to consider alternatives.
Lesson 2:
Embrace Limitations
#MTGLessons

44. Lesson 3:
Stop Thinking. Start Doing. #MTGLessons

45. Theory Design
vs
Practical Design
#MTGLessons

46. Practical DesignTheory Design
Talking & thinking about
how something might work.
Trying it out as quickly as
possible to see if it works.
Brainstorming
Meetings
Documentation
Role Playing
Sketching
Prototyping
#MTGLessons

47. Prototyping
#MTGLessons

48. High Fidelity Low Fidelity
#MTGLessons

49. Trying it out as quickly as possible to see if it works.
#MTGLessons

50. Finding Problems,
Not Solutions
#MTGLessons

51. IterationIterationIterationIteration
#MTGLessons

52. Good enough is fine.
#MTGLessons

53. Judo Solutions
One that delivers maximum efficiency with minimum
effort. Judo solutions are all about getting the most
out of doing the least.
When good enough gets the job done, go for it.And
remember, you can usually turn good enough into
great later.
#MTGLessons

54. Fuck it. Test it.
#MTGLessons

55. 1993 2012
1993 2014
#MTGLessons

56. Mana
Symbols
Rules
Card Type
Iteration
#MTGLessons

57. Micro Iteration
#MTGLessons

58. Everything is a prototype.
Anything can be changed.
Lesson 3:
Stop Thinking. Start Doing.
#MTGLessons

59. Lesson 4:
Use Human Nature #MTGLessons

60. #MTGLessons

61. http://shapingcloudsproject.tumblr.com/
#MTGLessons

62. http://webwithoutwords.com #MTGLessons

64. Shared Knowledge
#MTGLessons

65. #MTGLessons

66. As-Fan
The % that a subset of cards appear when each booster pack is fanned out.
Commons: 9 or 10
Uncommons: 3
Rares: 1
Land: 1
Token/Ad Card: 1
Heroic: 1
Scry: 2
Enchantment: 2
Bestow: 1
Greek Inspired: 3
#MTGLessons

67. Has Wings Flying
Looks Huge Trample
Looks Fast Haste, First Strike
or Double Strike
Depicts an event Instant / Sorcery
#MTGLessons
White:
Blue:
Black:
Red:
Green:
Human, Animal
Wizard, Sea Creature
Zombie, Undead, Minotaur
Satyr, Minotaur, Monsters
Centaur, Satyr, Human, Animal

68. It’s your job to think differently. Leverage what
your audience already knows and establish clear
patterns for them to embrace.
Lesson 4:
Use Human Nature
#MTGLessons

69. Lenticular Design
#MTGLessons

70. Lenticular Design
A player’s experience will dictate how complex a
design is to them. And some complexity is hidden,
because it requires certain knowledge to even be
aware of it.
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/293
#MTGLessons

71. #MTGLessons

72. #MTGLessons

73. Get a Hobby
Embrace Limitations
Stop Thinking. Start Doing.
Use Human Nature
#MTGLessons

74. Thanks!
Adam Mc
amccrim.com | @McAtoms #MTGLessons
amccrim.com/mtglessons