Innovation Games are a set of facilitated games developed by Luke Hohmann to help organizations engage employees and get breakthrough ideas. Some key games include Product Box, Spider Web, and My Worst Nightmare. The games bring collaboration, creative thinking, and help identify customer priorities. Benefits include better insights, more effective processes, collaborative decision making, and engaged employees. My Worst Nightmare has groups draw caricatures of their worst fears for a product and present them to spark discussion.

1. Innovation Games
The Seriously Fun Way to Do Work!
21 May 2014

2. 01 What are Innovation Games?
02 Why we need Innovation Games?
03 How and Who?
04 Q & A

3. − Research has shown that in Business change and Transformation efforts by Organizations:
− 70% of business transformation efforts fail.
− 71% of workers who are not engaged or actively disengaged are less likely to be
productive.
− Root cause is the lack of engagement and buy-in from employees about new ways of work.
− Gamification can help organizations make the workplace more engaging and productive.
(http://blogs.gartner.com/elise-olding/2012/11/14/engagificationof-the-enterprise-gamification-
and-employee-engagement/)
Why do we need to consider Gamification in
our workplace?

4. By 2015, 40 percent of Global 1000
organizations will use Gamification as the
primary mechanism to transform business
operations.
- Gartner’s Prediction(http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2211115)

5. − A set of facilitated and directed games
− Developed by Luke Hohmann (CEO & Founder - http://www.innovationgames.com/)
− 13 core games at the beginning; Now more than 20 games.
− Gamestorming: A similar approach, initiated by Sunni Brown,
David Gray.
− Recently, Luke Hohmann (Innovation Games) and Gamestorming
started a co-operation , aka “Community Games”.
What are Innovation Games ?
Luke

6. − Help in engaging customers and stakeholders
− Identify: What really matters to them
− Get breakthrough ideas , by ways of
− Customer feedback about a product or service
− Prioritizing issues, Features, Possibilities, ...etc.
− Serious games to solve a wide range of product strategy
and management issues
What are Innovation Games ?

7. Games + Business = Innovation Games
(www.innovationgames.com )

8. − These games :
− Are Innovative and intriguing
− Bring Collaboration and Rational thinking
− Inspire teams to see more than what meets the eye.
(www.innovationgames.com )
Innovation Games – Ideas into Action

9. Innovation Games – Circle of Knowledge
(http://www.slideshare.net/ValtechGroup/valtech-agile-day-agile-innovation-games)

10. − Product Design
− Portfolio management,
− Requirements management,
− .....
...any number of tasks of
− Innovative Thinking
− Brainstorming
− Collaboration / Team building
In which areas, can we apply Innovation
Games ?

11. Core set of Innovation Games
Product Box Spider Web
Make My Day Speed Boat
Buy a Feature
20/20 Vision
Me and My
Shadow
Hot Tub
The Apprentice Remember the
Future
Show and Tell Prune the Product Tree My Worst Nightmare

12. − Easy and effective solutions to complex problems
− Better and Detailed insight into business
− Helps in making business process more effective
− Collaborative and collective decision making within the Organization
− More Engaged employees
− Team Motivation
− Making learning Fun 
Benefits

13. Let the Game Begin……….!

14. − Players: Agile team(s)
− Can have multiple Groups of around 5 members each
− Duration : 30 minutes
− When to play
− Team formation, Project initiation
− Retrospections
− Goal:
− Discover hidden and/or unconsidered worst case scenarios
− Bubbles up hidden needs and fears
− Enables the team to arrive at working agreement
My Worst Nightmare
(www.innovationgames.com )

15. − We need to imagine and draw a caricature of our worst
nightmare related to product or service that we are
researching.
− Today, its "Effective Retrospection“ for this group.
− It could be a collection of characteristics or attributes.
− Present worst nightmare to all in the group.
My Worst Nightmare – Effective Retrospection
(www.innovationgames.com )

16. Innovation Game – My Worst Nightmare
(www.innovationgames.com )

17. Innovation Game – My Worst Nightmare
(http://priyankpathak.wordpress.com/)

18. Innovation Game – My Worst Nightmare
(http://priyankpathak.wordpress.com/)

19. Books:
− Luke Hohmann: Innovation Games. Creating Breakthrough Products Through
Collaborative Play. Addison-Wesley, 2006
− Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo: Gamestorming. O'Reilly, 2010.
Web Links:
− Innovation Games: www.innovationgames.com
− Gamestorming: http://www.gogamestorm.com/
References & Resources

20. Gurtej Pal Singh
Gurtej.singh@globallogic.com
Cell # +91-99991-79795
Extn. # 2778
Thank You!