Innovation Games — The Seriously Fun Way to Do Work!

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Innovation Games
The Seriously Fun Way to Do Work!
Michael Tarnowski
Plays-In-Business.com

Innovation Games ‒ The Seriously Fun Way to
Do Work!
Innovation Games:
 a set of originally market research oriented, facilitated and
directed games, developed by Luke Hohmann.
 13 core games at the beginning; now more than 20 games.
Free account to play online: http://innovationgames.com/resources/instant-play-games/

Gamestorming ‒ Another Playful Way to Do
Work!
Recently, Luke Hohmann (Innovation Games) and Gamestorming
started a co-operation  aka “Community Games”.
Gamestorming:
 A similar approach, initiated by Sunny Brown,
David Gray.
 More games ― collection of “traditional games”,
and not limited to a certain business field.

Games
Games involve a high level of emotion.
Emotions help us to
 Focus
 Remember
 Decide
 Perform
 Learn

Games
 involve people
 have structure and goals
 operate more like a real-world system
 their results are unpredictable
 small changes in variables generate dramatic differences in the result

Business Process
Result of a well-designed and well-
executed business process are
standard, repeatable, scalable results.
 chain of cause and effect,
 leading to a predictable result

World is a Complex System...
...made up of many complex systems, all of
them interacting with each other in
complex, dynamic and unpredictable ways.
Picture Credit: PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photonquantique/1818489936

Innovation Games…
Picture Credit: Xavier Vergés, https://www.flickr.com/photos/xverges/3557323170

Business Process vs. Creative Process (Game)
Business Process
 Same result every time
 Framework for Predictability
Game
 Different result every time
 Framework for Possibility and
Creativity

Games *)
 Games are alternatives to
standard business meetings.
 Games are structured activities.
A facilitator leads a group
towards some goal by way of a
game, that provides scope for
thinking freely, even playfully.
 Games require a few props such
as sticky notes, poster paper,
markers, random pictures from
magazines, or other thought
provoking objects ― “Fluffy Stuff”.
New Ideas
Agreement
Problem Solving
Planning
Deep Understanding
Unraveling
complexity
*) Innovation Games, Agiles Games, LEGO Serious Play

Do Work!
Innovation Games:
Focussed on real-time collaborative games to engage customers and
stakeholders to reveal what really matters to them and to get
breakthrough ideas.

Do Work!
Ways of
 customer feedback about a product or service
 prioritising issues, features, meanings, options,
possibilities, ...etc.
 Serious games to solve a wide range of
product strategy and management issues
across the whole market lifecycle.

Innovation Games ‒ Fields of Application
Not only applicable for market research and product design,
but also for
 Portfolio management,
 Requirements management,
 Project management
 .....
...any number of tasks of
 Innovative Thinking
 Brainstorming
 Collaboration / Team building
 ...

Innovation Games ― use them forSlidefromOfficialInnovationGamestrainingmaterialofMaartenVolders,AgileMinds.be

Scenario:
You have a bunch of smart people in a
room

Option One...
…One Question leads to the other

Option Two...
…One dominates the meeting ― the dullest one most

Option Three...
…Chaos of Creativity

Solve Scenario Problem by…
…Gamestorming
…Agile Games
…Innovation Games

Core Set of Innovation Games: 13 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

Innovation Games (Core) 1/5
Product Box: customers work individually or in
small teams to create and sell their ideal product.
Me and My Shadow: discover hidden needs
by carefully observing what customers
actually do with your products.
Buy a Feature: customers work together to
purchase their most desired features.

Give Them a Hot Tub: customers provide
feedback on outrageous features to establish
what is truly essential.
Remember the Future: understand your
customers’ definition of success by seeing how
they shape their future. (This game is related
with Future Perfect from Agile Coaching)
Spider Web: participants work individually or in
small teams to create vivid pictures of how your
products and services fit into their world.

Start Your Day: participants collaboratively
describe when, how, and where they use your
product(s). Participants describe their daily,
weekly, monthly, and yearly events related to
their use of a product.
Show and Tell: customers describe the most
important artifacts produced by your system to
you and other customers.
The Apprentice: an engineer or product
developer uses the product as an end-user.

20/20 Vision: customers negotiate the relative
importance of such things as product features,
market requirements, and product benefits.
Prune the Product Tree: customers work in
small teams to shape the evolution of your
products and services.
Speed Boat: customers identify their biggest
pain points with your products and services.

My Worst Nightmare: Discover hidden and/or
unconsidered worst-case scenarios to develop
better understanding and planning.
Participants imagine and draw a caricature of
their “worst nightmare” related to the product or
service that you’re researching.

Bring “Ideas into Action”™
 Me and my Shadow
 Product Box
 Prune the Product
Tree
 Speed Boat
 Spider Web
 The Apprentice
 Start your Day
 Give Them a
Hot Tub
 Remember the
Future
 Show and Tell
 Buy a Feature
 20/20 Vision
 My Worst
Nightmare
+ more Games…

Discover
 Cover Story Think big to uncover your company’s potential
 Empathy Map Understand what your stakeholders want from
the business
 SWOT Analysis Uncover how to attain your desired end state
 Whole Product Differentiate your product
Shape
 Impact/Effort Matrix Find the most efficient way to reach your goal.
 Learning Matrix Think of effective improvements for your iteration
Free account to play online: http://innovationgames.com/resources/instant-play-games/
+ a Bunch more Games aka „Community Games“ 1/2
Gamestorming, Agile Games

Shape
 Bang for the Buck Collaboratively rank a project backlog
based on estimated value and
estimated cost
 How Now Wow Matrix Form original ideas to implement
Act
 Plus/Delta Game Collect constructive criticism to improve
future events
 Pros/Cons Game Organize your thoughts to make careful
decisions
 Actions for Retrospectives Discover how you can improve an event
for the future
 Circles and Soup Improve your past projects
 Circles of Influence Identify who can help you reach your goal
+ a Bunch more Games aka „Community Games“ 2/2
Gamestorming, Agile Games

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/
 Michael Tarnowski (Article) http://goo.gl/vS2Py
 http://tastycupcakes.org/
Further Reading

Twitter: @M_Tarnowski, @PlaysInBusiness
Facebook: http://bit.ly/PiB-FB
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/MT-LinkdIn
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Or call me:
+49-172-6915261 • +49-611-2056820
(cell phone/mobile) (regular phone)
Drop me a note:
info@plays-in-business.com
This document may be further distributed free-of-charge in its original, complete form only. Please credit Plays-in-Business.com.
All images used are – if not stated otherwise – taken from flickr.com under Common Creative License.
Michael Tarnowski, Plays-In-Business.com
Certified Innovation Games Facilitator
(Certified Collaboration Architect)

 Trained LEGO Serious Play Facilitator
 Trained Innovation Games Facilitator
 Management 3.0 certified Facilitator
 Certifed Scrum Master, Agile Coaching
 ISO 15504/Automotive SPiCE Assessor
 Requirements Engineering & Management
consultancy
 Quality Assurance & Management consultancy
 Project Management & Configuration Management
consultancy
ISO 15504 Assessor
Industrial Sectors:
Automotive, Finance, Logistics & Public Transport,
Defence & Aerospace, Aviation & Air Traffic,
Management
Plays-In-Business.com
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Innovation Games — The Seriously Fun Way to Do Work!

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