Workplay: The gamified future of agile development
#agileindia2012 #agileplay
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
WHAT IF WORK WERE MORE LIKE A GAME?
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
What’s next for agile?
2001-2012Continuous integration, delivery, design, feedback
2012+Continuous play
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
So what is gamification?
Gamification is integrating game thinking and design into activities to increase engagement, learning and fun.
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Where did it come from?
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
So what is this talk about (and not about)?
Using games solely for training or planning (a.k.a. serious games)
Marketing and loyalty programs
Experience report
Applying game thinking to daily work
Thinking about how we can gamify agile teams
Discussing how agile teams have a head startA mission of our
own!
Gamified services (e.g., Foursquare)
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Our mission (if you choose to accept it!)
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Our mission today
Make it through without falling asleep (mm, lunch…)Explore the new world of gamificationOvercome some obstacles along the wayConquer this quest with experience and ideas to take on our next quest
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Create a character
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Create a characterPlayer name (you)Character name (made up)Class (Java Warrior, Product Wizard, etc.)Level (agile experience)Guild (organization)Spells and special skills (exploratory-testing magic, analysis spell)
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Why should we gamify work?
Adapt work for incoming, younger workforceIntrinsic rewards are renewable resourceDevelop leadership in teamsMore-satisfying work = better productivityDevelops people by pointing them forward to clear goalsFosters teamwork and accountabilityKey to greater innovation (through imagination)
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Gamification aligns personal and organizational goals
Personal
Organizational
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Defining traits of a game
Goal Rules
Feedback system Vo
luntar
y
partic
ipatio
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Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Reeves and Reed’s 10 ingredients for games1. Self-representation
with avatars2. 3D environments3. Narrative context4. Feedback 5. Reputation, Ranks and
Levels
6. Marketplace and economics
7. Competition under explicit, enforced rules
8. Teams9. Parallel, reconfigurable
communication systems
10.Time pressure
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Is agile the key intersection?
work
play
agile
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Work-play mirror
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Csikszentmihalyi’s “flow channel”
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Csikszentmihalyi’s 9 features of flow
1. Clear goals at every step2. Immediate feedback3. Balance between challenge and skill4. Merger of action and awareness5. Exclusion of distractions6. No worries about failure7. Absence of self-consciousness8. Time becomes distorted9. The experience is an end in itself
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Steps to flow – and how agile can provide them
Set an overall goal (and many realistic subgoals)Find ways of measuring progress of goalsConcentrate on task and keep making finer distinctions in challengesDevelop skills to meet challengeRaise stakes if bored
Business value < Release < Feature < Story < TestsTests, MMFs, cycle time
Refactor mercilessly, incrementally develop, test-drive developmentPair in everything (cross-pair)Kaizen
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Intrinsic rewards
Satisfying workExperience (or at least the hope) of being successfulSocial connectionMeaning
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
“Flow” chart
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
HOW AGILE IS LIKE A GAME
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Voluntary, participatory success
Voluntary disciplineSelf-organizing teamsBuild teams around motivated individuals
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Quest-like work
Stories!NarrativesSpikes
As an agile team memberI want to gamify our workSo that I can feel like I’m not even working!
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Visible progress and rules
TDD (rules)Kanban (visual, limitations, explicit policies)Continuous-integration build monitorsCard wall (visual)
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Feedback
CustomerTeamSystemProcess
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Intensify the feedback
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
High levels of communication
Realtime, face-to-face communicationPairing to solve problems
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Game dimensions
“Get to the other side”: Complete the iteration, feature“Visit all the map”: Unlock “secrets” by technical discovery“time limits”: Velocity metrics, iteration time box
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
CREATING CONTINUOUS PLAY
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Something bigger than ourselves
What is the organization about and where do we fit in?Working with distributed team members
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
What’s your story?
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Project inception
Team members create characters, identify what they’ll needGame designer works with customer to create narrativeCustomer helps map out quests, assigns virtual monetary valueDesigner and customer determine what it means to win, rules, virtual currency and rewards
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Project initiation (iteration 0)
Team members mini-quest for their equipmentGame designer tells the team the narrative Team sets goals for first missionsGuild leadership
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Develop and deliver
Gamify small components to address pain pointsHackathons and secret missions to destroy bug “bosses”Use retrospectives to “mod” the gameMeasure the impactMonitor flow experience
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Visualize progress
Story mapping> quest mapsPairing charts > character profilesBuild in clear rewards
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Leveling up as self-improvement
Flow experience supported by sustainable paceReflect recognition and reputationEncourage team members to view their job as self improvement
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Software craftsmanship
Craftsmanship over crap (Uncle Bob)Craftsmanship manifestoApprentice > Journeyman > MasterKvell and naches
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
ENDGAME
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Dangers
You can’t just spawn a new project after failingCould depersonalize rather than personalizeNo one game can please allGaming and misuse of metrics
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
How do we conquer this new quest?
Take an agile approach (Increment, Iterate, Improve)Focus on the intrinsic first (extrinsic will come)Voluntary participationGive control and teams design their own games (and fail)Lightweight, both in implementation and tone (i.e., fun)
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Final “boss”
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
Before your next quest…
Books:FlowA Theory of FunTotal EngagementReality is BrokenGamestorming
Other:http://www.delicious.com/matthew.philip/gamification
Gamification > How agile is like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame
gg
[email protected]@mattphilip