Making a Game Out of Work.
I got this link from ~J (and GameSetWatch has now posted it) - a New York Times article which is rather progressive for mainstream media:

Why Work Is Looking More Like a Video Game

The article doesn't have many specifics, but the general idea is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that borrows some principles from gaming to make it a tool that employees want to use, and will actually encourage them to excel. In particular, they are pushing some very vaguely MMORPG-like principles to make the CRM tool more fun to use.

Having worked on CRM-style software in the past, I can say, "Good, they need SOMETHING!"

The article itself wasn't all that informative. But it did make me think about the concept a little bit. Yes, we're all familiar with management techniques designed to encourage "friendly" competition and raise morale. Unfortunately, competition (especially if bonuses are involved) can quickly become anything but friendly - and often destructive to the business. And too often the morale-building or "team-building" exercises backfire. Badly. Especially with highly educated, professional, experienced, and jaded team members. As anybody who follows Dilbert is keenly aware (it's so funny because it is true).

But it can and does work if done properly. The problems usually occur when the goals of management and labor are at odds. When people see the CEO get a bonus after doing a 10% headcount reduction, there just ain't much you can do there to stem the tide of cynicism and a rift 'twixt the two sides. But if things haven't gotten to that level, the suggestion here is an intriguing one.

One of the challenges management often faces getting employees to use productivity software is that it is NOT fun. It is of benefit to management, but not of benefit to the employees. NOBODY operates at 100% efficiency, all the time, and so the introduction of more tools that track their performance might be perceived as increasing their vulnerability to management. Then there's the problem of poor metrics - a problem in any company. Professionals are often concerned that they are going to be judged by criteria that are not an accurate representation of their true productivity and worth to the company - such as, for programmers, being judged by "lines of code."

But what about creating productivity tools that are not only truly useful to employees, but include "game" elements to help with motivation? Borrowing from MMO elements to show incremental progress, provide bragging rights, and some friendly (informal) competition? Tools that are "fun to use" and thus more likely to be used? Particularly tools that make tracking of progress more of an interactive, employee-based effort than a management watchdog trick?

For example - project tracking. I've had some practices that worked with project tracking. Seeing things ticked off the list --- that incremental progress feedback --- is something of a motivator. But how about tying it all in into something more game-like in a non-zero sum multiplayer game? What if the project tracking software showed tasks as mobs, with a difficulty rating assigned to them? Your score increases not only for slaying your task on time, but you get bonus points for beating it early, and additional bonus points for assisting a coworker on THEIR "mob." (Bonus points which do NOT detract from said coworkers score?)

How about - in the programming world - unit testing? Most programmers and software development managers love the concept of automated unit tests, but most are also reluctant to accept the short-term productivity hit. But what about turning the development, maintenance, and the successful passing-off of unit tests part of a game? More of a peer-based effort with minimal management oversight? Again, using unit tests as a sole measure of performance is an absolutely terrible idea, and you wouldn't want to go overboard on it. There's the need to actually - you know - get the software WRITTEN that you are writing unit tests for. But turning it into a game where having a certain number of unit tests working (and of sufficient quality) are worth some extra XP for the week in a fun little internal competition could lead to improved performance.

If combined with reasonable rewards from management (like a bonus to everyone on the team based on completing a project on time and with high quality... or even an extra bonus for exceeding total project goals), and if the metrics aren't taken too far or too seriously, it might help make the the workplace more fun AND more productive. Give the entire team an on-the-clock hour of Unreal Tournament or Starcraft 2 (when it comes out) if they manage to score a combined total of 200,000 XP for the week on the project. Whatever!

Now if you could actually convince management to buy off on something like that... convince them that tools that are fun to use have the advantage of BEING used.... Sorta like those old "Aim Toothpaste" commercials (if it tastes good, they might be brushing longer).

I wonder if this is an area where indie (and former-) game developers could really exploit in the future...?


(Vaguely) related buzzword-compliant paradigm shifts in the vertical space.
* Productivity Tip: The List!
* Playing the Game of Real Life
* Productivity Under Pressure

Comments in the Forums

Labels: Biz, productivity

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:48 AM (Permalink)