SNACK SIZE WORKGamification is dead!

Long live snack size playful work processes

Sonja.angesleva@igda.fi

A book onthe same

topic inFinnish

(2014)

This deck• What’s so special about gaming?• Why gamification is not the thing?

• Constant learning • Change of work

• Game mechanics• Snack sized process model• Recognition and learning• Change of work• How to measure success?

Special about gaming

1. Sharing experiences, emotions, moments

2. Trying and Failing

3. Fun

4. Mesh

5. Incremental rewards

Kids learn to use computers

by playing games

Humans are playful

Games are about

disruption, creativity,

unexpected, surprise…

Why game mechanics?

A way to… • Demonstrate complex issues• Motivate to reach the next goal• Break a bigger problem into smaller pieces• Engage and become immersed

Four drivers make us do things:1. The acquirers (gather things and status)

2. The defenders (defend what is theirs)

3. The socializers (hard-wired need to bond)

4. The contributors (contribute to something bigger)

Using game mechanics does not mean turning work into collecting points, achievements, challenges, bonus sectors and boss fights.

It means applying motivating gameplay processes and solutions into the work routines to efficiently improve policies and make better results.

Why not Gamification?• Gamification is a carrot automata without a stick• Gamification is too expected, badgeable & quantifiable• That’s not fun without unexpected excitement and surprises

• There are working gamification solutions like FoldIt, Painsquad, Zamzee, Khan Academy, crowdRise, SuperBetter, Opower, RecycleBank

• No possibility to take those into more general use:• To demonstrate• To motivate by incentives• To engage

“Gamification is used in applications and processes to improve user engagement, return on investment, data quality, timeliness, and learning.”

What should it be then?• Inspire people, stretch thinking a bit further, help to realize

new alternatives and ideate in a smaller groups – in order to start something new and improve the existing

• It is all about opening up opportunities compared to gamification where options are merely closed

• Snack size is already the norm of modern consumer culture

1 Projects into tasks 2 Constant learning3 “Swarms” aka small task forces taking responsibility

4 Unexpected 5 Utilize mesh 6 Reviews and rewards

Snack size process:

Recognition drives people to do things

• Interesting work• Involvement• Increased visibility• Information sharing• Independence (taking responsibility)

People are motivated by different incentives:• Tangible incentives• Cash incentives• Social incentives• Experience incentives

Work = constant learning• Re-examine assumptions, values, methods, policies and

practices• Develop new skills and learn from the customers• Living knowledge• On demand staffing• On demand swarms• Milestone specific

challenges• Digital driven

Change of work• Overlapping layers of life 24/7• Millennials bring new procedures to the work• Bigger problem middle-aged work force and their routines• Resistance is futile

• “Every company is a technology company; every business leader is becoming a digital leader and every person is becoming a technology company.”

Peter Sondergaard, Gartner 2013

• Expectations are changing: work should be motivating, fun• Work is an experience where one can express herself• Change of work requires new processes

Snack size process is about solving problems, clearing all the levels, reaching new high scores – and in the end having still all three lives left.

Snack size process

Snack size process model

Snack size model is about introducing activity loops to work days, splitting bigger project into smaller tasks, making every day routines concrete challenges, giving feedback and rewards of failures and successes, efficiently utilizing networks and working in small groups to get things prepared for decision making.

Key ingredients:

1. Emotion

2. Depth

3. Learning from failing

4. Network driven business

5. Snack size process

6. Brain training

Basic process

Task carousel

Backlog

Swarms toprepare ideas

Split problemsinto tasks

Meet toagree anditerate

Review/reward

Time

• Start: task carousel ora backlog.

• Weekly cycle and project cycle.• 4 steps: split, swarm work,

iterate and review/reward.• The steps will be repeated over

the project lifecycle.

Learn more in Finnish:

http://haukkapalapeli.tumblr.com/

Or

Sonja.Angesleva@igda.fi