Workplay: The gamified future of agile development

#lkfr13 @mattphilip

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

WHAT IF WORK WERE MORE LIKE A GAME?

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Whats next for knowledge work? 2001-2012 ! Continuous integration,

delivery, design, feedback, improvement

2013+ ! Continuous play

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Continuous play = gamified work

Gami!cation is integrating game thinking and design into activities to increase engagement, learning and fun.

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Where did it come from?

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are 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

Gami!cation as a way to build in continual, re"ective improvement

Discussing how agile teams have a head start

A mission of our own!

Gami!ed services (e.g., Foursquare)

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Our mission today (if you choose to accept it!)

We are going to work together in guilds to

! Stay awake ! Create and share our ideas with the

world (via twitter)!

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Create a character

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Create a character ! Player name (you) ! Character name (made up) ! Class (Ruby Warrior,

Kanban Wizard, etc.) ! Level (agile experience) ! Guild (organization, team) ! Spells and special skills

(org-change magic, analysis spell, ninja coding)

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Why gamify?

Personal

Organizational

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Defining traits of a game

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Reeves and Reeds 10 ingredients for games

1. Self-representation with avatars

2. 3D environments 3. Narrative context 4. Feedback 5. Reputation, Ranks and

Levels

6. Marketplace and economics

7. Competition under explicit, enforced rules

8. Teams 9. Parallel, recon!gurable

communication systems 10. Time pressure

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Is agile the key intersection?

work

play

agile

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Work-play mirror 1. Pair up within your guild 2. On a piece of paper, make a table with

two columns: Work and Play 3. List as many of your experiences that are

common to both

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

A different kind of flow

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Csikszentmihalyis 9 features of flow 1. Clear goals at every step 2. Immediate feedback 3. Balance between challenge and skill 4. Merger of action and awareness 5. Exclusion of distractions 6. No worries about failure 7. Absence of self-consciousness 8. Time becomes distorted 9. The experience is an end in itself

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Steps to flow and how agile can provide them

! Set an overall goal (and many realistic subgoals)

! Measure progress of goals

! Concentrate on task and keep making !ner distinctions in challenges

! Develop skills to meet challenge

! Value < Feature < Story

! Running tested features, cycle time

! Refactor mercilessly, incrementally develop, test-drive development

! Pair, practice katas

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Intrinsic rewards

! Satisfying work ! Experience (or at least the hope) of being successful ! Social connection ! Meaning ! Pinks 3 keys of motivation

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Creating Flow 1. Pick a simple, mundane task that you dont

experience "ow with today and plot it on the "ow diagram.

2. How might you gamify it to create a "ow experience?

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

HOW AGILE AND KANBAN ARE LIKE A GAME

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Voluntary, participatory success

! Voluntary discipline ! Self-organizing teams ! Teams built around motivated

individuals ! Collaborative improvement

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Quest-like work

! Stories ! Narratives ! Spikes

As a team member I want to gamify our work So that I can feel like Im not even working

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Visible progress and rules

! TDD (rules) ! WIP limits, explicit policies ! Continuous-integration build monitors ! Card wall

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Feedback

! Customer ! Team ! System ! Process

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Intensify the feedback 1. Quickly list as many forms of feedback as

possible that you get on your team. 2. Brainstorm ways to intensify those

feedback moments.

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

High levels of communication

! Realtime, face-to-face communication

! Pairing to solve problems

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are 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) ! Finite or in!nite (iteration-less development) ! Competitive or cooperative

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

CREATING CONTINUOUS PLAY

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Something bigger than ourselves

! What is the organization about and where do we !t in?

! The Why of work (Sineks golden circle)

! Epic context for action

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Whats your story? 1.Decide what kind of game narrative suits

your work. 2.Elaborate on that narrative.

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Know your players

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Project inception

! Team members create characters, identify what theyll need

! Game designer works with customer to create narrative

! Customer helps map out quests, assigns virtual monetary value

! Designer and customer determine what it means to win, rules, virtual currency and rewards

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Project initiation (iteration 0)

! Team members mini-quest for their equipment

! Game designer tells the team the narrative

! Team sets goals for !rst missions ! Guild leadership

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Develop and deliver

! Gamify small components to address pain points

! Hackathons and secret missions to destroy bug bosses

! Use retrospectives, Toyota kata to mod the game

! Measure the impact ! Monitor "ow experience

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Visualize progress

! Story mapping> quest maps

! Pairing charts > character pro!les

! Build in clear rewards

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Leveling up as self-improvement

! Flow experience supported by sustainable pace

! Re"ect recognition and reputation

! Encourage team members to view their job as self improvement

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Software craftsmanship

! Cra#smanship over crap (Uncle Bob)

! Cra#smanship manifesto ! Apprentice > Journeyman >

Master ! Kvell and naches emotions

(mentoring pride)

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

ENDGAME

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Dangers

! You cant just spawn a new project a#er failing

! Could depersonalize rather than personalize

! No one game can please all ! Gaming and misuse of metrics

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

How do we conquer this new quest?

! Use agile and kanban principles (start where you are, increment, iterate, improve, respect)

! Focus on the intrinsic !rst (extrinsic will come) ! Voluntary participation ! Give autonomy to teams to design their own games (and fail) ! Lightweight, both in implementation and tone (i.e., fun)

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Final Boss 1.List three things blocking you from

gamifying. 2.With a pair, come up with a possible

solution for them.

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

Before your next quest

Books: ! Flow ! A Theory of Fun ! Total Engagement ! Reality is Broken ! Gamestorming Other: ! http://www.delicious.com/matthew.philip/gami!cation

Gami!cation > How agile and kanban are like a game > Creating continuous play > Endgame

gg

! mphilip@thoughtworks.com ! @mattphilip