Let’s play a game :)

Is working fun? Are your projects joyful? Claudia Michalik’s BA Game at the 2019 Business Analysis pre-conference workshops clearly showed me they could be, and perhaps even should be.

The board game was quite simple: rolling the dice, moving our figure forward or backward, answering questions and discussing events on cards. Yet, simply the addition of a game element triggered a more relaxed atmosphere and a fun dynamic.

Here are some of the things I noted during this session:

• The game and the cards trigger interesting and constructive conversations. These can be between BAs, but also between team members, stakeholders and even customers. It simply works as an effective conversation starter.
• You can use the game approach for projects and team meetings, but also for recruitment interviews, reviews, …
• Because impersonal cards trigger discussions, you can use this approach to initiate difficult conversations without making them personal.
• You can add elements in the game play to ensure everyone is equally involved.
• Big dice are more fun!

Last but not least: Our figure was a kangaroo, which made us wonder: does it represent the project team carrying the project to a good result? Or is it the BA carrying the PM 🙂 ?

It’s definitely an element that I will introduce in my meetings and workshops. A third tip to add to my previous post.

Feel free to share your experiences with games at work!

References

• Website from Claudia Michalik‘s BA Collective coming soon.
• BA2019 conference
• Jennifer Battan is sharing many other gamification tips & tricks during her BA2019 session The Art of Gamification.