office playgrounds: can freedom be programmed?

office playgrounds can freedom be programmed? Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) Stanford, May 10, 2016

cb

introduction

1960s: the nightmare of alienated modernity

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11674159@N02/5856680212

1990s: the utopia of the new economy

obligatory foosball



2010s: the reality of playful offices?


obligatory slide

2010s: the reality of playful offices?

2010s: the reality of gamified work?http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047564/gamification-using-play-to-motivate-employees-and-engage-customers.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047564/gamification-using-play-to-motivate-employees-and-engage-customers.html

productivity

the promise

playful spaces gameful processes

Creativity Collaboration Wellbeing Engagement Optimal resource use

new chapter

of interviewed managers (FMCG, UK) believe that playful office environments increase employee motivation.

relaxed office environments: fad or future? (2014)

80%

new chapterrelaxed office environments: fad or future? (2014)

91% of interviewed managers (FMCG, UK) believe that playful office environments improve team work.

gartner

of global 2000 companies will have at least one gamified application by 2014.

gartner news room (2011)

70%

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1629214

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1629214

playing works

highly engaging

reduces stress and anxiety

fosters trust, relatedness, social-emotional skills

fosters deep, conceptual learning

fosters flexible, creative problem solving

satisfies basic psychological needs -> short-term positive affect and recovery, long-term psycho-social wellbeing

trains autonomous self-regulationWenner 2009, Gray 2003

and the reality?

physical

playgrounds

informal collision spaces

theor

y

#1


theor

y

#1

60%


unplanned collisions

inspiration & collaboration

1943: MIT Building 20

lettvin faraday, MIT

You might regard it as the womb of the Institute. It is kind of messy, but by God it is procreative!

quoted in: building 20: the procreative eyesore (1991)

2000: Pixar headquarters atrium

john lasseter, creative director, Pixar

I kept running into people that I hadnt seen for months. Ive never seen a building that promoted collaboration and creativity as well as this one.

quoted in: steve jobs (2011)

2012: Zappos Las Vegas downtown project


obligatory slide


obligatory slide

ROC


obligatory slide

return on collisionable

hours

slidification of office environments

theor

y

#2

play-like featurescreativity & well-being

magic

play-like features Openness: Wide open spaces high ceiling, glass, light

Toy colours: Multiple primary, pastel colours

Toy materials: Wood, plastics

Playground materials: (artificial) grass, sand, trees

Playground installs: slides, swings, caves, balls

Toys: Arcades, foosball, pinball, ping pong, billiard tables

Fiction: Ship, beach, subway, castle, supervillain lair

What is more inviting of play? Why?

Jared M. Stein

n. Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled environment in which participants are lured in either by mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed environments, or by force, through a system of punishments or rewards.

n. Any system or environment that repulses a target user due to its closeness to or representation of an oppressive or overbearing institution.

defining creepy tree house (2008)

christopher Alexander

Set up a playground for the children in each neighborhood. Not a highly finished playground, with asfalt and swings, but a place with raw materials of all kindsnets, boxes, barrels, trees, ropes, simple tools, frames, grass, and waterwhere children can create and re-create playgrounds of their own.

a pattern language (1978: 369370)

exhaustible versus ...

patte

rn

#1

possibility space: generative toys

will wright

Players navigate a possibility space by their choices and actions; every players path is unique. Games cultivate and exploit possibility space better than any other medium. ... We're invited to create and interact with elaborately simulated worlds, characters, and story lines.

dream machines (2006)http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

case in point: the action office

robert propst

#1: Forgiving Principle: We must be allowed to change our minds. The complexity of organizational environments coupled with the unpredictable course of future directions requires a forgiving behavior in facility design.

#2: Grace with Change: A facility needs to change with ease.

#3: On-line Planning and Expression: The individual can participate in goal setting and thus behave like a manager at any level. Users are often the best judges of what works.

quoted in abraham (1998: n.p.)

robert propst

Its truly amazing the number of decisive events and critical dialogues that occur when people are out of their seated, stuffy contexts, and moving around and chatting with each other.


the vision

the reality

robert propst

The dark side of this is that not all organizations are intelligent and progressive. Lots are run by crass people who can take the same kind of equipment and create hellholes. They make little bitty cubicles and stuff people in them. Barren, rat-hole places.


Kars alfrink

When designing tools for play, underspecify!

a playful stance (2008)http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

patte

rn

#2

a good sign (for once)

paul penfield, MIT Professor

Its temporary nature permitted its occupants to abuse it in ways that would not be tolerated in a permanent building. If you wanted to run a wire from one lab to another, you didnt ask anybodys permission you just got out a screwdriver and poked a hole through the wall.

mits building 20: the magical incubator 19431998 (1997)http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

bard bird, autor & regisseur, ratatouille

If you walk around downstairs in the animation area, youll see that it is unhinged. People are allowed to create whatever office they want. One guy might build a front thats like a Western town. Someone else might do something that looks like Hawaii John believes that if you have a loose, free kind of atmosphere, it helps creativity.

zitiert in steve jobs (2011)http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

office adventure playgrounds? a possibility space

Rearrangeable spaces

Rearrangeable, recombinable furniture

Manipulable, trashable furniture

Bring your own device/stuff

underspecified

License to play around unmonitored

Encouragement to play around unmonitored

social

playgrounds

1960: banana time

donald f. roy

De Man cites the case of one worker who wrapped 13,000 incandescent bulbs a day; she found her outlet for creative impulse, her self-determination, her meaning in work by varying her wrapping movements a little from time to time. ... Like the light bulb wrapper, I did find a certain scope for initiative, and out of this slight freedom to vary activity, I developed a game of work.

banana time (1960)http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

1994: FISH!

work made fun gets done!

gamification The use of game design elements in non-game contexts

2010s: gamification

employee engagement

energy saving

Homo Oeconomicus 2.0

theor

y

#3

clear rules & feedback

motivationdesired

behaviour

incentives

the problem with non-game contexts

Heeter et al. 2011, Mollick & Rothbard 2013, Deterding 2016

James P. Carse

It is an invariable principle of all play, that whoever plays, plays freely. Whoever must play, cannot play.

finite and infinite games (1986)

Edward Deci, Richard Ryan

An understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)

Fun Voluntary

Fun Voluntary

Voluntary Fun

work play

implementation determinism

theor

y

#4

new procedurenew practice &

valuesmagic

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need,

and trust them to get the job done.

11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

what we design: things & rules (offloaded in things)

who decides whether to play with them

anonymous current employee

There are reasons that this company has a higher turn over of staff than a call centre. ... A lot of micro management, big teams and knee jerk copycat change of directions often mid sprints. Frequent prolonged crunch mode has resulted in low quality software and bad company vibe. Partly due to unrealistic hard deadlines pulled out of a woolly hat. A fear of failure postpones or cancels most releases. ... No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

glassdoor (2014)

what shared values underlie

play?

autotelic activity =

http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967


intrinsic motivation



vs. Quality and Varietyexploration and experimentation

vs. Quality and Varietymastery

autonomy



vs. Quality and Varietysafe space...

vs. Quality and Varietythrough failure without consequence

and attunement around mutual enjoyment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wondermonkey2k/6188527275

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wondermonkey2k/6188527275

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/5709372593

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/5709372593

It is the nature of a fun community to care more about the players than about the game. ... We are having fun. We are caring. We are safe with each other. This is what we want.

Bernie de Koventhe well-played game (1978: 19-20)

vs. Quality and Varietyopen for benign transgression

requires and builds trust

I wont let you fall.

Ill tell you when its too much

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/439410200

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/439410200

Work Play

Other-determined Self-determined

Instrumental Autotelic

Consequential Inconsequential

Regulated Open

Care for result Care for each other

Motivation serves function Function serves motivation

Work Play

Other-determined Self-determined

Instrumental Autotelic

Consequential Inconsequential

Regulated Open

Care for result Care for each other

Motivation serves function Function serves motivation

work play playful work

Other-determined Self-determined Autonomy-oriented

Instrumental Autotelic Learning & quality-oriented

Consequential InconsequentialSafety nets promote

exploration

Regulated Open Open, trust-based

Care for result Care for each other Socially oriented

Motivation serves function Function serves motivation Value-based

make a bow

http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg


trust before asking for trust



model the values you want to see



allow failure

shared values, individual realisation



conclusion

for engaging work playgrounds ...

instead of creepy slidifcation ...

or gamification ...

create open collision spaces ...

and material possibility spaces ...

including the license to appropriate them.

arbeit spiel

Fremdbestimmt Selbstbestimmt

Mittel zum Zweck Selbstzweck

Folgenreich Folgenlos

Durchreguliert Offen

Sorge um Ergebnis Sorge umeinander

Motivation dient Funktion Funktion dient Motivation

work play playful work

Other-determined Self-determined Autonomy-oriented

Instrumental Autotelic Learning & quality-oriented

Consequential InconsequentialSafety nets promote

exploration

Regulated Open Open, trust-based

Care for result Care for each other Socially oriented

Motivation serves function Function serves motivation Value-basedput lived values over rule systems

through social free spaces ...



and modelling the values you wish to see.



[email protected]@dingstweets

codingconduct.cc

thank you.

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office playgrounds: can freedom be programmed?

Design