“the future of work is play” by ross smith- serious play conference 2012
DESCRIPTION
Ross Smith Speaks about “The Future of Work Is Play” at the 2012 Serious Play Conference ABSTRACT Life in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Colonial America included a natural integration of play and work. There were no scheduled work hours, time clocks, or hourly wages. For adults, work and play were combined in the greater quest for survival. The Industrial Revolution brought great advances in labor, transforming effort from human to machine. There was no time for play – playing at work was considered counterproductive. Play and recreation were now completely detached from work and labor. As a result, the Industrial Age bore witness to monumental advances in leisure as well – from the circus and YMCA to the first urban playground and the U.S. National Park Service. As the 21st century shift to knowledge and information work becomes more pervasive, a return to the integration of games and play as part of work is a logical progression. Shifts and advances in global, societal, technological, economic, and socio-political trends will shape the future of work. These changes will lead to an increased use of game mechanics in the workplace of the future. Over the last several years, the deployment of “productivity games” to improve business processes through the application of game elements have been gaining momentum. The use of crowdsourcing and productivity games as a business process have been on the rise. These lessons support the notion that games can – and will – be an important component of the workplace of the future.TRANSCRIPT
+
the future of work is play Ross Smith, Director of Test
Microsoft Lync Team
+ who am i?
+ our world is changing
new workforce
management capabilities
organizational trust
games and play
how to build a
culture of
creativity and
innovation
+
1962 Seattle World’s Fair
IMA
GIN
E
+ 7 billion humans
1804 – 1 billion
1927 – 2 billion
1960 – 3 billion
2023 – 8 billion
2041 – 9 billion
2081 – 10 billion
In a global village of 100
61 would be Asian (20 Chinese, 17 Indian),
11 would be from Europe…
and 70 would be gamers…
Global Shift: Diverse and Distributed Workforces
By 2022, everyone under 25 is a Digital Native
More young children know how to play
a computer game (58%) …
than swim (20%) or ride a bike (52%)
91% of kids age 2-17 are gamers
69% of kids age 2-5 can use a mouse,
but only 11% can tie their shoelaces
64% of parents believe games are a
positive part of their kid’s lives
47% work beyond regular business hours
32% do personal activities at work
Global Shift: Blurred Work and Life
68.7 million US social gamers in 2011
18 - 24 year olds
send and receive
110 texts a day on
average …
Games break through cultural barriers
Global Shift: Arrival of Emerging Economies
+ Gen Y and Millenials want:
1. Freedom
2. Customization
3. Scrutiny
4. Integrity
5. Collaboration
6. Entertainment
7. Speed
8. Innovation
“I feel like I’m
underutilized”
Talking to Mary Beth
We’re different and want to do more
It wasn’t just Mary Beth
And it wasn’t just our team…
Today’s workforce is
underutilized and not engaged
29% engaged
55% passively disengaged
16% actively disengaged
- Gallup
+ Solution?
10% increase in trust
=
36% pay raise
Why Trust?
+
trust is foundational to
innovation
+ freedom to fail
+ collaboration
+ tolerance for risk
+ rapid prototyping and iteration
+ ad hoc experimentation
+ positive deviance
+ changing culture
Thoughts Feelings
Culture Actions
+
games and work
play
fun
+ games have history
+
+ hunting and fishing
+ festivals
+ athletic competition
children
ancient civilization
+ industrial revolution
+
creative class
+ work
+ workforce
+ workplace
+ work product
+ why games and play?
+
games help build trust
+ Games establish structure
+ Games develop regular practices
+ Games facilitate interactions
+ Games transcend Global culture
+ Games enable
Interpersonal
confrontations
and
mutual engagements
+ Games offer
opportunity for
Commitments,
Promises,
Offers,
Requests
+ Games support risk and
vulnerabilities
+ Games help test uncertainties
+ flow
challenge
skill
anxiety
boredom
+ games at work Productivity Games
+ employees want what gamers have
fairness
transparency
feedback
trust
communication
engagement
productivity
education
+ where games work best
Skills-
Behaviors
Matrix
Core Work Skills Unique Work
Skills
Expanding Work
Skills
In-Role
Behaviors
Organizational
Citizenship
Behaviors
+ productivity game examples
+
lan
gu
ag
e q
uality
gam
e
+ Results
Significant Quality Improvements for Windows 7
Positive Impact on Ship Schedule
Team Morale and Subsidiary Engagement
Total Screens Reviewed: Over 500,000
Total Number of Reviewers: Over 4,500
Screens per Reviewer: Average 119
Significant Quality Improvements for product
Positive Impact on Ship Schedule
Team Morale and Dogfood User Engagement
Players Over 1,000
Feedback increase > 16x
Feedback received: 10,000+
Players vs. non-players 67% of players participate vs. 3% of non
Results
Microsoft Disaster Response
NetHope
Lync Client Tools Team
OXG Research
+
+ security games
“Why a game? Entertainment
provides an engaging medium
with which to raise awareness of
the diversity of technologies
impacted by security breaches and
the creativity of techniques
employed by attackers.”
(Introduction to Hackers, Inc.)
+
+ 42Projects
Collaborative Play
Trust
Management Innovation
www.42projects.org
+ seriouslythemovie.com
opportunities
