Summary of “Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers” by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo (2010)

Summary of

Innovation and CreativityIdea Generation

Section 1: Introduction to Gamestorming

The book begins by establishing the concept of gamestorming, which merges principles from game design and business management to foster creativity and innovation in the workplace. Traditional approaches to meetings and brainstorming sessions often fall short, leading to stagnation. Gamestorming offers a dynamic alternative, utilizing structured play to unlock novel ideas and solutions.

Concrete Example: The Anti-Problem
– Action: When facing a tough problem, invert it. Rather than solving it directly, ask, “How can we make this problem worse?” This reversal often unveils hidden insights about potential solutions by thinking about what should be avoided.

Section 2: Core Principles and Framework

Gamestorming emphasizes several core principles:

  1. Goals: Define clear objectives for the session.
  2. Rules: Establish guidelines to create a productive environment.
  3. Play: Introduce elements of play to engage participants and encourage creative thinking.
  4. Facilitation: Designate a facilitator to guide the session smoothly.

Key Archetypes:

  1. Explore: Activities designed to generate a wide range of ideas.
  2. Build: Sessions that focus on developing and refining ideas.
  3. Open: Starting the process and diverging.
  4. Close: End the session with concrete outcomes and converging.

Concrete Example: Empathy Map
– Action: Use an empathy map to understand customer perspectives. Divide a board into segments: “Says,” “Thinks,” “Does,” and “Feels.” Populate it with insights from customer research to get a holistic view of their experience.

Section 3: Games for Opening

Opening games are designed to create a conducive environment for creativity, breaking down barriers, and inducing a mindset shift among participants.

Specific Games:

  1. Staple Yourself to Something:

  2. Action: To understand a process flow, “staple yourself” to an artifact (like an invoice) and map out every step it goes through. This helps in identifying inefficiencies.

  3. Object Storming:

  4. Action: Place a random object in the middle of the room and brainstorm connections between the object and the topic of discussion. This exercise helps to stretch conventional thinking boundaries.

Section 4: Games for Exploring

These games aim to expand the universe of possible ideas or solutions. They are meant to be free-form and expansive.

Specific Games:

  1. Draw Toast:

  2. Action: Ask participants to draw the steps involved in making toast. This simple activity can reveal diverse thought processes and uncover underlying assumptions about everyday tasks.

  3. Affinity Map:

  4. Action: Gather all ideas on sticky notes and then group similar concepts together on a board. This helps in recognizing clusters and themes that emerge naturally from disparate suggestions.

Concrete Example: Fishbowl
– Action: Arrange participants in an inner circle (the fishbowl) who discuss the issue while an outer circle observes. Swap people between circles intermittently. This dynamic encourages active listening and diverse viewpoints.

Section 5: Games for Building

After exploring avenues, building games focus on developing and detailing ideas.

Specific Games:

  1. Prune the Future:

  2. Action: Imagine a tree representing the project, with various branches as potential paths. Collaboratively decide which branches should be “pruned” to focus on the most promising directions.

  3. User Experience (UX) Journey:

  4. Action: Create a step-by-step visual map of the user experience from beginning to end. Annotate touchpoints, pain points, and emotions experienced by the user. This detailed mapping facilitates focused improvements.

Concrete Example: Role Storming
– Action: Assume different stakeholder roles (customer, investor, competitor) and brainstorm from their perspectives. This empathy-based approach helps to anticipate needs and objections.

Section 6: Games for Closing

Closing games aim to consolidate insights and turn ideas into actionable plans.

Specific Games:

  1. Post-Mortem:

  2. Action: Conduct a post-mortem to discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved. Have individuals write positive and negative aspects on index cards to facilitate an honest and structured review.

  3. Pecha Kucha:

  4. Action: Use a format where everyone presents their ideas using 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each. This concise presentation style forces clear and precise communication.

Concrete Example: Plus/Delta
– Action: Create two columns on a board labeled “Plus” and “Delta.” Participants share what they liked (Plus) and what could be changed (Delta). This method provides quick, actionable feedback.

Section 7: Game Design Techniques

This section dives deeper into creating your own games tailored to specific challenges. It outlines the importance of setting the right environment, selecting appropriate tools, and defining clear objectives.

Techniques:

  1. Prototype Development:

  2. Action: Rapidly create simple prototypes or mock-ups of ideas. This tangible modeling helps in visualizing and iterating concepts quickly.

  3. Scenario Planning:

  4. Action: Develop detailed scenarios for different future states. Actively engage team members in exploring “What if?” situations. This approach prepares the team for various potential outcomes.

Concrete Example: Forced Analogy
– Action: Force a comparison between your challenge and an unrelated field. “How is launching this product like cooking a gourmet meal?” This technique drives novel idea generation by breaking typical thinking patterns.

Section 8: Facilitator Tools and Tips

Finally, the book offers pragmatic advice for facilitators to ensure that gamestorming sessions run smoothly.

Tools and Tips:

  1. Environmental Setup:

  2. Action: Arrange the room to facilitate movement and interaction. Flexible seating, open space, and easily accessible supplies (like sticky notes and markers) are essential.

  3. Time Management:

  4. Action: Use a timer to keep sessions on track. Allocate specific periods for different activities (like idea generation, discussion, and synthesis) to maintain engagement and focus.

Concrete Example: Energizers
– Action: Include short, energizing exercises, like a quick round of “Simon Says,” to re-invigorate participants if energy levels wane. This keeps the group active and attentive.

Conclusion

“Gamestorming” provides a rich toolkit for anyone looking to inject creativity into their work environment through structured play. By redefining meetings into interactive games, it not only facilitates idea generation but also builds more engaged and innovative teams. The actionable steps and detailed examples for each game make it practical to implement and beneficial for a wide range of applications, from startups to established corporations.

By utilizing these gamestorming methods, individuals and organizations can break free from conventional thinking, catalyze change, and drive continuous innovation.

Innovation and CreativityIdea Generation