Gamestorming

Gamestorming

by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo
Released July 2010
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596804176

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Book description

Great things don't happen in a vacuum. But creating an environment for creative thinking and innovation can be a daunting challenge. How can you make it happen at your company? The answer may surprise you: gamestorming.

This book includes more than 80 games to help you break down barriers, communicate better, and generate new ideas, insights, and strategies. The authors have identified tools and techniques from some of the world's most innovative professionals, whose teams collaborate and make great things happen. This book is the result: a unique collection of games that encourage engagement and creativity while bringing more structure and clarity to the workplace. Find out why -- and how -- with Gamestorming.

  • Overcome conflict and increase engagement with team-oriented games
  • Improve collaboration and communication in cross-disciplinary teams with visual-thinking techniques
  • Improve understanding by role-playing customer and user experiences
  • Generate better ideas and more of them, faster than ever before
  • Shorten meetings and make them more productive
  • Simulate and explore complex systems, interactions, and dynamics
  • Identify a problem's root cause, and find the paths that point toward a solution

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Table of contents

  1.  
  2. Dedication
  3. Foreword
  4. Preface
  5. 1. What Is a Game?
    1. The Evolution of the Game World
    2. The Game of Business
    3. Fuzzy Goals
    4. Game Design
  6. 2. 10 Essentials for Gamestorming
    1. 1. Opening and Closing
    2. 2. Fire Starting
    3. 3. Artifacts
    4. 4. Node Generation
    5. 5. Meaningful Space
    6. 6. Sketching and Model Making
    7. 7. Randomness, Reversal, and Reframing
    8. 8. Improvisation
    9. 9. Selection
    10. 10. Try Something New
  7. 3. Core Gamestorming Skills
    1. Asking Questions
      1. Opening Questions
      2. Navigating Questions
      3. Examining Questions
      4. Experimental Questions
      5. Closing Questions
    2. Creating Artifacts and Meaningful Space
      1. Nodes
      2. Linking
      3. Borders
      4. Axes
      5. Circles and Targets
      6. Metric Versus Ordered Space
      7. Grids
      8. Landscapes and Maps
      9. Metaphor
    3. Employing Visual Language
      1. The Visual Alphabet
      2. Drawing People
      3. Perspective
    4. Improvisation
    5. Practice
  8. 4. Core Games
    1. The 7Ps Framework
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    2. Affinity Map
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    3. Bodystorming
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. HOW TO PLAY
        1. Level 1: Go Observe
        2. Level 2: Try It Out
        3. Level 3: Reflect on What Happens, and Why
      3. STRATEGY
    4. Card Sort
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    5. Dot Voting
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    6. Empathy Map
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    7. Forced Ranking
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    8. Post-Up
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    9. Storyboard
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    10. WhoDo
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
  9. 5. Games for Opening
    1. 3-12-3 Brainstorm
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    2. The Anti-Problem
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    3. Brainwriting
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    4. Context Map
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    5. Cover Story
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    6. Draw the Problem
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    7. Fishbowl
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    8. Forced Analogy
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    9. Graphic Jam
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    10. Heuristic Ideation Technique
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    11. History Map
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    12. Image-ination
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY:
      5. STRATEGY
    13. Low-Tech Social Network
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    14. Mission Impossible
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    15. Object Brainstorm
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    16. Pecha Kucha/Ignite
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    17. Pie Chart Agenda
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    18. Poster Session
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    19. Pre-Mortem
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    20. Show and Tell
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    21. Show Me Your Values
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    22. Stakeholder Analysis
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
        1. Step 1: Create a List of Stakeholder Groups
      5. Step 2: Map the List on the Grid
      6. Step 3: Develop a Strategy and Share It Broadly
      7. STRATEGY
    23. Spectrum Mapping
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    24. Trading Cards
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    25. Visual Agenda
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. HOW TO PLAY
      3. STRATEGY
    26. Welcome to My World
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
  10. 6. Games for Exploring
    1. The 4Cs
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    2. The 5 Whys
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. HOW TO PLAY
      4. STRATEGY
    3. Affinity Map
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    4. Atomize
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    5. The Blind Side
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    6. Build the Checklist
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
    7. Business Model Canvas
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    8. Button
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. HOW TO PLAY
      3. STRATEGY
    9. Campfire
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    10. Challenge Cards
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. HOW TO PLAY
      4. STRATEGY
    11. Customer, Employee, Shareholder
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    12. Design the Box
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
      3. DURATION OF PLAY:
      4. SETUP
      5. HOW TO PLAY
        1. Phase One: Fill the Box
        2. Phase Two: Make the Box
        3. Phase Three: Sell the Box
      6. STRATEGY
    13. Do, Redo & Undo
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. The Best-Case Scenario
      6. The Worst-Case Scenario
    14. Elevator Pitch
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
        1. The Generating Phase
        2. The Formative Phase
      5. STRATEGY
    15. Five-Fingered Consensus
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. HOW TO PLAY
      3. STRATEGY
    16. Flip It
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    17. Force Field Analysis
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    18. Give-and-Take Matrix
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    19. Heart, Hand, Mind
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    20. Help Me Understand
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    21. Make a World
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    22. Mood Board
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    23. Open Space
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
        1. Setup: An Open Invitation
        2. Create the Marketplace
        3. The “Law of Two Feet”
        4. Pulling It All Together
      5. STRATEGY
    24. Pain-Gain Map
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    25. The Pitch
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    26. Product Pinocchio
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    27. Post the Path
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    28. RACI Matrix
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    29. Red:Green Cards
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    30. Speedboat
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    31. SQUID
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    32. Staple Yourself to Something
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    33. SWOT Analysis
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    34. Synesthesia
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    35. Talking Chips
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. HOW TO PLAY
      3. STRATEGY
    36. Understanding Chain
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    37. Value Mapping
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    38. The Virtuous Cycle
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    39. Visual Glossary
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    40. Wizard of Oz
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    41. The World Café
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. SETUP
      5. HOW TO PLAY
  11. 7. Games for Closing
    1. $100 Test
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    2. 20/20 Vision
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    3. Ethos, Logos, Pathos
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
    4. Graphic Gameplan
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    5. Impact & Effort Matrix
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    6. Memory Wall
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    7. NUF Test
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    8. Plus/Delta
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    9. Prune the Future
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    10. Start, Stop, Continue
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
    11. Who/What/When Matrix
      1. OBJECT OF PLAY
      2. NUMBER OF PLAYERS
      3. DURATION OF PLAY
      4. HOW TO PLAY
      5. STRATEGY
  12. 8. Putting Gamestorming to Work
    1. Imagine a World: The Betacup Story
    2. Game 1: Poster Session
    3. Game 2: Go for a Walk
    4. Game 3: Make Something Tangible
    5. Game 4: Bodystorming
    6. Gamestorming Results
  13. A. Acknowledgements
  14. Index
  15. About the Authors
  16. Colophon
  17. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Gamestorming
  • Author(s): Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo
  • Release date: July 2010
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596804176