PM Space Invaders

Ty is a work management evangelist; "accidental" project manager and marketing veteran with over 25 years of experience.

  Innovation   ProjectsAtWork  

Gamification of project management practices can potentially do two things better than traditional approaches: engage teams by making tasks fun and improve performance by recognizing achievement on a regular basis. Skeptics abound, but shouldn’t we embrace gaming tactics that work? It's not such an alien concept anymore.

The first time I remember ever playing a serious video game it was Space Invaders. I was sitting in a little cafe in Japan at a table that was actually the game itself. I must admit I wasted a little bit of time at that cafe over the next couple of months trying to improve my score. It was 1979 or 1980 and I don’t think Space Invaders had made it to the U.S. yet.

Since that time, video games have become far more sophisticated; and I am not any better able to master them now than I was Space Invaders. I’m just not a gamer. I have kids that are gamers, work with people who are gamers and have younger friends (that when cornered) will even admit to being gamers — I’m just not one of them. With that said, I still enjoy playing the games.

Not too long ago I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal written by Rachel Emma Silverman about companies around the world that are not only allowing their employees to play games — they’re encouraging it.

“They’re deploying reward and competitive tactics commonly found in the gaming world to make …

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