Story:
Communicate Hope: Using Games and Play to Improve Productivity - 42projects

By Ross Smith - Director of Test at Microsoft

August 7, 2010 at 2:23pm

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Summary

As the demographics of the workplace shift and more employees actively play games outside of work, the opportunity to use games to improve productivity expands. Organizations can leverage the appeal of game play, game theory, and competition to attract discretionary effort and increase productivity. Productivity games do not require a multi-million dollar first person shooter high graphics development effort – but can be rudimentary, with limited investment – and still yield tremendous results – particularly when compared with Six Sigma, TQM, and other tradition business process improvement initiatives. Communicate Hope is a productivity game in use at Microsoft to help encourage pre-release usage and product feedback for Office Communicator.

Context

In ev'ry job that must be done

There is an element of fun

you find the fun and snap!

The job's a game

– Mary Poppins – “A Spoonful of Sugar”

The idea of using games to improve productivity came from the Microsoft Windows Defect Prevention team – part of a team to help assure the quality of Microsoft Windows. The team of six was exploring alternative ways to leverage the 1000’s of Windows employees to crowd-source test coverage.

The “Gamer Generation” – essentially anyone born after the invention of Pong – has been raised with different sets of rules. A recent study from Pew Research suggests that 97% of teens play video games regularly, and that more than half of all adults are gamers. Gallup’s research suggests that over 70% of employee’s are “somewhat disengaged” – or worse. So, the thought was to combine the need for broad participation for test coverage with the desire and interest in playing games, and build “productivity games” – designed to attract effort towards work-related tasks – in the context of game play.

Triggers

The demographics of the workplace are changing. As more Gen Y and Millenials enter the workforce, using gaming elements, social networking tools, and advanced communication techniques are far more effective in engaging employees and providing opportunities to leverage tech-savvy talent that might otherwise go un-tapped or under-utilized.

Work on productivity games began in 2006, when members of the Defect Prevention team, as part of Microsoft’s Windows Core OS Division, were struggling to attract volunteer effort to help test Windows prior to release. We know this today as crowdsourcing – and the methods in the past involved an executive management call for participation. The team decided to experiment with simple word games and reward “players” (aka Microsoft employees volunteering to do the work) with virtual letters. The results were amazing, with an almost immediate 400% increase in participation.

Key Innovations & Timeline

We have successfully used games in several instances across several products at Microsoft since 2006. While they have been called “gimmicky” by some, they have worked successfully in many diverse scenarios. The Windows Language Quality Game (http://www.42projects.org/docs/GTAC_LQG.PDF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7hI_ah-bt0 ) attracted over 4000 players from Microsoft, and over a half a million tasks were completed.

The Windows Language Quality Game was live for four weeks in Feb 2009. Over 4000 players competed to improve linguistic quality of Windows 7.

The latest game, Communicate Hope, began in early Summer, 2010.

Challenges & Solutions

Challenge: There is a stigma around the words “game” and “play” and resistance to view them as viable approaches to “work”. Language and traditional definitions get in the way. Many boomers do not believe “game” and “work” can co-exist.

Fix: To overcome that, we are very rigorous in our data collection and documentation efforts. A “game master” role is filled for each game we deploy – a person who oversees the rules, player feedback, goal and task achievement, and fairness. We are trying to create a track record of success and learning.

Challenge: Games don’t always work.

Fix: How and where games don’t work is just as important as where they do. Table 1 illustrates the areas where Productivity Games can be the most successful. Focusing either on expanding skills in role, or OCB’s that require core skills are the best way to ensure the success of the game. Examples of why specific segments work or don’t work are described below.

	Core	Unique	Expanding
In-Role Behavior			YES
Organizational Citizenship Behavior	YES

Table 1. Successful Game Deployment

Based on our game experiences, described somewhat below, games which encourage good corporate behavior (or OCBs), but rely on core skills that all users share, are the most valuable space for Productivity Games. Since the games rely on core skills, all employees in an organization are able to participate. Additionally, since the behavior is not closely linked to any individual’s job, no one’s employment is threatened by the success of another team member.

For example, imagine a game that helped sort a complicated list of items. All employees in a given department are familiar with the items, and with how the organization prioritizes its work. This provides a great place for everyone to participate on equal footing. But wrapping the sorting and prioritization work in a game-like interface, all players are given a fair chance to contribute and potentially win.

Using games to teach is a well-established and successful practice, and many commercial examples are available for children of all ages. Games for learning work because they focus on the development and growth of the individual. Games are designed to teach, and then test for the learning within the context of play. Players are best rewarded for demonstrating how they have improved themselves, rather than comparing completion rates or competing against others.

Challenge: Unique skills limit available players. Imagine a game which encompasses the daily tasks and work of a single employee, Joshua. In the “Joshua Game”, which maps to the ‘core’ and ‘unique’ skills that Joshua performs for his work, players are given points for doing tasks Joshua would normally do. Some players are able to do all the tasks Joshua is capable of, and some are limited because they do not have the same ‘unique’ skills that Joshua has. This presents another challenge: games which exclude players are not in the best interest of the organization.

Fix: Since Productivity Games rely on a broad number of players, the objective must be to add as many players as possible. Games which rely on actions from the players with ‘unique’ skills inherently limit the breadth of players available to play the game. Instead, design games that leverage core skills across the organization.

Back to the example, we find another challenge. If the end of the “Do Joshua’s Job Game” comes and Joshua hasn’t won, how does that fit in with his performance review? One thing for certain is that Joshua does not feel secure in his job anymore.

These two issues provide examples why games focused on ‘unique’ skill sets are difficult to deploy. Additionally, we see how competitive games focused on ‘in-role’ behaviors can introduce some awkward situations into the workplace and existing performance review processes.

Challenge: Not everyone is motivated by head-to-head competition – or feels comfortable “playing” at “work”

Fix: As a result of cultural and personal differences, people are motivated by different things. A leaderboard provoking head to head competition may actually have a negative effect on some, so it’s important that productivity games offer a variety of gaming elements to ensure everyone is included. Our new game, “Communicate Hope” allows players to perform tasks to help raise money for disaster relief agencies.

Benefits & Metrics

The most important benefit we’ve seen is around employee engagement, retention, and morale. Bringing games, play, and fun into the workplace keeps people happy and they stick around. When they stick around, they get better at their jobs, the return on training is amortized over longer periods, relationships and trust improve, and there’s laughter and an optimistic energy in the hallways.

We have seen that successful games increase productivity dramatically. Unsuccessful games can bring about a negative ROI and add to the stigma around the word ‘game’, so we’ve taken great care to document things diligently.

As an example, for some crowd-sourced activities, we saw participation double with the introduction of gaming elements.

Using games and play to make tedious work more fun brings benefits far beyond traditional business metrics.

Lessons

Games appeal to everyone, especially at work!
Collaborative play builds trust.
Games don’t work everywhere or in every situation.
Leverage core player skills.
Leaderboards and scoring compete with the paycheck for motivation – be careful. Prizes don’t necessarily help – and can sometimes hurt. See this Dilbert as an example of prizes gone bad.
Experimentation is critical.
Amplify skill with volume
Reduce cost with Discovery & Instrumentation
Reduce Risk with Diversity
Trust and transparency increase effectiveness

Credits

Ross Smith, Harry Emil Joshua Williams, Robin Moeur, Robert Musson, , Dan Bean, James Rodrigues, Angelika Kinneman, Lori Ada Kilty, Marc McDonald, Darren Muir, Jian Chen, Jennifer Michelstein, Ethan Mollick, David Edery, Byron Reeves, Leighton Reed, Ben Sawyer, Rashmi Jha, Jason Upton, Brock Dubbels, Amulya Garga, Mike Muetzel, David Wortley, John Nordlinger, Roy King, Raman Chandrasekar, Dana Zimmerman, Cari Dick, Anne Legato, Patrick Copeland, Jiggy Shah, Daniel Burleigh, Phaedra Boinodiris

Materials

www.42projects.org

42projects blog http://42projects.blogspot.com/
Productivity Games Blog

Microsoft Press Blog on Productivity Games

Total Engagement –Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete – Harvard Business Press

Serious Games Initiative – www.seriousgames.org

Stuart Brown – Why Play is Vital - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwXlcHcTHc

Google’s Image Labeler is a great example of a productivity game.

Video Games as Learning Tools – www.vgalt.com

Human Computation Workshop - http://hcomp.info/HComp2010

Documents

GTAC Productivity Games.pdf

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October 12, 2010 at 7:49am

Robyn McMaster

First, I absolutely love your icon since it starts me off with a smile and makes me feel like I want to explore what you propose and it makes me feel good first thing in the morning. While some in my family enjoy the challenge and fun involved with gaming, others do not. While a gaming strategy might work exceptionally well for some, it may not for others. How might you also keep in mind that one size (gaming) while fun for many, may not appeal to all? There are many strategies to create fun and adventure at work and a workplace that creates several options, in addition to gaming, would be appealing.

October 15, 2010 at 9:15am

Ross Smith

@Paul - the goal for Communicate Hope is to motivate/encourage beta testers to try certain scenarios and exercise areas of the software - and send feedback to the product engineering team - earning points for charitable donations...

@Robyn - yes, you are correct - people are motivated by different things - and games do not work everywhere, nor for everyone. We learned several places that games are not effective - and also found found that some people like competition (leader board) - and some do not - others may like puzzles or challenges - and that it's important to have elements of each in a productivity game - because our goal is to hvae more people playing, more frequentlyi - so anything we can do to attract effort benefits the work. We also allow people to do the work without participating in the game. Our experience so far has been that the players are far more participatory than the non-players .

Thanks
Rosss

August 26, 2017 at 12:37am

Phillip Griffin

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https://suitcaseentrepreneur.com/productive-secrets/

September 5, 2010 at 1:41am

Ellen Weber

Thanks for this inspired story, Ross, what an excellent case for games as a tool for growth. I have observed business leaders play cool games to see how best to market their goods in different demographics. Not surprisingly, they really got into the different angles of sales and marketing in ways that board rooms could never tap.

What proof that people love to play, Ross, and that promising innovation tends to include adventures to innovation as you laid out so well here.

I had 2 questions about the growth of games as added value to workplaces of all ages and backgrounds:
1. How could people of different backgrounds help to design these workplace games, even though they may not have the mechanical skills to build them?
2. Are there good options to account for people’s unique learning strengths? For instance, one person may learn more from using metaphors for peace tactics, while another may prefer war images.
Great idea, and it will be a surefire tool of the future in innovative cultures where games such as Wii – help to grow new interest in the power of games to teach and develop innovative skills.

August 9, 2010 at 8:52am

Bruce Stewart

Fascinating idea, thanks for sharing it. I have a question about how this kind of process works out for older employees who aren't necessarily from the "gamer generation." I could imagine a system like this being off-putting to employees who aren't familiar with online game play, or aren't inclined to play games on their own. Does this kind of project end up disenfranchising those employees who aren't from this demographic? Or have you found that if they're given the opportunity they'll open up to the idea of game-play as a form or work?

August 15, 2010 at 3:17am

Karin Horowitz

I like the story and agree on the place of 'games' and 'play' in organisational learning and collaboration. It's important to acknowledge that games and play aren't the same thing. Bearing in mind different Types of people (using the Myers-Briggs as a framework), it's worth reflecting on how less structured 'play' than a 'game' usually provides, can introduce creativity into the workplace - that is, exploring or even 'messing around' without a defined framework or specific outcome in mind. Giving people new resources, methods and contexts to experiment and play with can yield huge results - as with children in a learning environment. Leaders who are able to create an environment where play is felt to be ok, are fairly thin on the ground in my experience, especially in the current climate - and this quality needs to be fostered.

August 16, 2010 at 4:53am

alan nguyen

I run a vc funded media company in a emerging market. My staff is really young, and in this market very few companies run Scrum or Six Sigma. By creating 'badges', 'leader boards', and ways to 'level up'... it was much easier and faster to get the staff to apply six sigma principles without them necessary knowing it (six sigma just sounds intimidating).

Game mechanics is a great way to measure and get the team to hit KPI's.

August 16, 2010 at 4:53am

alan nguyen

Game mechanics is a great way to measure and get the team to hit KPI's.

August 22, 2010 at 2:11am

Ross Smith

Thank you all for your comments – @Alan – yes, changing the front end of complex, mundane, or repetitive tasks to a more game-like, fun interface engages people without them realizing – and most importantly, they enjoy it. @Karin – Communicate Hope is structured – and there is a very big difference between a competitive game, game theory, puzzles, and beating your own high score and unstructured play. Our 42projects effort (http://mix.managementexchange.com/content/organizational-trust-20-42proj... and www.42projects.org ) – to build organization trust – is focused on encouraging the unstructured play / experimentation / risk taking. You are absolutely correct - they are two different things that are oft-confused because people "play" games... But games have instructions and rules, (just as Six Sigma does) - and that's where the intersection of these two worlds gets very interesting... And Bruce, I think if we stay true to the matrix above – and do not try to have our point system or leaderboards compete with the paycheck or traditional performance evaluation for "reward" or recognition, then we might be less likely to disenfranchise those who don’t play. It's certainly something we keep an eye on - and we have learned some things the hard way. The key is that this is targeted at “Organizational Citizenship Behaviors” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_citizenship_behavior and leveraging core skills – and the games are designed more similarly to Bejeweled – a casual game – rather than a first person shooter – and looking at the demographics of casual games – or even the popularity of Farmville – we hope that people are more open to the idea.
Here are a couple more links on game demographics:
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~cpearce3/PearcePubs/BoomerGamersPreview.pdf
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Adults-and-Video-Games/1-Data-Me...

September 23, 2010 at 7:33am

Paul Tres

If it's possible i want to know more about the Communication Hope, how it is structured, how you have to play with, the rules, how many palyers and in what context it was developped?

And also something more specific about productivity games

Sorry for my english, i'm italian.

Hope u answer me.

September 28, 2010 at 7:26pm

Ross Smith

Hey Paul -

Thanks for your interest - a lot of what we've learned is in the GTAC paper above - there is some additional info in some coverage in Forbes and Forrester

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/09/microsoft-workplace-training-technology...

Forrester
http://blogs.forrester.com/tj_keitt/10-09-24-product_managers_take_note_...

We have about 1000 active players now - and our goal was to get pre-release product feedback - people can earn points in the game by trying things and giving feedback.

The game is still in progress, but when we finish, we will post a full report on the MiX.

Thanks
Rosss

September 29, 2010 at 3:05am

Paul Tres

Mr. Smith, thanks for the answer and the references, but something is not clear yet.

I understand what the Language Quality Games is, for example, but I really don't understand what the game "Communication Hope" is. What is the goal you want to reeach and why it is a game? And why a Productivity Game?

Thanks for your time, Paul