Gamestorming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo

Summary: have fun while creating great things

If you want to came up with something you usually have two options. Either you go with some kind of process (this way is usually good one if you want to have your back covered) or you go with unconventional methods (if you have enough money to cover your expenses in case of failure). The second approach is what Gamestorming is all about. First of all, you get the explanation of what playing game is all about. This is very important part, because it will give you arguments when it comes to convince other people to play a little bit instead of just “inventing” things through regular process of “thinking”. It might be hard work to convince your co-workers to use this way of solving issues. Many people find “playing games” a perfect example of wasting the time. That’s why it is very good idea to show how playing games makes your brain work different way. After explaining the concept of gamestorming authors go through various examples of games that might help you solve your problems. The collection of games is really impressive. There are almost 100 different games presented within the book. Games are divided into sections that help you solve particular issues. Opening games help you produce ideas quickly, exploring games help you go through the ideas you came up with, closing games help you to get into the end of the innovation process. Reading the book really is fun, however, mind one thing. Not everybody likes to play. If your colleagues do not like to play RPGs, they don’t know what RTS is, and board games are just a mean of wasting time, gamestorming is probably not good for you. I agree that pushing people into “another worlds”, with different rules might be good way of finding what hasn’t been found yet, however – not everybody is ready for that. Not everybody likes to play. People simply feel very uncomfortable in this kind of situations. I think that book should be read by people who either have their own company or have team of really open minded co-workers – people who like to explore alternative ways of finding solutions. I find this book very inspiring, but, you know, I have graduated from philosophy (among the others) and studying philosophy is by itself similar to playing with ideas and exploring new worlds :)

Product page:

O’Reilly: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596804176/
Amazon (in Books): Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers
Amazon (Kindle): Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers