For software developers, serious games provide new ways to gain insights into customers and make smarter decisions faster. In many respects, serious games complement Agile, Lean, and other process improvements. While serious games have general application in innovation, we are using software development as a starting point for understanding their potential.

1. Corporate Serious Games Are Changing The Rules Of Product Development Tom Grant, Ph. D.Senior Analyst, Forrester Research

2. Agenda

3. Agenda

4. What software development can tell us about product development Software development is innovation with most of the pesky physical laws removed.

5. Dad, why do people hate your software?

6. Complexity is one big problem

7. Some hot topics in software development Agile Iterative, adaptive development Lean Pull model, emphasis on flow Requirements Improve the lexicon of development User experience (UX) Connecting code to humans DevOps Code developed is not code deployed Technical debt Sloppy code accumulates, slows innovation Social media Conversations go both ways Cloud More direct relationship, utility model Embedded software Creating hybrid hardware/software products All of these reflect, in different ways, the problems dealing with complexity.

8. Software companies don’t handle complexity well The Chevrolet Volt Brand new automobile technologyMillions of lines of code Time to develop: 3 years Oracle Database Mature technologyMillions of lines of code Time between versions 8 and 9: 4 years Windows OS Mature technologyMillions of lines of code Time between XP and Vista: 5 years

9. Complexity divides technology producers & consumers Base: 105 professionals directly involved with the development or support of software applications Source: Q1 2011 Global Application Development & Delivery Organization Structure Online Survey

10. To get out of this jungle of complexity, you’ll need more than just a bigger machete or a larger expedition.

11. Lack of customer insight is another problem

12. Ever pay $100K for something you didn’t use?

13. Developers build software for people unlike them

14. We don’t question our assumptions about customers

15. “Team dynamics” are the third problem Compartmentalization Overbearingpersonalities Poor morale

16. TIME TOCHANGETHERULES

17. What sort of serious games? Structured, game-like activities with collective outcomes

18. Different needs, different games Source: April 29, 2011, “App Dev Teams: Consider Playing Around With Serious Games” Forrester report

19. Teams often use serious gaming regularly for: Ideation Requirements collection Requirements validation Rapid decision-making Strategic-level decisions (portfolio, road map, etc.) Retrospection

20. Where serious games figure into development Generate new insights into what customers really value Change team dynamics and challenge operating assumptions CONCEIVE TEST BUILD DELIVER ADOPT ASSESS Reduce complexity throughout the innovation process

21. EXAMPLE: Product box

22. EXAMPLE: Buy a feature COST FEATURE SPENT - Android app for activity management $5,000 $500 Custom pipeline stages $2,000 - More complex lead-scoring options $3,500 $300 More canned reports $1,500 $2,000 Define and manage teams $4,750 $2,500 Easy clean-up of bad or duplicate data $2,500 - Activity entry via email $3,250 - Associate teams with prospects $1,250

23. EXAMPLE: Prune the product tree Sales MGR Sales Rep Emailactivity Report API Mobilesupport Pipelinemgt Teams Opportunitystates

24. Serious games are useful in many contexts

25. Agenda

26. Why do serious games work? Structured Rules, but often no winners Purposeful Definite outcome Time-bound By definition, a time-boxed exercise Participatory Success depends on everyone participating. Egalitarian Everyone has an equal opportunity to participate. All of which can simplify decision-making and generate new insights.

27. Why do serious games work? IF figure out puzzle THEN release pleasure- creating chemicals (opioids) Our brains are wired for intrinsic motivation.

28. Reducing complexity Rewriting a decade-old system from scratch Needed to economize on features included in the first version Used a Product Box game to ask stakeholders what was most important Some surprises in the results Communicated the results throughout the company OUR PRODUCT Now with more stuff!

29. Improving customer insights Looking for fresh ideas for support projects Have to overcome geographic and organizational boundaries to find them Ran “Buy A Feature” online Allowed broad participation Recorded conversations Had high engagement, including after work Gave workers outside HQ a sense of real participation

30. Challenging team dynamics At end of sprint (development cycle), use a serious game to ask what they could do differently the next time EX: Prune the product tree Off-cycle, use serious games to generate ideas Collaborate with Bangalore team Why do serious games work? “Ask powerful questions” Collaborate over distances Collaborate across group boundaries

31. Agenda

32. Your next move with serious games START WITH THE IMMEDIATE Pick the game that addresses your issue. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Make sure you have enough resources for the exercise. Record the exercise. Socialize the results. Plan for the next game. THEN MAKE SERIOUS GAMES AN ONGOING ACTIVITY Requirements Planning Retrospection Ad hoc decision-making Rules that apply to any context, not just software development.

33. Be very specific about the problem you’re addressing Complexity Customer insight Team dynamics Pick one. Just one.

34. Pick the right game

35. Build serious game into regular processes

36. Thank you Tom Grant +1.650.581.3846 tgrant@forrester.com http://blogs.forrester.com/tom_grant @TomGrantForr www.forrester.com