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Interaction10 – Dave Gray – Knowledge Games

Written by Russ on February 7, 2010 – 10:03 pm

(Sorry, had some odd WordPress snafu–this is a repost of a post I somehow killed off inadvertantly)

Dave Gray’s session was–as always–fun, insightful and inspiring. He’s always a great speaker and a sure-fire bet to be one of your favorite sessions if you’re at a conference he’s presenting at. He did not let us down this time, and I hope my notes make sense.

Knowledge Games Description:

We’re moving from an industrial to a knowledge economy, where creativity and innovation will be the keys to value. New rules apply. Yet two hundred years of industrial habits are embedded in our workplaces, our schools and our systems of government. How must we change our work practices to thrive in the 21st Century? Dave Gray will share insights from his upcoming book on the work of creativity and innovation, due to be published in the first quarter of 2010.

Dave Gray’s Bio:

Dave Gray is the founder and chairman of XPLANE, an information design consultancy serving Fortune 100, NGO and government clients around the world. An artist, journalist and information designer, he is passionate about applied creativity.

My Notes on the Session:

Knowledge Games – Dave Gray

The AK-47 has killed more people than any other weapon.
Best designed weapon; can drop it in water, pick it up, still use it.
A 12 year old can use it.
Simple – Has 8 moving parts
Rugged
Reliable – many other guns would jam, etc. American soldiers would take the AK-47 from killed enemies
Lightweight – can be used by a 12-year old, but also easily portable.
Easy to manufacture; can make it in a machine shop
Design is a Weapon that can be used for good or for bad. It’s a powerful tool for change.
Design Philosophy: Don’t design for a perfect world, design for chaos. Because the world is filled with chaos.
Design challenges have a starting point and an end point, but what do you do when the end point is vague and/or unknown?
DG thinks of a process as more like a pachinko game; with all kinds of structure around it, but you don’t exactly what’s going to happen. There is unpredictability in the process.
Some things are linear and some are non-linear. But they can be friends.
Business process: a series of steps that are repeatable.
Knowledge games: a mothod for inventing and discovering new processes.
What is a game: A creation of a microworld that represents aspects of the real world.
A game has boundaries and exists within time and space.
A game has a goal
A game has rules
A game has artifacts
A Game has players
A game exists between a start point & end point. How do we define a goal when we don’t know the goal?
Fuzzy goals – you know you’re going somewhere, but will figure that out along the way. It can adjust & change as you move along.
Conference Design: What if a conference was as good as all of the coffee breaks?
- 10 Essential Rules:
- 1. Opening & Closing – It’s all about rhythm. The rhythm of working with people. Game reference: Scrabble.
  - Two Rules
    - Never open & close at the same time; you can’t be creative & decisive at the same time
    - Always close what you open! It’s frustrating as hell if you don’t close things.
2. Fire-starting – getting people excited is a huge part of getting things done. Game reference: 20 questions
- Get in touch with your ignorance; you need to get beyond knowing all of the answers & be happy to be wrong!
- 5 Kinds of Questions
  - Opening – What has been keeping you up at night?
  - Examining – What is this? How does this work? Can you give me an example? What does the data indicate?
  - Experimenting – If we worked in a restaurant how would we solve this? What are we missing? What if all the barriers are removed?
  - Navigating – Is there some tension around this topic? How about a short break?
  - Closing – How would you prioritize these? What’s feasible for us to do in the next 2 weeks? Who will take responsibility for doing that?
3. Artifacts – usually portable, items that people have imbued with meaning even if we don’t know exactly what it is. Game example: Chess; you can’t play without knowing the rules of the pieces.
4. Node Generation – like sticky notes. Game example: Scattergories; generate as many notes as you can, get as much stuff on post-its, etc. around solving a problem.
5. Meaningful space – Think UPSIDE the box! What is the right kind of container for all of this stuff? Draw borders; think of Pros & Cons, axes, etc. to help define the space.
6. Sketching! Game reference: Pictionary!. There is no try! EVERYONE CAN SKETCH! Anyone who can write the alphabet and the numbers 1-10, can sketch!
7. Randomness – Shake things up! Game example: Dice
8. Improvisation – game Example: Charades!
9. Selection – This is where you make hard decisions. You have to kill some of your babies here. Game example: Jenga! Choose well.
10. Try something new. Every time you do something, try something new. If you do the same thing every time you’ll get bored & everyone will know it. Game example: Operation! Keep it alive!
Don’t be afraid to be wrong—you’ll find something no matter what!
Paradox of discovery: You find things that you’re not looking for…
- Basically, don’t over-think it!