Michael Wu, Ph.D. is Lithium's Principal Scientist of Analytics, digging into the complex dynamics of social interaction and group behavior in online communities and social networks.
Mi...
Updated 6 months ago
Version 7.0
Blog Post
I’m reading a fascinating book called “Reality is broken“, by Jane McGonigal and the parallels between gaming and business are far reaching. It’s more than just rewarding points and badges, it’s involvement and direct social connectivity (and what is later coined as ‘ambient sociability’ by Jane), continuous feedback and appraisal. It’s making sure that what we do in business has a clear objective and steps to reach that goal. That the intrinsic satisfaction of completing a set of tasks (or process steps) to achieve the (customer based) outcome has far greater power than just the (not so) almighty dollar.
I would say read the first six chapters and understand the concepts within, then look at how your Social BPM stacks up against it. One of the more interesting topics (technically) touched on is ‘Phasing’ which happens in WoW, where each player is shown a different view of the world depending on their own accomplishments. Perhaps this is something that could/ should translate into business context a lot more, and in Social BPM, visibly seeing the impact of your work and how it affects the organisation around you. And I don’t mean BAM and MI. Please think a little more abstract when you apply social context to these tired concepts.
Do we split Social BPM into Hardcore and Casual streams ?
Casual processes, ones that offer one off hits, quick and dirty customer fulfilment ?
Hardcore processes that take longer and more effort but the rewards are more visible and longer lasting ?
Food for thought if you’re looking to explore gamification beyond just ‘business games for innovation’