Now I have been accused anyway of writing way too much in my posts, let's stretch this a bit more and drive you all up the wall a bit. Not for fun, but with good reason and trying to help.....
Because many of you develop boring software that employees hate to work with!
Well this doesn't help much feeling comfortable does it? But after this bombshell lets work this out a bit. Humor me.....
You concentrate around what the customer exactly want you to get done, and see to it that the demands are met data-wise and in terms of application logic.
To make this short: you deliver an application that does what it should do! Good for you?
Well, that depends! Of course this will get the bill paid, and no matter what happens next, your family will applaud you for that. So yes, you could say you are doing great. But let's look a little bit closer.
How many of your applications are still being used with enthusiasm? In the end, you can build whatever you want, but employees will have to work with them. And you are producing software in an extremely competitive environment: the gaming industry! Since THAT is what your customers employees know and experience when they get home from a days work with the static and boring business software you created (excuse me). They play games. Voluntarily! They love to play games! How would it be, if they "loved to work with your software" just as much? Not while their boss tells them to, but just because it's fun and challenging?
Now that's a challenge isn't it?
Another example you might recognize: put an average employee in front of any popular game WITHOUT any documentation and when you get back after 4 hours you will still see that employee focused to the death almost buried into his screen finding out how exactly this game ticks! Even without ANY documentation the employee will succeed in finding out how it works, based on strong motivation, driven by inner emotions.
Our business software however does tend to not have that effect. Put an employee behind your business application (not the boss of course who has a direct financial motivation) and chances are after a few seconds already he will start to complain about the lack of documentation. Like we do here at the Alpha forum from time to time
. So, I hear you thinking, what would that matter?
There are many, many examples of software investments that ended up in the companies' bin just because people refused to work with it. Sometimes they even seemed to be on a quest to make the software fail! What this means in terms of business economics is obvious. It not only costs tons of dollars, but it also moves motivation of employees into a very unwanted negative corner.
And to top things off: it does not exactly make YOU look good as the developer as well....... although you could not do anything for it...... now could you?
Yes you could! Gamify your product!
"What?" I hear you thinking.... "Has he gone completely mad?". Hmmm. I would not contradict that. But to go on: you could bring competitive elements into your software, which appeal to inner motivations of the employee: it does not become a matter of "doing your job" but a matter of "to win or to loose". If you use that element in a playful way that not contradicts the targets of the software itself, you could have added a winning element to your software that actually invites employees to work with it! How cool is that?
"Gamification" does not necessarily have to be targeted in the rather obvious way as mentioned above. You can also think of using that angle to have the software "explain itself" to the employee as he goes along with it: when the employee reaches a higher level in your software, more is disclosed about how it works in the next level. Information an employee can only have if you is really up to it, and information that shows that the employee in fact has advanced above his fellow game player.... uhhhhh.... fellow worker I mean.
Just as games are fun, the right application of "gamification" technologies can make working with your application just as fun for the employee as playing "World of Warcraft" or "Sniper Elite" at home.
Imagine what this could do with your application, and the acceptance of your application for your customer.
A warning though is at place: this is not something you can easily succeed with, and it takes a fair amount of hours of study to see where your opportunities are.
Alpha Five Developer: Gamify !!
Because many of you develop boring software that employees hate to work with!
Well this doesn't help much feeling comfortable does it? But after this bombshell lets work this out a bit. Humor me.....
You concentrate around what the customer exactly want you to get done, and see to it that the demands are met data-wise and in terms of application logic.
To make this short: you deliver an application that does what it should do! Good for you?
Well, that depends! Of course this will get the bill paid, and no matter what happens next, your family will applaud you for that. So yes, you could say you are doing great. But let's look a little bit closer.
How many of your applications are still being used with enthusiasm? In the end, you can build whatever you want, but employees will have to work with them. And you are producing software in an extremely competitive environment: the gaming industry! Since THAT is what your customers employees know and experience when they get home from a days work with the static and boring business software you created (excuse me). They play games. Voluntarily! They love to play games! How would it be, if they "loved to work with your software" just as much? Not while their boss tells them to, but just because it's fun and challenging?
Now that's a challenge isn't it?
Another example you might recognize: put an average employee in front of any popular game WITHOUT any documentation and when you get back after 4 hours you will still see that employee focused to the death almost buried into his screen finding out how exactly this game ticks! Even without ANY documentation the employee will succeed in finding out how it works, based on strong motivation, driven by inner emotions.
Our business software however does tend to not have that effect. Put an employee behind your business application (not the boss of course who has a direct financial motivation) and chances are after a few seconds already he will start to complain about the lack of documentation. Like we do here at the Alpha forum from time to time
. So, I hear you thinking, what would that matter?There are many, many examples of software investments that ended up in the companies' bin just because people refused to work with it. Sometimes they even seemed to be on a quest to make the software fail! What this means in terms of business economics is obvious. It not only costs tons of dollars, but it also moves motivation of employees into a very unwanted negative corner.
And to top things off: it does not exactly make YOU look good as the developer as well....... although you could not do anything for it...... now could you?
Yes you could! Gamify your product!
"What?" I hear you thinking.... "Has he gone completely mad?". Hmmm. I would not contradict that. But to go on: you could bring competitive elements into your software, which appeal to inner motivations of the employee: it does not become a matter of "doing your job" but a matter of "to win or to loose". If you use that element in a playful way that not contradicts the targets of the software itself, you could have added a winning element to your software that actually invites employees to work with it! How cool is that?
"Gamification" does not necessarily have to be targeted in the rather obvious way as mentioned above. You can also think of using that angle to have the software "explain itself" to the employee as he goes along with it: when the employee reaches a higher level in your software, more is disclosed about how it works in the next level. Information an employee can only have if you is really up to it, and information that shows that the employee in fact has advanced above his fellow game player.... uhhhhh.... fellow worker I mean.
Just as games are fun, the right application of "gamification" technologies can make working with your application just as fun for the employee as playing "World of Warcraft" or "Sniper Elite" at home.
Imagine what this could do with your application, and the acceptance of your application for your customer.
A warning though is at place: this is not something you can easily succeed with, and it takes a fair amount of hours of study to see where your opportunities are.
Alpha Five Developer: Gamify !!
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