Why you want Gamers in your project team

Recently I listened to an excellent podcast from Cal Fussman where he talked with Scott Novis. In the conversation Scott outlined why gaming is good and why children should be encouraged and supported to play video games. These are the excellent reasons he gave about what children (and all gamers) learn from video games –

Learn to attack / solve problems
Learn to not give up, to persist until you succeed
Learn new skills

I believe that these 3 lessons and character traits are what all parents want their children to learn and embody.

Imagine that your project team could be made up of members who enjoy solving problems, never stop until the project is delivered and continually want to improve themselves. If this was the case, then no project would be delayed and the level of effectiveness of the organisation would be through the roof!

To all those project managers who are also parents Scott also outlined some interesting questions to ask your kids about gaming. I believe that these questions could also be very insightful interview questions for potential project team members and / or employees.

Questions for gamers / future team members / employees –
What do you like about the game?
What has been the biggest challenge?
How did you overcome the biggest challenge?
What keeps you engaged?
What would make you quit?

The final point from the wide ranging podcast was a wonderful definition about excellence.

It is not necessary or helpful to be “excellent” at all the time. As this implies that you need to spend a high level of energy and concentration to stay in a high performance mode. What is a better approach for being “excellent” is to measure and understand how is your “competitive excellence”.

This means how good are you at being at your best at the right time. For example, it is of no good for Usain Bolt or Lionel Messi to be at their most prepared and best physical condition when they are not about to start a race or football match. This does not help themselves or their team. So high performance athletes like Usain Bolt and Lionel Messi prepare themselves so they are at their peak condition at the exact time they need to be, not sooner and certainly not later.

In the world of projects it is important to identify and plan for when team members have to be at their best e.g. the person who will perform the requirements gathering has to be at their best at the start of the project when the requirements are being collected but then can relax when the solution is being built as per their documented requirements. This will allow team members to know when their race / match is going to start so they can prepare themselves appropriately.