This September, I am honoured to have been accepted to speak at the European Business Analysis Conference in London. My title is “The Playful BA”.
Firstly, fun doesn’t (and shouldn’t) negate the fundamentals. It is just another option for approaching tasks. As well as my general interest in being playful, I started to research the psychology of businesses, groups, and individuals. Human interaction and communication underpins most of what I do. I may help to design websites and applications but I am doing it with the needs of how a human will interact. I have often worked in groups as a facilitator or analyst and tried to get as much information out of the attendees but there are various barriers.
Using play has been a tool to break down barriers. Some of the barriers have been
- there is a dominant person who prevents others from speaking
- because more introverted people may not be comfortable sharing information uninvited
- the group is suffering ‘groupthink’ with the assumption that everyone is agreeing
- lack of awareness of their own tacit knowledge
- general boredom
My facilitation kit has become massive but it is worth it. I have boxes of toys to fiddle with, crayons and colouring books, fuzzy felt, craft paper, Lego and pens. Giving a fun task to a group and empowering them to be as abstract or literal as they feel fit is a beautiful thing.
It isn’t just me who thinks this way, large software organisations, education institutes and the corporate world are recognising the freedom and financial benefit in play and I hope to share my insights at the conference and at the pub 🙂 In fact, just come ask me, it’s hard to shut me up!
George
For details of the conference, click here. | Original Version of this article is here.