December 2008 Archives

I've written before about reptiles vs. mammals, and how I'm a mammal and need to be more like a reptile.

I think I've over adjusted. In the past month I've been nasty to several people when they didn't live up to my expectations. As a mammal, in the past I've always let things slide as bit too much here, and it's cost me. I've worried excessively instead of dealing with the issue. I'm not seen as leader material. A reptile would deal with the issue and resolve it. So that's what I've been doing, but not in the best way.

You don't have to be mean and nasty to be firm. You just have to state what your goals are, make sure people understand them, and ensure all understand the consequences for all if the goals are not met. Work to ensure success so failure doesn't happen.

Now I can blame several factors here - I'm REALLY stressed out both by work and personal factors. I'm ill and jumping the gun. Etc. All this is true, yet a leader (IMO) has to be able to set these things aside when communicating with others.

So to those of you out there that actually read this and have seen my dark side, my apologies.  I need to work harder in this area.

My colleague Chris Stubbs and I had the opportunity to visit the NMSU Learning Games Lab recently.

Wow - what a fantastic experience. This visit really opened my eyes to some directions we can shoot for. It will take several years to reach their level of design and development, and Chris and I walked away with some good ideas on how to get there.

I believe they have two big strengths - the ability to use continuous rapid prototyping to develop games, and a strong ability to write and pull in grants to support projects they are interested in.

They really have a living lab, where they bring in students to test prototypes and have the developers observe reactions. I can't think of a better way to do game development. In many ways, development in this area is more of a black art than a science. While one can strive to design everything "correctly," until you test your ideas out you just can't be certain of success.

The lab itself has a soft, coffee cafe-like feel. Indirect lighting, soft chairs and couches, etc. I believe we've done as much as we can for our lab to emulate this, with the exception of indirect lighting. That should be easy to remedy.

One concern they have is lack of PR. Enough people just don't know they exist. Lessons learned here are we have to continually push on several fronts:

    •    Exposure at national conferences.
    •    Exposure to game companies.
    •    Assist faculty in publishing venues, formal and informal.
    •    Develop white papers made freely available.

This is a place we could collaborate on/subcontract to for large development projects beyond our current capability. They are a bunch of fine, caring people.

Below are notes I jotted down throughout the day.

Operational Setup

    •    Soft money. Only director is on hard money. Good at receiving grants, but these are drying up, and more competitive.
    •    Main thrust is developing games for middle schools.
    •    They use outside and inside faculty for SMEs. Outside SMEs are part of the grant. Inside ones do work for Games Lab on an informal basis.

Game Development

    •    Fairly traditional CRP model.
    •    Work with client, brainstorm initial storyboard. Looks like Barbara comes up with specific learning objectives.
    •    Rapid prototype, revise, revise. Lots of trial and error.
    •    They have ~five developers on any given project. No IDs, all game designers.
    •    Settle on finished product.

They all work in a common open room, computers around the edges, table in the middle.

Student Testing

    •    2 days, 1/2 day each
    •    Do it at all stages, alpha, beta.
    •    Testing is useful to justify uses of media to teachers.
    •    Use of fresh subjects at each stage.
    •    Use middle-skill gamers.
    •    Also used as bug testers.
    •    They develop the kids to be better testers as they are testing stuff.
    •    Pull the best testers over time for advanced work.
    •    The game developers do direct observation, think-alouds, etc. with the testers.
    •    Taught programming - SCRATCH. From MIT, for kids.

Kids design a game.
 - In groups
 - PPT
 - Developers listen, pick up ideas

Lab Setup

    •    Mobility is key - ability to move furniture.
    •    Coffee-room feel.
    •    Everything on wheels.
    •    Special tables that can be broken apart and reconfigured for special situations

We should add to EGC Lab - Sign that explains what the lab is really for.

Misc Interesting Things

    •    Video Closet - like a videoed SRDP, with just one question at a time. Young students like it. I can't see it for college students. Might be useful to the DC. I am scratching my head on this - can;t imagine why students would like to have a non-anonymous taping of their criticisms of a game.
    •    Also for blogging - doing a cafe, raised chair computer setup helps students to blog.
    •    They are far ahead of us in the game development area. The director wishes she had more time to publish.
    •    Our lab setup is unique. It looks like PSU is the only place to approach security, etc. in this manner.

Future Outcomes

This would be a great group to collaborate with on game development. They have the expertise and staff to develop mid to large games, far exceeding current capacity of the EGC.

How are leaders adapting to the explosion of Web 2 sites? I recently subscribed to Listio, a site dedicated to listing the Web 2 sites out there. Then I forgot about it for two weeks. I was traveling and in training, plus finishing up the grading of the course I teach, IST 250. Imagine my surprise when I opened my RSS reader to find hundreds of posts, each one detailing a new Web 2 site!

Talk about a technological singularity! So, how do leaders deal with the explosion of information out there, the ability to hook up with others in a second and share information, and the resulting loss of control?

A good leader has to keep the pot bubbling but not overflowing. Too little push and things just sit. Too much push and the pot boils over, people freak out, quit their jobs, etc.

Now that's an internal push to keep the pot bubbling, designed and orchestrated by the leader to do so. What about outside influences such as the Web 2, that are beyond a leader's control? There are two obvious choices.

Choice 1 - Ignore all this; It Will Go Away. Don't encourage your staff to look at these stupid sites. In fact, limit internet access at work so it can't happen. That way you (the leader) is in control of the information flow. People see what they need to see, based on your expert decisions.

Hmmm. That doesn't sound like a place I'd like to work. Do places like this exist? You bet! How about Choice 2?

Choice 2 - Embrace the Web 2 stuff. It can only empower your staff to reach a higher level of, well, everything good. Intellectual processing. Sound decision making. Getting the big picture. Communicating with others on relevant topics. The flow of information is a controlled yet chaotic one. Sure new things happen every day, new sites, etc., but the individual has to filter all that and come up with strategies to cope with infoglut. People see what they need to see. People see what they don't need to see, according to your strategic plan, etc. So what? If they are truly invested in the organization, you trust them to bring their Web 2 experiences back to the organization, making it stronger over time.

Web 2  is the magazine of the new millenium. Just as there is a magazine for everyone on every subject, there is (or soon will be) a Web 2 site for everyone. As a leader, how will approach this opportunity for your people to bubble their own pots?

I attended this training Dec 8-9 at the Penn Stater, Univ. Pk.

If I had to sum this up in one sentence, it's all about creating a safe zone for people to have rational communication, where neither person shuts down or becomes too excited and emotional.

The bulk of the training is spent on things you can do to modify your behavior in critical situations. A smaller part is devoted to techniques you can use to diffuse bad situations.

The training is well conceived and well executed.

Where else could I (mock) sexually harass Vicki Willams and have John Harwood coach me on it?

This past week was full of mini successes. And they all revolved around careful planning. First, I managed to complete the drafts of two proposals, one for an EGC Gaming Initiative, the other for the use of Second Life via the EGC at Penn State. I also had a critical conference call with Procurement Services about the EGC Video Switching System.

In all cases, I had the groundwork laid out, so the work went smooth. I'm starting to realize the value of hoarding tiny bits of information as actual artifacts - a text file here, an image there, as opposed to keeping it all in my head in the hopes that when I need it, I'll be able to dump it out on demand. I used to be able to do that. Aging - I advise against it.

In any event, this reliance on artifacts is only increasing for me.  I'm using project management software again in a big way for the first time in years and while it still feels a bit artificial, it is allowing me to sleep better at night. I am slowly becoming better organized. Everything I've read about leadership and reptiles mentions organizational skills, so I'm hoping this will allow me to become a better reptile.

Later this week I travel with Chris Stubbs to New Mexico State University to check out their Gaming Lab. Can't wait!

I'm starting this on a Tuesday because of the holidays. Normally, I'll shoot for a weekend post or do it early Mondays.

The last week was interesting because I had a chance to try out a very complex role-playing game - EVE Online. I plan on writing a more comprehensive post at the EGC Community site, but for now I am a bit adrift on RPGs and higher ed.

I spent three hours in the game, and didn't even get through the tutorial. This game is that complex. Yet RPGs, IMO, hold a great potential to change the affect of those playing it. Kurt Squire used Civilization in his dissertation, and remarked that it took several weeks for the students to get into the game to the point where they could set aside the learning (game mechanics) from the doing. This is just crazy and it won't work in most learning situations.

I also went back over a great book - The Nature of Leadership by B. Joseph White, President of Illinois University. In the book, he defines different leadership styles, mammals and reptiles. Mammals  are nurturing, have good people sense, trute and delegate, and are developmental with their staff. Reptiles and disciplined, great with numbers and finance, controlling (in a good way), detatched, and analytical. You need to be both to be a great leader. I'm a mammal. I need to work on my reptile skills. I need to listen to people I work with, but stick to my guns. It's a challenge for me, one I'll be working on in the coming year.