The sun, setting on a perfect north Brooklyn day, paints the otherwise obsidian fire escape outside my window with glints of golden yellows and oranges. A car decelerating to my quiet corner's stop sign blares the Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way. A brief moment of levity ensues as the masked sidewalk walkers and brownstone stoop sitters can't help but dance along. I find myself doing the same. Before I realize it the car drives off, the soundscape gives way to children playing on the sidewalk and the next car's soundtrack.
I like to think of the Gamestorming website as a utility for those doing work, and, therefore, the site's traffic patterns reflect when the work is being done. There's rarely a time when no one is on the site, but peaks and valleys form the jagged mountain range of the site's recurring metrics. The image above, May 2020's visitors, shows the typical weekly pattern four times over. If an "average" Gamestormer exists - and, to be sure, one does not - you would take it easy on Saturday, begin preparing for the week Sunday night, and then ramp up to a fevered pitch Tuesday before slowly dialing it back and cruising into the weekend. I love this pattern. It rarely changes.
There are always people on a New York sidewalk and the soundtrack always changes
In the last 12 weeks the site's traffic pattern has remained the same, but popular pages changed. I found it interesting to compare the 50 most popular pages from this period to the same 12 weeks in 2019. Five changes stood out to me:
7Ps (increased in popularity by 15 pages) I suppose the sudden work-from-home shift caused many to go back to basics and re-examine what makes a good meeting. While the virtual delivery may be slightly different, these Ps stand firm.
The Impact/Effort Matrix (increased in popularity by 10 pages) As change was forced upon us, we were forced to change. I suspect this game became popular to investigate options new to us: is the juice worth the squeeze?
Category: Games For Decision Making (decreased in popularity 9 pages) This trend stands counter to the previous observation, but there are always exceptions to the rule. In general, I suspect many of us were more engaged in divergent thinking these last 12 weeks. Maybe these games will make a comeback soon?
5 Why's (decreased in popularity by 14 pages) Often used to find the root cause of a big or persistent problem. When we hit the WFH-reset button, an entirely new batch of opportunities & problems hatched. They may soon be ripe for a deeper analysis.
Navigate Market Opportunities (increased in popularity 19 pages) The biggest page jump in either direction. This doesn't need much explanation. It's a wonderful activity designed to help you map your options.
There are many other changes, but not as striking. In general, I would say the last 12 weeks saw us go back to the basics and engage in divergent thinking.
A note on the Gamestorming Research Project
A few weeks ago in this newsletter I mentioned the forming of a research project intended to explore how we are working in our current, uncertain environment. I'm happy to announce we have fielded a team of seven and expect to launch a survey soon. Stay tuned! And please reach out if you would like to play a role.
