Today’s Book of the Day is Gamify: How Gamification Motivates People to Do Extraordinary Things, written by Brian Burke and published in 2014 by Routledge.
Brian Burke is an international expert in enterprise architecture at Gartner, where he developed research in fields like gamification, innovation management, and IT strategy.
I have re-read this book in the last few days as I am designing a gamification proposal.
This book is one of the must-reads in this field as it not just presents the theory but it also shows some clear examples of how to apply this theory to concrete situations.
Today, many companies are struggling in keeping their employees and managers engaged and motivated.
After the pandemic, this struggle has become even more tangible, as working from home has given back people one of the most valuable assets, their precious time. Almost everyone has reclaimed the right to a meaningful job, a decent work-life balance, and time to foster self-growth.
Gamification has been one of the most used tools that companies and organizations used in the last years to grow their digital engagement success. Yet, even if gamification can be extremely effective, it’s also incredibly easy to make it wrong, due to poor design and misunderstanding of its goals, strengths, and weaknesses.
Too many companies have believed that gamification was a sort of magic wand that would have delivered committed, hard-working employees with just little effort from the management in providing the tool.
Gamify shows how to correctly design, develop, deploy, and improve gamification projects in real-life scenarios. The book clearly demonstrates how good design, smart development, and a deep understanding of the goals of gamification strategies can give in return engaged and motivated people who will commit to achieving both their own purpose and the business goals.
The key, according to the author, is to understand that motivation is internal, and it cannot be forced from the outside, from the managers. Motivation, when it comes from the individual, helps to change negative behaviors, develop new skills, and foster growth.
The goal of every gamification strategy is to align the business objectives with the goals and purposes of the users of the project.
This book should be on every manager’s desk, as a perennial reminder that employees, as well as managers themselves, cannot be forced into doing things. Motivation must be nurtured by every single person and then brought into one’s personal and professional life.
Burke has shown, once and for all, that gamification, to succeed, should be made by experts who understand the complexity of the project and design the solution with humanity and purpose.
So, if you too are serious about gamification, get a copy of this book and enjoy it!
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