mental models game prototype presentation may 2013 update
DESCRIPTION
Concept presentation about Mental Models Card Game. The game was invented by Tiimiakatemia Creativity Program LÄN back in 2006. Monkey Business took over the development in 2010 and intends to publish it as a card game as well as an open source project.TRANSCRIPT
Mental Models GameIdea (cc-by-sa) LÄN 1 & Monkey Business
Instructions (cc-by-sa) by Ville KeränenIllustrations (c) by Juha-Matti Kinnunen
[email protected] / @VilleMonkey3rd of May 2013
This is what the mental models game in action might look like.
Once upon a time, there was an introvert but creative guy, with strong opinions. He found himself in trouble. He was sometimes afraid to express what he thought was right, and how he thought world works. He said yes, even if he thought no. He said it's ok, even though it wasn't. As inside him, he still thought otherwise. He was a bit shy, too. So you can imagine, working with him was not easy. During his education, he gained a reputation being impossible to lead.
I suppose he isn't the only one like that. Working together is not easy. Communication makes team work tick. And usually not. According to Wiio, communication fails unless it succeeds by chance. I think it's because we have different associations and mindsets about the way things work. We could call these ideas that affect the way we work mental models. Like Peter Senge and friends do.
Mental Model Game helps you to understand your own and your team mates way of working. If you know what your friend means by for example word "soon" you will know what to expect. Usually it takes a lot of time to learn that unless you consciously think and talk about these issues. And that's why you should play the mental models game. You will learn how you and your team mates think.
That makes all the difference.
Story
History• Mental Models Game was first
developed by Tiimiakatemia’s Creativity Program LÄN back in Spring 2006.
• It was inspired by Peter Senge’s seminal book The Fifth Discipline.
• Afterwards Monkey Business took over the development in 2010.
• Game is now released as open source project with CC-BY-SA license
Why this game?• The idea of the game is to
understand better about your own as well as your co-workers’ mental models.
• Understanding the mental models will help you work better and more efficiently together, and also make your work more fun and fluid.
• The winner is the one who learns.
When to play?• The mental models game will help the
players to get to know and understand each other better thus it works especially in the beginning of learning processes.
• It can also be played at later stages in order to get the people on the same level and learn from each other on a certain topic e.g sales, marketing or coaching.
What are Mental Models?
What are Mental Modelsmade of?
Values
Assumptions
BeliefsPremises
Common sense
Previous Experiences
IdeasConcepts
Symbols Language
Images
Representations
Meaning
Smells
“Mental models are deeply held internal images of how the world works, images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting. Very often, we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effects they have on our behavior.”
- Peter Senge
There is a great presentation on Mental Models in Slideshare by Amy Rae and Joanna Beltowska.
How to get the game?• You can order a deck with all the materials from
Monkey Business via email [email protected] for the price of 60€ (inclusive of mailing worldwide).
• You can play the game starting with 3 persons, and it can scale up easily to 20 or 25 people.
• Also, it is possible to scale the game to suit hundreds of people with the help of technology.
• If you need help in the facilitation, please contact me via [email protected] for help.
What you need?• You need a game leader to facilitate
the game.
• First you pick a deck of questions from a preferred theme, or you can start by creating questions of your own for what you need empty cards and pens.
• Secondly, you need an egg timer.
Game Leader• Game Leader facilitates the game
and takes care of the time.
• Game leader hosts the session and holds the space for meaningful conversations to take place.
• Game Leader also decides when it is time to add more questions into the game.
Rules• One conversation at a time
• Listen with open mind to others and yourself
• Respect the time and the game leader
• Think of your results as a prototype - no need to do perfect but something that we can learn from and build upon
Each Turn1. Pick a Question Card from the Deck
2. Pick a Work Method Card
3. Pick a Presentation Mode Card
4. Have a dialogue for 5 minutes
5. Present your mental models to the rest of the group according to the presentation mode chosen
More Questions• Between every 2 to 4 turns you
should add more questions to the game. To do that give every player empty question cards and pens and invite them to write down a question that they would like to talk about today.
• Not all of the questions will be gone through but they are valuable data for the game host and owner to look into afterwards.
Question Cards• Every question should include the
word mental model in them. For example:
• What is your mental model about good leadership?
• What mental models support co-creation?
• Where does my mental model about sales come from?
Work Method Cards• There are four different
working methods:
• Personal Reflection,
• in Couples,
• in 3-5 person groups
• in 7-10 person groups.
Presentation Modes• There are six different
modes for presenting your ideas:
• Pantomime
• Riddle
• Play
• Dialogue
• Drawing
• Poems
Do you want to play?Please get in touch.
Ville KeränenMonkey and Banana [email protected] +358 40 731 2084twitter.com/VilleMonkey www.banana.fi