Where to Focus in an Infinite Game
It doesn’t have to be vague
Buster and Kevin,
I really like the framing of finite versus infinite games. I think it’s a good way to understand things like wicked problems, and also a way to understand different people. It reminds me of a few things in my life.
Lost in Translation
When Sophia Coppola’s Lost in Translation came out in 2003, I loved the structure of the movie. My co-workers disagreed. “Nothing happens!” they said. But I think that’s part of the beauty of the screenplay. Two lonely travellers with insomnia have a series of disjointed memories. If you’ve ever felt lost, especially in another country, it rings true. There’s no real point to the movie, but it’s rich with meaning.
Sandbox games like Sim City
The original Sim City sold a lot of copies, but it confused a lot of people. I remember trying to explain it to my friends, and without some “end game” or goal like city size, they struggled to realise the point. To me, the lack of an ultimate goal was extremely freeing. I got a lot of meaning from playing in the sandbox it gave me, Montessori-style. Most of my friends sent disasters into the city just to make something happen.
Classical versus jazz
My productivity works best when there aren’t “right answers” per se, but instead things to experiment and play with, push and pull at, debate different sides to, and just enjoy the journey.
Once my manager compared me and another high-performing designer to classical versus jazz musicians. “You both know the fundamentals, and you’re both great at what you do. But metaphorically, he’s playing classical music and you’re a jazz musician.” And she explained how both approaches are equally valid, and on a team you need both kinds. Structured and free-form. Considered and improvised. Finite and infinite thinkers. Neither is better, but too much of one is bad.
So if we agree that wicked problems don’t have a fixed endpoint, and we understand that teams take all kinds, then what? So how does that work? It’s fun to think about.
So where do we focus?
I think the focus should be on the relationship between each person on the team, and trying to build great bridges between different thinking styles of people that are trying to work together. Maybe it’s the Sim City lover in me, but I have faith that if you build good enough systems, an amazing city will emerge organically. But if your goal is “let’s build an amazing city,” you’ll have a hard time reaching your goal.
In my view, you need an infinite game way of looking at the broader overall problem, but you do need finite game thinkers on every one of the tactical steps that you choose to undertake.
Thoughts?
