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"Serious Play": experimentation by simulation

Michael Schrage wrote "Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate" to show that a company dominates its industry when it designs prototypes quickly and frequently, and when it uses its innovations to continually transform itself and its relationships with customers and suppliers. Microsoft, Boeing, Royal Dutch/Shell and Disney are masters of what Schrage calls "rapid prototyping."

Whether it's a spreadsheet that tests a new financial model or a foam prototype of a calculator, what interests Schrage is not the model itself, but the behavior that play--be it modeling, prototyping, or simulation--inspires. An organizational culture built around this kind of "serious play" is fundamental for encouraging innovation. Schrage argues that while prototypes and simulations are valuable in supporting an organization's existing behaviors, they're more valuable when they turn up surprises.

In the last chapter, Schrage lays out the 10 rules of serious play:


  1. Know who wins and who loses from an innovation.
  2. Decide what the main paybacks should be and measure them rigorously.
  3. Be willing to fail early and often.
  4. Manage a diversified prototype portfolio.
  5. Tightly-couple a prototype to the ultimate product.
  6. Design prototypes that invite play.
  7. Create markets around prototypes.
  8. Encourage role-playing, build a prototype that engages customers, vendors, and colleagues.
  9. Know when the costs outweigh the benefits.
  10. Record and review relentlessly and rigorously.


Buy "Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate" from Amazon.com.
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