In this second part of my conversation with Graham McAllister, we explore Graham's next pivot to studying organizational psychology at the London School of Economics. After selling his startup, Graham decided to do an MSc to help him answer what he now saw as the core problem in game development teams and that was lack of a unified vision. He shares his insights into shared mental models, vision alignment, shared values, diversity in hiring, and building resilient teams. He also discusses how these principles can be applied to other creative and research collaborations. Keep an eye out for the final episode in this series with Graham where he shares practical tips on the art and practice of writing.

Overview:

00:00 Intro

00:29 Episode Introduction

02:30 The Turning Point: Leaving the Company and Writing a Book

04:54 Discovering Organizational Psychology

05:44 The Journey to London School of Economics

07:16 The All-Consuming Feeling of Vision

11:07 The Importance of Education and Luck

16:26 Reflections on Lifelong Learning

19:22 Applying Mental Models Beyond Games

20:42 Understanding Alignment and Values in Organizations

23:39 Rethinking Hiring Practices and Leadership

26:46 Setting a Vision and Mission

29:01 Building a Mental Model

32:19 Operationalizing Shared Values

36:26 Detecting and Addressing Cultural Beliefs

38:15 Preview of Part 3 on Writing

40:38 End 

Related Links:

Graham’s Home page and LinkedIn Profile

CAL120 Part 1 episode with Graham on his previous career pivots

Kotter’s Change Model https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps/

Edgar Schein’s three layer of organizational culture - see various

discussions:

•  https://psychsafety.com/psychological-safety-edgar-scheins-three-layers-of-organisational-culture/
• https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/5-enduring-management-ideas-mit-sloans-edgar-schein
• https://www.managementstudyguide.com/sigma/edgar-schein-model.htm
• Original 1983 paper

Welcome to Changing Academic Life.

2

I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick, and this is

a podcast series where academics and

3

others share their stories, provide

ideas, and provoke discussions about what

4

we can do individually and collectively

to change academic life for the better.

5

welcome to part two of my conversation

with Graham McAllister, where we explore

6

his next career pivot to a master's

degree in organizational psychology

7

at the London School of Economics.

8

You may remember that at the end of part

one, we left him having sold his startup

9

company and on holidays and starting to

write his book on usability and games.

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He talks about how during the writing

process he realized that there was

11

actually a deeper core problem, and

that was the lack of a unified vision

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within the teams developing the games.

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Through some serendipitous encounters,

he ends up at London School of Economics

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as a student again and studying

organizational psychology to help him

15

work out how he could solve this problem

of shared vision and vision alignment

16

Again, his insights have relevance

beyond the video games industry to

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any creative team endeavor, including

collaborative research projects.

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He discusses the transformative power

of shared mental models and vision

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alignment within teams, the importance

of hiring practices for diversity and

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the significance of values and beliefs.

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He also talks about methods to ensure

alignment and resilience within

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teams and shares insights into how

these principles can be implied to

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improve both product development and

organizational cultures more generally.

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So we'll pick the recording up here

at the end of where Graham has been

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reflecting on how he got to some of

those deeper insights into what the real

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problems were in the video games industry.

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Graham: So yeah, eventually at the

end of my career, I got to the bottom

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of my pyramid of whys, which is

it's, it's mental models combined

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with vision and culture are the two

things I ultimately come back with.

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Geri: So why did you think you

had to go back and do an MSc

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Graham: I didn't know.

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I'd, so here's, when I left my

company, I did not know for the

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first time what I wanted to do.

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But I did know that I was done there.

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Geri: hmmm

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Graham: I've never had that before.

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I've always known what the next leap

was, like, you always join these dots up.

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My dot is here, the next dot's over there.

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I see, you kind of form a path.

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But there was no other dot in this case.

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But I went on holiday to a Spanish

island, and in the morning I went for

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a long run, and in the afternoon I sat

with my iPad and started writing a book.

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on my previous career.

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So on usability, it was called

usability type testing or something.

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It changed over the years, but so I

started writing this book and I eventually

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got to the chapter, which talked about

user experience, so not usability.

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In other words, what's the barrier to

playing the friction points, whatever.

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But more the feeling you

get when you play the game.

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And I realized I found the

chapter quite difficult to write.

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I was like, that's interesting.

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Basically, you're trying to answer

the question, what is a video game?

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What is it?

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What happens when we play a video game?

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And how would I write that in a chapter?

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And I thought about, it made me

think about my very first client in

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the video game industry, where they

allowed me to walk around the studio.

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And I was able to walk around,

and I remember asking people,

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Tell me about your game.

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No, tell me about your mission.

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What are you making?

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And I got a different answer from

the different people that I spoke to.

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They're in different departments.

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Everyone was a designer.

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Everyone was a programmer.

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Everyone was an artist.

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Everyone was in the management.

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I remember thinking,

isn't that interesting?

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This team.

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They don't really know what

they're doing, at least I'm not

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getting that from the answer.

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And that game ended up being

cancelled due to lack of vision.

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In other words, they

didn't know what it was.

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So this problem, here's me trying to write

this book as a chapter thinking, it's

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very difficult to write what a game is.

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And when I speak to people

making the product, they don't

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seem to know what it is either.

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That's a fascinating

research problem, right?

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What is it then?

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How do I, how would,

imagine this was a PhD.

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What's the research question that

we're actually trying to answer here?

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What is vision?

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What is game vision?

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And so someone eventually said

I should speak to, actually it's

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someone we know, Pejman,Mirza-Babaei.

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Pejman said, I've got a

friend you should speak to.

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And she was a visiting professor at UCL.

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And she said, Oh, I see your problem.

88

That's organizational psychology.

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That's the sub branch

of psychology you're in.

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I didn't even know what

branch of science I was in.

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I was like, I've got a problem.

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I see the problem.

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All the evidence in the

industry says there's a problem.

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But it took someone else to tell

me the flavor that the science, the

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branch of science I needed to go with.

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And I was like, wow, that's interesting.

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So I better find out double quick

about organizational psychology

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and thank you because you're part

of my LSE journey by helping me do

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Geri: LSE is the

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Graham: London School of Economics.

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Yeah.

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Sorry, I should say.

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So I applied to London School of

Economics, which you, uh, very, you're

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very kind as many people listening

will know, uh, you wrote the, the,

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uh, letter of support, the, um, And

I'm sure your level of support is

106

fundamental to me getting into LSE.

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But so I went back to London

School of Economics to study

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organizational psychology, which

is a very good program for that.

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It's only beaten by a few, like maybe

Harvard or, or maybe a few others.

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So it's very, very highly regarded.

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I was lucky to get in.

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Um, but I was doubling down.

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The same feeling I had, remember I said

I stood still when I knew I was going

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to start a games user research studio.

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It stopped me moving.

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That's how, that's how

strong the feeling was.

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vision problem had the same effect.

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Where I knew everything was

like, that, that's the path.

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There's no deviation from this path.

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That's the path for the end of my

career is I did not know what I'll

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find and maybe what I end up finding

is there's nothing to be uncovered.

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And it's just one of those

problems where we don't know,

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but could have been the answer.

124

I genuinely could have been

the answer, but it's not.

125

You actually can fix it,

which is the good news.

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But I did know that I only

had that feeling twice.

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One was user research

to the game industry.

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And now game vision and bringing

that into the game industry.

129

I'm pausing there.

130

Because I think there's going to be a, I

could have a final chapter, some sort of,

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um, postscript, which just says, could

I bring this to any team or any company?

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Because

133

Geri: we'll get to that , I want

to pick up on, you said it's only

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twice you've had that feeling.

135

Tell us more about the feeling

because we're often, especially as

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academics, researchers, computer

scientists, we're in our heads.

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And you talked about the first time

you did the in your head spreadsheet

138

of pros and cons and adding up

and, you know, in the end went

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with the gut, the feeling there.

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And then you had these other two very

clear experiences of being stopped.

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Talk more about the feeling,

like how do you access it?

142

How do you recognize it

literally in your body?

143

Graham: yeah, it is.

144

It's a feeling.

145

It's a, it's a very strong.

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all consuming feeling where, I don't

know if you ever watch a TV, an American

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TV show called House, he's a doctor

played by Hugh Laurie, and he's always

148

trying to solve some really complicated

problem, you know, and he, but there's a

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moment every show where the camera zooms

in on his face and he stares into the

150

mid distance and you realize he's got

the answer to this problem, you know.

151

That is exactly the feeling I get that

I had in these two scenarios where you

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realize you're working on something

but you don't know quite It's not all

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the cogs haven't quite aligned yet.

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And then suddenly you realize that's it.

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That's the thing.

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And I had it with user research.

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And I had it with game vision where

it was like, that's the thing.

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Those are answering.

159

You could say as well, we don't have

that term, ikigai, you know, where

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it's like, do people have the need?

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Do you have the passion?

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Do you have the skill?

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Those that sort of intersection

of these things overlap.

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And I think in each of those

cases, the overlap was so strong,

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like it burned a hole through

the center of the Venn diagram.

166

Like it was just all consuming.

167

That is the thing.

168

And nothing has taken

me away from the path.

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So I think if you had it where it

was like, yeah, it's a bit like that.

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I'll try that for a few years.

171

Then people change again.

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I was not changing.

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This is user research kept me for the

company was seven years, but it was

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before that, you know, even at Queens.

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So that was over a decade.

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That's bringing HCI to the game

industry, no deviation from the path.

177

But then when the journey was done, I was

eventually, my mind was released from that

178

problem, thinking, well, we've done that.

179

What else?

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Because I knew that user research

was not the final answer.

181

I got to a certain level of

the five whys, which is, well,

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we can put a band aid over it.

183

We can, we can make the product

a bit better, but we're not

184

actually fixing the team, really.

185

They still don't know what they're making.

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User research did not

answer that question.

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That is not a user research problem.

188

That's an organizational

psychology problem.

189

So again, the hole was still burning,

but I realized there's something else.

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I had saw that problem in my previous

job, but I didn't have, when I left

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that job, I didn't quite hadn't

connected yet because I wasn't aware

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of organizational psychology and shared

mental models and all that type of, I'd

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heard the terms obviously, but I wasn't.

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I hadn't investigated them enough to

realize that is the particular that's

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leading to the user research problem.

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There's a deeper layer that

needs to be investigated here.

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But it's all consuming.

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It's like that.

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I can't express other than when you

know, you know, when you realize there's

200

nothing going to take you off that path

that I don't need to look anywhere else.

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This is the final, this is it.

202

This is the answer to there's

something here that is a decade

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long avenue of research and bringing

the knowledge and the findings

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to to your domain, your industry.

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Geri: I can hear that just certainty.

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I can hear the certainty

and the conviction.

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And, and it also sounded like you needed

to give yourself some space for it to mull

208

in the back of your mind to get to that.

209

It wasn't so much an intellectual process.

210

It was Something that percolated

and it needed time and some

211

distance, some stepping back.

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Graham: It needed two things.

213

You're quite right.

214

It needed time, need space to, um, need

space to not think about your current

215

problem, but I also needed education.

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I needed someone to tell me,

I was not aware of this thing.

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It was an unknown, unknown that

I'm going to do that of all the

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possible branches of science that I

could go down and MScs I could do.

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I could have took the wrong one.

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I could have ended up doing something

kind of similar, maybe behavior

221

change, which is kind of similar.

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But not quite in the same

sphere, you know, there was

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multiple ways I could have went.

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But this was laser, this was the one.

225

So, I think you needed a little bit I

needed a little bit of education to say,

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Okay, um, I don't want to do this three or

four times in a row until I get it right.

227

I needed time, I needed a bit of

education by speaking to different

228

people, and then this UCL professor

said, This is where you need to go.

229

Which proved to be true.

230

So, that's lucky, right?

231

That's luck as well that Pejman happened

to know this professor that happened

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to know who happened to know that.

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Geri: I always say if I did a

word cloud from the podcast of all

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the people sharing their stories.

235

Luck would come out and it's

amazing how things work out.

236

Serendipity happens.

237

We just happen to meet or, you know, and

there's, there is a part where we have

238

to be open and in a place to respond

and, you know, it's not going to drag us.

239

Luck isn't going to drag

us kicking and screaming.

240

We have to be open.

241

But yeah,

242

Graham: And I think that problem

academics suffer from that as well as

243

in, especially industry people, where

they're so busy on the treadmill of,

244

like I remember trying to do some, some

consulting, audio consulting a little bit.

245

And some companies are,

we've no time to do that.

246

So vision is the number one problem.

247

I bore you for another hour.

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I'll tell you all the evidence.

249

It's the number one problem,

stopping a games team, the game.

250

And even for the number one

problem, making that team effective.

251

They say, we have no time.

252

They don't have the headspace to

even pop the head up and say, what

253

problem are we actually addressing?

254

So they're happy to build the wrong

product and make a mess of it.

255

Than stop for four hours and

address the problem, which sounds

256

insanity when you put it like that.

257

Geri: Sounds insanity

258

Graham: That's what happened.

259

Geri: Sounds

260

Graham: what happened.

261

Geri: Yeah.

262

Graham: Even as a researcher, like

I would say, going back to my LSE

263

Masters, I knew going in that if I

found a meaningful result, I would

264

be commercializing it in some way or

giving it away, writing a book and

265

talking about it, sharing my knowledge.

266

Where I did not have that mindset

when I was a PhD student, I was doing

267

a PhD because I don't think I wanted

to get a job, you know, and someone

268

paying me some funding to hang around

a computer for three years felt

269

like, you know, that was wonderful.

270

So, if I got, if I was doing a PhD now,

my mindset would be, well, is the problem

271

substantial enough that I want to do it?

272

Could I, would I write a

book over it at the end?

273

Could it turn into a company?

274

My mindset would be completely

different back to me as a 22 year old,

275

Geri: And that's a

journey as well, isn't it?

276

Graham: Yeah.

277

Well, at least I fixed it with LSE.

278

I did go in thinking this is going to

be a tool, it's going to be a book,

279

it's going to be a series of talks.

280

Um, so at least I did learn rather

than repeat this, repeat this

281

Geri: And did, how, did you enjoy

the, the master's like, because

282

this is going back to academia

again, but this time as a student.

283

Graham: You have no idea.

284

I didn't want to leave.

285

I did not want to leave.

286

London School of Economics was wonderful.

287

I was smiling to myself

walking around campus.

288

Like, I'm not using that as a metaphor or

saying that figuratively, I was literally

289

walking around smiling by myself, just

thinking how lucky am I to be here

290

researching a topic that I cannot stop

thinking about, that's going to solve

291

the number one problem for games teams.

292

Well, there's a chance

I might solve it anyway.

293

How lucky is that?

294

What's wrong with that picture?

295

That's, that's, that's as good

as it gets, honestly, um, I

296

couldn't imagine anything better.

297

That's high up.

298

Yeah,

299

Geri: Oh, that's

300

Graham: so yeah, I think being a 50 year

old student, you know, I was clearly

301

the oldest person in the room, uh,

including most of the lecturers, but I

302

didn't, that didn't bother me at all,

you know, um, even when I applied to

303

LSE, they asked me, I applied as Mr.

304

Graham McCallister, I never used

my PhD, um, so I applied as Mr.,

305

but when they wrote back, they changed

it to doctor or something, you know,

306

and I was like, oh, oh, they really,

really do look at that stuff, but I

307

didn't, I wanted them to Ignore that.

308

I'm a student.

309

We're all students.

310

You know, this, uh, this identity

title that, oh, you, you learned

311

once, so now you're finished.

312

That's complete nonsense, you

know, and I want, I wanted the Mr.

313

title.

314

I did not want the, the PhD

title, you know, so I was

315

disappointed that they used that.

316

Geri: Yeah.

317

Because it is, it is an

ongoing learning journey.

318

I know that, um, I also went

back and did a master's.

319

I think I was, I think I had just

turned 60, actually, when I went

320

back to do my, to do a master's.

321

And it was in a applied positive

psychology coaching psychology.

322

So again, sort of in that area, because

I saw a need and, and really wanted to

323

address it and have an evidence base.

324

And I, I couldn't, I was just smiling

to myself because I, it was hard work

325

and I was doing it on top of my day

job and I loved every single minute.

326

It was never a chore to sit down and

read a paper or write an assignment.

327

Graham: What do you think changed

between us as 18 year olds doing

328

our first bachelor's degree and

going back in the middle years of

329

our life, you know, and kind of

thinking, this is the best thing ever.

330

Geri: I don't know, it's funny.

331

I'd go back and study again

and I still keep doing courses.

332

I think it, I heard what you said about

it connecting to the why you're doing it.

333

You've got a really clear

sense of why you care.

334

And you also have a clear sense

that you don't know enough in

335

order to solve a problem or help

in a way that you want to help.

336

You need some more input

that you don't have so far.

337

Graham: Yeah.

338

I think as an 18 year old, you're

doing a degree to get a job.

339

That's a stepping stone, but at 50

or 60, you're doing it because of

340

some cause, some mission that you're

on to say, well, you don't need to

341

do it at that stage, but you do.

342

And, and you want more as you say you do

it, it's not like you come out and think,

343

well I'm glad that's done, I'll now go

and do, I want, I want to do more of

344

that, because there's more, you're just

uncovering more of what you don't know,

345

Geri: Yeah.

346

Graham: I don't know how

347

I

348

Geri: think also when you think also

when you're 18 or 28, you also think

349

that somehow this is your path.

350

You know, it's a career and.

351

And it's not, it's just a step,

352

Graham: I don't what type of PhD you did.

353

I broadly see two types, so one is, you

join a department or a research group, and

354

they're working on problem X, and you're

another researcher working on problem X.

355

But mine was not that type, my PhD

was, the funding came from the dean

356

or something, there was some strange

Prize or award or something I had.

357

So I basically said, we can do computer

graphics, but you go and find your

358

problem and then go and research it.

359

And of all the things that

stood me the most over time was

360

being able to find the problem.

361

The first part of that PhD is

they didn't give the problem and

362

say, no, go and solve the problem.

363

It was you find the problem and

then go and fix the problem.

364

the first part was by

far the most interesting.

365

How do you find the problem?

366

That's the bit that's lasted me through

the company, and what I, the vision,

367

or player psychology, team psychology,

that's the part that's remained,

368

is your ability to see the problem.

369

That will endure forever.

370

The PhD in computer graphics, whatever,

no one's, you know, who cares, right?

371

Geri: yeah,

372

Graham: But your ability to think

through, well, if you're going to

373

solve the problem, how do I know, how

do I know how to solve the problem?

374

Where do I look?

375

How do I look?

376

That's interesting.

377

Geri: mm, it is, yeah, I, I

also did a PhD similar to that.

378

Um, so you did your, you did your

masters and you've talked about how

379

the, the key learnings insights were

around this, um, the value of, of

380

bringing a mental models perspective to

understanding shared vision within a team.

381

And you're very much applying that

within the games industry and how

382

to make games development better,

going back to this core problem.

383

I'm curious whether you think

that, you know, because you also

384

talked about doing some consulting

outside of the games industry.

385

So I'm curious to hear whether this

notion of teams and having a shared vision

386

is a problem in other domains as well.

387

And I'm thinking of, you know, our

academic research projects, for example,

388

Graham: For example?

389

Geri: as an example.

390

Yeah.

391

Graham: It appears to be the case.

392

So whenever I've talked, we talked

a few times about this publicly, the

393

game vision model, but whenever I

have talked about it, it would not

394

be unusual where people on the team

would say, Hey, that's interesting.

395

This is showing we're

not aligned on our goal.

396

Could you also help us at the

company level, not at the product

397

level, but at the game level?

398

In other words, I don't think the

founders of the company all want to

399

take the company to the same place.

400

For example, and people have

said that from, uh, academia has

401

come up, for example, banking.

402

I gave a talk at a design conference

and someone said, the, the management

403

of the bank aren't taking it.

404

And I've always, I've always said, see, I

always thought that was an easier problem

405

to solve because they're more tangible.

406

It's easy to see with video

games, it's an experience.

407

So it's intangible.

408

And I thought the problem was,

and it kind of is, because it's

409

not tangible, you can't point to

it and say, Well, we're making X.

410

So we all know we're going in the same.

411

But if we're making a company, the KPIs

are usually quite clear, which is we're

412

going to, you know, solve this problem

for these types of people in that market.

413

Um, are we all doing that?

414

Yes, we're all doing that.

415

And what do you realize?

416

And shared mental models is you're

probably not going deep enough.

417

In other words, at the surface level,

it looks like you're aligned, but

418

then you might get to something like,

well, how do we go about doing that?

419

Or what do we sacrifice?

420

Or what are you willing to leave

behind the typical organizational

421

change models, Kotter's model of,

you know, what do we change or what

422

do we keep and things like that.

423

So you realize that if

you're experiencing.

424

People say they're aligned.

425

It's probably not true.

426

That's one thing to bear in mind.

427

The second thing is just look to see are

you experiencing friction in your team?

428

After experiencing

friction, is it over a goal?

429

And why is that?

430

It means that if you think you're

aligned, but you're still experiencing

431

friction, then you haven't gone to a

deeper level of what are we aligned on?

432

Like maybe you're not aligned on values.

433

Like maybe we get growth.

434

We're getting the numbers.

435

We're making gazillion dollars a year.

436

But maybe we sacrifice to ethics,

we're horrible to people, we're

437

horrible to employees, we're

horrible to our customers, we're

438

horrible to the environment.

439

We'll sacrifice all of

that for the bottom dollar.

440

That's a source of friction, but that,

that means you're not aligned, obviously.

441

So alignment, you need to be, figure out,

well, are we aligned all the way down?

442

Not only in the goals, but also on how we

deliver the goals and how we check that.

443

Geri: So how we deliver the goals,

which goes back to, you know,

444

cause what you said there reflects

Our shared understanding of the

445

values underpinning the decisions

for how we achieve that goal.

446

Graham: And even back to your why,

like you've got a research group.

447

Why do we have a research group?

448

But why does this research group exist?

449

Is it just to churn out papers

or to fund PhD students to

450

sacrifice my career growth?

451

Or does the research group exist

to do some other bigger purpose?

452

Does it have a mission statement?

453

A company should have a mission statement.

454

What I've also seen, I'm

going to speak about my own

455

industry and video games here.

456

A lot of them, although they say

they have mission statements,

457

they're kind of paper thin.

458

Like really, it's about making money.

459

And part of me just wishes

them to just be honest and say,

460

we make, we're making money.

461

At least it'll be authentic, you know,

instead of saying, oh, we do it for

462

the players or some nonsense like that.

463

So, and you realize that a lot

of people don't hang around in

464

those companies because they

see through it pretty quickly.

465

But.

466

They don't want to belong.

467

You're just, you're not being honest

at least, you know, if you want to

468

make money, there's nothing wrong

with it, but at least to wrap it

469

up in some paper thin, you know, I

470

Geri: with your own company, you would

do things differently now, having

471

gone through the master's degree.

472

Graham: I think so

473

Geri: What would you do differently

if you were starting up your,

474

um, your own company now?

475

Graham: I think the way I, the way I

viewed hiring people back then was people

476

who were like me, I'm going to hire

people with my skillset culture fit.

477

You might say these days, but again, we

look at the science of building teams.

478

That's exactly what you

should not do anymore.

479

It's culture add, but you're looking

for people with the skillset.

480

The reason why you hired hired

me, in fact, you were ahead of

481

the curve, so you're looking to

build people who are, you know,

482

they fit your values, but they're

going to add something to the team.

483

So you don't want people disagreeing

on, uh, I'm not a culture researcher,

484

but obviously it came up with

LSE, but you want someone who fits

485

into your way of doing things.

486

You don't want someone who's all about

money and somebody's all about ethics.

487

Clearly that's a clash, you know,

but you want someone who's going

488

to fit the values of the company.

489

In addition to adding

different skill sets.

490

So culture fits now the outdated model

where you're just building more and more

491

the same and the company doesn't have any

real, it's going to stagnate over time.

492

Effectively, you may get success in

the short term, but over the long term,

493

you're not building a very good culture.

494

Culture add is the current

best way of building teams.

495

Geri: You're not building a resilient,

um, culture either because culture

496

add adds in resilience by nature of

the diversity that you're adding in.

497

Graham: Yeah, diversity of thought, you

know, challenging of ideas, so culture

498

builds in resilience, those cultural

resilience, and if anything the game

499

industry is not resilient, you know,

and they're also not very honest with

500

themselves, they have lots of problems.

501

Leadership problems are terrible,

like they're not usually trained on

502

leadership, they're just someone who

was once a domain expert and has now

503

been promoted to C level and they are.

504

This is not good.

505

They call it a professional industry,

but I query that on a daily basis,

506

and it's very much an amateur industry

with pockets of professionalism.

507

The domain experts are usually,

you know, experts in their domain.

508

That's true.

509

But the higher up the management, the more

culture sits or is normally controlled,

510

not ideal.

511

Geri: Mm.

512

Graham: Not ideal.

513

Geri: But many Part of the problem

in academia, as well as we're not

514

Graham: It is.

515

Geri: trained in leadership, which is why

we have our leadership development course.

516

Graham: And it's needed.

517

You probably remember, even as

an academic, people said, why

518

do we have academics do research

and teaching and administration?

519

Why do they have to be a jack of all

trades, for want of a better phrase?

520

Why do they have to do these

three separate threads?

521

When we could, another

model is we have experts.

522

But you apply that out and say,

well, why don't we have management

523

who are actually trained?

524

In management, we understand culture

and team building and building

525

resilience and coaching and growth.

526

And wouldn't that be nice in addition?

527

So, we don't have that.

528

We still have academics who do

teach and admin and do research.

529

And we still have, you know, the C suite

in academia who are domain experts.

530

They were professor of biology and

now they're controlling a university.

531

Can't see any problems with that.

532

Carry on.

533

Not to pick on biology, by the way.

534

Geri: So and what else would you

do differently in your company?

535

So, one is hiring, the hiring

decisions and this idea of culture add.

536

How would you ensure shared vision?

537

Graham: I think I did not, I did

not think about the future of the

538

company at all when I started because

the most likely outcome is failure.

539

So there are people who tried to

build games Research Studios before

540

me, and they were subdivisions of

famous research agencies in London.

541

And they wrote to me in advance and

said, don't bother trying because

542

we tried it and it didn't work.

543

So we'll save you the money and time.

544

Just don't do that.

545

And they said you should also do

it for the web or user research or

546

anything, you know, be a generalist,

do not apply it to only video games.

547

Because we are the generalists,

so we tried a games theme

548

that didn't work out for us.

549

And they're very rich and they've

been around for a long, long time.

550

So I had a few of those emails

from several different companies.

551

So the most logical path was,

look, it's not going to work.

552

And the vision for me was simple but

clear, bring HCI to the games industry.

553

So if people are hiring me to do

usability testing, my one service

554

that I was offering, Then I did not

know what the end result looked like.

555

I just knew what the start

of the journey looked like.

556

Could I get someone to pay me to

run usability testing on their game?

557

And can I find, and the business

model at the time, uh, said something

558

like, if I do two usability tests a

month, I think that's enough money

559

to start the company for a year.

560

It would last for a year.

561

Uh, and that's exactly what happened.

562

We did way more than that,

by the way, but I think.

563

I'll not mention specific numbers,

but I think we 5x'd the money for the

564

first year that I needed to survive.

565

So I needed x to survive

and we 5x'd from memory.

566

So it was more than I thought.

567

Um, so it did okay.

568

That was the indicator that,

well, that's interesting.

569

There's something here.

570

But then you may ask, well,

why didn't I have a vision?

571

Once I knew it was going to be,

you know, had legs to stand on,

572

why not set a vision at that point?

573

Um, I think I was just busy doing it.

574

You know, that as long as I keep

doing it, then that's, I don't

575

even know what the vision would be.

576

You know, even when I think back and go,

knowing what I know now about a vision,

577

I'm not sure what I even would have said

except bringing this to the game industry.

578

It's more of a mission than a vision.

579

It was an enduring purpose.

580

Like,

581

Geri: Is there a process that

you Could imagine going through

582

with, let's, let's pretend you're

starting a new company, new team.

583

Is that, is there a process that you

could go through or talk about, share

584

to get to some sort of at least initial

shared vision for this new company?

585

Graham: I think there's

a few things there.

586

I think one thing is terminology

around mission and vision is

587

sometimes interchangeable.

588

Um, so I'll state the most common one.

589

I think it's the most common.

590

for this conversation.

591

So mission is usually something

that will never change.

592

It's enduring and usually would last

for decades if ever changed at all.

593

So I would say my mission is making

video games should be as enjoyable

594

to make as they are to play.

595

So the players have a good time

usually, but the people who make

596

them have a miserable experience.

597

And I'm trying to fix that.

598

And one way was.

599

It's player psychology, like

measuring the product, and now it's

600

team psychology of game vision.

601

But the mission's the same.

602

In other words, why this

product is made is a mess.

603

So the mission's enduring.

604

The vision for the last company on

the product, it'll be product focused.

605

You know, we're going to bring world

class experience to the measurement

606

of player experiences or something.

607

That's a vision that would maybe last

for 10 years, um, and that could be true.

608

My vision is to say, well,

I'm going to make sure teams

609

are aligned on their product.

610

So it's more team, team focused.

611

Geri: hmm.

612

Graham: The process.

613

Um, we're trying to align

on a vision is interesting.

614

It has to be, you need a model

for the domain you're in.

615

That's one thing I've learned.

616

So my model for game vision by

itself would not apply to a company

617

because the bits I'm building

a mental model deconstructor.

618

That's how it's going.

619

So I will start off with the one sentence.

620

My model does start off with one sentence

saying describe your game in one sentence.

621

It's a very high level.

622

Or you might say, describe your

research group in one sentence.

623

Our research group or our

research project, maybe research

624

project is better, our research

project aims to blah, blah, blah.

625

But then the mental model deconstruction

part is going down those layers below

626

the surface thinking in terms of, I'm not

going to name them, but something else.

627

My video games are intangible.

628

They're an experience.

629

So I have to go from that thing

that you think you're making.

630

My job is to build a model that

deconstructs the model in your head.

631

And then we visualize it, and

we see how people's brain has

632

reconstructed information differently.

633

So I visualize what's

invisible, essentially.

634

That's how my mental model

635

Geri: hmm.

636

Mm hmm.

637

Graham: deconstructor works.

638

But you can imagine applying

that to your own research group.

639

Why does your research

project or group exist?

640

Then people have a first,

then you ask, again, another

641

question, or another question.

642

But you need an accurate

model for those sub questions.

643

This is where it would differentiate

from the five whys, where you're

644

asking the same question to go deeper.

645

In spirit, the mental model

deconstruct is the same, but I'm

646

using different questions to pull

apart these variations in thinking.

647

So that's the main difference between

the general five whys and my game vision

648

model, which is, I'm going to go deeper,

but I need a structure that is guaranteed

649

to pull apart the variation in thinking,

where the five whys may not pull apart.

650

Some people may hit a plateau

at the third why, for example.

651

Geri: Yes.

652

Yes.

653

Because they serve different

purposes, don't they?

654

The five whys getting to

the root cause, whereas

655

Graham: You could do it as an example, and

you may want to do this on your values.

656

I will take a simple model.

657

So I've tried to do this for companies

as well, because going back to LSE,

658

we do talk about different models of

organizational culture, for example.

659

And this is why it would different.

660

I've got a model of video games

that my game vision model works on.

661

But for a company, you might

say, well, these are our values.

662

You know, we pride.

663

Resilience, we've got a culture

of resilience, we've got a culture

664

of ethics, and we've got a culture

of, I don't know, creativity.

665

These are common models

of culture, I'd say.

666

And you might say, okay, well

how do you prioritize those?

667

Would you sacrifice some ethics

in order to be more creative?

668

Or to make more money, and some people

will say yes, and some people will say no.

669

I mean, if you see that variation

in the, how they weight these

670

different, uh, that's where you're

getting the friction, essentially.

671

And so then you have to tease

out, well, why is that happening?

672

Why do these people say it's

okay to make more money, where

673

they're praising creativity?

674

Or ethics, or resilience,

or whatever it may be.

675

Geri: And looking for where those

tensions might arise and doing the,

676

the pre planning work about how

you might deal with that, like,

677

Graham: I've even said with

some companies, whenever you

678

start off a new project, I want

you to do a kick off workshop.

679

And in the kick off workshop,

we're going to talk about this

680

mental model for your game.

681

And you're going to tell them this

is part of how you make decisions.

682

They're not arbitrary decisions.

683

This is the framework, and there's

all the criteria that we use.

684

So when we say we're making that

feature or that thing, here's

685

all the reasoning behind it.

686

Imagine a new research project where

you would say, we praise, uh, resilience

687

because we don't, this is research, right?

688

We, we think we're going to start off

answering X and we can end up answering Z.

689

Like the research could pivot at

some point because it's research.

690

No idea where it's going to go.

691

However, we will always make that

pivot decision based on this value

692

so that, you know, when we pivoted,

it wasn't a random decision.

693

It's because this is our value.

694

We always go this this route,

but I've never been on a research

695

project where that's been

696

Geri: yeah.

697

Graham: clearly transmitted.

698

I think we're discussed.

699

Like values.

700

Maybe you do it.

701

I don't know.

702

Geri: Because it gives, um, in having

that discussion up front, it also

703

gives the team a shared language.

704

You know, it's not just up to the leader

to be responsible for implementing that.

705

If it's a, if it's a process that

they've all been to, they can have

706

that discussion with one another.

707

How does this fit with

this value as sense checks?

708

Graham: I'm pleased

you mentioned language.

709

The root cause of why most people

get a different result than my game

710

vision alignment check is language.

711

So these terms are kind of, people

think they know what it means

712

because they came from a certain

studio or a certain research group.

713

And everyone's from a

different discipline.

714

Sometimes you have a manager or

a researcher or people who change

715

careers or like anything can happen.

716

So just clarifying language, uh.

717

Going back to the root cause.

718

One of the problems with mental

models is the language and

719

the other one is structure.

720

So the structure of the mental model

is not sufficient and the language

721

they use to describe the structure

is not sufficient or it's ambiguous.

722

So again, being general on what's

transferable, whenever you've got

723

a mental model for your research

group, it's What is the structure?

724

How do we think about this research group?

725

What's the cues?

726

What's the bits I'm using to

describe this research group?

727

And how do I define those terms?

728

And do we all do that in the same way?

729

I bet you it's unlikely to happen

in a, even in a small group, you're

730

unlikely to be aligned on that.

731

Geri: Yes, I agree.

732

And I see encouragingly increasing

efforts to have team charters and

733

things that sort of try to spell out

some shared understandings that I

734

think are getting better at somehow

articulating some shared values.

735

But I don't see the work being

done to operationalize them into

736

then, how does that play out

practically in our decisions?

737

And also not revisiting them

because a lot of these things

738

emerge in the doing as well.

739

And it's, how do we have

periodic checkpoints to say,

740

how are we going in this?

741

Do we need to revise, you know, what

new language challenges have emerged?

742

Um,

743

Graham: You reminded me of a famous

model of culture by Schein, S C H E I N.

744

And he says, it's at the pyramid,

if you Google it, you'll see.

745

But at the top level, it's what people do.

746

And then at the next

level is what people say.

747

So they'll say, Oh yeah, we're

very resilient around here.

748

We're always happy to change,

you know, and go for evidence.

749

But the bottom there is beliefs.

750

It's very hard to see beliefs, but the

method he advises and how to, detect if

751

a belief is being broken or are present

in your, in your studio or cultures.

752

If you say something and somebody

has an immediate and usually negative

753

reaction, then you know, I've touched.

754

Some people say touch a nerve is

the way of colloquially saying

755

it, but you've touched someone's

belief that's held so strong that

756

that will, that's hard to change.

757

So if you're in a meeting and someone

says something and someone has a strong

758

negative reaction, you're touching

on their belief, the cultural belief.

759

And you know, flags

should go up in your mind.

760

There's something here I need to pay

attention to because that's going to be

761

very hard to change if it ever changes.

762

I've seen it a few times in

the game industry, usually in

763

association with money, when

the four day workweek come out.

764

I remember asking a question like, how

would you change to a four day workweek?

765

And the reaction was

immediate and negative.

766

It was like, we would never

move to a four day work week.

767

And I realized right then,

that's their culture.

768

And they don't want to challenge it, or

query it, or explore other models, or

769

other ways, or how to be more efficient,

or, they're not, they don't want to do it.

770

Until something significant changes.

771

New leadership, or they're

forced to in some way.

772

But that's interesting,

you know, that lower,

773

Geri: It is interesting and we're often

not very good at reflecting on what's

774

the belief underpinning that reaction,

that strong reaction that we have.

775

Graham: Beliefs are hard, yeah.

776

Geri: Yeah.

777

Graham: Hard to detect, but again, they're

the ones that are, mostly holding a

778

group back, a team back, is the beliefs.

779

Geri: So this isn't the end of Graham.

780

I went on from here to ask him about

writing his book, and there's just

781

so much wisdom and insight in the

way that he talks about that both the

782

art and the practice of getting into

writing, that I thought it could be

783

really useful just to pull out into

its own short episode because we all

784

are writing in various different ways.

785

As a hook here is the question

that I started off asking Graham.

786

You said before about after you sold

the company and you went away on

787

holidays and you sat there and wrote

a book or started writing a book.

788

Talk us through the book, you

know, both the writing process, you

789

know, what lessons we might learn.

790

So I know that for many academics,

they have a book in them and it

791

can be, feel really daunting.

792

And also the decision to make

it free and not try to get a

793

publisher and make money from it.

794

So I invite you to keep an eye out for

episode three, where you can hear Graham

795

talk about his very practical tips around

writing and his decisions for how to

796

write an impactful, actionable book.

797

Insights that I think can be

useful for all forms of writing,

798

not just in the book genre.

799

You can find the summary notes, a

transcript and related links for this

800

podcast on www.changingacademiclife.com.

801

You can also subscribe to Changing

Academic Life on iTunes, and Spotify.

802

And I'm really hoping that we can

widen the conversation about how

803

we can do academia differently.

804

And you can contribute to this by rating

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805

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806

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807

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