Published in Game Design Fundamentals·PinnedGame Writings MovedWritings for CS247G, cs377G are all here Mechanics of MagicGame Design1 min readGame Design1 min readGame Writings MovedWritings for CS247G, cs377G are all here Mechanics of Magicsketchnote from Saljuk Gondal https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2021/05/20/sketchnote-onboarding-in-plants-vs-zombies-4/----
Sep 9, 2022Ask Christina: Personalities and RolesJim asks: How do you account for personality (or do you?) in leading and participating in teams? Christina Answers: Those darn humans! Seriously, one of the bigger mistakes managers is treating people as if they were interchangeable for any given role on any team. …Management3 min readManagement3 min read
Sep 7, 2022Ask Christina: Confidence RatingsHello readers! I’m going to try out a new series to build up my writing muscle. Do you have a question about OKRs, empowered teams, visual thinking or other things I know about? Ask in the comments! Question: If you’re measuring the KRs regularly (i.e. multiple times a week) and…Okr2 min readOkr2 min read
Feb 18, 2022A Visual Glossary for Product DesignI made this for my students, but I think some other folks may benefit. Early Research Baseline Study A baseline study is an analysis of the current situation to identify the starting points for a programme or project. It looks at what information must be considered and analyzed to establish a baseline or…6 min read6 min read
Feb 5, 2022Are You Sure You Want to Use OKRs?And can you? They look simple, but looks deceive. — There is a concept I call drift. Drift means that a process has drifted away from the original framing. It happened to Agile. What started as a simple idea that people should work collaboratively and iteratively became people policing each other on the True Agile Way: “this is how to…Okr7 min readOkr7 min read
Nov 25, 2021Not Everyone Needs Objectives and Key Results (OKRS)People Vary, Teams Vary, Goals Vary — I’ve been writing about Objectives and Key Results for about ten years. The mistakes companies make have been fairly typical most of that time: Sandbagging, Overreaching, Set and Forget… until recently. Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed managers are trying to give every one and every group their…Okr6 min readOkr6 min read
Published in Design for Behavior Change·Jan 10, 2021Member-onlyCS247B SyllabusCS247B Design for Behavior Change Instructor: Christina Wodtke CS247 Series Description The CS247 series of classes are project-based courses that build on the introduction to design in CS147 by focusing on advanced methods and tools for research, prototyping, and user interface design. CS247 classes use a studio-based format with intensive coaching and iteration…Syllabus8 min readSyllabus8 min read
Jun 21, 2020The Goal Fits the TeamBeyond the Usual OKR approach — Since I first started writing about OKRs seven years ago, I have had a lot of companies reach out to me for advice. OKRs were originally envisioned to create focus on things that are important but not (yet) urgent. OKRs act as an accelerant on progress toward strategic efforts.Okr8 min readOkr8 min read
Published in Game Design Fundamentals·Apr 19, 2020Graphic Design for Game DesignersCS247g: Introduction to Game Design — Design is a very ancient practice, but graphic design really found its core principles post World War One. Games are also very ancient but video games are still finding their feet. I think graphic design has a few things to teach people who make games, so here are the big…Graphic Design8 min readGraphic Design8 min read
Published in The History, Philosophy and Ethics of Design.·Apr 18, 20200. The History and Ethics of Design SyllabusWelcome to ME120 — I’m two weeks into transforming ME120, previously taught by Barry Katz as History and Philosophy of Design, into an active learning exploration of the relationship designers have had to ethics over the years. At the end of this quarter I plan to write up what I learned and what I’d…Design Ethics6 min readDesign Ethics6 min read