Inside Innovation with Colin Stewart » Blog Archive » 11 innovation lessons from creators of World of Warcraft - OCRegister.com

This link has been bookmarked by 25 people . It was first bookmarked on 06 Apr 2008, by Jeremy James.

08 Jul 09

Dan Keldsen
From 2008, but interesting observations.

11 innovation lessons from creators of World of Warcraft:
1. RELY ON CRITICS
2. USE YOUR OWN PRODUCT
3. MAKE CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENTS
4. GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
5. DESIGN FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF CUSTOMERS
6. THE IMPORTANCE OF FREQUENT FAILURES
7. MOVE QUICKLY, IN PIECES
8. STATISTICS BOLSTER EXPERIENCE
9. DEMAND EXCELLENCE OR YOU’LL GET MEDIOCRITY
10. CREATE A NEW TYPE OF PRODUCT
11. OFFER EMPLOYEES SOMETHING EXTRA

innovation management software World of Warcraft blizzard strategy success agile usability voice of customer six sigma
28 Oct 08

Soma Bodonyi
11 tanács az üzleti élet szereplőinek

WoW business
31 Jul 08

Caleb Love
Games Article Leadership Business
18 Jun 08

eighteyes
BookmarksToolbar dev innovation
12 Jun 08

Silvia Andreoli
innovation
21 Apr 08

Little Wonder
World of Warcraft ocregister innovation lessons
10 Apr 08

Phil Parry
innovation management business software strategy tips success from-delicious
09 Apr 08

Matthew Ota
- 1. RELY ON CRITICS
- 2. USE YOUR OWN PRODUCT
- 14 more annotations...
- - “We’re all fans. We all play,” said Brack, who averages 15 hours playing
    World of Warcraft each week.
  - 3. MAKE CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENTS
  - “In many industries, near perfection is the goal,” Wartenberg said, “whether we
    call it Zero Defects or Six Sigma (one error in 3.14 million)
  - 4. GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
  - 5. DESIGN FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF CUSTOMERS
  - 6. THE IMPORTANCE OF FREQUENT FAILURES
  - To show Blizzard’s devotion to this principle, CEO Morhaime and other
    executives listed the titles of canceled games Blizzard had worked on: Nomad,
    Raiko, Warcraft Adventures, Games People Play, Crixa, Shattered Nations, Pax
    Imperia, and Denizen.
    
    “We don’t have a 100 percent hit rate. We just cancel all the ones that
    aren’t going well,” Morhaime said.
    
    “Failure begets success,” intellectual property attorney St. George said.
    “Many successful companies and CEOs have noted that their best successes have
    come from failures. The lessons learned from failures will provide the stepping
    stones for the next innovation.”
  - 7. MOVE QUICKLY, IN PIECES
  - At Blizzard, small teams focus on narrow elements of the game. For example,
    different teams of artists specialize in trees, rocks, the game environment, and
    monsters, said lead producer Brack.
    
    Multi-disciplinary “strike teams” serve as critics of how the different
    aspects of the game work together.
  - 8. STATISTICS BOLSTER EXPERIENCE
  - 9. DEMAND EXCELLENCE OR YOU’LL GET MEDIOCRITY
  - “We could ship a sub-par game, but ultimately it hurts the brand. We should
    ship it when it’s ready or we shouldn’t ship it at all,” said Pearce, the
    executive vice president of product development. “It’s an issue of making sure
    we’re not risking long-term gain for short-term benefits.”
  - 10. CREATE A NEW TYPE OF PRODUCT
  - 11. OFFER EMPLOYEES SOMETHING EXTRA
08 Apr 08

crisbotta
ADVERTISEMENT

business software blizzard
Felipe Aguilera
World of Warcraft article
07 Apr 08

juan luis mansilla
Calidad
Bruno Melo
business innovation management software strategy success tips blizzard
Stewart McTavish
World of Warcraft interst innovation blizzard
Karoly Sz
README
Nick Langstone
management Project Management
06 Apr 08

F P
game
Darlene Fichter
Innovation
Jeremy James
innovation worldofwarcraft tips business