Playing Games and Taking Risks To Improve IT Strategy

Tucked amid the usual booths of hardware and software vendors at a major trade show, six craps tables are attended by neatly dressed Booz Allen “croupiers.” Players move chips around a board that would look at home in any casino. Animated and engaged, the players variously pump the air with excitement, roll dice, and hope that a combination of good luck and skill will help them win the game.

The scene might surprise most trade show attendees—especially when, standing closer, they hear the players use terms such as “mission value points” and “sustained projects.”

What kind of game is this?

“We’re not gambling here,” laughs Washington, DC-based Senior Associate John Low. “We’re playing the CIO Wargame.” Developed by Booz Allen’s modeling and simulation experts, the game offers a risk-free environment for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and other information technology (IT) leaders to explore new ways of organizing IT projects for maximum effectiveness and cost efficiency.

In the game, scenarios are determined by the throw of the dice. Based on what comes up, players make strategic decisions on how to best use their resources (money, staff, and contractors, represented by different colored chips) to deliver projects, develop capabilities, and perform key IT functions. The object of the game is to earn Mission Value Points (MVPs), awarded when a project is delivered and sustained. The team with the most MVPs after five rounds wins.

John and McLean-based Senior Associate Greg Dupier developed the game and unveiled it at a recent United States Federal Office Systems Expo (FOSE) trade show. It kept more than 170 government and industry experts engaged for hours.

“The idea of a wargame is intriguing because of the complexities of IT decision making,” says Greg. “Players were astonished that the game was so challenging, complex, stressful, and fast paced—much like their daily lives.”

story posted May 11, 2006