Worker Placement #1

Thus far, my most successful application of board game mechanics to management have been to the scheduling process. Recently I had the task of scheduling 11 workers to four different and diverse tasks over the course of one month. Task 1 was pre-checking rooms to make sure they were ready for guests. Task 2 was working the front desk for four-hour increments. Task 3 was conducting tours, and task 4 was stripping linens from beds and taking them to a designated location.

I'm convinced that when workers are able to choose what they have to do, they are more likely to do a better job. In addition, I'm also convinced that when workers have to compete for the opportunity to do the job they want then they will be even more effective.

Enter the worker placement method. First, and most importantly, I had to create a "board" that contained ALL the available options. I figured that simplicity was key so I slaved over an adequate board for hours, trying to get the right design so that all the available shifts could be seen on one sheet including a corresponding calendar so that they knew when the shift was relative to the others. I wanted the whole experience to be a visual representation of everything they would have to do over the course of the entire month. In all there ended up being 201 shifts, which divided by 11 people is 18 shifts per person, with three left over.

Next I had to choose appropriate game pieces. I don't have enough colors or pieces to facilitate 201 selections so I decided to buy skittles and jellybeans to represent each player's "workers."

Finally, I placed 18 skittles or jellybeans of each color in small plastic cups and designated those candies as "not for eating." The rules were simple. On your turn place two of your workers on any two open spots. Game progressed around the table clockwise and then backwards in typical draft-style fashion.

The result looked something like this:
(Although for some reason Blogger is not letting me load photos so they will have to wait until a later time)

Check back soon for the pictures and my review of how it went.