Like everyone in the world at this point (except for all you babies out there), I used to work in an office.

I don’t anymore. Instead, I work at home with my beautiful wife and three very small, very loud children. They’re wonderful, and I love them so much. But also…I miss adult people.

My old office was a special place, with really cool people. About 50 people worked there, and it was separated into two sections: design and engineering.

This was my first time in 4 years working for the man. Before that, I had either been running my own business with a small team or freelancing at home in my studio.

Being in an office with so many people was new for me. It was also the first time I had been in a studio with so many other designers. I was able to hang out with intelligent, creative, and passionate people. People who I loved getting to know because they were all so interesting.

It was exhilarating.

At least, it was on the design side. But over on the engineering side, it was a different story. There were 5-10 engineers who showed up regularly. But we never actually hung out together.

They rarely ventured into our design space. We never went into theirs. It was an unspoken agreement between our two factions that we would not interfere with each other. And that was a huge mistake…

In his book “Play,” Stuart Brown argues that play is not just a fun and frivolous activity but a fundamental human need. He explains that play is essential for our cognitive, emotional, and social development and can profoundly impact our work lives.

Play isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. Especially in the modern workplace…

According to Brown, play increases creativity and innovation. It allows us to explore new ideas, experiment with different approaches, and take risks without fear of failure. By encouraging play in the workplace, organizations can foster a culture of innovation and create a more dynamic and adaptive workforce.

It also builds communication tools and improves teamwork. Play provides a non-threatening environment for people to interact and collaborate, which can help break down barriers and build trust. It becomes a relational lubricant, facilitating connections that would have never happened.

That’s what happened for us.

One day someone brought a Nintendo Switch to the office. We had a large television in the common area. One or two of my coworkers enjoyed playing Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and considering you can have up to 8 people play at once, we thought that if we started playing it, others would come.

We played it. They came. It was a blast!

Smash bros in the office became a thing. Anyone of any skill level could pick it up and have fun. And, no matter who won, we would all celebrate the winner (especially if it was their first win).

Eventually, the engineers came to see what we were screaming about. They joined in. We played. We talked. I literally did not know their names after working there for more than a year. But after three days of playing “smash,” I could tell you who they were, what they did, what they wanted out of life, and whether they were an edge lord.

A group of 6-8 of us would play regularly, once or twice a day. We started calling ourselves “the Smash Fam.”

And just like Stuart Brown promised, by encouraging play in our workplace, we became better collaborators and problem solvers. Our conversations would inevitably come back to work, and we would realize that we were all working on similar issues: complex accessibility bugs, a feature launching later that month, or a component update that needed tweaking. We started to help each other.

One of the problems we solved was while I was leading our design system team. We had three different icon libraries at different sizes (small, medium, and large). The large icons weren’t used often, and were the most illustrative. We wanted to audit our product to understand how often we use them, so that if we made a fundamental change to their design, we could understand the implications. But auditing a product takes a lot of time.

I mentioned the problem to the Smash fam. One of the engineers built an audit tool that night. We could ask him to audit any icon, and his tool would produce screenshots and give us data on their usage in the product.

He did that on his own time because we developed a friendship over a game where we beat each other up.

It was beautiful.

I often hear people talk about corporate environments being cold, hostile environments. That there is no humanity in their company, particularly if it’s large.

I think that’s bullsh#t.

I believe that wherever you are, you have the capacity to change your work’s culture (this is especially true if you are in a leadership position). Large companies use standardized processes to scale productivity across a wide array of people. These procedures, tools, and structure can be very inhuman; but only if you allow them to.

As a leader, it’s your job to bring humanity into your culture. 

Your company may have a process for performance reviews. But you need to take ownership with how that process applies to and benefits your people.

Encouraging play at the office (responsibly) is a fantastic way to bring humanity into your work culture.

There is a leadership book that I love: “The Servant” by James C. Hunter. In it, he says that a manager’s primary responsibility is not to achieve results but to serve and empower their team members. Creating a healthy, positive, and fun work environment can help your team feel supported, motivated, and engaged.

One of the key ways managers can create a healthy work culture is by leading by example. Are you modeling the behaviors that you want to see in your team? Are you respectful of your team’s time? Do you actively listen to their ideas, needs, and desires? Are you communicating openly and honestly?

Do you bring joy into your culture?

Play might help us all with that.