The Remarkably True Story of a Game of Chess, and the Coworking Parable We Learned From It
Alex Hillman
One day many years ago, a bunch of chess pieces showed up on one of our kitchen tables.
Curiously, there was no board – just a bunch of chess pieces, arranged as if there was a board.
Within a few days, a board appeared below the pieces, along with a simple chess timer, and a sign that said “make a move”.
A long game emerged.
Anyone could walk up to the chess board, know which side’s turn it was, and make a single move. These games sometimes went on for days into weeks, and perhaps weirdest of all was when you’d be playing against a move you yourself made a few turns back.
Some regular players started recognizing each other at the board, and decided to change things up and start a game of speed chess.
After a few days, speed chess became a spectator sport in the kitchen. People knew they could come by the kitchen around lunchtime and see a <10 minute game of chess played, and cheer on some of their coworkers competing.
Not content with the disparity in skill level, some players found a new chess timer app that started with 60 seconds on the clock, and it doubled your remaining time with each turn to build up a time bank.
This little timer app changed the game in a truly wild way.
Basically, the timer mode encouraged players to make a bunch of very fast (and often irrational) moves upfront in order to accrue as much time as possible for the 2nd half of the game, where they’d use that time in order to “unfuck” the irrational game that’d been played for the sake of accruing time.
It was wild to watch, and the rationale behind this for leveling the playing field was: “no matter how skilled you are, nobody can reason with irrational moves.”
This warped version of speed chess turned into TEAM speed chess, where people played 3 on 3. Usual teams consisted of someone tactical, someone strategic, and a heckler. And let’s not forget – this is all done with an audience!
The final iteration was the most unexpected.
A chess puzzle book arrived. Each chess puzzle is the last few moves of a game, designed by a chessmaster, and your goal is to figure out the series of moves to produce a checkmate.
Each day, a new puzzle would hit the board and the group would work together to solve it.
Over the course of a few months, a journey was shared. From a largely impersonal long game, to the players combining forces to play against the game rather than one another.
This story is completely true, AND it shows how being in a place like Indy Hall leads to collaboration
On your first day, you show up and there isn’t a TON of structure, just enough to be present and comfortable.
Sometimes it’s a little unclear what the rules are, but there are always moves to be made and someone will be happy to help you learn to play the game.
You may need to be patient between moves, and you will likely need to look for opportunities to take your turn.
With a bit of effort, you find the people you have genuine interests in. They may work on things similar or different than you, but excitement about finding others will build and the pace will pick up.
You may find that experiences vary, but at the same time, there’s no “smartest kid in the room”. Everybody has an opportunity to be that “smartest kid” for their speciality, domain, or interest, which is a very unique experience in the workplace.
It’s that experience that allows trust to form, and allies/teams to organically form and disband as needed, as quickly as needed.
And, given the time for the process to complete, the ultimate working environment can be achieved – one where the coworkers no longer consider themselves as competing for resources, but instead as allies.
In the game of chess, the game changed, from being the battle ground, to the new opponent.
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