niklasbarning

Sometimes, hobbies and work intersect. For me, it’s currently Magic: The Gathering and OKRs, KPIs, as well as Continuous Discovery.
Magic is a big mental exercise: You build a deck with a specific goal in mind, analyze whether the plan is working, and constantly adapt to unexpected challenges. Sound familiar?

OKRs – The Deck’s Big Goal:
“I want to play lots of Zombie cards, constantly bring them back to life, and overwhelm my opponents to win the game.”
This goal drives your strategy—just like an Objective in a project or job.

Key Results – Measuring Progress:
“I want to play at least five creatures in the first half of the game to build pressure.”
If your deck (or your project) doesn’t meet certain metrics, alarm bells should start ringing.

KPIs – The Health Check:
How is the game going for you? Are you drawing cards consistently? Are they the right cards?
In product design, these would be the general performance metrics of your app, like the number of active users.

Continuous Discovery – Everything is Changing:
You’re not playing alone. There are others at the table, too. Suddenly, a powerful card appears that changes everything. You have to observe the situation and react accordingly. You learn from it and can adjust your deck later.
In the job, this means: regularly talking to users, analyzing data, and responding flexibly.

Another comparison between Magic and other things came up 7 years ago on the PBS Idea Channel. No surprise, since the game is Turing complete.

What parallels have you discovered between your hobbies and your job?