Many developers are aware of the power of gamification. From video games to board games to even personal hobbies, there is something powerful about creating a competition or structure around leveling up or completing challenges.

I’ve been thinking about this recently as I’ve been reading a book called The Power of Moments. It talks about how we miss out on pivotal moments in our lives, careers, and organizations that, with a little bit of effort, can increase engagement and happiness.

And the book as got me thinking: What moments in our development teams are we missing that would increase our teams’ engagement and happiness?

This week's article is my initial exploration of that idea. I don't have a lot of answers yet, just a sense that the answer is that there is something powerful at hand here if we just pay close attention.
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Team-Building Exercise

This week's Team-Building Exercise is a brainstorming exercise for either you or your team:
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What moments do you think would be worth celebrating on your team? Across your organization?
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The article laid out a few that came to my mind: someone's first day, the first time someone breaks production, the first request on a new architecture, etc.
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But these don't take into account your unique team or organization. I'm sure there are quarks about your team or even your architecture that would be fun to immortalize as a rite of passage for your team members (oh yeah, everyone runs into this during on-call at some point. In fact, you just earned your "Smokey the Bear Badge" for fighting the fire!).
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Once you are done, see what steps you can take to start implementing it. Badges as custom emojis with an explanation of each might be a great place to start.
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But honestly, like I said in the article, I really don't know what works here or what doesn't! In fact, I'd _love_ to hear from you once you have a list of moments to celebrate and a few ideas on how to start. Just reply to this email and let's chat!

Here are some more resources from me to help you build better teams!​

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