Making IT Fun: Why Playfulness Matters in Tech Teams

This article was originally published on HDI Connect here: https://www.thinkhdi.com/library/supportworld/2025/making-it-fun

IT gets a bad rap. When you think of IT, you picture a world of rigid processes, ticket queues, and an endless barrage of questions such as “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” But the best IT teams aren’t just following tedious scripts, but solving complex problems, designing cool solutions, and keeping businesses running.

Too often, the fun gets sucked out of the work. And when that happens, engagement drops, innovation stalls, and burnout creeps in. What if we flipped the script? What if IT wasn’t just efficient but also creative, playful, and, dare we say, even fun?

This idea isn’t to turn the service desk into a game show or making everything into a joke. And wouldn’t it be awesome to create an environment where people feel motivated, challenged, and empowered to experiment? Let’s talk about how we can inject some energy into IT without losing sight of what matters.

Shifting the mindset: From rigid to playful

Before we get into specific tactics, let’s talk about mindset. If your team is stuck in a “this is how we’ve always done it” rut, no amount of gamification or perks will make a difference. You need a culture shift.

Growth vs. fixed mindset

Carol Dweck’s research on growth vs. fixed mindset applies perfectly to IT. A fixed mindset sees challenges as roadblocks, while a growth mindset sees them as opportunities. Which sounds like the kind of IT team you’d rather work with? Which one sounds like your team?

Leaders can foster this by:

• Encouraging curiosity over compliance. (Example: “Let’s explore how to make this process better” instead of “Just follow the SOP.”)
• Creating a safe space to fail. Not every experiment will work, but teams should feel comfortable trying new things without fear of blame.
• Challenging sacred cows. If a process exists just because “that’s how it’s always been,” it’s worth revisiting.

Safe-to-fail culture

No one does their best work when they’re worried about screwing up. IT needs guardrails, not handcuffs. A good example is blameless postmortems, where instead of hunting for who made a mistake, you focus on what happened and how to prevent it next time.

To encourage innovation, I suggest teams use visualization techniques to talk about the work, and use those visualizations to explore improving processes and procedures. Another idea is to host hackathons or internal challenges where teams can experiment without the usual red tape. The best ideas often come from these playful spaces.

How to make IT work fun (without making it gimmicky)

Now that we’ve covered mindset, let’s talk tactics. These are ways to build engagement without making your team feel like they’re stuck in a mandatory fun exercise.

Gamification (the right way)

A lot of you are probably groaning at the mere mention of gamification. This is because it’s often done poorly. Slapping a leaderboard on a dull process doesn’t magically make it exciting. But when done right, it can tap into people’s natural motivation to improve and compete.

Good gamification in IT looks like:

• Clear goals with visible progress. Think about how progress bars make people want to complete tasks.
• Real rewards. Recognition, small incentives, or even just bragging rights go a long way, but money is the great motivator.
• Challenges that matter. Turning “Who closed the most tickets?” into a competition is just busywork. But rewarding creative problem-solving? That’s real engagement. Don’t reward “most knowledge articles written” – but do give points for incidents avoided by knowledge.

A great example: maybe you have a recurring incident that is unique to your environment, reward resolving it permanently. Maybe you reward someone for learning something that’s already a skills gap on your team. You have to align rewards with true goals and measurable value. It’s fun, it gets teams invested, and it serves a real purpose.

If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at some of the major platforms that use gamification to encourage exploration of features and value. Reddit, DuoLingo, Starbucks, and Khan Academy are great platforms to look for inspiration.

To avoid the groaning and gnashing of teeth, give your teams control! Design the games with your colleagues to ensure their participation. Regularly review the impact and adjust as needed.

Making collaboration less painful

Nothing kills energy faster than siloed, transactional work. IT teams that collaborate effectively tend to move faster and feel more connected.

Some easy ways to encourage collaboration:

• Cross-functional projects. Pair IT with business, design, or marketing teams for fresh perspectives.
• Peer learning. Pair programming, knowledge-sharing sessions, or even informal Slack threads can make a difference.
• Light-hearted rituals. Start stand-ups with a fun prompt (e.g., “What’s the weirdest tech issue you’ve seen this week?”). These little moments build culture.

Creating a space for play

Your work environment sets the tone. A bland, locked-down workspace screams, “Don’t experiment.” A creative space, whether physical or digital, signals that innovation is welcome.

This could mean:

• Tech “toys.” Let teams experiment with new software or hardware before it’s officially deployed.
• Flexible workspaces. Give people freedom in how (and where) they work best.
• Personal project time. Some of the best ideas come from side projects – give your team space to explore them.

The tech that supports an engaging culture

Recognition that actually means something

People don’t just want to be paid – they want to be valued. Recognition tools like bonus.ly or Kudos give teams an easy way to show appreciation. Even something as simple as a Slack shoutout can go a long way to boost morale.

• Make it personal: Instead of generic praise like “Great job,” try “Loved how you solved that VPN issue creatively – saved us hours of downtime!”
• Share stories: Recognize the hard work of your team in front of the greater IT department and certainly in front of the company. Give credit where it is due!

Interactive learning that doesn’t suck

Traditional training is dull. No one wants to sit through another dry e-learning module. Microlearning, hands-on challenges, and even VR/AR experiences make skill-building more engaging.

• Security training can be a gamified phishing test instead of a lecture.
• New software rollout can involve interactive sandbox environments so people can explore risk-free.
• Do things in person – your best trainers are entertaining and giving your team time to sit and focus on the learning is a gift.

How do you know it’s working?

You made the shift. You loosened the grip on rigid processes, injected some playfulness, and gave your team the space to experiment. But now what? How do you know if it’s actually making a difference?

First, look at engagement. Are people actually enjoying their work, or are they just going through the motions? Talking with your teams, customers, and colleagues can give you a read on whether morale is up – or if you’ve just created a different kind of frustration.?

Retention is another big signal. If your best people are sticking around longer and top talent wants in, you’re on the right track.

Then there’s productivity. A fun, engaged team should move faster, not slower. Are projects getting done more efficiently? Are people taking ownership of solutions instead of just closing tickets? Are talented employees focused on high value work? If fresh ideas and creative fixes are flowing, that’s a sign your team isn’t just working – they’re thinking.

But if everything still feels stagnant… if the same roadblocks, the same friction, and the same reluctance to try new things are holding you back… it might be time to fine-tune the balance between fun and focus.

Leadership’s role in making IT fun

Fun at work doesn’t mean turning everything into a joke. It means creating an environment where people want to show up and do great work. And that starts at the top.

Leaders set the tone. If you want a culture of curiosity, you have to model it. Ask more questions. Challenge assumptions. Show your team that it’s okay to take risks by openly talking about your own failures — and what you learned from them.

And if you expect your team to innovate, you have to make room for it. That doesn’t mean piling “creative problem-solving” on top of their already full workload. It means giving them the space to experiment, even if it means short-term inefficiencies or hiring additional staff to create room for it!?

The best ideas come from people who feel like they have permission to try, to fail, and to try again.

Most importantly? Back up your words with action. If bold ideas are never rewarded, if leadership always defaults to the “safe” choice, if experimentation is talked about but never supported – your team will notice. And they’ll stop trying. You must celebrate ALL experiments, regardless of a positive or non-positive outcome.

You don’t have to force fun. You just have to stop getting in the way of it.

The bottom line: IT can be fun AND productive

The best IT teams are engaged, innovative, and adaptable. And that happens when people feel safe to experiment, collaborate, and find joy in their work.

Want to start small?

• Run a mini hackathon on a real business challenge.
• Introduce a peer recognition system to highlight great work.
• Challenge your team to rethink a stale process with a fresh, creative approach.
• Conduct regular team meetings to simply give everyone time to talk to each other, connect and understand each other’s perspectives!

At the end of the day, the old adage holds true – IT isn’t just about technology, but about people. The best teams aren’t just checking boxes; they’re building, experimenting, and making things work when they shouldn’t.

Want to keep IT fun? Kill the monotony. Challenge assumptions. Make room for curiosity. Because when people actually enjoy what they do, they work harder and they think bigger.

This article was originally published on HDI Connect here: https://www.thinkhdi.com/library/supportworld/2025/making-it-fun