Graham McAllister (Part 3) on the art and craft of writing (CAL122, S6E16)
”Writing is thinking, I love thinking, I love working on problems, I love thinking through the problems…. So the whole writing thing is a thinking thing.” says Graham McAllister in this final part of our conversation. His foray into writing a book on Games Usability after he sold his company was also a foray into exploring the process of writing, asking himself questions like "How do you write a book? What's my voice? How do I write? What fits in with my life?”
Graham unpacks his experiences about the art and craft of writing that worked for him in answer to these questions. He starts with reflections on publishing challenges in academia and his commitment to making knowledge freely accessible. He also talks about the process of discovering his writing voice, the iterative writing process, setting up a writing routine and setting achievable goals. Graham also reflects on the broader implications of his work within academia and industry, the pursuit of clear communication for your audience, and his future aspirations in writing and consulting. The conversation highlights themes of personal growth, the importance of thoughtful work-life integration, and the impact of past mentors and opportunities.
Overview
00:00 Introduction
02:50 Introduction to the Book Writing Journey
03:28 The Philosophy of Free Knowledge
04:51 The Writing Process and Idea Generation
07:12 Structuring and Refining the Book
10:08 Finding Your Voice and Writing Routine
11:51 Future Writing Projects and Reflections
20:09 Balancing Work and Personal Fulfillment
26:04 Final Reflections and Gratitude
Related Links:
Graham’s Home page and LinkedIn Profile and his books
CAL120 Part 1 episode with Graham on his previous career pivots
CAL121 Part 2 episode with Graham on team vision alignment
Transcript
Welcome to Changing Academic Life.
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:I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick, and this is
a podcast series where academics and
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:others share their stories, provide
ideas, and provoke discussions about what
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:we can do individually and collectively
to change academic life for the better.
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:What do you think about writing?
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:And how would you answer
the following questions?
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:How do you write a book?
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:Especially a book aimed at non-academics.
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:What's your voice and how do you create
a writing routine that fits in your life?
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:These are all questions that Graham
McAllister asked himself as he
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:embarked on writing his book on games
usability after he sold his company.
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:He calls them the soft
skills of writing books.
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:And he wanted to use this book as a way
to explore the process of writing itself.
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:So in this last of three parts of my
conversation with Graham, he shares
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:his experiences about the art and
craft of writing that worked for him.
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:He talks about his commitment to making
knowledge freely accessible about the
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:process of discovering his writing voice.
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:The importance of knowing your audience
and being able to communicate clearly and
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:succinctly with them, and how the writing
process itself is highly iterative.
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:He also shares the writing routine that
he set up, how he did that, and also
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:how he set himself achievable goals.
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:So he set himself up for
ongoing progress and success.
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:And whether you are writing a book or
writing an academic paper for an academic
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:audience, I think you'll find a lot to
take away from his experiences here.
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:And towards the end, Graham also reflects
more generally on the implications of
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:his work within academia and industry
and what's next for him possibly taking
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:time again to reflect on the impact
of past mentors and the importance
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:of thoughtful work life integration
and finishes with the call to us
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:that we can design a better life.
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:Enjoy this final part of my
conversation with Graham.
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:You said before about after you sold
the company and you went away on
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:holidays and you sat there and wrote
a book or started writing a book.
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:And what I saw is this book is
freely available on your webpage.
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:So talk us through the book, you
know, both the writing process, you
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:know, what lessons we might learn.
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:So I know that for many academics,
they have a book in them and it
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:can be, feel really daunting.
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:And also the decision to, to make
it freely and not try to get a
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:publisher and make money from it.
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:Graham: Yeah.
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:Um, first thing is part of me
thinks knowledge should be free.
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:Um, and I, I realize I'm a consultant,
but I, I realize the irony in saying
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:that, but I hear I'm thinking of.
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:Can I name specific publishers?
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:Oh, no, I'll not, I'll not, I'll not.
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:So there's academic publishers who,
even as an academic, I did not want
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:to publish with because the research
was funded by the government or
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:something like that, and then they
would charge to pay off that research.
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:And I felt that research should be free.
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:That's what I thought was fair.
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:Wasn't paid for by you.
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:I should be able to put that on my
website or my research group's website
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:or the university's website so that
everyone can benefit from that.
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:And that was one of my main frustrations
as a, as an academic was there's
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:some great work out there, but
boy is it hard to get that, those
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:findings out to the wider world.
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:As someone who likes educating and
learning and sharing what's been learned.
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:That is a major pain
point as an academic bit.
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:That is a barrier.
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:That is a usability
friction point to my work.
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:Also an economic one.
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:That if you're rich and if you want
to spend 50 dollars on a really boring
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:academic paper that I wrote, you
could probably have access to that.
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:But there's a lot of people where
50 dollars, even if you knew how
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:to get it, is very difficult.
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:So just that whole access thing
bothers me enormously with academia.
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:Enormously.
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:Um, so when I decided I want to
write a book, writing is thinking,
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:I love thinking, I love working on
problems, I love thinking through
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:the problems, I like clarifying the
thinking, like am I really answering
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:the question that I think I'm working
on or am I not thinking clearly enough?
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:So the whole writing thing is
a thinking thing, you know, I
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:can't, I can't separate them out.
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:Um, so that was partly it in terms of,
I knew I wanted to write a book and
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:I A bit like, I have a lot of ideas.
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:I think I come up with a lot of ideas.
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:Usually when I'm running,
I, they just come out.
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:I can't explain it.
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:They just Blow out at a high rate, um,
so much so that my watch face when I'm
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:running on my Apple Watch is the, the
note recorder, so I run along and I hit
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:the, people usually have their Strava
times, like how fast they're running.
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:Mine is to take ideas.
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:So I have a button that
takes, takes ideas.
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:Anyway, I turn around an
enormous amount of ideas.
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:I had an idea for a series of books
on organizational psychology, and
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:I really, well, that's interesting.
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:I'm not short on ideas of what,
uh, how to help teams or design
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:teams and thought, well, I better,
I better start writing then.
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:You know, if I've got this series
of ideas, you have to begin, you
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:have to actually do one, just
do one and see how it feels.
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:And so the easiest thing for
me to write about is the field
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:I've been in for the previous.
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:I don't even know, 10, 20 years,
wherever it was, in terms of user
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:research in the games industry, HCI.
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:And I wasn't interested in the topic.
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:I knew I knew enough to write
about it off the top of my head.
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:I didn't need to read research
papers, but I was interested
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:in the process of writing.
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:How would I write?
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:What is my voice?
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:And then I thought back to what's
the problems I have with books,
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:like why do I abandon books?
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:And a lot of books even, I'm not going
to joke, I'm a famous American academic
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:and I've tried to read two of his books.
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:And that is hard work,
I've abandoned both.
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:He's a CS professor and I like him on
podcasts, but his books are terrible!
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:Sorry, I'm getting It's like he's got
one idea, and it could have been a
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:really interesting 400 word article,
but it's just padded out to a book
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:because a publisher said write a book.
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:And I have a very low tolerance for that
BS, I must say, and I'm not having that.
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:That's the other thing
I should write back.
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:When I give a talk, I'm not very good at
putting up a Putting up with people's BS,
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:I'm probably going to tell you like it is.
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:Geri: mm hmm.
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:Mm hmm.
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:Mm hmm.
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:Mm hmm.
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:Mm
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:Graham: common thing.
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:But it's evidence BS, it's
not just opinion usually.
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:Anyway, so if I'm going to write a book,
I decided I was interested in the softer
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:side, the soft skills of writing books.
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:How do you write a book?
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:What's my voice?
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:How do I write?
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:What fits in with my life?
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:What works with me is definitely
not gonna fit in with you, you know?
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:So I decided I'm gonna write
AM to:
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:morning, two hours, because I
feel more creative in the morning.
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:Some people feel more
creative in the evening.
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:I used to when I was
younger, but not anymore.
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:So I'm going in the morning, I write here
for two hours, and some days nothing may
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:happen, but I'm not allowed to leave.
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:I have to sit here for two
hours and I have to, I am.
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:I'm encouraging myself to
write 200 words a day, minimum.
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:But no, I may write more, and many
days I did write more, but I, I,
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:I should leave with 200 words.
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:That's like a paragraph.
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:Like, surely I could write a paragraph.
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:So that's 1, 000 words
a week, 200 words a day.
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:I take the weekends off.
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:I think I ended up working weekends
anyway, because I couldn't stop it.
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:But the idea in the beginning
was Monday to Friday, 200 words,
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:that's 1, 000 words a week.
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:Um, so 4, 000 words a month.
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:Uh, and I reckon I have the book
done 12, 000 words, whatever, in
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:three months or something, whatever
it was, six months or 25, 000 words.
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:It was that type of, I've got the,
I've got the math wrong, so someone's
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:going to make fun of me, that's fine.
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:But that was the idea, something simple.
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:Uh, and then I'd go for a run after
that, do some form of exercise.
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:That's what I think about what I wrote.
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:And then the next morning, that
idea or what I had, what I ran
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:would feed into the next morning.
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:So there was this loop, right?
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:I would write.
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:I would do exercise where
most of the thinking happens.
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:I would take the thinking and capture
it, not write about it, just feed
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:that into the next morning's loop.
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:And I kept that going.
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:I wrote 25, 000 words or
something on the usability book.
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:Um, but I wrote the book four times.
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:I realized the first writing
was just getting the idea out.
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:It was just a long bit back CS
professor who I'm criticizing.
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:It was just like a, but it
wasn't repeating the same idea.
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:At least it was more content,
but I realized that's kind of.
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:Kind of reads like a book.
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:I was, I was rethinking what a book meant.
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:What does a book mean?
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:A book means I'm sharing ideas
with someone and their ideas I
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:think are useful, but why are they
always written in these long, you
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:know, long chapters, like 20 pages?
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:It's hard to keep 20 pages
of stuff in your mind.
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:I don't think I could do that.
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:I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that.
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:So at some point I had this idea
of I'm going to chunk it up.
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:Typical psychology, right?
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:We'll chunk it up into how our mind works.
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:And the original idea was
something like, I'll come up with
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:a hundred ideas on usability.
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:And the book will have some pun
around the number 100 or 99 or
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:whatever crazy idea I had at the time.
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:It ended up, I think there were 66 ideas.
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:Uh, I didn't pad it out to 100, I think
I could have, but I was trying to be
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:authentic, which is, well, it's 66.
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:Maybe I should have done a route 66 pun.
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:Maybe I could have made that work.
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:But anyway, you see, I should
have went on another run, I think.
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:Whatever the number ended up being,
I just felt that's the number.
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:I'm not going to artificially
inflate it or reduce it to
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:make it fit some clever title.
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:Just, it was what it was.
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:But I didn't care about the book itself.
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:Um, so the book was an
exercise in me writing.
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:I love the writing.
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:I love the thinking.
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:I love the rethinking
of what a book meant.
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:Um, I put it on my
website for free in:
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:Um, as we're speaking now in January 25,
I'm just, I'm going through the process
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:of getting it on the Kindle in print.
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:Because the book I really want
to write, the book on game
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:vision, I want to get that book.
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:That's the book I really want to write.
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:I did not want to write
a book on game usability.
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:I wanted to write a book.
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:Um, so this was the, me practicing
the habit and the, the art of writing.
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:So I was not interested in the
technical side, the idea, which
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:most academics are interested in.
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:The domain knowledge they have.
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:It's everything else, which is,
well, even if I can communicate my
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:domain knowledge, how do I do that?
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:I thought through how best to
get that idea out there, um,
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:rather than just saying, oh,
it's going to be in 10 chapters.
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:I'll break it up.
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:I think you can do, you can
rethink that a bit more.
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:Rather than just, well, these
are the 10 chapters, I'll write
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:the 10 chapters and get it done.
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:Technically, you could do that.
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:What else?
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:You know, what else could you do?
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:So, um, I don't know what
the next book will be.
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:Maybe it will be a boring,
these are 10 chapters, and it
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:could end up being that way.
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:Um, but you at least think about it.
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:You know, what, think through.
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:My case, I was teaching the game
usability, but with teaching someone
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:else how to how to do a thing.
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:So it made sense for it to be in 66 steps
because that's actually what you're doing.
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:You're following this step wise through.
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:That's how you would teach it effectively.
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:So it made sense to follow.
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:It was like me sitting down beside
someone and teaching them how to do it.
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:I would follow through and
tell them, these are the
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:steps you need to go through.
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:So it's a teaching book, so it makes
sense to follow the teaching format.
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:The game vision one, I don't know where
it's going to be yet because I think
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:I could take it in different ways.
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:I could just tell you, these are the
problems with mental models on teams.
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:That could be an interesting
book by itself, right?
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:It's just, I'm just raising awareness.
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:of saying, well, these are typical things
that crop up and you should find this
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:interesting because it explains lots
of psychological problems on teams.
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:It explains why you've got friction
between management and creative.
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:For example, that's a known
psychological problem that came up.
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:But then you went to the model and
you can tell people, here's why.
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:And let me point to some solutions.
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:And my MSc thesis was half
these are the problems.
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:And then I introduced a
model at the second half.
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:And I say, here's my model.
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:That solves all those problems.
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:Maybe, maybe I don't
have to write about that.
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:I don't know.
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:Sorry, you were going to ask a
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:Geri: Mm hmm.
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:No, I think that's a really interesting
process that you've been through
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:and I love that the first book was
about finding your voice and finding
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:your rhythm of writing and, and
that it still had a clear purpose.
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:Its goal was to educate people, you
know, to teach them as a teaching
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:tool to walk through these steps.
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:Did it also provide some sort of
closure as well to that phase?
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:Graham: I think so.
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:I think, um, I don't have any
intentions of going back in that career.
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:I don't think that's,
that's a very unlikely path.
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:Um, so I think it was
good just to summarize.
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:I was reading at one point,
why do people write books?
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:And that came up as a reason for sure.
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:One is, you know, sharing knowledge,
but other is closure, which is, well,
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:I've spent my time in this career.
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:What really have I learned?
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:And if you can't even write a book on
what you spent 20 years doing, it's
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:not, it's not interesting by itself.
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:There was a series of books I could
have written on user research.
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:I don't, you know, that's not the
career for me anymore, so they
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:will look for me in my ideas file.
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:But I took one and just
said that's the easiest one.
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:I can still take value in that and
give value to others, and I can
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:learn more about myself as a writer.
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:You know, I can learn how I
write, or do I, it could have
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:been, I do not enjoy writing.
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:Like, I learned, for example, I
don't like making YouTube videos.
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:I started a YouTube channel at one
point, and what I realized really
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:quick was, I do not like making videos.
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:I have no interest in doing that.
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:Geri: What did you not like about it?
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:Graham: it was very time consuming
and the technical side of it wasn't
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:a skill that I wanted to develop.
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:Um, I also felt that I wasn't,
it wasn't personally satisfying.
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:Writing, I felt, satisfied me.
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:I felt I was thinking deeper and
quicker and I did not get that from
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:making a video for whatever reason.
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:Maybe some people do,
but I did not personally.
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:So, um, yeah, I think I just like writing.
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:Uh, that's what I learned, which is good.
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:You should know, but maybe you
try a book and I hit this process.
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:Geri: Absolutely.
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:And that's fine.
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:Isn't it?
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:And it is about knowing ourselves.
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:And I, I liked what you said about like,
it's no good just to paraphrase you.
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:It's no good just thinking about,
I've got this series, a book, just
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:get on and write one and see.
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:So that making progress, which is often
the thing that people find hardest
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:when it's about procrastination,
especially if you're a perfectionist.
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:You want to get everything all
lined up and feel like it's going
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:to be perfect before you can start.
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:And sometimes you just have to
start and give it a go and reflect.
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:Graham: And that's why I set myself a
really low goal, like 200 words per day.
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:It's so low.
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:Like I remember writing it and
thinking surely anyone could write,
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:you could do that over a tea break,
you know, and some days I did.
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:But that was the point.
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:It's, it's um, it's a bit like exercise.
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:You're not allowed to do no
exercise, you have to do some,
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:Geri: Um, Um, Yes.
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:Graham: But you can't, can't do nothing.
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:That's a bad, that's a bad,
you know, result, outcome.
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:Geri: You're not setting yourself
up to fail by having unrealistic
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:goals, which is really helpful.
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:It seems like you're still trying to
find the, the clear why for the next
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:book you've got the topic area, and
it's more, is that, you know, to, to
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:sort of more like unpack or communicate
these things for people's awareness?
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:Or is it about a how to do the, yeah.
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:Graham: I think you're right.
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:My, my main goal for 2025
is to write that book.
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:Now I've got a thesis, an MSc thesis
on that topic, and part of me thinks
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:I could just, you know, repurpose
that, um, which is one option.
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:Um, but I'm not sure it's
practical enough for me.
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:I'm not sure it's gonna, I think
people want to know what does it do.
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:Geri: Yeah.
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:Graham: And obviously
that's why I designed it.
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:It is designed to do something.
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:It's not just an academic thesis.
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:There's a practical, heavy
practical element to it.
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:So some people solve that by
writing a theory book and a field
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:workbook or some sort of, some
of these books behind me here.
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:I realize your people can't,
listeners can't see it, but
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:there's a bookshelf behind me.
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:And it's common to write two books,
the exercise book and the theory book.
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:Um, and that could be useful because
I plan to take this into a workshop.
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:I'm already starting doing that, actually.
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:So there is a workshop component, and
so I should write like that if I know
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:what I'm going to do with the book, or
if I know how people are going to use
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:it, I should write with that in mind.
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:It's not a book, no one reads about
mental models on a Sunday morning, it's
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:not the book you pick up, you know, or go
to bed with a shared mental models book.
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:So I have to think through, well,
how are people going to use my book?
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:I know they're going to do
an exercise at some point.
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:But I like the bite sized format that I
learned in the previous one, which is If
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:you read two pages, it takes you a minute.
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:If I can't tell you something interesting
in two pages, am I communicating?
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:Because I think there should be
something interesting within a few
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:minutes to keep your attention.
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:Um, and if it's just waffle, then
cut it back to the CS professor.
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:There's a lot, I would find no
tolerance for that type of book.
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:Um, and there's a good idea in there,
but it just could have been said.
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:I feel it's going to be used
in a different way, let's say.
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:Geri: That's knowing your, uh, intent,
intended audience as well in a way.
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:Graham: I think so as well, because
my audience is not academics.
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:It's going to be people who
want to solve the problem.
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:However, I'm not going to shy
away from the academic nature.
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:I can imagine I would be
putting academic references.
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:Geri: Uh,
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:Graham: That's my current idea.
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:I might backtrack on this in this
because I think I want people to know
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:that this is underpinned by science.
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:Because there's lots of people who've
written, well not, there's lots of
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:people who've got ideas in the game
industry for vision, shared vision.
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:But it's just an idea.
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:They're like, oh, I think this works.
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:And I would ask, well, how do you know?
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:And they would say something
generic like, well, I asked
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:the team and they say it works.
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:And I'm the other end of the scale.
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:It's like, well, I'm interested
in the proof behind that.
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:So my model will prove
if the team is aligned.
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:That's why I designed it.
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:Because I was tired of people
saying, oh, we're definitely aligned.
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:People say there's no problem
here, and so I designed it, you
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:know, so I'm always interested in
here's how I got to that answer.
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:And if you want to read that
too, I'm going to pinpoint you to
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:the very things that I learned.
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:So I want to trade that, instead of
dumbing the book down and saying,
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:here's academia, and I'm going to
remove all the hard slogs that we would
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:read as academic papers, I'm going to
remove all that and just distill it.
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:I'm instead going to say, I want to
bring you up and elevate your knowledge.
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:And it's going to be a little
bit tricky, but I think it's
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:going to be worth it for you.
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:So that's my current thinking.
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:Geri: Yeah, and that seems like a skill
you've really developed well is that
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:communicating to people why it matters.
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:Graham: I think, and I think that's
the reason, I think, if you write a
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:book that's hard to read, and you can't
tell people why it's worth it to read
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:through it, they're probably abandoned.
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:But if you tell people in advance, this
is not going to be the easiest of reads.
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:There probably would be
an easier way to say this.
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:But, I think you will get more from
it by going through this journey.
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:This is likely harder to read.
398
:There's going to be academic jargon.
399
:I'll explain it to you.
400
:You will benefit stronger if
you stick with it, and I'm going
401
:to do my best job I can to not
write a long, woefully long book.
402
:I'm going to help you, to elevate you,
to bring this academic terminology
403
:and models into your thinking, rather
than keep it out of your thinking.
404
:I don't think I'm doing you any
favors by removing it from your
405
:thinking and your mental model.
406
:My job is to improve you, but I
have to, the journey's going to be
407
:a little bit of, Be a bit tricky.
408
:Not as hard as an MSc or a PhD,
but it's not a blog article
409
:on, you know, Medium either.
410
:It's, it's in between.
411
:Geri: That's probably good food for
thought for people, especially with the
412
:increasing push to impact, which requires
a different sort of communication skill.
413
:We should wrap up.
414
:So what next for Graham McAllister?
415
:There's the book and you said
about starting to do consulting.
416
:Graham: I, I, I honestly don't know.
417
:know.
418
:I do think this is the final career.
419
:So I guess, I don't know how
you phrase your life journey.
420
:But I think this is the, this is the
wind down phase, for sure, right?
421
:Um, I don't work five days a week, or, I
don't work five days a month, you know.
422
:So, and that's my design,
it's not for anything else.
423
:Could that change?
424
:Yes.
425
:So this is another one of those
dots where I'm saying, I am here,
426
:and I spent five years going back
to LSE and designing a model.
427
:And that model shows that the game
industry is, Missing a substantial,
428
:you know, explains their problem, and I
could bring that into the game industry.
429
:And all I know is I have to
bring that to the game industry
430
:Geri: in some format.
431
:Uh, Um, Uh,
432
:Graham: format.
433
:And I imagine if we speak in two years
I don't know what I would say, right?
434
:I could say it turned into nothing, or I
tried and I failed, I tried to tell them
435
:and they wouldn't listen, or I designed
this model and someone built on it and
436
:now it's this amazing thing, and you can
imagine all the ways that could go, um,
437
:and I do not know, and I'm okay with that.
438
:I'm
439
:Geri: I was just going to
ask, is it scary or exciting?
440
:Graham: No no.
441
:It's more on the exciting end, I think.
442
:The final part, the final, final
part, I think is bringing it maybe
443
:to people outside of video games.
444
:As you hinted at, this is a human problem.
445
:This is a team problem.
446
:Whenever a group of people get together,
they have an alignment problem.
447
:And that alignment problem generically
is caused by language and the
448
:structure of their mental model.
449
:And yes, we could talk about
values and things like that.
450
:But that's what's causing
the friction ultimately.
451
:And so if we can generalize that
and say, well, here's a mental, the
452
:general mental model for any team, but
we know you'll need to refine it for
453
:your industry, while our team works in
the automotive industry, or space, or
454
:healthcare, or fintech, or I get it.
455
:But generally speaking, this is a
way of thinking, and again, that's
456
:one of the book outlines that I
could write, is saying, generalizing
457
:that to teams, uh, of any type.
458
:So I spoke to a publisher years ago,
pitching the Game Vision project.
459
:This is 2020 maybe 5 years ago, and this
is a famous publisher in the States,
460
:and they said they nodded and listened
and went, yes, interesting, interesting.
461
:Could you write that?
462
:So it's useful for any team.
463
:So they wanted to, you know, they said
they'd publish the game book if I wanted,
464
:but the book they were really interested
in is the thinking behind that model
465
:and applying that to the wider audience.
466
:And I said, well, that's not me.
467
:It's not my passion.
468
:But in 2025, since going back to LSE and
seeing models with any organization, I
469
:do know, I think, yeah, I could see how I
would go about writing that book as well.
470
:So I don't know, but I can see, you
know, um, I could imagine maybe just
471
:writing books for the end of my, my
final working career where, and you
472
:give a few talks on them and a few
workshops and you love doing it.
473
:And there's nothing wrong
with that path at all.
474
:You know, I don't see.
475
:Geri: So it's a lovely example
of You never know where life will
476
:take you and you can pivot your
career in many different ways.
477
:And you're still applying a lot of
your core skills around, you know, like
478
:as you've talked about, identifying
interesting problems and being able to
479
:articulate them, getting to the why,
what's behind it, how do we solve them,
480
:how do we bring methods to solving them,
how do we communicate the findings.
481
:So there's a lot of those red
threads as well through all the work.
482
:Graham: I think so.
483
:I think so.
484
:It's like, why do these
problems keep happening?
485
:If you're like an organization
or research group.
486
:And you're seeing recurring problems.
487
:What on earth?
488
:Why is that happening?
489
:What's going on there?
490
:You know, so I think people, I think it's
an interesting time for us to talk because
491
:people are rethinking what work is.
492
:This has been a common trend since
COVID in particular, and they're
493
:saying, well, okay, I go to work,
I get money because I need money
494
:to pay the rent, blah, blah, blah.
495
:I get it.
496
:But what about me?
497
:What about my, what do I bring?
498
:Am I fulfilled going to work?
499
:Um, this work life balance, you know, is
it going to work to get money, but your
500
:life starts at 5pm when you come home
and do it the things you want to do.
501
:And then people rebelled
against that idea quite rightly
502
:saying, well, could they not?
503
:Can we not have both?
504
:Can we not go to work
and feel happy there too?
505
:Can I bring myself to work?
506
:Why do I have these two identities?
507
:So this, all of this, the underlying theme
between everything we were talking about,
508
:and I apply this particularly to the game
industry, which has had a horrific Three
509
:years of companies closing and people
crying in car parks and losing their jobs.
510
:And the other line, you could
ask me, why did I do game vision?
511
:I've tried to give you some answers,
but the bottom answer, the root cause
512
:of all of this is people are having
a really horrible time at work.
513
:And yes, we could say it's partly
leadership and culture, and
514
:that's true, but we can fix it.
515
:We can have, we can design a better life,
whether you're in the video game industry
516
:or academia or wherever you're in.
517
:Um, it could definitely be better.
518
:I don't know how much better,
but it could be better.
519
:That's what I would say.
520
:I think people are starting to pay
more attention to that, uh, over the
521
:last five years, which is good to see.
522
:Geri: Yes.
523
:Definitely.
524
:Totally agree.
525
:Well, Graham, this has been wonderful
catching up and such an interesting
526
:story and so much in it to reflect
on, on lots of different levels.
527
:So anything that we haven't talked about
that you would have wanted to cover?
528
:Graham: I don't think so.
529
:I think, you know, you've had
a huge influence on my life.
530
:That's the final thing.
531
:Because multiple times, I don't know why.
532
:You accepted me into Sussex to
start as a senior lecturer back
533
:then, 2007, 2008, whatever it was.
534
:It really, that was a
major pivotal moment.
535
:Without that, there wouldn't
have been a company.
536
:Without that, I wouldn't have
went to LSE to do the vision,
537
:the share mental model work.
538
:You're, you know, and
the generosity you have.
539
:I mean, we never got to talk
about you on this podcast.
540
:I don't know if we want to, I guess,
talk about you or not, but there's
541
:probably a consistent theme, um,
about your generosity with your
542
:time and how you are to people.
543
:And I won't tell stories, but I
definitely I think of stories and
544
:things you did that were so generous,
back to that window we had in Sussex.
545
:Things you did, I remember thinking,
what a wonderful, wonderful,
546
:kind person you really are.
547
:Geri: Oh,
548
:Graham: And honestly, there's so many
examples, I'm not going to cite them
549
:because they're personal to me and they
won't mean anything to anyone else, except
550
:to say that I'm not short of examples.
551
:You know, and I'm not the only
one who says that, you know,
552
:um, the fact you're doing this
and giving, giving back as well.
553
:But yeah, just, just to say thank you
because you took my life in a massively
554
:better, more interesting direction that I
would not have reached on my own for sure.
555
:Geri: And you, yes.
556
:So I really appreciate
you saying those things.
557
:I'm very humbled.
558
:So thank you.
559
:And I also am honoured to have been
part of that journey because you've
560
:Being the one who's made that path
work and, um, take, you know, like
561
:used it and, and built things.
562
:And as you said, the multiple impacts
on all sorts of people, companies,
563
:people in the industry, people playing
games, you know, just generally.
564
:So we, we never know, do we?
565
:How, who we touch or how we touch people.
566
:Graham: That's what I was thinking about.
567
:These random, someone says
a word in a corridor or a
568
:Geri: Um, Um,
569
:Graham: I like, I never get, I
won't be able to tell Gary anymore
570
:that he changed my life too.
571
:This random lecture that he gave by
saying yes to this talk at Queen's
572
:University and, you know, it sent
my career on a whole different path.
573
:And
574
:Geri: Um.
575
:Graham: As you say, stop the podcast
and tell people, you know, someone,
576
:because it's bound to happen.
577
:Geri: That's a great
point to, to, uh, stop on.
578
:So stop now and go and tell someone what
they did for you, what they mean to you.
579
:Yeah.
580
:So thank you, Graham.
581
:And so ends the last part of
my three part conversation with
582
:the wonderful Graham McAllister.
583
:I just love his energy and how clearly
he thinks through issues and connects
584
:the dots of his various career pivots.
585
:And
586
:isn't he such a powerful communicator?
587
:I think there have been nuggets
spread across all three episodes.
588
:And in this latest episode, whether you
struggle with writing or love writing,
589
:I hope you'll have found some things
here that you can take away to try out.
590
:And even though Graham was talking about
books and for non-academic audiences.
591
:I think there are aspects on the art and
craft of writing that he's shared that
592
:could apply to all forms of our writing.
593
:I know that I took away a lot
from my own writing practice.
594
:And finally, I just want to spotlight
something that Graham said at
595
:the very end of our conversation.
596
:That I think comes through in so much
of what he's done for himself across
597
:his various career pivots, and also the
impact that he has had on the people
598
:that he's trying to work with to solve
problems to make their lives better.
599
:And that's this quote from Graham
about designing a better liFe.
600
:Graham: We can design a better life,
whether you're in the video game industry
601
:or academia or wherever you're in.
602
:Um, it could definitely be better.
603
:I don't know how much better,
but it could be better.
604
:Geri: So let's all work
at making it better.
605
:You can find the summary notes, a
transcript and related links for this
606
:podcast on www.changingacademiclife.com.
607
:You can also subscribe to Changing
Academic Life on iTunes, and Stitcher.
608
:And I'm really hoping that we can
widen the conversation about how
609
:we can do academia differently.
610
:And you can contribute to this by rating
the podcast and also giving feedback.
611
:And if something connected with
you, please consider sharing this
612
:podcast with your colleagues.
613
:Together we can make change happen.
