< Most solutions are events, workshops, or team building.
SPACE for Play changes how your team operates day to day. />
PATO (Play at the Office) is a system of play tailored for tech and product teams, built around the SPACE for Play framework.
Our framework is a structured, ongoing approach to embedding play into the everyday, so that connection, safety, and skill growth compound over time rather than fading after the post-retreat glow wears off.
why play?
Get serious about play
Play is the base layer that higher thinking and connection are built on. It’s how we’ve learned to think, grow, and interact with each other and our environment. And yet, it has been forcibly pushed out of the workplace, and honestly, most adult life.
Folks in tech are reporting record rates of burnout. Every year, Gallup reports a decline in engagement across the board. More meetings, surveys, offsites, and one off workshops aren’t moving the needle.
Play can. And almost nobody is using it. PATO is bringing play to work by helping tech teams start their own play practice that creates the type of culture people need to share bold ideas, lean on each other, and feel engaged. Through games, improv, and playful methods, we’re making play a serious part of how teams work.
84%
of tech workers report burnout
76%
are more likely to stay with continuous training
$440b+
lost to disengagement in the US annually
76%
more engagement on teams with high safety
19%
of orgs have a method in place for upskilling teams
< Your people want to show up fully.
They just need the right conditions. />
How we embed play everyday
Making SPACE for play at work
Play is one of our most fundamental capabilities, and it’s how we tap into collaboration, creativity, connection, and innovation. The SPACE for Play framework gives teams a simple system to embed play into work.
Five dimensions that, when present, stop teams from going through the motions and start creating the conditions where disconnection and burnout have less room to grow. Individually, each one moves the needle, but together, they create the type of team culture most leaders spend years trying to cultivate.
S
Safety
Safety means the team can be weird, wrong, whatever – without it costing them
P
Purpose
Every game and activity has a job based on what we need to solve
A
Autonomy
Team members choose when and how they participate
C
Care
Care is the practice of seeing each other as people and not just job titles
E
Enablement
Growing soft skills, individually and as a team, as a result of having fun
These results came from people who weren’t even on the same work team. Imagine what’s possible when you integrate this into your actual teams, where collaboration really matters.
who this is for
Tailored for tech teams, useful for all teams
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What a play practice looks like
Imagine your team a year from now
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how it works
Four ways to get started
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1
Take the free snapshot
A quick pulse check across the 5 dimensions of the SPACE framework. Less than five minutes, immediate insight into where your team stands and what to start.
Free – No sign ups or anything
2
Go deeper with the assessment
Get a detailed picture of your team culture across all 5 dimensions of SPACE for play and a clear roadmap on where to focus first and how to start embedding play for a healthier, more connected team.
$399
3
Build your practice
Kickstart workshop, 8-week implementation course, and templates give you everything to start embedding play into the everyday with structure and support.
Coming soon
4
Keep it going
The weekly newsletter helps you keep the practice alive week by week
Free
articles & resources
Thoughts on play
Research, game guides, resources, and more
meet the founder
Hey y’all! I’m Lissy
I’m passionate about applying games and playful methods for good. I’ve been playing games and facilitating since college, long before I knew what a skill it was. Over 10+ years in tech working in user experience (UX), I’ve seen firsthand what makes extraordinary teams.
So I did what any UX strategist would do–I turned it into a system. SPACE for Play combines everything I know about human centered design, games, and facilitation into a framework based on the best teams I’ve worked with and modern research.
I’m on a mission to make play an every day part of life. Why? Because I’ve seen how well play creates the conditions for collaboration, growth, and joy.
Start your play practice, one email at a time
Every Tuesday(ish), I reach out with games, stories, practice tips and more that you can plug and play to help you strengthen your team’s connection, creativity, growth, and joy week by week.
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