Timing: 10 minutes. This is the expected time to run the game, including prep and debrief
Materials:
Each person in the team or at the table needs the following materials:
- A pen, pencil or fine sharpie to draw
- A page of The Spark Engine book (pages are designed with a tear-off dotted line for easy distribution)
Instructions:
The mechanics of the game are pretty simple yet effective, from 1 to 1,000 people with little variation.
Prep: distribute one page of the book per participant and make sure everyone has something to draw with – a pen, a pencil, or a fine sharpie
Run the game: The goal of the game is to complete the drawing on the page. Each page contains a different unfinished drawing so that every participant will likely work on a different drawing. They should complete the drawing getting inspiration from a personal experience or story, something they would like to share with others at the end of the game. The more personal the better as this allows to get to know each other more.
If they cannot think of anything personal or run out of ideas, each page has a “creative prompt” at the bottom that can provide that little spark to find an idea to draw.
Everyone starts at the same time. The facilitator should give the participants between 4 to 5 minutes to complete their drawing. When the time is up, everyone stops drawing and prepares for the next step.
Review and share: This is where the drawings come to life. One by one, each participant shares his or her drawing, explaining what they did and telling any story behind it. It usually takes no more than 30-60 seconds/person to explain their drawing. This is better if done standing as it maintains the focus on the presenter. If you have large teams (more than 8-10 people) then split in smaller teams and run the game within each team.
Learning Points:
This exercise serves two purposes:
1) It acts as an icebreaker taking people outside their comfort zone in an easy, safe way. The act of drawing can be a bit unnerving for most, but they don’t need to be artists – in fact it’s not the quality of the drawing that matters, it’s the act itself.
2) It sparks the creative juices of team members, warming up the creative side of their brains and fostering an environment where it is ok to share ideas even if not perfect.
Finally, when the drawings are taped to the wall in the team’s area, they stay behind as quick reminders of everyone’s story. This way people can continue remember what someone else said, even after the game is completed.
Where to get the book:
The book is available for sale or digital download following the links on this page: https://www.5dvision.com/books/the-spark-engine
Sparks posted in team area 
- The Spark Engine drawing
Valerio has spent more than 20 years working in a variety of industries spanning software development, system integration, agile transformation, design thinking, and product innovation. He is the founder and CEO of the product innovation firm 5D Vision, with offices in Washington, DC and Rome, Italy. He provides consulting and training to organizations of any size, helping them become more innovative with product mastery, agile methodologies and design thinking.
Formerly a Director of Product Development at Capital One where he led digital transformation initiatives for retail bank and transformed how customers interact with bankers. Before Capital One, Valerio was the co-founder and CEO of Goozex (sold in 2012), a Systems Engineer at Cisco, and the co-founder of one of the first web development companies in Italy.
He is a Certified Scrum Trainer and SAFe Program Consultant. He’s also certified IDEO Design Thinking. He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland, and a MS/BS degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering from the University of Rome, Italy.
He is the author of Deliver Great Products That Customers Love, published in 2018.
It is super fun!
That’s very interesting and fun, I might use it in my next meeting with my team