This is a fun and effective way to replicate the challenges of scaling product development across many teams.
It puts teams into a situation where they need to turn their individual features into one collective increment within a Sprint. They need to work out how to manage dependencies between teams as well as cross-team requirements and constraints. Consider running this exercise right before introducing a group to a scaling framework, such as Nexus.
The Agile Mindset Workshop
Total time: 45-60 minutes Purpose The purpose of the game is for everybody to participate and share their opinions, thoughts, feelings, ideas and practical use of the agile manifesto and its principles. They will be doing this by playing a matching game. Benefits For the team: After facilitating this workshop I observed teams checking their actions and values against the manifesto. They had a constant reminder in a single glance at the wall. For instance,…
First Things First?
A team plots their current and future work on the time management matrix outlined in Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This visual and tactile exercise can help a team really get to the bottom of what’s most important; and if they’re spending time and energy on things that aren’t that important. It promotes alignment between team members and leadership (i.e., Product…
N Listen
Duration & Size: Under 15 mins. Can be used with large crowds too. Objctive: To sharpen listening skills of people and empathise with listeners who have to listen to people talking over each other. Plus any other learnings. It does energise the room. Materials: Group of people Approach: Form groups of 3-5. Ask each group to have two people speak at same time…
The Misemotions Game
Software engineers are often seen by others as loony nerds (or weirdos) who are spending most of their time “interacting” with machines. And the more time passes, the more they are leaving the boundaries of “humanity” and becoming machines of their own. And within this transformation they seem to lose their emotionality and empathy (or emotional intelligence in general). The Misemotions Game is a great…