Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 12:20 pm
I was introduced to this technique by Xavier Quesada Allue who told me he learned it from Tobias Mayer. A reference to this can also be found in Jean Tabaka's book: Collaboration Explained (p207) entitled "Pass The Cards"
Timing:
10-15 minutes
Materials:
A minimum of 8 people, and an even number of people
Anything that you want to prioritise, written on separate cards
One card and one pen per person
Instructions:
This exercise only works with an even number of people and ...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 10:14 am
Simon Bennett generously introduced us to this game during the Scrum Trainers Retreat in Amsterdam in 2010. It is a common improv game
Timing:
15 minutes
Materials:
6 Chairs
Pre-prepared index cards with story element structures (See below)
Instructions:
Preparation
Set out 6 chairs in a row from left to right
On chair 1 place an index card with the following words: "Once upon a time there was…"
On chair 2 place an index card with the following words: "And every da...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 10:07 am
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard
Timing:
60 minutes
Materials:
A lot of Lego
(Optional) A Digital Camera and Photo printer
Instructions:
Preparation
Ask the group to come up with:
a person from history,
a colour and
an object.
Construct a title out of these e.g. The story of Napoleon and the yellow pillow
Set the challenge:
To create a storyboard of this story by building scenes made from Lego.
...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 10:03 am
This exercise was graciously and generously shared with the Scrum training community by Brent Barton back in 2007
Timing:
60-90 minutes
Materials:
Play-doh, rubber bands, golf balls, golf tees and rulers
Instructions:
I need a new product for my unique company called “Movements of a Hypnotic Nature.”
You have been selected as participants because of your skill and past performance.
I want each team to submit a design solution using the following information:
The desig...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 4:23 am
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard and was inspired by Neil Mullarkey
Timing:
15 minutes
Materials:
None
Instructions:
Arrange the group so one person is at the front of the group with a number of other participants sitting facing him/her
The objective is for person 1 to tell a story...with a twist
Every now and then the storyteller will pause, stumble or hesitate towards the end of a sentence and someone from the gr...
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Posted by Paul Goddard on October 23rd, 2012 at 4:05 am
(this exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Geoff Watts)
Timings:
Unspecified, but allow up to 20-30 mins for balloon making and debrief
Materials:
Download and print the attached for one or more of the balloon animal shaping instructions.
Balloon Twisting Tips
The Basic Hat
The Balloon Dog
The Sword
Large bag of coloured modelling balloons, with hand pump
People works in pairs.
Stopwatch.
Instructions:
One of the pair pl...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 3:55 am
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard
Timing:
30-60 minutes
Materials:
Top Trait templates
Photographs of stakeholders
Instructions:
Explain that this is an exercise to help provide some context around the users of the system
For each user type or specific persona, someone (perhaps the Product Owner) will explain their background and how they use the product or system
During the explanation capture relevant informati...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 3:35 am
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard
Timing:
15-45 minutes (depending upon the size of the Product Backlog, number of stakeholders and amount of discussion)
Materials:
A Product Backlog
Stakeholders in prioritisation
(Optional) Currency tokens such as monopoly money or poker chips
Instructions:
Explain that this is an exercise to help collaboratively prioritise the Product Backlog
Divide the currency tokens equally...
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Posted by Geoff Watts on October 23rd, 2012 at 3:19 am
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard
Timing: 15-30 minutes
Materials: (Optional) Pre-printed photographs of 10-15 celebrities. Try and get a range of celebrities including controversial (Lance Armstrong), old (Nelson Mandela), difficult (Stephen Hawking), young (Justin Bieber)
Instructions: Set the scene that there is a cruise-liner with a number of famous people on-board who are now in mortal danger as the boat has hit an iceberg a...
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Posted by Niels Talens on September 14th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
I think the Scrum Simulation with LEGO Bricks by Alexey Krivitsky is a great way to experience agile ways of working. I’ve used it a lot while giving workshops. The game however focuses mainly on the processes.
Depending on the group I felt that the game could have an extension which focuses on the gathering of the required information and setting up the backlog. Most groups exist, besides developers, of product owners, management, stakeholders and so on.
A very important part of prod...
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