In this blog, we would like to introduce you to an agile game that helps to vividly illustrate the difference between an agile approach in cross-functional teams and a classic approach with centralized project management. The game is ideal as an introduction to a workshop as it is very activating.
Setting
The game is played in two rounds. The team has a set time limit and must implement a customer request within this time. In the first round, only the project manager has information about the customer request and must guide the specialists in the team. In the second round, the role of the project manager is dissolved and the team is cross-functional. The team realizes that it is much faster in the second round or even finally implements the request in contrast to the first round.
Round 1
Name a project manager in round 1. At the start of the game, they will receive a picture with a product requirement from you. Geometric shapes are placed differently on the picture.
The remaining people in the team are assigned fixed roles. For example, there may be a role of “red circles”, “blue triangles”, “green rectangles”, etc. This depends somewhat on which shapes you use and how you organize yourself. Again, the roles are fixed. Think of them like job descriptions. Everyone has fixed tasks and is only allowed to do them. If you have more roles than people in the passage, one person can also take on two. Then the person can move both shapes.
The team does not know the overall view of the product. The task of the project manager is now to use communication to guide the team to use the forms of the role to recreate the specification exactly.
About halfway through, you enter a change request. There are slight color changes and shifts in the product. Project management must now communicate these and have them adjusted. Again, make sure that attention is paid to detail. In this round, you will notice a lot of communication, which is then centralized to project management. There may be moments when you are overwhelmed.
Individuals will want to help others, but this is difficult to do as they have no view of the product. Through “boredom”, they try to create tasks for themselves, such as “making everything a little nicer on the back”. It is very likely that the team will not finish. That’s ok so far. Follow up with a very short debriefing and teaser short questions such as: “How did you feel?”, “What was a challenge?” “How did the change request go?”, ‘What happens with multiple change requests?’. The aim here is to mentally anchor a few pillars to make it easier to come back to them in the final meeting.
Round 2
Now initiate that we remove the project management. Of course, this is for structural reasons and not personal ones. To be successful now, we need full transparency and a team that has built up cross-functionality. So we are also dissolving the rigid positions. All people can now move all shapes and, if you are remote, color them. Start right in. It’s a great moment to see how quickly the team organizes itself in the timeframe. If you do this before the timeframe, there is often too much discussion until the perfect setting is in place. This goes against the idea of an explorative approach. It’s better to take the following thought into the debriefing: “You have organized yourselves very quickly. If we had another product now, how would you want to improve yourselves in the context of a retro?”
The change request then of course goes to the entire team. In the second round, you will also see that the team now has a better view of the quality thanks to the transparency. In round 1, it is difficult to understand whether “the triangle is at two-thirds height, slightly tilted towards the blue rectangle”. With transparency, this is now possible and there are always one or two people who voluntarily do another check at the end and go through everything before the product is handed in.
You will certainly notice numerous differences between the two rounds, which you can match to the current situation in the team. The centralization of information about project management, the importance of transparency, improving quality, increasing speed, learning together, the fundamental need to learn and the responsiveness to change are perhaps the most important points…
And yes, it is of course also possible to criticize this game. Depending on the attitude of the group, it could be emphasized “But it’s different in reality”. Yes, that is true. It is a game. It exaggerates and doesn’t make System 1 look good. But in a simplified way, there are many truths behind it and it makes it clear which levers help us to succeed.
In addition to the basic idea, let’s take a look at a few accompanying tips.
The Change Request
Here again clearly emphasized: No project runs as it should. Not even ours. In both projects, there will be a change request from the customer in the course of implementation. This is then forwarded to the project management or, in the second round, to the team. The team then has to respond and adapt the product accordingly.
Remote and on-site
The game is possible in both formats. Unfortunately, hybrid is not. If you play the game on site, you need to make sure you have the right materials with you. We use a load of differently colored pieces of paper in different geometric shapes. In preparation, you puzzle four pictures (two per round) and photograph them.
The whole thing can be done remotely with collaboration tools such as Miro or Mural. You can also prepare four images here. Invest some time in making sure you know how to use the tool. It would be annoying if the debriefing only revealed that the tool was stupid. The setting can take a little more time in the remote. It depends on how experienced the team is in using the tool. There can also be challenges in placing colors correctly. We usually let remote teams color the shapes themselves. This is a bit more fun and more difficult.
On site you have blue cards, online the triangle can be colored in three types of blue. It’s up to you whether you note this in the debriefing (“You chose the wrong colors too often in round 1”) or include it right away (“You can ignore color nuances”).
Material
The material does not have to be counted precisely. With a view to the debriefing, you can also arrange it so that a role is not called up at all. The person with the “blue circles” role then waits in round 1 until they are called on, but nothing happens. In round 2, this person is free due to the elimination of the permanent positions and can contribute the resource to the team. This is not possible in round 1 because the “job description” does not provide for it. You can also point out that in round 1, the competence to switch may not be available. In round 2, we will only be successful if we invest in learning. Cross-functionality is not a sure-fire success, but requires continuous development and learning.
Also make sure you have a timer and, if necessary, glue if the slips of paper don’t have an adhesive surface. However, we have also had it laid on the floor very well.
Group size and time limit
The game works well with six or more people and is still feasible up to around ten people. Anything more than that can have negative side effects (as is always the case with teams of more than ten). If you have 12 participants, it’s worth thinking about two teams, and certainly with 14. Of course, you should also adapt the name of the game. For example, the 10 musketeers.
Adjust your time limit for completing the mission to the size of the group. It is also perfectly fine if the group is not successful in the first round. The important thing is that they complete the task in the second round. Experience has shown that the team needs around 1/3 to ½ of the time from round 1 in the second round, but this is completely dependent on your project task. Small groups are a little stressed with three minutes, but should get through in four. Larger groups are good at four to five minutes. However, you will quickly build up experience here. Allow time for preparation and debriefing. You can also intervene a little in the time with the change request. So decide when to place this as well as possible.
Have fun!
We hope you enjoy trying it out. If you notice that we have forgotten something in this description, please let us know. Together we can make the game even better for everyone. Just write us a short message at hello@nerdrepublic.de