The document discusses various games that facilitate learning and teamwork, highlighting their effectiveness in engaging participants and encouraging creativity. It covers specific activities designed to improve team bonding, challenge assumptions, and teach agile principles through practical experiences. Each game is supported by its purpose, process, benefits, and unexpected outcomes.

1. Learn to Play &
Play to Learn!
Alan Taylor & Julian Clark

2. WHY GAMES CAN BE EFFECTIVE
• Fun
• Increase engagement
• Learning by doing
• Sticky ideas

3. FOUR AREAS WE WILL COVER
• Teamwork & Trust
• Breaking the Rules
• Deliver Value
• Unlock the Mind

4. HOW TO SUCCEED!
• Explain the purpose
• Gain Buy-in
• Get permission

5. Rabbit time

6. TEAMWORK & TRUST

7. TEAMWORK & TRUST – PICTURE OF YOU
Purpose
● Icebreaker, enabler & clear the mind
What / How
● Quick drawing of/about you
Benefits
● Icebreaker
● Light start to meeting
Unexpected Result
● Who’s who is more memorable
5
mins

8. TEAMWORK & TRUST - JOURNEY LINES
Purpose
● Team bonding; know your colleagues
What / How
● Draw life’s highs and lows
Considerations:
● Safe space
● Personal comfort zones
Benefits
● Empathy building
Unexpected Result
● Identify similar experiences
15+
mins

9. TEAMWORK & TRUST
ICEBREAKER
● Icebreaker, enabler & clear the mind
Benefits
● Who’s who is more memorable
● Light start sets good tone
● Relaxed and open minded
JOURNEY LINES
● Team bonding; know your colleagues
Benefits
● Learn about your colleagues
5
mins
15+
mins

10. BREAKING RULES & SILOS

11. BREAKING RULES & SILOS - BALL GAME
Purpose
● Teamwork, implicit boundaries & continuous
improvement
What / How
● Pass ball through entire team
● How many circuits
● 3-4 Iterations with retrospectives
Benefits
● Learn to challenge implicit rules &
assumptions
● Continuous improvement
● Teamwork
30
mins

12. BREAKING RULES & SILOS - CHAIR GAME
Manager Purpose
● Autonomy, removing blockers
What / How
● Teams of 2; manager and minion
● Fixed blockers & moving impediments
● How many squares in 1 minutes
Benefit
● Learn to challenge explicit rules &
assumptions
● Eliminating blockers & recurring issues
● Understand effectiveness of autonomy
Unexpected Result
● Good workout
Minion
30
mins

13. BREAKING RULES & SILOS
BALL GAME
● Teamwork, implicit boundaries & continuous
improvement
● Pass ball(s) between group members
Benefits
● Challenge implicit rules & assumptions
● Remove recurring blockers
● Teamwork
Unexpected Result
● Learning from other teams
CHAIR GAME
● Autonomy, removing blockers
● How many squares per minute?
Benefits
● Challenge explicit rules & assumptions
● Understand effectiveness of autonomy
Unexpected Result
● Good workout
30
mins
30
mins

14. VALUE DELIVERY

15. VALUE DELIVERY - COIN GAME
Purpose
● Frequent delivery & highest value first
What / How
● Measure time passing coins start to end
● Multiple iterations
Benefits
● Cost of WIP
● Understand benefit of “value first”
30
mins

16. VALUE DELIVERY - FRUIT GAME
Purpose
● Estimates can be way off actuals!
What / How
● Plan eating a variety of fruit
Benefits
● Understand difficulty in estimation
● Appreciate scope validation
Unexpected Result
● Get to eat fruit!
60
mins

17. VALUE DELIVERY - DOG SIZING
Purpose
● Agile principles & changing situations
What / How
● Plan iterative delivery
● Planning based on value criteria & CFRs
● Sizing
Benefits
● Impact of CFRs
● Benefit of ability to change plan
● Understanding of why we work as we do
90
mins

18. VALUE DELIVERY
COIN GAME
● Measure time passing
coins start to end
Benefits
● Cost of WIP
● Understand benefit of
“value first"
FRUIT GAME
● Plan eating a variety of fruit
Benefits
● Understanding of difficulty in
estimation
● Appreciate scope validation
DOG GAME
● Entire end to end metaphor
of Agile delivery
Benefits
● Impact of CFRs
● Benefit of ability to change
plan
● Understanding of why we
work as we do
30
mins
60
mins
90
mins

19. UNLOCK THE MIND

20. UNLOCK THE MIND - DRAW A RABBIT
Purpose
● Creativity exercise with facilitation tool
What / How
● Draw a rabbit!
Benefits
● Icebreaker
Unexpected Result
● Facilitation tool – anyone can call out Rabbit
Holes
1
min

21. UNLOCK THE MIND - SILLY COW
Purpose
● Encourages divergent thinking
What / How
● Draw out a marketing strategy for a cow
Benefits
● Sparks imagination for problem solving
Unexpected Result
● Fun
● Originality
30-60
mins

22. UNLOCK THE MIND - PRODUCT BOX
Purpose
● Tangible focal point, convergent thinking
What / How
● Design hypothetical box for product
Benefits
● Focal point for design decisions
● Sparks imagination for problem solving
● Appreciation of end user in product design
1-2
Hours

23. UNLOCK THE MIND
SILLY COW
● Encourages divergent
thinking
● Draw out a marketing
strategy for a cow
Benefits
● Sparks imagination
PRODUCT BOX
● What sells this to customers
● Design hypothetical box for
product
Benefits
● Focal point for design
decisions
● Sparks imagination for
problem solving
● Appreciation of end user in
product design
DRAW RABBIT
● Free the mind & team
facilitation tool
● Quick drawing exercise
Benefit
● Icebreaker
Unexpected Result
● Facilitation tool - all can call
out Rabbit Hole
1
min
30-60
mins
1-2
hours

24. RECAP

25. EFFECTIVE GAMES
WHY
Fun
Increase engagement
Learning by doing
HOW
Explain the purpose
Gain Buy-in
Get permission

26. GAMES SUMMARY
VALUE DELIVERY
● COIN GAME
○ Frequent delivery & highest value first
● FRUIT GAME
○ Estimates can be way off actuals!
● DOG GAME
○ Agile principles & changing situations
UNLOCK THE MIND
● DRAW A RABBIT
○ Free the mind & team facilitation tool
● SILLY COW
○ Imagination
● PRODUCT BOX
○ What sells this to customers
TEAMWORK & TRUST
● DRAW YOU
○ Icebreaker, enabler & clear the mind
● JOURNEY LINES
○ Team bonding; know your colleagues
BREAKING RULES & SILOS
● BALL GAME
○ Challenge Implicit Assumptions
● CHAIR GAME
○ Challenge Explicit Assumptions

27. INFORMATION SOURCES
● Picture Game :
Imagination!
● Journey Lines:
http://www.coachingagileteams.com/2009/08/30/agile/agile-team-start-up/attachment/journey-
lines-activity/
● Ball Point Game : Easy to find. Here is one example :
https://scrumology.com/from-the-archives-the-ball-point-game/
● Chair Game :
Unknown Source!
● Coin Game : Easy to find. Here is one example :
https://scrumcoaching.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/the-scrum-penny-game-a-modification

28. INFORMATION SOURCES
● Dog Game :
http://tastycupcakes.org/2009/06/doggy-planning/
● Fruit Game :
https://info.thoughtworks.com/rs/thoughtworks2/images/twebook-perspectives-estimation_1.pdf
● Silly Cow : Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
● Draw a Rabbit :
Imagination!
● Product Box : Easy to find. Here is one example : Innovation Games by Luke Hohmann
http://www.innovationgames.com/the-innovation-games/

29. Alan Taylor
adtaylor@thoughtworks.com
Julian Clark
jclark@seek.com.au
This deck is available at :
www.adtaylor.id.au/last-melbourne-2017
We are all on an
exciting
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by @fryer