Playful Agile Coaching
Off to Freiburg»
Last Tuesday, April 4th, there was another Scrum UserGroup Freiburg Meetup, and I had it marked on my calendar for a while. The meetup started at 6:30 pm with a get-together, and the talk began at 7:00 pm. Since I came from Offenburg and travelled by train, I had to decide in advance whether to go or spend the evening differently. But it was definitely worth it, and I don’t regret it.
The train didn’t arrive in Freiburg until 6:30 pm, but it’s easy to walk from the station to Jobrad, where the event took place. I was worried about finding the location right away. Jobrad already extends over several buildings, but there was a notice in the door window.
Alex Röhm, organizer of the group, wasn’t attending due to a bike accident, but gave me directions. One of his colleagues took good care of us.
Jobrad is a very modern company, and it took place in a really cool lounge area with a ping pong table, standing table, flipchart, and all sorts of other seating. Many people were already there, and there were a few familiar faces, the usual suspects so to say. There was free pizza and lemonade, and it was easy to get into conversations with like-minded people.
The topic was Agile games, and of the announced speakers and authors of the book on that topic, only Marc Bleß was there, but as an experienced Agile Coach, he moderated the evening very professionally. He had his agenda hanging on the wall with large Post-Its as a red thread, which was already a great inspiration for me, and I will steal this idea at the next opportunity.
Opener True and Positive»
Of course, Marc immediately used his repertoire of icebreaker games to loosen up, form teams, or create a positive atmosphere.
For the latter, everyone had to say who they are and what they’re proud of in the last two weeks (only true or positive things are allowed). I also learned to not ask for superlatives, such as what was the best, biggest, greatest? This blocks your mind, because it is forced to weigh things against each other. You’re more creative with an open question, like what felt good or what you are proud of. We were a rather large group in Freiburg, so we had to keep it brief.
For group formation, we then tried the classic lining up by various criteria (experience, shoe size, etc.) and counting up to the desired group size for the next game.
Why play at all?»
Then it was about why to play and why games are useful. In addition to the already mentioned openers or energizers (relaxation during long meetings or at the beginning of a meeting), there are games with which you can develop an Agile mindset, get to know the Scrum workflow (simulation games like the Ball Point Game), promote team building, reflect on topics, or simply have fun. Happy teams and team members are more motivated. And games provide a safe space for experimentation, risk-taking, and making mistakes.
Therefore, a reflection is always appropriate after playing games. It was a good time for Marc to refer to his book (product placement). His book also includes the “Agile Games Matrix,” which shows the mapping of learning objectives to activities, games, and simulations at a glance. You can also download it from Marc’s website.
If you haven’t played games like the Ball Point Game or the Tower Building Game, you should definitely consider trying them out with an Agile Coach. These games illustrate the iterative approach of Scrum and are fun to play. I still remember my first time playing the Ball Point Game, led by Petri Heiramo, my Scrum coach at Futurice Berlin.
Our Game Night Experience»
Marc suggested a selection of games to us, including LEGO CI, Team 3, Human Knot, Magic Maze, Fearless Journey, Business Value Poker, Coin Flip Game, and SIN Obelisk. We used Dot Voting to decide which games to focus on, ultimately selecting Business Value Poker, Fearless Journey, and SIN Obelisk. I won’t spoil SIN Obelisk for you, but let’s just say it was a unique experience.
We spent a lot of time playing Business Value Poker, which provides product owners with a holistic view of their shared portfolio. This involves evaluating and assessing their backlog against those of others.
During this game, I learned about Cost of Delay (CoD) - which calculates the impact of not addressing a particular issue, by taking business value, time, and risk into account. And the CoD per duration for each items is used to determine the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF).
Conclusion»
Our Game Night was a fun and informative evening spent with like-minded individuals. We played games, learned new concepts, and even earned Scrum Education Units (SEUs) for renewing our Scrum Alliance certificates.
Marc had a few copies of his books with him, so I picked up a copy for my train ride back to Offenburg and received a personalized message: “Let the games begin!”