Learning agile values, principles using gamification

The agile game called "Solve the puzzle"


This is a simple game that teams using Agile can play to understand values and principles. Needless to say, the scrum master is the "facilitator" and a keen observer.

 Below are some key points I'd like to share about this puzzle game -
  • it takes 5 mins. of preparation for the scrum master
  • game ideally finishes in 15 minutes; it should not take longer than that
  • while the game is played by teams, the scrum master's role is to facilitate, observe and take note of the observations
Prep work required: 10 mins. max
  • The SM needs printout of 3 images (color prints would be better but procuring that is a challenge, even black & white prints are just fine). To add to a little complexity in the game, you can choose to use images where the subject is the same - just placed differently. Below is what I used as pictures for the game -




  • If you observe closely, the subject in tee was the - "apple". Next thing to do was to print the images (in my case I could get only "black & white" prints as i did not have access to a color printer.
  • Collate all the images together and cut them out so that every printed image, after cutting splits into 8 pieces of paper. That said, all in all, after cutting the printed copies of the images, you should have 24 pieces of paper.
  • Next is a very simple step to make things complicated for the game and make it more challenging for teams. Shuffle all the pieces that you have like you'd shuffle a deck of cards.
How to begin the game?
  • Explain the team about what they have to - "simple" - Objective for the team is to put together all pieces of the picture to finish with the three images shown above.
  • Distribute the 24 "random" pieces of puzzle to the team. In my case of 9 team members, I formed 3 teams, gave them enough space to move around, discuss the plan on how to put things together, divide tasks among themselves and complete the picture.
What was so difficult about it?
  • I did not tell the team that the pieces of picture they had in hand - all belonged to the same image; I just kept the 3 images together on the laptop screen for their reference during the exercise.
  • They initially assumed that it was an easy job but eventually realized (in 5 mins!) that they did not have all pieces of the image together to complete the picture and started moving around and talking to other teams about what piece of the puzzle was missing in their set.
Outcome of the exercise
  • The team was able to complete the whole exercise in 13 minutes.
  • Here is a picture of the work they did so efficiently >
Learnings from the game as the team summarized it
  • Team work - no one was sitting idle and everyone was contributing in the effort
  • Good requirement understanding
  • You won’t get everything you need when you start the exercise/assignment
  • Different tasks need to be integrated to reach the final goal and for that you’ll need to collaborate
  • Always need a fresh set of eyes to look at a problem and complete the picture
  • Look at a problem from a broader POV – pieces of the entire picture are not with one team and team needs to look outside their boundaries for solutions
  • Team what was required from them as the final picture was clear from the beginning

Best,
Jasdev Singh (PMI-ACP®, CSM®, CSP-SM™)
https://in.linkedin.com/in/singhjasdev

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