Ingredients:

• Stop Watch

Directions:

In groups of two taking turns:

One person speaks, the other listens. The speaker picks a topic of personal interest, perhaps a problem they have been working on. The speaker talks for five to seven minutes while the listener says nothing. They may nod or smile or perform other gestures.

Have a discussion. how did it feel to just listen? How often were we thinking of what we wanted to speak about?

Learning Points:

• Most conflict and miscommunication is due to a lack of listening. It is difficult for many of us to turn our internal monologue and listen to other speak. If we do, the rewards are great.

CREDIT: Ross Martin & Lynn Harrison, Black Tusk Leadership

Posted by Mike

Ingredients:

• Index cards, about ten per team
• Pens

Directions:

Create teams of story writers of 4 or more. Half the teams sit together, the other half must sit at different tables.

The goal is to write a coherent story with six paragraphs that begin with….

1. It was a bright and sunny day in ? ….
2. Finally, John was able to subdue the ? ….
3. The crash left them disoriented and their apples were strewn across the ? ….
4. Somehow the bunny was now on top of the ? ….
5. Alice had been frightened by the barking but found the path back to ? ….
6. The clowns returned and everyone was relieved to see Harry waiting with the bucket of chicken. …

The team has 8 minutes to write their story and then present to the room.

Learning Points:

• Co-location promotes better communication and collaboration creating better products and more cohesive solutions.

Posted by Mike

Ingredients:

• 20-30 balloons per team
• Supplies for each team: construction paper, rulers, scissors, markers

Directions:

Start by showing the teams a balloon that you would like created. The balloon has a face made up of two round eyes, a triangular nose, and a semi circle mouth. Without any further instructions, tell the teams that they have 2 minutes to create as many of the balloons as possible, then have them bring the balloons up to be ‘accepted’. Eliminate any balloons that do not meet your criteria of ~10 inches wide, ~2 inch eyes, ~1 inch gap between eyes, ~1.5 inch high nose, and ~4.5 inch wide mouth. Very few teams will have balloons that meet the criteria. As you reject their work (waste), ask the teams if they’ve ever had a similar experience in software development. Before the second round, give the teams 2 minutes to discuss how they can improve for the next iteration. They should start asking more questions about the acceptance criteria, which you will happily offer. When round 2 starts, the teams will now apply the acceptance criteria to their work and some will even start building ‘test harnesses’ (e.g. paper templates for face, quick ways to measure balloon width, etc.) . The results should be better in round 2. Discuss how they changed the way they worked and what improvements they would make the next time. If needed, play one more round. This time, every team should be using a test harness and should therefore be producing balloons with much more efficiency and quality.

Learning Points:

• Defining acceptance criteria is not the same as writing tests, only to be applied after something is produced. They can be used as requirements, as tests, and as a target for developers.
• Automating acceptance tests (or executable requirements) can be very useful, as demonstrated by the test harnesses produced during the game.
• The investment in creating and automating acceptance tests is worthwhile and has a high return.

Posted by Mike

Ingredients:

• Origami instructions for half the participants
• Blank standard sized printer paper for half the participants

Directions:

Pair up participants and provide an instruction sheet (face down) to one person in each pair (the “instructor”), and provide a blank sheet of paper to the other member of the pair (the “folder”). Split the pairs into three groups:

• Group 1 sits side-by-side,
• Group 2 sits face-to-face, and
• Group 3 sits back-to-back.

On “Go!” the person with the instruction sheet flips it over and instructs the other member of the pair how to fold the origami.

• In Group 1, one person folds, but both can consult the instruction sheet as much as needed.
• In Group 2, the folder must not see the instruction sheet, but the instructor can watch the folder and provide feedback on progress.
• In Group 3, the instructor and the folder cannot see each other, but they can talk (over their shoulders) as much as possible.

As each group successfully completes the origami item, have them stand up. The facilitator may cut it off after a period of time, because Group 3 may not successfully finish.

Learning Points:

• Collaboration leads to faster results and better quality.
• Communication barriers on geographically dispersed teams can be disastrous, even if there is unlimited verbal communication.
• Visual maps are a useful communication tool.

CREDIT: Ken Howard, Improving Enterprises

Posted by Mike

Ingredients:

• Many coins of varying denominations

Directions:

A customer wants to hire the subcontracting vendor who provides the quickest estimate to sorting a bag of coins. Have teams of participants bid on the project by shouting out bids (in seconds). Let all the teams attempt the exercise and hold them to their bids by timing them. After they have finished, point out that what the customer actually wanted, was to have the coins sorted by date, not denomination.

Learning Points:

• Timelines are often set without due diligence.
• Assumptions are often made without involving the customer. These assumptions may hold true all the way to production.
• If a team had first sorted a sample of coins and demonstrated for feedback, the problem would have been caught before it became too costly.

Posted by Mike

Ingredients:

• Football (or some other kind of ball)

Directions:

In order to enforce the rules of the daily stand-up meeting and to keep it more entertaining, a football can be used. Only those holding the football can speak. Once they have completed answering their questions, they can throw the football to another team member who has not yet spoken. This continues until all members have spoken. It is up to each individual to remember who has not spoken. You can implement penalties for violations of the rules (scoreboard, $1 to the happy hour or lunch fund, etc.)

Learning Points:

• Tracking who has not yet spoken and the expectation of receiving the football keeps everybody alert, involved, and entertained.
• Only one member speaks at a time.

Posted by Don McGreal

Ingredients:

• People and space
• 1 stop watch per team
• Video camera
• Corporate Lawyer

Directions:

Each team selects a manager. Then, standing in a circle, the rest of the team members are asked to hold hands with others that are not directly adjacent to them. Each person should be holding hands with two different people, forming a tangled mess. The team must then untangle themselves by following the instructions of the manager. None of the other team members are allowed to talk. Record the time it takes to untangle. Repeat the process, but this time remove the manager and let the team untangle themselves through communication and collaboration. Record the time; it should be faster.

Then try untangling in silence, and see what happens.

Be wary of team members taking advantage of the situation, and filing a sexual harassment lawsuit for the inevitable groping that will occur. It might be a good idea to videotape the exercise, to facilitate ensuing depositions.

Learning Points:

• Trusting and empowering the team is quite often the most effective solution.
• Some team members will intentionally take advantage of the situation, invariably destroying the very trust that these exercises should be building. Take note of the alacrity with which these team members contact their lawyers.

Posted by Mike

Ingredients

• People and space
• Notepads and pens for participant

Directions

1. The moderator whispers a short phrase, such as “The company is facing budgetary problems, and some of us will be let go,” in the ear of a participant. The moderator writes down what he whispered.
2. The participant then whispers the sentence that he heard in the ear of another participant and writes down what he whispered.
3. Repeat step 2 until everyone has participated.
4. The moderator then asks each participant to read aloud the sentence that the participant wrote down.

Learning Points

• The morale will deteriorate quickly, often in comical ways. Invite the participants to discuss why communication is intrinsically noisy. Discuss practices that promote good communication.

Submitted by Michael dela Maza <MdelaMaza @ drc.com>

Posted by Mike