This is the Sesame Street version of another game often played during Intro to Agile classes. We used funny characters to illustrate a couple of the key tenets of Agile, and one of the biggest differences between organizations "doing Agile" vs organizations "being Agile" - distributed decision making and team self-organization.
Enjoy! (it is okay to laugh a little too)
Taught Agile Concepts
Distributed decision-making,
Team self-organization,
Sprint 0,
Retrospective.
Participants:
2 teams (team Elmo, and team Cookie Monster) – 1 “Puppet,” 1 “Puppeteer,” and 1 PO in each,
1 Facilitator,
(the rest of the observers can cheer for their favorite puppet).
Props:
1 Game Board (Google Sheets*),
Stopwatch (“Alarms and Clocks” Windows app, or analogous).
Prep / Sprint 0:
Ask for volunteers to participate and let them choose teams and roles. (Facilitator)
Instantiate the Game Board and invite the participants. (Facilitator)
Team members get Editor access to the respective board.
Everyone gets View access.
Explain the game rules and objectives to the teams. (Facilitator)
Give the teams 3 min to choose their communication method – they need to be able to communicate effectively in private, preferably without crossing wires with the other team. (Teams)
Game Rules:
A puppet can move only once square at a time – left/right, up/down, but never diagonally.
A puppet cannot step on Oscar the Grouch – that would be game over!
A puppet cannot step on the other puppet – that would be rude! (and game over).
Game Objective:
Get to the opposite corner faster than your opponent.
Game Activities:
Sprint 1:
The Facilitator starts the stopwatch.
Each Puppeteer gives their Puppet a command for where to go next (e.g. “D1” or “F2”).
The Puppet can move only after they receive the command from the Puppeteer.
The PO monitors the communication channel to ensure the puppets follow the given direction.
Each team moves at its own speed.
The Facilitator makes a note of the elapsed time.
Sprint 2:
The game board is reset. This time, the Puppeteers step back and only watch.
The Facilitator starts the stopwatch.
The Puppets move at their own pace, following the above rules.
The Facilitator makes a note of the elapsed time and compares it to Sprnt1. (Hint: expect to see dramatic cycle time reduction!)
Retrospective:
Engage the participants in a discussion about what they noticed in the 2 sprints.
Summarize the importance of decentralized decision making and team empowerment.
Ask the participants if they can think of concrete examples of how they can implement this principle in their daily work.
*We used the Google Jamboard and Sheets apps because a) the team we piloted the game with are big fans of the G-suite, and b) the tools are simple, accessible, and free for anyone else to use. You can modify the game to fit the toolset your team is most familiar with.