In March of 2020, I joined a new company as a #scrummaster. Initially, it was to be an in-office position, but due to covid-19, our office went remote (temporarily). While I am thankful to be reaping the benefits of working remotely (decreased carbon footprint/work-life balance), helping spin-up teams remotely has its challenges. One challenge I faced was how to help teams understand flow. One popular method is Boris Gloger’s Ball Point game. A fantastic, hands-on experience, to help teams understand estimation, continuous flow, collaboration, bottlenecks, and much more. However, the game was initially designed as a face-to-face exercise.

In an effort to find an online version, I turned to Google. While I discovered some options, I wanted something more interactive and visual. This led me to create a Powerpoint version. Unfortunately, it has its own limitations. After testing the game out with my peers, we noticed extreme delays in response times, which impacted gameplay (Miro might be a better option). Though flawed, I am sharing my version of the game with hopes to gather feedback. Your feedback will help me make improvements for a better interactive learning experience.

Remote Ball Point Game
Ball Point Game Rules
Worksheet
Ball Buckets

7 thoughts on “Remote (WFH) Ball Point Game”

  1. I dont understand, how can a remote team play with powerpoint? sharing my screen? how do they then move the balls?

  2. Thank you for the effort. It will be great as the teams are working home. The only problem I am seeing here is that it is no proper description of the game.
    number of players at any point of time
    instructions on how to play
    takeaway from the game

  3. Hi Dinamaria,

    i downloaded the ppt but i don’t understand the play environment for online playing? I want to play a agile game with multiple groups (5 person each group) so i wonder your game fit’s here.

    Regards Thomas

    1. You would just have each group download a the game. The game play does have lag as powerpoint was not designed for multi high speed edit but you would use the PowerPoint for each “teams” game play. Planning, sprint, retro…

Comments are closed.