This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Geoff Watts, and from frequent visits to watch the Comedy Store Players perform in London. Timings: 5-10 mins Materials: 4 willing volunteers Instructions: One person plays “the interviewer” The other three people play the “interviewee”. The only rule they must follow is that they must answer any questions one word at a…
The Blame GameLe jeu du blâme
This is a game to let people experience the effects of different punishments/rewards systems have on the way a team works together. One team will be ‘The Team’ which is rewarded and punished on a team level and ‘The Individuals’ have a mix of team and individual rewards and punishments. Timing: 20-45 minutes Materials: Deck of Cards, rules instructions, paper/pen to keep track of scores…
Upside Downside
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard Timing: 30-45 minutes (depending upon the complexity, emotion or controversy around the topic) Materials: None Instructions: This is typically used in retrospectives but could be used by teams to critique or evaluate potential options at any time. Split the group into two even-sized sub-groups One of the sub-groups has the…
Story Spines
Simon Bennett generously introduced us to this game during the Scrum Trainers Retreat in Amsterdam in 2010. It is a common improv game Timing: 15 minutes Materials: 6 Chairs Pre-prepared index cards with story element structures (See below) Instructions: Preparation Set out 6 chairs in a row from left to right On chair 1 place an index card with the following words: “Once upon a…
The Sprint Limerick
This exercise was co-created as part of a collaboration day between myself and Paul Goddard Timing: 30-45 minutes Materials: None Instructions: Ask the team to create a limerick to sum up the Sprint or perhaps even team values A limerick has 5 lines with a specific rhythm Line 1 rhymes with lines 2 and line 5 Line 3 rhymes with line 4 For example: A…