| layout | game | |
|---|---|---|
| title | Ball Point game | |
| category | game | |
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| timebox | ||
| description | The ball point game is one of the oldest games, but it is very efficient because most of the agile values and principles. It is perfect to illustrate how to work as a team and continuously improve. | |
| published | false | |
| enableComments | true |
Setup
You will need around 100 plastic or foam balls. and two baskets (or any kind of container).
You will also need a whiteboard or paperboard.
Have people stand up and group together while you explain the rules.
Rules
The rules are quite simple
Everyone is part of one big team. Each ball must have air-time. Each ball must be touched at least once by every team member. Balls cannot be passed to your direct neighbour to your immediate left or right. Each ball must return to the same person who introduced it into the system. There are a total of five iterations. If people ask you questions about the rules, just tell them that all they need to know is in the rules.
How to play
Give the team 2 mn to figure out the rules and organize. Then ask them for an estimation of how many balls they will be able to process.
Use a whiteboard or paperboard to write down the estimation, then launch the game. Make sure the team respects the rules and be quite drastic about it.
You will run 5 iterations. One iteration is 2 mn.
After each iteration, give the team 1 mn to retrospect and improve. If you want to put less pressure and insist on continuous improvement, increase that time, but try to make it consistent throughout the game. Don’t forget to ask for an estimation.
While the team is talking, count the balls that were processed and write the number next to the estimation. If you can, you may also count defects, or at least, give a trend to see if the number of defects have increased or decreased compared to the previous iteration.
If the team is not trying so hard, make sure you raise their level of commitment by stating that the previous team you played this with managed to process 2 buckets of balls.
#Video https://youtu.be/7vnHeFs71hE
#Take away Almost all of the agile values and principles can be debriefed from this game : delivering value with high quality, working as a team, self-organization, inspect and adapt, iterative work, communication, estimation vs realization, sustainable pace, bottlenecks (entry point = exit point), simplicity.
It’s usually a load of fun to play, and to facilitate.