Best items to build in scrum simulation games?

[Brian Milner]

Hey everyone.  I wanted to ask for opinions on various things for teams to build running scrum simulation games.  For example, when I received my scrum master training, the leader had us build mini pumpkin launchers with legos, tinker toys, and rubber bands.  The goal was to have one that shoots the furthest.  I've seen others do a city square with legos as well.  I'm looking for different ideas to use in this manner so that I don't just do the same thing over and over.  In trying to come up with alternatives, I found it's actually pretty challenging.  You want something that is somewhat complex so that it can be described in stages, broken down into stories.  You don't want something that takes days to build though.  So, complex but not too complex.  

Can't wait to hear your great ideas on projects to use as the center piece of a scrum simulation game!

[André Dhondt]

Are you familiar with http://tastycupcakes.org/ ?

My favorite games are the ones that require few or no props. Less is more!

On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 10:23 AM, Brian Milner <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey everyone.  I wanted to ask for opinions on various things for teams to build running scrum simulation games.  For example, when I received my scrum master training, the leader had us build mini pumpkin launchers with legos, tinker toys, and rubber bands.  The goal was to have one that shoots the furthest.  I've seen others do a city square with legos as well.  I'm looking for different ideas to use in this manner so that I don't just do the same thing over and over.  In trying to come up with alternatives, I found it's actually pretty challenging.  You want something that is somewhat complex so that it can be described in stages, broken down into stories.  You don't want something that takes days to build though.  So, complex but not too complex.  

Can't wait to hear your great ideas on projects to use as the center piece of a scrum simulation game!

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D. André Dhondt

mobile: 215-805-0819

[Alan Dayley]

I strive to have a number of games ready in my head that can be done with materials found in any office. Offices have copy paper, stickies, markers, tape, scissors and so on. That way if I suddenly want to use a game, I can.

For examples: The Ball Point Game can be played with 30-40 wadded up sheets of paper as the "balls." Cities and such can be built with paper, tape and glue, not just Legos. The Penny Game can be played with small pieces of paper marked "Heads" and "Tails."

Sometimes "required" props can be something you already have on hand and still provide the desired learning.

Alan

[Victor Bonacci]

Yes to Alan's point. Another example is the pizza game, good for demonstrating Kanban.

As for Scrum simulations, I've also seen the city (with Legos). Having enough for a class size of 20 could be hard to manage as well as pricy.

I've seen one class make videos (each Scrum team is a film production crew/cast). Another class simulated preparing a meal - with real food (mostly fruits/veggies).

Each simulation was spread over multiple sprints (5-15 minutes), and the course instructor was the primary stakeholder sometimes progressively adding new requirements between sprints.

I'm also looking for a Sprint simulation to use. When I trained groups all from the same workplace, I've used simplified stories from their own backlogs - though we didn't do actual coding. I prefer having something abstract (e.g. Legos)

[Brian Milner]

Thanks Allan and D. Andre,

Yes, I am familiar with tastycupcakes.com.  They have all sorts of games there and what I'm specifically seeking here in this discussion is scrum simulation games that require a team to build something.  I wanted to see what creative things others had done and/or what was everyone's favorite or go to build item for a team to simulate scrum.

In just my own searches I've come across the following:

lego cities (Thanks Allan for the building cities out of office products!  I'll have to try that.)

pumpkin toss machine (mini plastic pumpkins of course) made from lego, tinker toys, and rubber bands

Videos (team has to create a story video using their phones and whatever they can find to edit clips together)

Toy - team creates a toy from lego that meets predefined requests from kids ("I want it to fly" or "I want it to have wheels and drive")

Paper Airplanes - Personally I think this isn't complex enough to develop stories off of

The video was the most creative I've found so far.  I like it because it doesn't require you to buy and bring a huge bag of legos.

Anything else like this that I've missed?

[Silvana Wasitova]

Add Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower game.

Scrambled on my iPad

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[lIlya Pavlichenko]

Hello,

just wanna put my 2 cents into this discussion. During numerous Scrum trainings I had tried lots of approaches. I have to say that lego simulation, paper airplanes do not reflect the COMPLEXITY of Software Development.They're closer to issues in complicated domains. Video Scrum from my personal point of view is the best fit. Especially if you ask several teams to create an integrated increment (film) by the end of each Sprint.

Pavlichenko Illia PST, PSM II, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMI-ACP

Professional Scrum Trainer and Agile Coach at Unusual-Concepts

Co-author of A Scrum Master's Practical Toolbox

Tel: +7 985 281 0787 +38 (0) 96 158  58 13, Skype: pavlichenko.ilya

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[Bastian Schenke]

Hi,

if you work with a bunch of developers the elephant carpaccio ist quite nice (retail calculator with discounts and different country-tax-rates). It shows in a pretty cool way, what benefits/values go faster to the customer if you develop in really small steps... I love this exercise.

Cheers,

Bastian

[George Dinwiddie]

Brian,

On 1/29/16 9:41 AM, Brian Milner wrote:
> Thanks Allan and D. Andre,
>
> Yes, I am familiar with tastycupcakes.com. They have all sorts of games
> there and what I'm specifically seeking here in this discussion is scrum
> simulation games that require a team to build something. I wanted to
> see what creative things others had done and/or what was everyone's
> favorite or go to build item for a team to simulate scrum.
>
> In just my own searches I've come across the following:
>
> lego cities (Thanks Allan for the building cities out of office
> products! I'll have to try that.)
> pumpkin toss machine (mini plastic pumpkins of course) made from lego,
> tinker toys, and rubber bands
> Videos (team has to create a story video using their phones and whatever
> they can find to edit clips together)
> Toy - team creates a toy from lego that meets predefined requests from
> kids ("I want it to fly" or "I want it to have wheels and drive")
> Paper Airplanes - Personally I think this isn't complex enough to
> develop stories off of

Way back in the early 2000s, we did lots of simulations merely drawing
the products on a whiteboard (and explaining the drawing). I remember
doing a vehicle (which changed considerably from sprint to sprint) and a
coffee maker (which had some outlandish features added in later
sprints). These, of course, are not complex in the mechanics of
construction, but that wasn't really the purpose of the simulation.

Where people want the complexity of their actual work, I've used code
and two-hour sprints. I once did this with the client's current codebase
and their next story. This moves the focus from the process aspects to
the coding work. Sometimes that's valuable. In that case it let the
programmers see that they their dev/test environments weren't as "ready
to go" as they'd been telling their testers, and the testers were able
to create an automated test prior to implementation, instead of reacting
after the fact.

- George

--
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* George Dinwiddie * http://blog.gdinwiddie.com
Software Development http://www.idiacomputing.com
Consultant and Coach http://www.agilemaryland.org
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[Timofey Yevgrashyn]

Hi Brian (and everyone),

I like all the mentioned examples, but at some point long time ago I developed my own card/board “Scrum game". This was needed to focus on learning Scrum mechanics and see in dynamics the “real life work” close to the development world. 

It simulates the whole process from planning a sprint, running through a sprint with a lot of “surprises” that affect idealistic plans, and through the course of three iterations shows how the velocity balances out and how a team could use “yesterdays weather”, i.e. empiric learning of reality.

It requires a little preparation as printing out cards and using dices. For frequent use I printed good quality cards and reuse them.

Many people has asked to make this game public and I’m considering making it CC-licensed on TastyCupCakes. Hope, I can do it in nearest weeks.

Please let me know if you interested in that and I’ll let you know when it get published. 

Timofey Yevgrashyn,

Author at "The Improved Methods"

http://tim.com.ua
http://www.facebook.com/tim.com.ua 

Skype: spidertim
Phone: +380 67 408 53 30

On 28 January 2016 at 17:23, Brian Milner <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey everyone.  I wanted to ask for opinions on various things for teams to build running scrum simulation games.  For example, when I received my scrum master training, the leader had us build mini pumpkin launchers with legos, tinker toys, and rubber bands.  The goal was to have one that shoots the furthest.  I've seen others do a city square with legos as well.  I'm looking for different ideas to use in this manner so that I don't just do the same thing over and over.  In trying to come up with alternatives, I found it's actually pretty challenging.  You want something that is somewhat complex so that it can be described in stages, broken down into stories.  You don't want something that takes days to build though.  So, complex but not too complex.  

Can't wait to hear your great ideas on projects to use as the center piece of a scrum simulation game!

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[John Robertson]

Tim, I would be interested in your game.

 

 

Regards,

John

 

John Robertson CSP, ICP-ATF, ICC-ATC, CSM, PMI-ACP

Mobile +61-401 545 335

e-mail:  john.ro...@vandina.com

[Angel Agueda]

Hi Tim,

I'm interested in your game and if you want I can translate it to Spanish.

My email is: angel....@evergreenpm.com

Warm regards,

Ángel