A game that demonstrates transparency?

[Tim Bailen]

Hello! Someone has asked me if I know a game that demonstrates the value of transparency in a team setting. (This is in response to an article I wrote on LinkedIn about how cooperative games have transparency as their basis.) I am thinking the perfect game for her would be one that has two sets of rules--one for playing competitively and one for playing cooperatively. Probably the cooperative version would have more information out in the open than the competitive version. Can anyone suggest such a game? I have searched the archives here for "transparency", "cooperation", "openness", but I am not finding leads.

Thanks!

[Derek W. Wade]

My fav version of this is from Susan Eller (@s_eller on Twitter). Very easy:

SETUP AND PLAY

Multiple teams. 

Each team has a small jigsaw puzzle. 

One piece from the puzzle has been removed from each puzzle and placed into the box of a different puzzle. 

The game ends when all puzzles have been solved. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

All teams experience frustration of trying to solve local problem with local info and poor transparency (they won't be able to make the one piece fit.)

Transparency, even when not explicitly commanded, is inherently useful (teams will only be able to solve their puzzle when they talk to/observe another team.) 

As always, BRIEF and DEBRIEF is key: 

BRIEF

Assure the players that the puzzles are solvable. 

Encourage competition without requiring collaboration by saying "the game ends when all puzzles are solved. Now let's see who finishes first!"

DEBRIEF

Events, interpretation, application, action. 

Events: get players to review key moments in play, wo judgment. 

Interpretation: what did that mean? What happened? How did that feel? What fixed the problem? Does this ever happen in real life?

Application: how do you see the problem, frustration, solutions you experienced here playing out at work?

Action: how can you apply what gave you success here to your work?

Let me know if you try it. 

-- 
Pardon my brevity; sent while mobile.

On Sep 19, 2016, at 10:01 PM, Tim Bailen <tmba...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello! Someone has asked me if I know a game that demonstrates the value of transparency in a team setting. (This is in response to an article I wrote on LinkedIn about how cooperative games have transparency as their basis.) I am thinking the perfect game for her would be one that has two sets of rules--one for playing competitively and one for playing cooperatively. Probably the cooperative version would have more information out in the open than the competitive version. Can anyone suggest such a game? I have searched the archives here for "transparency", "cooperation", "openness", but I am not finding leads.

Thanks!

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[Tim Bailen]

Thanks Derek! Yes, I can imagine this exercise proceeding very differently depending on if the participants knew ahead of time that a piece had been swapped out. Good call.

BTW, hi! I believe we met briefly when I shared to the Milwaukee Agile mailing list a couple years ago about Peter Senge coming to town.

[Alex Boutin]

This game looks like "Broken Squares", created by Ohio State University

PDF : http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/sites/lc/files/files/imce/Brokensquares.pdf

Cheers

Alex

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De : Tim Bailen <tmba...@gmail.com>
À : AgileGames <agile...@googlegroups.com>
Envoyé le : Mercredi 21 septembre 2016 18h15
Objet : Re: [AgileGames] A game that demonstrates transparency?

[Derek W. Wade]

Yes Alex, some of its mechanics are similar to the Broken Squares game created by Dr. Alex Bavelas of MIT, and later referenced everywhere, in that it involves communication among participants who are assembling pieces into a whole.

It's different in learning objectives. Squares' intent is to teach awareness of non-verbal communication patterns.  The puzzle game is to teach the inherent value of "transparency" (ambient information, as contrasted to polling or reporting).

Tim's stated learning objective was the value of transparency in a team setting, so I thought of the puzzle game.

I'm curious as to what your point was.

Best,

Derek W.

[Timofey Yevgrashyn]

Hi Tim,

While I like the referred example of the “puzzle game” I guess you were asking about cooperation inside the team and not only across the teams.

I could add a couple of games I tried in the similar situation.

Collaborative Origami http://tastycupcakes.org/2009/06/collaborative-origami/ - is the world known example of comparing different patterns 

Another set of games would be Jenga based games. You can use this in many ways: ask each team to use different strategy (cooperate, silent-non-communication, compete by personal goals), or if you play with one team - do several rounds. 

So far I found only description of Jenga Testing Game http://anagilemind.net/2014/10/27/agile-jenga/

And the last, but not least - the old known for all business-trainers “Paper towers”. This could be modified to use both cooperation and competition strategies.

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

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[Tim Bailen]

Thanks everyone. I also found the "Chair Game" described on http://agiletrail.com/2012/03/27/8-great-short-games-for-groups/ 

Chair Game

number of participants: >= 9 (the more the better)
duration: 15 min
learning objectives/purpose: Success only through collaboration; working together across teams; finding a higher common goal; silent communication
material: >= 20 chairs
short description: Have the participants form 3 groups. Tell the participants not to talk anymore. Give each group one of the following instructions on a card (group should keep it a secret for the other groups):

• arrange all the chairs in the room in a big circle
  
• put all the chairs in the room upside down
  
• group all the chairs in the room to pairs
  

Make sure everyone in the groups reads the instructions. Tell the groups to execute their instructions. If at some point every group is stuck, tell them that there is a solution that every group will be able to successfully execute their instructions at the same time. Debrief when there’s no movement in the room anymore.
possible progression: Groups will first fight each other, later hopefully see that they can all reach their goals together. The end state of the chairs is a big circle with pairs of chairs turned upside down.

[Derek W. Wade]

Good one!

This illustrates transparency in goals/strategy too. ;)

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Pardon my brevity; sent while mobile.

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