Agile Open Northwest – Agile Learning Games Part 1

I’m enjoying Agile Open Northwest. I hosted a session on agile learning games, in which we played three games:

  • The Ball Passing Game
  • Knot That!
  • Arranging the Deck Chairs

I ran the session at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, and there was enough demand for a re-run session today. Each time we had about 25 participants. Here is a description of how to run the first game we played:

The Ball Passing Game (A.K.A. The Ballpoint Game)

Supplies

Balls
I use tennis balls, but anything similar can work. I did this once (now twice!) with paper cups and it worked just fine. Have at least as many balls as there are participants; more is better.

Bin
A bin, bucket, or bag to hold the balls (We used a chair for the cups). It should be easy to put balls in and get them out in a hurry. If it makes some noise when a ball goes in, all the better.

Timer
You will want a timer that can be set for 2 minutes. You want an alarm that will sound. In this is not available, then use a volunteer to track the time and announce when exactly 2 minutes have past.

Process

Arrange the group in a circle. Explain to them that their task is to ‘process’ as many balls as possible. A ball is considered processed when it has been removed from the bin, held by each participant at least once, and returned to the bin.

Any given ball can be processed an arbitrary number of times, that is, the total number of balls processed is not limited to the number of balls there are. Once a ball has been returned to the bin, it may then be removed from the bin and processed again.

Note: Multiple balls can be in process at the same time. The facilitator may choose to ‘forget’ to mention this fact until the group asks, or may simply state it at the outset.

The constraints

Participants may not pass the ball to the person next to them.
A ball that hits the ground is returned to the bin and does not count.
The balls must be held directly in the hand, they may not be in any type of container.

Ask the team to estimate how many balls they will be able to process in 2 minutes. Give them only a minute or so to finalize their estimate. Record it.

Give them 2 minutes, or so, to decide how they will process the balls. Let them know that they can move around, do almost anything, so long as they stay within the given constraints.

Once they have a plan, have them process balls for 2 minutes. Count how many are successfully processed, and how many are dropped. Ask them if they can improve, and give them a few minutes to decide how they might improve their process. Once they have a new process, ask for a new estimate and record it. Have them process balls for 2 minutes again. Record the number of balls processed and dropped.

Repeat this one or two more times. Try to end with a very successful run. That is, if the 3rd run went well, stop there. If not, give them one more chance to do better.

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