My experience on Scrum simulation with LEGO

Business Coaching, Management Innovation, Startup Planning and Growth

SAKET BIVALKAR

Business Coach

During last week I was running the Agile coaching sessions for 3 teams from one of my clients. For these sessions we did the Simulation of Scrum with Lego which turned out to be very interesting activity for the teams.

I used the technics from a paper published by @alexeykri and some more from a blog post from agile42 and the mix turned out to be very exhaustive for teams and for me. For the simulation I used the Lego TM 5512 basic brick set which comes with 1600 pieces. Which were sufficient for 2 teams of 4/5 people in each team.

HOW DID WE PLAY?

We had a backlog of basic needs for a city like houses, school, shop, hospital, public transport, etc… which was presented to the team and the team was to estimate the time. Once all was estimated, we planned for the iterations which took in to amount how many people each team and what they thought was best task for them… Once the release plan was ready the team presented it to product owner and adapted it to the need of the business. Then we started the iterations of 7 mins with 5 mins afterwords for review and 3 mins for Retrospective and this worked quite well.

I did introduce some sick leaves and rotating scrum master during the simulation and many people were wonder struck when they heard words “you are on sick leave” during 1st or 2nd sprints. Also rotations of scrum master role after each iteration spiced up the game a little as each one was able to understand the role. We also changed the Product owner role a few time. I also did a few unforeseen addition like a Building Crane (Idea taken from Agile42 notes on the game) and it also surprised the teams (but dont we get new requirements in between the projects?) In one case I even added a lake in the city and asked for a boat and port for the boat (wohoo!!) and the team did it (wohoo again)….

I am very happy with the results and the feedback doors were quite interesting mix.

KNOM Element One, where skills and capabilities are taught, acquired and iterated : Part 2

Business Coaching, Organisational Design, Sustainable Organisational Growth

Skills and capabilities are in constant flux.
One day one skill is crucial – the other day, a new capability overtakes it. The Knowledge Network Operating Model constantly evaluates and iterates upon the skills and capabilities needed for the organisation to overperform.
This and more I delve into in Element 1: Permanent Home of my new organisational operating model – give it a read and let me know what you think.

An Overview of the Knowledge Network Operating Model : Part 1

Business Coaching, Organisational Design, Management Innovation

You will never have a “finished” organigram, hierarchical structure, or organisational design because circumstances change to force the organisation to change. The ecology shifts, so the organisation must adapt. The Knowledge Network Operating Model, or KNOM, is designed to continually be adaptive, always changing based on circumstances.

My first steps towards understanding organisations.

Business Coaching, Organisational Design, Sustainable Organisational Growth

I see organisations as living organisms that can either shelter or adapt themselves based on four layers of interacting variables: Product/Service, People, Processes/Procedures, and Culture. Most companies pride themselves on adaption due to rapidly changing environments. Although, what I have experienced is that organisations do not follow such an adaptable mindset. The organisational structure is rigid and needs to reflect the opposite: dynamism and adaptability.

« Older Entries