As a member of an Agile team, you'll likely spend a lot of time in retrospectives (retros). But just showing up isn't enough; engagement is key to retros that actually produce real value for the team.
Of course, making retros engaging is easier said than done, especially when you’re holding the meetings once or twice a month. That’s why Agile games are such valuable tools for ensuring your retros work for the entire team. This is particularly true for remote teams, where staying engaged in meetings becomes even more challenging.
To keep things interesting, both virtually and in person, here are some of our favorite Agile games you can play to spice up your retros!
The first exercise you can try is called KALM, which stands for Keep, Add, More, and Less. It's a retrospective activity that helps teams to focus on current activities and align their perceptions of value.
To play this game, you start by dividing a board into four sections corresponding to the four letters of the name, like in the picture below. Each area has a meaning:
More, Keep, and Less should be aligned on an axis in this order, and Add can be on the side (see picture below). Once the outline is done, each team member writes their ideas for each category on a Post-it and puts them on the board. When everyone is ready, you collectively read the items in each section and decide which to leave as a team.
The next Agile game on our list is called Pleasure and Gain.
First, you need to draw the Pleasure and Gain graph as shown in the picture below.
Next, you need to give instructions to the participants on how to add their notes to the graph. Ask them to list all the activities they do at work and answer two questions about each of them:
Then explain to your team what the graph represents, especially where the Pleasure/Gain “magic” quadrant lies and where the “big Pain” intersection is (see picture below). Finally, based on the answers of the questions above, ask your team to put their activities in the corresponding places on the graph.
When everyone has placed their activities, you should discuss what you can do to move each item towards the upper right Pleasure/Gain “magic” quadrant.
This Agile game originates from the Loss Aversion Theory by psychologist Daniel Kahneman. He discovered that the pain of losing is psychologically more powerful than the pleasure of gaining.
When we think of the Loss Aversion Theory as a complementary concept to Freud’s Pleasure Principle (the innate human tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain), it becomes clear how the Pleasure and Gain game can start critical conversations that can change the work a team chooses to do and how they do it.
This activity is often used as an icebreaker in its original form, but with a small tweak, it can be a great addition to spice up retro meetings. The game is called Two Truths, One Lie and it’s quick to learn and easy to play for teams across the board.
Each team member must think of three statements referring to the last sprint. Two of them need to be true, and one should be a lie. Then the team will have to guess which of them is a lie. There are three stages:
Finally, create a list of actionable solutions for each statement and ask the team to select the items they want to focus on in the next sprint by voting. Add the remaining actionable items to the retrospective backlog to be discussed for a future sprint.
The Kudos Cards exercise is an excellent addition to your retros and can be used in every sprint as a way to appreciate and encourage good behavior toward teammates.
It’s a straightforward game that can be played at the beginning or end of a retrospective meeting. You start by giving each team member Kudos Cards (empty Post-its). (If you’re willing to put more effort and creativity into it, you can create your own card designs and print them out prior to the meeting).
Have the same number of cards as the number of people on your team. Each person should use them to thank their teammates by acknowledging something that was done well by them in the sprint.
Set aside a space, either a temporary board or a permanent Appreciation Wall, and draw a column for each team member with their name at the top. When everyone is ready, put each Kudos Card on the board under the appropriate person's column. Take a few minutes to read them out loud and congratulate everyone for their achievements.
WWW stands for Worked well, Kind of Worked, and Didn’t Work; the game is a great way to gather data in a fun and efficient way.
It’s a quick activity that requires nothing more than the usual Post-its and a whiteboard. Begin by splitting the board into three areas for each of the Ws. Then instruct team members to write on the Post-its their suggestions for activities of the last sprint to populate the sections.
Under "Worked Well", they should put the things that worked really well and delivered value: things they would like to continue doing. The "Kind of Worked" things should be those that somewhat worked, but they feel need tweaked. Finally, things that "Didn’t Work" are things that did not work at all and shouldn’t be repeated. Give your team five minutes to prepare their notes and then ask them to put the Post-its on the board.
Then, discuss whether everyone agrees and take action to remove the activities that didn’t work from the next sprint. Also, spare some time to identify what adjustments should be made to the activities in the “Kind of Worked” column and make sure to implement them.
Before diving into a few Agile games for remote teams, why don't you take a second to get our Agile Business Quick Start Guide?
Nowadays, distributed teams are no longer an exception; they're the new normal. However, this doesn’t mean remote teams should miss out on all the fun. On the contrary, these five games for retrospectives are a perfect addition to your virtual meeting as well!
Here are some tips that will help you implement them and, in turn, create a healthier environment for your remote meetings:
Agile games help your retrospective meetings be more engaging. If you’re determined to keep these gatherings productive and avoid monotony, we recommend you try out these five activities and see how they work for your team. They'll help you structure the meeting goals in a fun game format, but still help you gather useful data and reflections on your last sprint.
If you’re looking for other ways to enhance your team’s Agile abilities, you can find a wide variety of learning materials on our Agile learning platform The Ropes.
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