the marble game, a teambuilding exercise, pmcamp berlin 2014
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THE MARBLE GAME Self-Organising Teams
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
GREAT PROJECT MANAGERS … have great Communication Skills
… are great at delegating Tasks
… stay cool under Pressure
… promote Team Building
… command Authority Naturally
… know how to solve Problems
… exercise independent and fair consensus-building skills when conflict arises
http://www.recruiter.com/i/10-things-that-make-a-good-project-manager-great/ http://99u.com/articles/6946/top-10-characteristics-of-great-project-managers http://www.cio.com/article/447182/Six_Attributes_of_Successful_Project_Managers
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
THE PROJECT MANAGER
Five Salty Balls by Gabriel Rojas Hruska , https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluefade/4229364807/
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
HERDING CATS
Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers - Hank Rainwater, 2002
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
HERDING CATS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SmgLtg1Izw
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
BUT HOW WOULD A
BUNCH OF PROJECT
MANAGERS WORK
TOGETHER AS A TEAM?
THE MARBLE
GAME
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
THE GAME
Within your team, transport a Marble from A to B using Tubes!
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
THE RULES • Each Person is allowed to have at most one Tube.
• The Marble has to stay in the Tube
• The person who holds the Marble is not allowed to move.
• The person who holds the Marble is not allowed to close the ends of the Tube
• Manipulation of the Tube that hinders the Marble from a free flow is not allowed.
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
DON’T BREAK THE RULES
If the rules are broken the marble goes
back to the start
ROUND 1
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
ROUND 1
8 Minutes to transfer as many marbles as possible from cup A to cup B.
On Member measures the time for each run as well as the total number of Marbles that went from A to B.
LEARNINGS?
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
GREAT PROJECT MANAGERS … have great Communication Skills
… are great at delegating Tasks
… stay cool under Pressure
… promote Team Building
… command Authority Naturally
… know how to solve Problems
… exercise independent and fair consensus-building skills when conflict arises
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
PRE – PLANNING
versus
ITERATIVE APPROACH
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
PRE - PLANNING “If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
Albert Einstein
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Benjamin Franklin
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
ITERATIVE APPROACH
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Mike Tyson
“Responding to change over following a plan”
Manifesto for Agile Software Development, Beck K et al., 2001
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
TEAM DEVELOPMENT “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
Michael Jordan
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”
Helen Keller
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
Phil Jackson
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE
Developmental Sequence in Small Groups (Tuckman, BW, 1965)
1. FORMING 2. STORMING
3. NORMING 4. PERFORMING
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
HOW CAN WE PERFORM
BETTER?
ROUND 2
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
ROUND 2
8 Minutes to transfer as many marbles as possible from cup A to cup B.
On Member measures the time for each run as well as the total number of Marbles that went from A to B.
Build New Teams
LEARNINGS?
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
PMCAMP BERLIN 2014
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
OBSERVATIONS Their experience didn’t make Project Managers perform better in a self-organising team.
Nobody wanted to act as a leader because it was a team game.
There was indeed a pre-planning in each team, which was continued by an iterative approach (test-and-learn).
Interestingly, the quietest team won the second round (5:2).
As I put the target mark (cup) on the floor, the hardest part was to get the marble down. As a feedback I was told: “it was like 80% of the way were easy and the last 20% were the hardest – similar to some tasks in real life.”
Although there was no “forming” phase, “storming”, “norming” and “performing” phase could be seen.
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS The facilitator of the team member who measures the time, acts as a motivator and coach to encourage the team to perform better.
Try to find more space – if the room is too small, try it on the floor outside if possible.
Experiment with longer tubes.
One participant knew another way to play the game: Two teams play the game outside and try to reach the target point at the same time.
THANK YOU
Christoph Moser (chris@vividbreeze.com) THE MARBLE GAME
WHO WAS THIS GUY? Dipl-Ing. tech. Informatik, MBA Agile Coach, Agile Project Manager Strong Background as Java Developer and Information Architect Certified Scrum Master Certified Scrum Product Owner Keen runner, photographer and cook
chris@vividbreeze.com
0049 173 36 18 15 8
www.vividbreeze.com Christoph Moser
HAVE A BREAK
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