Teaching Agile Principles Through Experiential Exercises

Andy Brown, U-M Medical Schoolturbobrown

/in/andyjbrown

Tell a story*: Worst injury or most embarrassing moment

*NOT the funniest thing that ever happened (takes too long and you almost always had to be there)

Key details go missing

New elements get added

Sometimes the story changes altogether

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96037254@N00/4770392109/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34252364@N00/369893824/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7567658@N04/3503394977/

Meetings

Documentation

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customerthrough early and continuous delivery

of valuable software.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development

team is face-to-face conversation.

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts

its behavior accordingly.

Form pairs. One person is a Product Owner, the other is a Developer.

Developers have their backs to the screen.

The Product Owner describes the product on the slide WITHOUT saying the words next to it.

The developer draws the product.

Do NOT use these words:

tea

pot

short

spout

coffee

water

heat

Do NOT use these words:

motorcycle

bike

camper

recreationalvehicle (RV)

chopper

Harley

Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.

Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

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Get into groups of 6-8

One person will facilitate and needs to come up front for special instructions.

One person needs to keep time.

The rest of the group gets to participate.

Sequences

A, B, C, D…Z

3, 6, 9, 12…42

5, 10, 15, 20…60

““There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.” – Lord Chesterfield, 1740

“The research is almost unanimous, which is very rare in social science, and it says that people who chronically multitask show an enormous range of deficits. They're basically terrible at all sorts of cognitive tasks, including multitasking.” – Dr. Clifford Nass, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48600090482@N01/22584430/

Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need,

and trust them to get the job done.

Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able

to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Credits

Storytelling Exercise - Jessie Shternshus, @TheImprovEffect -

http://www.improveffect.com/

Drawing Exercise – Don McGreal, @donmcgreal – http://tastycupcakes.org

Multitasking Exercise – Peter Saddington, @agilescout – http://myai.org

Thank you!

Andy Brownturbobrown

in/andyjbrown