GetScrumban Game Facilitator Guide

Facilitator's Guide
The GetScrumban Game
getScrumban.com
Version 0.1 (beta – Sept. 2014)

Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Getting Started
• Modes of Play
• Teaching Core Concepts
– Leveraging Game Events
– Coaching Tips
– Game Debrief
– Other Resources

Introduction
The GetScrumban game simulates how
a Software Development team using
Scrum as their chosen framework can
use Scrumban's core principles and
practices to amplify their current
capabilities, overcome common
challenges, or forge new paths to
improved agility.
This “beta” version of our Facilitator’s
Guide is intended to provide basic info
relevant to employing the game as a
training tool. We will modify and add
content as feedback is gained from the
community.

Core Concepts the Game Reinforces
The game allows players to experiment with and experience
the impact of these principles & practices:
– Expanded Visualizations
• Value Streams
• Types of Work
• Risk Profiles
– Pulling Work vs. Assigning Work
– Evolutionary Adjustments vs. Radical Change
– Cost of Delay vs. Subjective Prioritization
– Distinct Classes of Service vs. Single Workflow
– Continuous Flow vs. Time-boxed Iterations
– Value of Options
– And more…

Using this Guide
This guide is intended to provide facilitators with
supplemental information and materials that can be used to
improve the benefits of game play.
Purple-shaded boxes call out
segments of game play that
represent appropriate opportunities
for discussing core concepts.
As you become more familiar with the game, you’ll
undoubtedly discover other areas and aspects of play that
represent other opportunities. We invite all facilitators to
share their learnings & suggestions with our trainer
community.

Getting Started
Single Game vs. Trainer’s Account
Our platform allows anyone to create a single game session
(to be played by one person or one team).
If you’ll be facilitating game play among multiple teams
during a training session, however, we strongly encourage
you to create concurrent sessions under a Trainer’s Account.
This will allow your students to compete against one another
under a common leaderboard you control (and enable you
to coordinate game invitations among multiple participants).

Training Account Sign-up
Individuals who’ve already
created an account can start
new single-session games
here.
Create a trainer or
organizational account by
clicking here.

Training Account Sign-up
There a 3 levels of trainer’s
accounts. Select a version that
best fits your anticipated
volume of usage.

Game Sign-in
If you’ve set up a multiple
game session, instruct your
participants to begin play by
clicking on this icon and
entering their game code.

Game Sign-in
Be sure to instruct your teams
to give themselves a unique
name. This is relevant to
distinguishing themselves on
both your in-class and our
global leaderboards.

Video Introduction
Our introductory video provides
background that is relevant to
understanding game play and
highlights common challenges in a
context with which most
participants will be familiar.

Game Timeline
The Game Timeline is the
mechanism through which
significant events during game
play are communicated.
Participants should click on the
“Close” button to view their
visual work board.

Initial Task Board
Product / Project
backlog. Hover over
icons to get details
on urgency &
business value.
Work items left over from the
team’s previous Sprint.
Team point estimates are
displayed within gold box in
lower right corner of each
user story / bug card.

Initial Task Board
INSTRUCTION TIP
The game begins on a Sprint
Planning Day.
This is a perfect opportunity to
discuss Cost of Delay concepts
in the context of the projected
business values for features.
Facilitators can also call out
how the visualization of this
info represents a mode of
sharing info that is different
from typical Scrum contexts.

Initial Task Board
Scrum team members. Workers
surrounded by a green “halo”
are analysts, blue are
developers, and orange are QA
engineers.
INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Facilitators can point out that daily Scrums are
supposed to bring clarity to what individual
workers are engaged with, what they’re
committing to complete, and any impediments
to their progress.
This is a good point to ask participants to
consider how visualizing work status in more
detail could be beneficial.

Modes of Play
Individual Play, Team Play or Both?
Consider whether you want individuals to play this game on
their own, as part of a team, or in both modes (at different
times, naturally).
Team play improves an individual’s ability to communicate
with their team and work together to secure an objective.
Team interaction also better exposes how Scrumban improves
shared understandings and systemic perspectives.
Individual play assures complete engagement and absorption
in the learning experience.

Team Play - Considerations
The ideal size for a team is between
2-3 people. Players may disengage if more individuals are
involved on a single team.
Because the game involves constant decision-making, some
teams may engage in lengthy analysis. When you have
multiple teams engaged, simultaneous play will help
counter-act this. Offering an additional bonus to the first
team to finish or applying penalties to teams that finish play
past a set time are ways to help assure speedy play.

Individual Play - Considerations
Individual play allows persons to engage in
trial and error experimentation without having to negotiate
team dynamics. It may be especially beneficial to have
individuals replay the game on an individual basis after a team
play session so they can use that experience as a baseline for
further exploration.
In most circumstances, it’s not pragmatic for a coach or trainer
to engage individual players. Consequently, individuals playing
on their own won’t benefit from pointed questions or guidance
during game play, but game sessions can be assigned as a form
of “homework” or self-study to reinforce concepts discussed in
other settings.

Teaching Core Concepts
The Game as an Instructional Supplement
GetScrumban is designed to reinforce basic lean
kanban principles and practices to new practitioners. In
our experience, game play is most meaningful when it
participants play as a small team immediately following
1-2 hours of introductory instruction on Scrumban
concepts.
Making the game available for individual play
thereafter is a great way for individuals to further
explore key practices.

Game Play Cadence
The game purposely introduces a significant
number of events and changing conditions early
on, then smooths out such events over time.
– The swift series of changing conditions helps simulate the
impact of improved understandings and tools within fast
paced environments. It may result, however, in a lighter
absorption of some concepts.
– The slower pace as game the game progresses is intended
to simulate the different experience of evaluating and
responding to current ways of working inb the context of a
regular cadence.

Initial Task Board
INSTRUCTION TIP
Story Point Estimation - On game
day 5, participants are asked to
consider the correlation between
story points and the actual delivery
of completed work.
In our experience, a minority of
Scrum teams realize a close
correlation between these two
metrics.
Though teams won’t have an
opportunity to immediately
address this phenomenon as part
of their game play, it’s a great
place to have participants begin
thinking critically about various
Scrum practices and small steps
that can be taken to improve them.

Initial Task Board
INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Deployment Options – When
participants complete all of the
stories under one feature they’ll
be invited to change their policy
around deployment.
This is a good opportunity for
fostering discussion around real
options theory, as well as the
advantages and disadvantages to
deploying completed features
more frequently.

Initial Task Board
INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Visualizing the Value Stream – At
the beginning of game day 6,
participants will be given the
option to modify their board
design to better visualize
workflow.
This is a good time to reinforce
the distinction between value
creating steps and functional
hand-offs.
Also, note teams are almost
always presented with a choice
to evolve or not. These events
represent great opportunities to
reinforce this fundamental
principle.

Evolved Kanban Board
INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Emergency Work – At the
beginning of game day 7,
participants will be given the
option to complete new work on
an urgent basis.
This is a great opportunity to
contrast differing options under
Scrum and Scrumban (how each
responds to and manages the
reality of urgent work requests).

INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Expedited Class of Service –
Teams that elect to respond to
the business organization’s
emergency request will be given
the option to modify their visual
board.
This is a good opportunity to
discuss the benefit of visually
distinguishing different types of
work and establishing policies
around them.

INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Deployment – Deploying features
results in both benefits and costs.
Deployment dates represent a
good opportunity for discussing
these factors, as well as urging
participants to think about ways
they can start managing efforts
to reduce the cost of deployment
while addressing on going
development needs.

INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
Early Benefit – Teams that chose
to expand the visualization of
their work will gain an additional
team member.
Though an indirect benefit, this is
an opportunity to reinforce how
even a small change like
visualizing value streams across
the workflow can help improve
capabilities more intelligently.

INSTRUCTION TIP
Fixed Date Risk Profile – The
product backlog contains fixed
date work items. Stories /
features whose value evaporates
after a given date are highlighted in
yellow.
Facilitators can elect to discuss the
value of visually differentiating
various work item profiles, as well
as discussing concepts of market
risk and cost of delay in this
context.

INSTRUCTIONAL TIP
WIP Limits – If not triggered
earlier by backed up work,
players will be given a choice to
add WIP Limits to their workflow.
These are introduced at this stage
of the game to underscore the
impact of subsequent events and
choices.

Game Summary

Group Debriefings
Common Topics for Post-game Discussion
We’ll be adding to this guide over time. Have suggestions?
Be sure to send them our way:
training@codegenesys.com

GetScrumban Game Facilitator Guide

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