Get Your Gamestorming On! Shifting Requirements Gathering with Innovation Games
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Are you tired of attending or leading the same old boring requirements-gathering sessions? Would you like to find a way to get stakeholders excited about requirements gathering? Then this class is for you! Find out how to use collaborative play to build better solution requirements for SharePoint projects (or any other project for that matter). In this class, you will learn seriously fun ways to do work-seriously! Learn how to tap into true innovation and uncover hidden business requirements. What are you waiting for? Come to this class and learn how to put these tools into action! By attending this class, you will be able to: Introduce new and field-tested concepts for creating a clear and compelling vision for SharePoint Facilitate more effective requirements-gathering sessions Identify and avoid five problem patterns that plague many project teams Hit the ground running with new templates that you can use to facilitate your own Innovation Games
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Get Your Gamestorming On! Shifting Requirements Gathering with Innovation Games
- 1. @Speaker #LavaCon Get Your Gamestorming On! Shifting the Paradigm of Requirements Gathering Michelle Caldwell
- 2. 10 years in SharePoint, 15+ in IT MVP PMP CSM 2 children (Heaven and Brenden) and 2 cats (Clark & Snickers) and 1 puppy (Ruger)
- 6. Bad Meetings
- 7. The Facts
- 10. 50% unproductive
- 11. 31 hours wasted
- 12. The Effects
- 13. 91% daydreaming
- 16. 73% bring other work to meetings
- 17. 39% fall asleep
- 19. VagueRequirements Tied to tech features – or not
- 20. Let’s Improve Employee Engagement Better Collaboration WE want to promote Social
- 21. AbsentStakeholders Someone else is Representing their needs– or Are They?
- 23. Silver Bullet Do you have a solution looking for problems to solve?
- 27. Insanity : Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results -Albert Einstein
- 28. The New Paradigm: - Collaborative Play - Innovation Games - Serious Games
- 30. The object of Cover Story is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine.
- 32. Cover: Tells the story of your big success
- 34. Headline: The Substance of the cover story
- 36. Sidebars: Interesting facts about the story
- 38. Quotes: Quotes from potential end users of the solution
- 40. Brainstorm: Documenting initial ideas – this is important!
- 41. Images: Supporting the content with illustrations
- 43. Wrap Up for Large Groups At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- 44. Game Setup •Cover Story Template •Post-its •Pens •tape •Facilitator (# depends on size of group •At least 3 participants •A Scribe •Camera (optional)
- 45. Understand what success looks like with Remember the Future
- 46. The object of the game This game is based on numerous studies in cognitive psychology that have examined how we think about the future. When we ask the question “What should our product do?” we are not given a frame of reference for comparison. When we ask the question “What will our product have done?”, we generate richly detailed, sensible, and longer descriptions
- 47. How to Play the game •Hand each participant a few post-its •Ask them to imagine they have been using your new solution for a period of time •Then ask the participants to write down exactly what the solutions will have done to make them happy in this future state
- 49. Concluding the Game •Discuss the results as a group •Confirm findings as a team
- 50. Game Setup •A Timeline •Post-its •Pens •tape •Facilitator (# depends on size of group •At least 3 participants •A Scribe •Camera (optional)
- 52. The object of the game Gain insight and understanding into the current state of the situation
- 53. How to Play the game •Draw and/or put up a boat •Name the boat to represent the focus area
- 60. Power Dot – Extra Bonus •Give each participant a fixed # of dots (time box the activity) •Ask each participant to “vote” for their highest priority pains and solutions
- 61. Concluding the Game •Analyze voting •Discuss the results as a group
- 63. Game Setup •A BOAT ! •Post-its (various colors) •Pens •tape •Facilitator (# depends on size of group •At least 3 participants •A Scribe •Camera (optional)
- 65. The object of the game Product Box lets you leverage your customer’s collective experiences by asking them to design a product box of your solution/service that they want to buy
- 66. How to Play the game •Break out into groups and provide each participant with a blank “product box” •Provide them with craft materials so they can design their product box •Allow a set time for product box creation
- 67. How to Play the game •When that time expires ask each participant to give an elevator pitch to the group describing why their product is best (no more than 2 minutes) •Allow team members to “vote” on their three favorite ideas using “power dot”
- 72. Power Dot – Extra Bonus •Give each participant a fixed # of dots (time box the activity) •Ask each participant to “vote” for their favorite product box(es) •Quickly analyze the results •Discuss the results as a group
- 77. Shopping List •A Box! •Markers •Scissors •Glue •Magazines •Pompoms •Foam shapes •Stickers •Pipe cleaners •Tape •Glitter
- 78. © 2012, Information Control Corporation 79
- 79. Sample List of Games •Speed Boat Product Box •Cover Story •Remember the Future •Power Dot •Spider Web •Start Your Day •The Apprentice •Low Tech Social Network •Show and Tell •20/20 Vision •Buy a Feature •Give Them a Hot Tub •Me and My Shadow •Prune the Product Tree
- 80. Conclusion •There is a different way •Try something New •Field Tested – Proven Results
- 81. Wrap Up
- 82. Where can I learn more?
- 83. References •http://innovationgames.com/ - Innovation Games Website •http://www.instituteofplay.org/about/context/why-games- learning/ •http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation_game •http://www.gogamestorm.com/
Editor's Notes
- Approximately 11 million meetings occur in the US every day
- Most professionals attend 61.8 meetings a month
- Of which 50% of them are unproductive
- If each meeting is approx. 1 hour long then professionals lose on average 31 hours per month to ineffective meetings
- Platitudes for requirements “We want better collaboration” “We want to share better” “We want to find information faster” Why is this requirement problematic? This type of high-level and abstract narrative can be a useful motivational tool because the lack of detail invites us to form our own ideas as to how this vision might be realized. But although we might all intuitively agree with the vision at first, we soon need more detail. If you can’t answer the questions “What are we trying to achieve?” and “How will we know when we’ve done it?” then you’re not ready to start. Many organizations struggle to define a clear business case or to measure the success of SharePoint initiatives. Result: Solution doesn’t meet the need (s) of the stakeholder and is thus viewed as a failure Desired business outcomes are not captured And the list goes on and on……..
- Stakeholder(s) don’t have time to be engaged on the project so they send a representative in their place This doesn’t really work Why? – ever play telephone? Result: Solution doesn’t meet the need (s) of the stakeholder and is thus viewed as a failure Desired business outcomes are not captured And the list goes on and on……..
- Silver Bullet - Do you have a Solution Looking for a Problem to solve? Pursuing a solution looking for a problem is obviously monetarily costly but, even more dire, can cost thousands of hours of scarce time. Going too deeply down a technical rabbit hole can literally waste years of IT hours that could have been more wisely invested. Furthermore, technical solutions looking for problems make IT appear out of touch. Luckily, the answer to technical solutions looking for a problem is fairly simple: continually ask yourself what problem the SharePoint is solving, and if the cure is better than the disease. It’s nearly always better to pull the plug on an immature or unusable SharePoint than throw good money after bad There’s no such thing as a SharePoint project — there are only organizational change projects; and executives are in a unique position to be able to drive change in an organization. Visibly active and participatory executive support gives credibility to a program or initiative. Without such support, Result: SharePoint-based initiatives can fail either because the proposed projects don’t gain approval and funding, or projects deliver solutions that are then not adopted and used by the business.
- For the rest of the presentation, I will show you a new paradigm for requirements gathering that may seem strange to you BUT: I have put these into practice myself, and they have turned out to be VERY effective. Let’s start with the Cover Story game.
- Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine.
- The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- Cover: Tells the story of their big success Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine. The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine. The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine. The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine. The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine. The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine. The players must pretend as though this future has already taken place and has been reported by the mainstream media. This game is worth playing because it not only encourages people to “think big,” but also actually plants the seeds for a future that perhaps wasn’t possible before the game was played The reason that this works particularly well for SharePoint is that there are a number of possible visions that an organization may have for the platform. The Cover Story game gives you enough structure to ensure that you get tangible examples without constraining users from being able to really explore the many possible end states. At the end of the time period, usually an hour, get the groups to present their cover story, essentially their vision of SharePoint, to the rest of the groups and then discuss.
- The remember the future game is a quick and painless way to gain insight and understanding into the how your customers define success –
- This game is based on numerous studies in cognitive psychology that have examined how we think about the future. When we ask the question “What should our product do?” we are not given a frame of reference for comparison. When we ask the question “What will our product have done?”, we generate more fanciful, richly detailed, sensible, and longer descriptions, because it is easier to understand and describe a future event from the past tense over a possible future event, even if neither has occurred. This approach has other important benefits. By thinking of a future event as one that has already occurred, you can imagine at least one sequence of processes that can be taken to generate the event. If you ask “What should our product do?” you are left wondering about not only what the product will do, but how the product could possibly do it. If instead you ask: “What will our product have done” you not only have a more concrete idea of what the product did, you can begin to answer the question “How did the product do it?” Thinking of a future product as already completed enables us to make more effective decisions by reducing the total set of possible outcomes that must be considered before a suitable plan is selected.
- The principle of the game is to draw a boat with couple of anchors and engines. (in this example we simply used post-its) The boat should be named to represent a focus area (especially if you are going to examine large group of problems). After that you can apply grouping, sorting and/or voting the same way as you do in retrospective in agile/scrum. Result: a lot of ideas get presented without any hassles and participants freely promote possible/expected solutions that can be immediately changed into action items Speed Boat game allows not just open minds, but efficiently provides a strategy how to solve your problems. Additionally, trust and expectations are more clear.
- The game Speedboat is a quick and painless way to gain insight and understanding into the current state of the situation –
- The principle of the game is to draw a boat with couple of anchors and engines. (in this example we simply used post-its) The boat should be named to represent a focus area (especially if you are going to examine large group of problems). After that you can apply grouping, sorting and/or voting the same way as you know in retrospective in agile/scrum. Result: a lot of ideas get presented without any hassles and participants freely promote possible/expected solutions that can be immediately changed into action items Speed Boat game allows not just open minds, but efficiently provides a strategy how to solve your problems. Additionally, trust and expectations are more clear.
- Ask team members to write what is slowing down the boat (one idea per card/post-it) and to pin the card to anchor or below water level
- After that you can apply grouping, sorting and/or voting the same way as you know in retrospective in agile/scrum. Result: a lot of ideas get presented without any hassles and participants freely promote possible/expected solutions that can be immediately changed into action items Speed Boat game allows not just open minds, but efficiently provides a strategy how to solve your problems. Additionally, trust and expectations are more clear.
- ask team members to write ideas what can speed up the boat and pin cards to an engine (if you have a speedboat) or above the boat (if you have a sailboat) to represent “wind in the sails”.
- After that you can apply grouping, sorting and/or voting the same way as you know in retrospective in agile/scrum. Result: a lot of ideas get presented without any hassles and participants freely promote possible/expected solutions that can be immediately changed into action items Speed Boat game allows not just open minds, but efficiently provides a strategy how to solve your problems. Additionally, trust and expectations are more clear.
- After that you can apply grouping, sorting and/or voting the same way as you know in retrospective in agile/scrum. Result: a lot of ideas get presented without any hassles and participants freely promote possible/expected solutions that can be immediately changed into action items Speed Boat game allows not just open minds, but efficiently provides a strategy how to solve your problems. Additionally, trust and expectations are more clear.
- The game Speedboat is a quick and painless way to gain insight and understanding into the current state of the situation –
- Ask your customers to imagine that they’re selling your product at a tradeshow, retail outlet, or public market. Give them a few cardboard boxes and ask them to literally design a product box that they would buy. The box should have the key marketing slogans that they find interesting. When finished, pretend that you’re a skeptical prospect and ask your customer to use their box to sell your product back to you.
- Ask your customers to imagine that they’re selling your product at a tradeshow, retail outlet, or public market. Give them a few cardboard boxes and ask them to literally design a product box that they would buy. The box should have the key marketing slogans that they find interesting. When finished, pretend that you’re a skeptical prospect and ask your customer to use their box to sell your product back to you.
- Here’s how to setup and facilitate the product box game Collect materials for making product boxes: Example list -plain cardboard boxes (cereal box size is good – you can buy them in a number of places I order mine from Staples) -Markers -Scissors -Glue -Magazines -pompoms -foam shapes -stickers (stars, happy faces, etc.) -pipe cleaners Ask your customers/stakeholders to imagine that they’re selling their product at a tradeshow, infomercial, or public market. Give them a few cardboard boxes and ask them to literally design a product box that represents the solution they want to use. The box should have the key marketing slogans that they find interesting. – 40 minutes When finished, each participant takes turns selling their box to the rest of the group – max 2-3 minutes Sometimes at the end of the selling you can setup the boxes and have anonymous votes for the groups top three or you can use the data collected in this session to prepare a list of features you can later prioritize with the group leveraging a different exercise
- Here are some finished examples of Product box
- Here are some finished examples of Product box
- Collect materials for making product boxes: Example list -plain cardboard boxes (cereal box size is good – you can buy them in a number of places I order mine from Staples) -Markers -Scissors -Glue -Magazines -pompoms -foam shapes -stickers (stars, happy faces, etc.) -pipe cleaners
- So where can you begin? Easy games to get started with is Sailboat/speedboat and Pruning the product tree Be brave to try something new