Agile2014

Alistair Cockburn talks about software development as a cooperative game, but did you realize that is only one part of the puzzle? Many of the practices of Agile use typical boardgame mechanics; by viewing development in this manner, it can become easier to learn and later to customize as well. Shifting to a "game viewpoint" points out how we're all trying to "win", just that we have different perspectives on what winning means. This makes it ideal for people on a team just starting out and their immediate managers.



After a quick exercise to get people comfortable with their fellow team mates, I present and explain various boardgame mechanics and how these are then utilized when following an Agile approach. For example, deck-building can closely resemble backlog prioritization. Intermixed with the presentation will be several exercises that show some of these mechanics in use. I close with how to slowly introduce these mechanics and how they can be customized and also different methods of integrating these to allow some tailoring of the Agile game.