I work with a team who are not gelling well. It is for a variety of
reasons including an inability to calmly discuss differences in opinion.
Two weeks ago I added a game of Hanabi to the end of the Scrum Retrospective to ease a few of the broken lines of communication. This
worked very well and I would recommend it for the close of any retrospective.
However while Hanabi is an awesome co-operative team game the rules prevent genuine discourse during play. This week I kicked of a game of One Night Ultimate Werewolf despite my concerns I was about to be in the centre of an almighty scream fest. I’m pleased to say instead I was treated to five amazing games of Werewolf. It was much easier for the team to have a calm discussion when you remove professional pride. But it was not perfect and some members of the team hung back instead of diving in to the game. I would be interested to try The Resistance where everyone is forced to be involved.
I know many don’t recommend games that include a degree of paranoia in team building events and with good reason. If you do try adding the game to your retrospectives try stacking the deck to put two people who don’t get on to be on team wolf and break down some barriers. Even if you don't force some team members to work together you are still providing fun, relaxed environment to step back and chat.
I would not recommend you start with this as your close-of-retro team building exercise. Start with a pure co-operative game like Hanabi, but once you feel your team can work together I highly recommend adding One Night Ultimate Werewolf - it is fun and promotes relaxed discussions which does not fall neatly into your teams existing cliques. Always include the tanner, it is a cheap laugh.
However while Hanabi is an awesome co-operative team game the rules prevent genuine discourse during play. This week I kicked of a game of One Night Ultimate Werewolf despite my concerns I was about to be in the centre of an almighty scream fest. I’m pleased to say instead I was treated to five amazing games of Werewolf. It was much easier for the team to have a calm discussion when you remove professional pride. But it was not perfect and some members of the team hung back instead of diving in to the game. I would be interested to try The Resistance where everyone is forced to be involved.
I know many don’t recommend games that include a degree of paranoia in team building events and with good reason. If you do try adding the game to your retrospectives try stacking the deck to put two people who don’t get on to be on team wolf and break down some barriers. Even if you don't force some team members to work together you are still providing fun, relaxed environment to step back and chat.
I would not recommend you start with this as your close-of-retro team building exercise. Start with a pure co-operative game like Hanabi, but once you feel your team can work together I highly recommend adding One Night Ultimate Werewolf - it is fun and promotes relaxed discussions which does not fall neatly into your teams existing cliques. Always include the tanner, it is a cheap laugh.
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