Free Virtual Scrum Values & Scrum Roles Games with Customizable Content
Anyone who conducts training on the Scrum Framework is sure to spend significant time reinforcing the Scrum Values and Scrum Roles. The Scrum Values compliment the values and principles in the Agile Manifesto and the Scrum Roles clearly spell out the separation of responsibilities the framework requires to establish and maintain a successful Scrum team.
As with most new material to be learned, the retention rate and level of understanding is increased significantly by having the trainees engage in active learning via some type of activity. One popular active learning method is gamification and this method was first applied to Scrum Values and Scrum Roles by Julio Oliveira. As part of his MSc dissertation at the University of Liverpool, Oliveira created Scrum Values and Scrum Roles Card Games.
The game cards are designed to be printed out and played with co-located teams, as I’ve done extensively when training such teams. I’ve found the level of engagement to be very high, especially for new teams learning Scrum concepts.
With the recognition that a large percentage of Scrum teams are distributed, and with my own personal experience with globally distributed Scrum teams, I created freely available web-based versions of these games, which functionally are the same as the physical games. These games are free to use and are hosted on sevawisegames.com.
Scrum Values
This game consists of five Scrum Value cards that are pre-loaded in a row at the top of the page, as shown below. It also includes a set of Behavior and Anti-pattern cards that are loaded in a pre-ordered stack upon selecting “Built-in List”. (See the section Creating Custom Content for the new feature that allows users to create customized sets of Behavior and Anti-pattern cards.)
For a virtual team, the game is meant to be displayed in a shared video application such as Zoom, Skype, Teams, etc. The person sharing the web page serves as the facilitator of the game and is most frequently someone in the role of Agile Trainer, Agile Coach, or Scrum Master. Typically, the facilitator reads each Behavior and Anti-pattern card and asks the team collectively, or individual team members, which Scrum Value the card best fits. For behaviors, select the value that teams must exhibit in order to demonstrate the behavior. For anti-patterns, select the value that teams must exhibit to break the dysfunctional behavior. Based on the response, the facilitator drags the Behavior or Anti-pattern card underneath the selected Scrum Value card.
While most behaviors and anti-patterns are most closely associated with one value, some can arguably be associated with two or more values. In my experience, most of the value of the game comes from the discussion. The facilitator should therefore be open to multiple interpretations as to which Scrum Value a given behavior or anti-pattern best fits.
Scrum Roles
This game consists of three Scrum Role cards that are pre-loaded in a row at the top of the page, as shown below. I use the term “Delivery Team” for one of the roles instead of “Development Team” to acknowledge that not all Scrum teams develop software.
The game also includes a set of Responsibility cards that are loaded in a pre-ordered stack upon selecting “Built-in List”. (See the section Creating Custom Content for the new feature that allows users to create customizes sets of Responsibility and Anti-pattern cards.)
Similar to our Scrum Values game, when playing it with a virtual team, the game is meant to be displayed in a shared video application. Typically, the facilitator reads each Responsibility card and asks the team collectively, or individual team members, which Scrum Role the card best fits. Based on the response, the facilitator drags the Responsibility card underneath the selected Scrum Role card.
With this game, there is typically one unequivocal correct answer and the facilitator should ensure the correct role is selected for each responsibility in order to reinforce the scope of each Scrum role.
Creating Custom Content
The Scrum Values game includes a built-in list of Behavior cards & Anti-pattern cards, while the Scrum Roles game includes a built-in list of Responsibility cards. These sets of cards are available to anonymous visitors to sevawisegames.com.
Based on early feedback by some users, it became clear that some facilitators would like the ability to modify the content of the built-in lists. One of the first requests came from my wife, Paula Stewart, who wished to reinforce a particular anti-pattern with a team member who frequently exhibited the dysfunctional behavior.
To address this need, the website now includes the functionality to create custom lists for registered, logged-in users. As shown below, on the My Content page, after selecting the game, if the user chooses to add a new list, they can either create a new blank list, or clone an existing list (e.g., the Built-in List).
Upon clicking the Add button, the user is presented with functionality to add, delete, and reorder cards, along with the ability to select the card type and to add card content.
Once a user has created custom lists, it’s possible to edit or delete the lists.
Once a logged-in user has created one or more custom lists, they can be selected on the game page, upon which the custom set of cards are dynamically loaded in the pre-selected order.
As the astute reader has no doubt noticed, the built-in list of cards for the Scrum Roles game consists only of Responsibility cards and no Anti-pattern cards. Since the custom list creation functionality needed to include the ability to add anti-pattern cards for the Scrum Values game, it became an added bonus that Anti-pattern cards can be included in a custom list for the Scrum Roles game, if desired.
Security Considerations
Security of user data is very important to us at sevawisegames.com. We have therefore conformed to GDPR regulations.
User registration data is stored by our GDPR-compliant third-party vendor Google LLC.
Currently, only the My Content page on sevawisegames.com stores any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). On this page, when a logged-in user attempts to save a custom list for the first time, the user is required to actively consent to having their email address stored in the sevawisegames.com database before saving is enabled.
Email addresses are encrypted via Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in transit to and at rest in our database.
A user who wishes to have their email address(es) removed from our database may do so by deleting all of their custom lists via functionality on the My Content page. No history or logging of user activity or any PII is retained.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to acknowledge the input and ideas from Jeff Schlaver and Doug Husovsky, along with Paula Stewart, her favorite Agile Coach and partner in life.
