Systems Thinking Primer
Reading Time: 3 minutes As a management discipline Systems Thinking concerns an understanding of a system by examining the linkages and interactions between the components that comprise the entirety of that defined system. The boundaries of a whole system may be chosen and defined at a level suitable for the particular purpose under consideration.
In Systems Thinking, basic expierences and fundamental laws emerge, imporant for organisational design and leadership.
LEGO Serious Play in the Automotive Industry
Reading Time: 4 minutes The management and team and project leaders of the Afte Sales department of a Fortune 500+ german automotive OEM came together to envision and discuss future trends of their brand and business field in "2021". Plays-in-Business.com created a strategy visioning and brand building large group LEGO Serious Play workshop for them.
Impact Mapping — How To Use It
Reading Time: 8 minutes Impact mapping is visual mapping technique for product development. Gojko Adzic invented this method to align teams to business objectives, test mutual understanding of goals and expected outcomes with stakeholders, focus teams toward the highest value features to deliver, and enable collaborative decision-making. An impact map is a visual mind-map, developed collaboratively between business and technical people during a discussion facilitated by answering the fundamental four questions: "Why (Goals)?", "Who (Actors)?", "How (Impacts)?", "What (Deliverables)?" Impact mapping is highly driven by business improvement and business objectives. With SMART goals the development is more likely to be stopped at the right time because the deliverables have had — or do not have — the desired impacts.
Team Values, LEGO Serious Play, and Team Charter Canvas
Reading Time: 6 minutes I ran an experiment: introduction to LEGO Serious Play with Team Chartering & Team Charter Canvas as field of application in a 60min workshop. I did the proof of concept with sessions at Agile Cologne 2016 and at #play14.2016 Luxembourg.
Lateral Thinking — How to Boost Your Creativity
Reading Time: 4 minutes When we solve problems, when we ideate new concepts or when we generate new ideas, we generally choose between two different approaches: the vertical and the lateral thinking one. We do this unconsciously. Lateral thinking triggers fresh ideas by changing the frame of reference continuously. In lateral mode, we view a certain subject from different perspectives.
"Black Stories" - Empower Your Creativity with Lateral Thinking
Reading Time: 3 minutes "Black Stories" are a gaming format where the players have to find out what had happened in a certain situation starting with an initial teaser as a hint. They are a perfect example of de Bono's Lateral Thinking. Use them to inspirit your meetings and product development
"Agile Black and White Stories", or What's The Difference between a Sprint and a Penis?
Reading Time: 5 minutes "Agile Black and White Stories" is a card game fostering your lateral thinking. It is a variant of Black Stories game. Your challenge is to identify Agile concepts by asking "Yes"/"No" questions starting from a given funny and tricky hint only.
Norms & Values — Why Team Building is Complex & How To Simplify It
Reading Time: 7 minutes It's often claimed that teams are a community of people with equal values. That's not true. Team members might have a common normative structure to behave equally. However, these norms are based on values to which each team member may connect not equally with individual strength. To build teams on this chiasm is quite a challenge.
Making a ride of PO Challenge Game @ European Commission
Reading Time: 3 minutes Pierre Neis and Oswald De Riemaecker facilitated the agile game Product Owner Challenge" (created by Michael Tarnowski) at the European Commission to show Agile Product Ownership. The participants discovered: (a) the complexity of communication between requirements and operations; and (b) the complexity of Product Owner’s role through role switching (roles switching in the middle of the game).