Thursday, June 5, 2014

Scrum Challenge - Little White Lies II

This scrum challenge is pretty closely based upon a team building challenge I found off the internet in a number of places.  Sometimes it is called Two Truths and a Lie.  In fact this was the second time I ran this challenge - the first time was last year.

The challenge is pretty simple. Each person 

Instructions
During Scrum
  1. Each person is handed a piece of paper.  (they've been told to bring pens)
  2. Each person has 2 minutes to write down three statements about themselves and their name on a piece of paper.
    1. the statements can be things like their shoe size, their birth place etc.
    2. one of the statements will be a lie.
    3. that statement should be marked as a lie.
  3. The judge reads out each person's statements anonymously, randomizing statement order for each person.
    1. going around the table each person votes on who wrote the three statements.
      1. the judge records the people that get it write, anonymously.
      2. a person voting for their own entry gets that point.
    2. going around the table again, each person votes on which statement is a lie.
      1. the judge records tallies against each statement.
      2. a person voting on their own lie doesn't get counted.
  4. At the end the judge tallies up the scores.
    1. one point for each person's vote for the right person.  ie if Joe has 3 people pick his entry, that's 3 points for joe.
    2. one point for each person's vote for the right lie.  ie if Joe has 3 people choose the statement that was actually a lie that's 3 points for Joe,
  5. Winner is the entry with the fewest points.

The Results

I'm adding in the results from my team, although i am changing the names to protect the innocent from payback from the less innocent.  These results aren't really going to be that interesting to you I don't think, however they are indicative of the types of things you're going to see in a challenge like this.  



Author
​​​Statements (red is lie)
T1
1.     I've done ballet
2.     I play the flute.
3.     I'm a black belt.
T2
1.     I am a good swimmer.
2.     I am a good dancer.
3.     I am a good snowboarder.
T3
1.     Star Wars is my favourite movie.
2.     I've been to Belgium.
3.     My legs have been shredded by kittens.
T4
  1. I play the piano.
  2. I play the saxaphone.
  3. I play the trumpet.
T5
1.     I was born in German.
2.     I lived in Germany until i was 2 years old.
3.     I have been married twice.
T6
1.     I don't wactch TV.
2.     I don't drive
3.     I have 4 cousins
T7
1.     I lived in Alberta when i was younger.
2.     I think some hip hop bands are really good.
3.     I used to compete in skateboard competitions..
T8
1.     I was born in Hong Kong 43 years ago with a bad weather morning.
2.     I had my first car which was a Toyota.
3.     I joined DPT 5 years and 8 months ago.


Reception
Maybe it's the challenge of writing down things that other members of the team aren't going to know or being given permission to write down a lie but this game has gone over quite well both times that we've played it.  People get into writing down their statements and seem to enjoy the process. 

What Went Right
The right level of statements came out right.  People were able to tell lies sometimes and not other times.  People learned things about each other.  It seems to have all worked rather well. 


What Went Wrong
We ran out of time on this one so the review of the statements was a little rushed.  A little more haste in the early parts would make things work better. 


Lessons/Team Benefits
There's always a benefit from a team strengthening their bonds and forming stronger relationships. This challenge does that directly through passing information about people back and forth.  It also provides good interaction as a team, solving problems, laughing at the situation and one-another and providing that bit of stress around being caught out in a lie that makes you a little more open in the situation.