Lucky I am, because I attended “StrategicPlay FUNdamentals on LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™” about 2 years ago. (Read my post on it here.) My company was unbelievable and invested in the “Identity and Landscape Kit” afterwards and I had the chance to do a number of LEGO Serious Play (LSP) Workshops since (HR team, UX team, different Project teams and others). I especially use the “Exploration Bags” for team building and also for retrospectives.
At “Play 4 Agile 2013” every participant got one “Exploration Bag“:
So I decided to do a session with those and get feedback on the LEGO retrospective I tried with teams already.
LSP is mostly about Story-Telling, creating metaphors, Constructionism, De-Constructionism. As a facilitator you try to enable “Flow” for the participants. In that state the participant is “fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.” (Wikipedia)
This is a set of activities that could be used in a LEGO retrospective:
- Warm-Up
- Build a feeling or mood that you experienced in the last iteration.
- Build your wish for the next iteration.
The session at “Play 4 Agile” was on Sunday morning, so we actually did a retrospective on the UnConference.
What normally happens is that after the third round (“Your wish for the next iteration.”) you have so many stories, themes or topics on the table. You can then simply start a discussion and create an action plan.
If you feel that the team members really liked the retrospective so far, you could finish with this activity: “Give one of the team members a gift and build this.”
I got really good feedback on the session. Thanks! And I even got the “LEGO Rampensau Badge”. Yes!
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