Flow of Work Game

Introduction

The purpose of this game is to illustrate the impacts of working on large packets of work versus working on small packets of work, and has some relation to queuing theory.

Materials

• A whiteboard or flip chart paper
• Whiteboard markers
• Small post it notes (at least 6 pads of post it notes)
• Timer with audible alarm

Preparation

• Draw up four adjacent rectangles on the whiteboard
• At the top of the rectangles and in between the 1st and 2nd, 2nd and 3rd, and 3rd and 4th rectangles write "5:1"
• At the top of the first rectangle write "Requirements"
• At the top of the second rectangle write "Dev"
• At the top of the third rectangle write "Test"
• At the top of the fourth rectangle write "Done"
• Ask for three volunteers: a BA, a dev and a tester

Game Play

1. The game starts with 2 minutes on the timer
2. The volunteer BA puts down one post it note every second in the first rectangle to represent doing work
3. The volunteer Developer puts down one post it note in the second rectangle for every 5 post it notes the BA has put down according to the ratio "5:1" written on the white board
4. The volunteer Tester puts down one post it note in the third rectangle for every 5 post it notes the Developer has put down according to the ratio "5:1" written on the white board
5. The volunteer Tester puts down one post it note in the fourth rectangle to simulate done tasks for every 5 post it notes in the third rectangle according to the ratio "5:1" written on the white board
6. The first round of the game stops when the timer runs out and the alert is sounded
7. Start the second round after removing the post it notes from the white board by changing the ratios written on the board to "1:1" and starting the timer again
8. The games starts as before, but this time the BA, Developer and Tester put down their respective post it notes in the rectangles but use the 1:1 ratio to simulate smaller packets of work until the timer runs out

Closing

• To close out use the white board and draw a mind map to map out the observations about the exercise and to contrast the flow of the post it notes for large packets of work, (using the 5:1 ratio,) and the smaller packets of work, (using the 1:1 ratio.)