Making Dreams Come True

We’ve created a virtual space to grow the community around the Agile Fairytales. It’s a place where you’re invited to share – be it thoughts, ideas, feedback and anything else that you deem relevant to the group.

You’re invited to use the space to:

• Exchange stories on how you first came across the Agile Fairytales
• Share your experiences of how you use the Agile Fairytales at work and at play
• Broadcast upcoming events featuring Agile Fairytales.

We’ll also use the space to:

• Broadcast upcoming Agile Fairytales sessions
• Agile Fairytales releases and updates
• And, of course, we’d love to hear your ideas on how to spread the joy and share the fun! 

Meanwhile, read more about the adventures of Agile Fairytales here. And why not experience the adventures for yourself? Find out when the next Agile Fairytale coming to a place near you. Watch this space!

Count Me In!

To join in, sign up to the LinkedIn group and send a request to join the group. In your request, tell us a bit about yourself and why you would like to join the group.

Meanwhile, keep well and I hope to see you at an Agile Fairytale session soon!

Thanks to all your feedback on the game and your enthusiasm for Peer Coaching, we’re pleased to announce the release of version 2.0 of The Yellow Brick Road Game – Fresh Insights Through Peer Coaching.

The headline changes include:

• Making the game and session more generic – Not only can you use it to learn about peer coaching for Agile Adoption, you can now use it to learn about peer coaching for any context or domain you wish
• Full presentation with speaker notes – The presentation for running the session is now available so that you, too, can run it with ease and flourish at work (and even with family and friends)!
• New User Manual – Detailing the contents of the downloadable game kit and further resources about peer coaching

Find out more about Happy Endings with Agile Fairytales. Keep the feedback coming! Happy Peer Coaching!

“Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Follow-follow-follow-follow, follow the Yellow Brick Road!’

Go, Go, Go!

You’ve been following the blog entries as The Yellow Brick Road session has been touring around Europe. Finally – the wait is over. Treat yourself to  The Yellow Brick Road Game and play it with your colleagues, friends and family! Download it here and let me know what you think. ‘Thank You!’ in advance for your gift of feedback.

Agile Fairytales in London

Inspired by the enthusiasm of many Agilists for games, learning and fairytales, we’ll be playing an almost-new and much-improved version of ‘The Yellow Brick Road – Agile Adoption Through Peer Coaching’ at the XP Day conference in London this Tuesday afternoon – the place where the session was first delivered back in 2007!

According to Douglas Squirrel, a regular at XP Day London and also a player of the first version, he continues to peer coach with Simon Woolf to this day because of the game.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

The Yellow Brick Road is the difficult path Dorothy takes towards the Emerald City to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz to help her get home. Swap your bit part for a major role in the Agile re-telling of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ for your organisation. Let your companions and other characters help you tap into the resources you’ve always had but never realised to complete your quest for a more Agile organisation.

The Yellow Brick Road is Coming Home

I first co-presented The Yellow Brick Road with Duncan Pierce back at XPDay 2007. Since then, the concept of Agile Fairytales have travelled around the world, appearing at SPA 2008, Agile 2008, AYE 2008, XP Days Benelux 2008 and XP Day France 2009. Read more about the session here.

We only have room for 12, so come early for your place on our trip to see the Wizard!

Appreciations

Many thanks once again to Dyan, Maria, Alissa, Ben, Paul, Steven and Pascal for all their feedback at the dry run of The Yellow Brick Road Game back in November. Your input has been invaluable to the latest version of the game. T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U!

And a BIG Thanks! to the 30 participants at XP Days Benelux on 27 November for playing The Yellow Brick Road Game!

Forthcoming Release of The Yellow Brick Road Game

The long awaited almost-new and much-improved game will be released later on this week under the Creative Commons Share-Alike-By-Attribution licence at www.agilefairytales.com. Watch this blog for more news on the release!

‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Follow-follow-follow-follow, follow the Yellow Brick Road!’

We’re off to see the Wizard

A bunch of us are off to Brussels next Sunday for XP Days Benelux 2009 (23 – 24 November). The program is jampacked with even greater sessions than last year. Now that’s what I call Continuous Improvement in action.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

I’ll be presenting another game from the Agile Fairytales series: The Yellow Brick Road – Agile Adoption through Peer Coaching. I first co-presented The Yellow Brick Road with Duncan Pierce back at XPDay 2007. Since then, the concept of Agile Fairytales have travelled around the world, appearing at SPA 2008, Agile 2008, AYE 2008, XP Days Benelux 2008 and XP Day France 2009.

Inspired by the enthusiasm of many Agilists for games, learning and fairytales, there’s now an almost-new and much-improved version of The Yellow Brick Road!

The Name of the Game

The Yellow Brick Road is the difficult path Dorothy takes towards the Emerald City to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz to help her get home. Swap your bit part for a major role in the Agile re-telling of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ for your organisation. Let your companions and other characters help you tap into the resources you’ve always had but never realised to complete your quest for a more Agile organisation.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

The goal of the Yellow Brick Road Game is to gain fresh insights on a problem you face by looking at it from different perspectives. The overall goal of the session is give you the opportunity to put peer coaching into practice.

By alternating between the roles of Dorothy (the person being coached), the Coach and the Observer, you will practice 4 key coaching skills: Questioning, Observing, Listening and Feedback.

Read more about the session here. Find your Somewhere-over-the-Rainbow at next week’s XP Days Benelux. Hope to see you there!

Appreciations

Many thanks to Dyan, Maria, Alissa, Ben, Paul, Steven and Pascal for all their feedback at the dry run of The Yellow Brick Road Game earlier this month. Your input has been invaluable to the latest version of the game. T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U!

It’s my second visit to Helsinki and it’s been quite an adventure! It’s been almost a year since my first visit.

What Went Well

• The location: Getting the chance to see beautiful Helsinki in the fall
• Over 280 participants attended – and it’s only the second time ScanAgile has been run!
• The conference was well-organised, everything went really smoothly!
• Learnt a bit about Beyond Budgeting from Bjarte Bogsnes in his experience report on implementing the techniques at Statoilhydro
• Being challenged by questions that made me think hard about how I coach and why
• Meeting Agilists from all over the world, including Brits who now live in Finland!
• Getting a chance to sample Open Space sessions on Day 2 of the programme
• The Toyota Way Management Principles session with Pascal: Illustrated how to implement a kanban system using baskets with the help of Snow White’s Seven Dwarves and the Evil Queen
• Receiving feedback and recommended reading list from Tom Poppendieck (thanks Tom!) on our Toyota Way session
• The Conflict Resolution Open Space session by Pascal where we learnt that we don’t have to compromise: it’s not either or. It’s  AND!
• Post-conference get-together with the very warm and friendly folks from Reaktor (voted second in 2009 Best Workplaces in Europe competition)  at their very stylish office (with its very own onsite sauna!)

What Went Wrong

• Too many theoretical presentations
• Too few sessions based on real-life experiences of using Agile
• No list of attendees, where they work and the country of where they come from

Puzzles

• How do you get the most out of Open Spaces?
• What’s the best way to hear everyone speak and engage those interested at an Open Space?
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarves proved popular with the crowd: Would ScanAgile be interested in featuring an Agile Fairytale session next year?

Lessons (Re-)Learnt

• I learn more from interactive sessions
• I learn more when I disagree with the material being presented or the speaker because it forces me to question what I think and why I think it
• We often ask questions not to find answers, but to merely seek for affirmation of our pre-prepared answers. By asking questions with a closed mind, we limit our capacity to learn compared with when we inquire with an open mind
• ‘You don’t lose weight just by standing on the scales’ – thanks Bjarte Bogsnes for a great reminder!
• Fixing budgets once a year is like having banks that only lend to customers once a year. That simply wouldn’t be acceptable nor practical
• It’s customary in Finland to relax with your colleagues in saunas in just your birthday suit!
• Design and creativity are a matter of national pride judging by the myriad of colourful shops of handmade goods and crafts!
• Using Thinking Tools such as the Conflict Resolution Diagram allows us to have our cake and eat it! No more compromises through clear thinking. Hoorah!
• Instead of eating your own dog food, drink your own champagne instead. Cheers to ScanAgile’s organisers and the humorous participants!

Qu’est-ce qui était bon?

• Jouer le rôle du Père Noël (le rôle du coach agile) dans le jeu ludique par François Bachmann and Jacques Couvreur pour apprendre l’art de la rétrospective basé sur les techniques de ‘Agile Retrospectives‘ par Esther Derby et Diana Larsen
• Raconter l’histoire de Blanche Neige et les sept nains version Tarantino à 46 adultes enchantés
• Jouer le jeu de la valeur métier avec Pascal et Laurent Morriseau parmi une soixantaine d’adultes
• Faire la session ‘Miroir, gentil miroir… pourquoi moi?‘ à l’extérieur parce qu’il faisait tellement beau
• Les discussions diverses avec Pascal Pratmarty, Jacques, Kemal Asad-Syed et Sandrine Olivencia
• Le grand tour à la barque avec deux beaux agilistes Christophe Thibault et Pascal au Chalet de la Porte Jaune

Qu’est-ce qui était mauvais?

• Les repas n’étaient pas très  bons (et normalement, j’adore goûter la cuisine française!)
• Il n’y avait pas de glaces près du lac par un temps tellement beau
• Rater la séance musicale par Bernard ‘Ben’ Notarianni

Les questions grandes et petites

• Qu’est-ce que ça veut dire lorsqu’on croit qu’on n’a rien appris d’une session?
• Qu’est-ce que ce que nous pensons des autres nous dit sur nous-mêmes?
• Quel est le but des keynote speakers?

Ce que j’ai (re-)appris

• Nous pouvons seulement changer nous-mêmes
• Chacun apporte de la valeur
• Comment on joue un jeu nous dit beaucoup sur comment on travaille
• L’importance de suivre le Responsibility Model sur nous-mêmes

Les appreciations

• Merci à Sara Lewis et Raphaël Pierquin pour la traduction du jeu de ‘Miroir, gentil miroir… pourquoi moi?’
• Merci à Laurent pour la traduction du jeu de valeur métier
• Merci à Pascal pour avoir documenté le feedback de la retrospective de ‘Miroir, gentil miroir… pourquoi moi?’
• Mille mercis comme toujours aux organisateurs de XPDay France pour un programme plein de choix
• Merci aux enthousiastes de conte de fées agile (Agile Fairytales) pour leur esprit ouvert et ludique

A l’année prochaine! Voir ici pour ce billet en anglais! Entretemps, vous pouvez trouver les avis des participants par rapport nos sessions sur agilecoach.net.

What Went Well

• Participating in François Bachmann and Jacques Couvreur‘s session on how to hold retrospectives based on techniques described in ‘Agile Retrospectives‘ by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
• Captivating the imagination of 46 grownups through the retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Tarantino style (and in French for the first time!)
• Running part of our Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me? session outdoors and in
• Facilitating The Business Value Game with more than 60 avid players as a triad with Pascal and Laurent Morisseau
• Conversations with Agilistas such as Pascal Pratmarty, Jacques, Kemal Asad-Syed and Sandrine Olivencia
• Rowing in a barque by two Agilista beaus Christophe Thibault and Pascal in the beautiful setting of Le Chalet de la Porte Jaune

What Went Wrong

• Catering: Starters and mains looked good, but weren’t very tasty
• Wish we had ice creams during the break by the lake on a beautiful summer’s day
• Missing out on Bernard ‘Ben’ Notarianni‘s outdoor guitar recital

Puzzles

• What does it mean when we learn nothing after attending a session?
• What does what we think of others tell us about ourselves?
• What is the acceptance criteria for selecting a keynote speaker?

Lessons (Re-)Learnt

• We can only change ourselves
• Everyone has value
• The way we play games reflects the way we work
• The importance of practicing The Responsibility Model by Chris Avery on ourselves

Appreciations

• To Sara Lewis and Raphaël Pierquin for helping to translate ‘Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me?’ en français
• To Laurent Morriseau for helping to translate The Business Value Game en français
• To Pascal for writing up and making available the participants’ retrospective feedback on the ‘Mirror Mirror’ session here
• To the organisers of XPDay France for making so much fun in one place possible!
• To all the Agile Fairytales enthusiasts for their support in helping Agile Fairytales grow!

This entry is also available in French! Also, you can find out what others thought about our sessions on agilecoach.net.

The latest version of the ‘Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me?‘ has just been released. The download now contains even more materials (available in both English and in French) to help you run and play the session with colleagues, friends and family!

What’s in the goodie bag?

1. Instructions on how to run the game
2. The worksheet to be filled in during the Part 1 of the game
3. The card deck for Parts 1 and 2 of the game
4. Slide presentation to accompany the running of the session *NEW*
5. And last, but by no means least, the re-telling of the fairytale Tarantino-style – suitable for adults only *NEW*

What’s on the backlog?

Still to come is a full session description to make running the session smoother and even more fun and meaningful!

*The Snow White and Seven Dwarves Game is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK license.

Last night saw the largest gathering ever to attend Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me?, an Agile Fairytale session on improving personal effectiveness, created by adults for everyone. More than 20 people converged to learn how to create their own happy endings on Day 2 of the AYE Conference in sunny Phoenix, Arizona.

Rediscovering the lessons we learnt as children but have since forgotten

We began the session with a speed retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves – a story of murder, intrigue, passion, poisoned apples and, of course, an Evil Queen. It was great to see sceptic-looking faces brighten with smiles as the story unfolded. The room soon filled with laughter at the thought of Sneezy being a friendly kind of dwarf who’s creatively efficient because he’s allergic to work.

You can read more about the Snow White and Seven Dwarves Game here. The game and all related materials are freely available under the Creative Commons license. You can also download the game and play it for free* with your team, family and friends.

If you’re an avid Agile Fairytale game player, you can read about the experience of your British Agile Fairytale counterparts and see how they fared.

Making Money with Agile Fairytale Projects

The highlight of the evening had to be the project pitches as each of the three teams presented their project proposition, outlining their project’s goal, its deadline and a team staffed with Agile Fairytale characters.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Who’s the fairest of them all?

Many thanks to everyone who attended! The overwhelming enthusiasm of the participants was a sure sign that Pascal and I were among folks who take responsibility for ourselves by continuously seeking to improve.

Heartfelt Lessons Learnt by the Group

• The only person we can change is ourselves.
• Everyone has value.
• Stop being a misanthrope: we should appreciate people more.
• By looking at what we think of others, we can learn about ourselves.
• It’s up to us as individuals to take responsibility in a relationship.

One participant declared, ‘I can see how the game can be a catalyst for team building. I’m going to play it with my team the moment I get home!’

Agile Fairytales coming to a place near you

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me? will be showing next at XP Days Benelux later on this month. The Agile Benelux contingent are world-renowned for their sense of fun, so I’m looking forward to what promises to be a most excellent European mini-adventure of self-discovery.

*The Snow White and Seven Dwarves Game is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK license.