This free e-book presents a stepwise approach to perform a full Scrum Simulation With Minecraft. An outstanding learning activity for teaching Scrum. It is free to use and adapt, licensed under Creative Commons.
Timing:
8 hours (full day), divided in:
- Minecraft Bootcamp – 2 hours;
- Pre-Game – 1 hour;
- Game – 4 hours;
- Post-Game – 1 hour;
Overview:
The products of my MSc dissertation at the University of Liverpool includes two gamified learning activities, focused on teaching agile project management.
To design these learning activities I created a pre-exercise survey for agile instructors, that was answered by several agile instructors. The results are a clear picture of the paradigm conflict for students.
It evidences
that the mindset imposed by traditional project life cycles, based on predictive/waterfall models, remains dominant. The Scrum Simulation is a good place to fight against such mindset, as the students will feel for the first time what is to be “agile” – a great experience that can be a turning point for them.
Learning Points:
The values and roles of Scrum represent a big paradigm shift for professionals whom are familiar with traditional approaches for project management, where command-and-control-ism and micro-management are imperatives. This learning activity provide to the students a great opportunity to experience the Scrum framework, with several elements of a real-world project.
In my agile classes, the Scrum simulation is the last mile of the training – the “cherry on the cake”. This is where the students evolve their own comprehension, seeing how all the pieces fit together: values, principles, roles, ceremonies and artifacts.
Link to Game:
The free e-book and templates are available at http://gameagile.com/scrum-simulation-with-minecraft/