The Agile Escape room - A game surrounding the agile manifesto

Today I had the pleasure of trialling an entirely new game I had created that I call "The Agile Escape room". This was very much a raw version 1.0 of the game and the feedback captured will be very useful in me finalising it before I let it loose with some more teams.

 I've been increasingly exploring the use of agile games as a method of coaching and teaching agile concepts over the past few years and this is my latest endeavour.

For anyone interested, please see the below details as to how to do it, for if you'd like to give it a go yourself;

 Overview;

 The games purpose is to be an introduction to the agile manifesto for teams new to agile, as a kick off session for a new agile team to anchor them around the principles, or as a reminder to existing teams of the principles within the manifesto. 

It's intended to last around an hour, with it being timed and broken down into four sprints each correlating with a task or puzzle for the team to solve. The four puzzles will reveal each a digit, which is the combination to a lockbox holding the key to unlock the door and allow the team to escape. There is the possibility to record this time and use it as friendly competition for teams to aspire to beat.

 I've designed the game to be as portable as possible, to simulate an escape room experience without requiring too many external props or a fit for purpose room. That's why I have largely aspired to use items easily found around the office to create the puzzles, including coffee stirrers and post-its. This should mean that any reasonably sized conference room can be converted into an on-the-go agile escape room. 

Materials used;

• Flipchart paper
• Post-it notes
• Board pens
• A3 paper
• Coffee stirrer sticks
• 4 digit lockbox from Amazon
• An agile manifesto poster as pictured
• Masking tape / Brown tape for the minefield game
• A 100 piece puzzle with an extra piece

Brief & Rules

Opening clue;

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"Inspect and adapt to your surroundings,

To unveil the clues within,

Those following agile principles,

Are those most sure to win,

Your teams vision is clear as day,

To escape the room is your quest,

Be open to changing requirements,

A rigid plan is not always best.

Four challenges lay in the distance,

Equally, there are four sprints,

An hour trickles by in the hourglass,

Be on the lookout for tips and for hints

If the path that you seek eludes you,

If you feel the need to ask for some aid,

Two clues are at your disposal,

Collaboration is how the great teams are made" 

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General rules;

• Escape the room or no lunch!
• If no progress made in 10 minutes, help will be enforced to move things forwards
• Maximum of two clues given per team (Possibility for time penalties to be included for additional clues taken)
• Live and breathe the agile principles

The puzzles

Puzzle / Sprint 1 - Chess board game - Teams had to place queens on the chess board in a way that each would not be able to take each other whilst following rules of chess. Completing the game revealed a hidden equation - Cube root of B+W. The answer giving the 1st digit of the lockbox combination

 Clue to location of game found on post-it on back of lockbox in the room. 

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"Your eyes and your mind will guide you,

Through the puzzles that lay in your way,

Be brave and open to failure,

Fail fast is what some of us say."

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Puzzle / Sprint 2 - Coffee stirrer cypher

Clue to find the game within the agile manifesto;

Riddle shared upon completion of Sprint 1.

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"Search within the agile manifesto,

For the next clue is hidden inside,

Continuous attention to detail,

Will ensure nothing is able to hide"

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 Hidden inside the O's on the manifesto was an anagram for the word 'Sticks' which led to the puzzle. 

On coffee stirrer sticks, letters were written in the below sequence, requiring the team to order the sticks in the right way to see the hidden question - 'Golfers yell what?'

Puzzle / Sprint 3 - Minefield game.

A game focusing on trust and teamwork, each team member had to make their way through the minefield whilst blindfolded and without stepping on any mines, under verbal instruction from their teammates.

Puzzle / Sprint 4 -

Puzzle game - Teams had to put together a 100 piece puzzle which had an extra piece with the final digit for the combination written on the back. This required collaboration between those involved to put the puzzle together with the time slipping away.

 Clue - The anagram 'Puzzle' was hidden within the mines as part of the minefield game.

Final clue

With time fast running out and the four digits found, the team tried to open the lockbox and failed, they had the right digits but not the right order. They were invited to explore where else in the room they may be able to input the numbers they had..

A laptop with the eye of sauron (A nod back to one of the previous clues), allowed them to input the combination they had and unlock the final clue;

"For teams to satisfy the customer,

To focus on value is key,

One must continually reflect on performance,

For that's the way agile should be"

This clue provided the right sequence, and the team escaped the room.

Notes & Observations

• I believe this can always be improved and there are ways to alter the games / puzzles to tailor them to the audience. For example, it was noted that one of my clues centered around a widely known golf principle, however culturally some teams may not be familiar with this and may have struggled.
• It was interesting seeing how the team self organised, certain people took on certain roles, decisions were made to divide and conqeur
• The riddles and clues throughout all aimed to reference back to the principles and good agile practices in some way
• The retrospective at the end was key, inviting those involved to reflect on the manifesto principles exhibited and foster discussions about how this apples to their work
• Each of the puzzles within the escape room game aim to engender some of my favourite agile principles in; experimentation / failing fast, inspecting and adapting, trust and psycholigical safety and collaboration

Learnings from version 1.0 of the game

• Use masking tape for the minefield grid as the grid line tape I used came unstuck too easily
• Experiment with minefield rules including allowing 8 instructions to be given initially, before reducing the amount of instructions with each person
• Ensure main queen is anchored in the right position for the chess board game as this puzzle can take time
• Think about sequencing of puzzles - How I ensure they are tackled in the right order, or decouple the final sequence from needing to use the laptop to uncover the final clue and make the order of the puzzles irrelevant
• Offer feedback loops during games e.g. chess game - Teams can verify after a point if they have any correctly positioned and iterate
• Ensure timer remains present throughout to maintain a sense of dread. Perhaps with the threat of not being able to go to lunch!
• Introduce sprint concept more - After each15mins passes on the clock present an opportunity to discuss, receive a clue or continue with existing progress to reinforce timeboxing and adapting or even foster healthy debate about whether to continue or move forwards.
• Suggest the two clues can be used in the context of asking the product owner or customer for help, engendering interaction with end users / feedback loops

Has anyone tried any similar sort of concept to teach agility before? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how this could be made even more agile focused? Always keen to hear input from fellow agilists.

#Agility #MakeAgileFun