Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Agile - Penny Game rules

As attendees of my courses know, I like to use the Penny Game.
Rules:
1. Say: "We are about to see who is the best penny processor in all of [city] today.  And the winner, with the best single round, will win $20."
2. Select 4 players (4 departments).
3. Select 4 managers, one for each Dept. Make sure the managers each have a stop watch.  Also, we need a one or two special managers, for the 'first penny' and the 'last penny'.  Also with stopwatches. (Get inventive if you don't have enough people.)
4. Give Dept 1 a bunch of pennies (any kind) and say: "Please get 20 pennies ready, all face up, or face down."
4b. Optionally, ask the managers how they will motivate their worker.  Some good laughs.
5. Round 1: The managers time how long it takes to flip each penny, one at a time.  Only using one hand. And pass the FULL batch of 20 to the next Dept without errors. (May use 2 hands to pass.)
6. Write up the times for each Dept, and the times for the 'first penny' (to reach the customer) and for the last penny (to reach the customer).
7. Round 2: Each Dept must process 20 pennies, but in 2 batches of 10.  As soon as the first 10 are flipped, they must be passed. Each manager measures the full 20, until fully delivered.  Again, we write up the scores in public. Including the timing for the first and last penny (the last penny is in the last batch).
8. Round 3: Each Dept must process 20 pennies, but in 4 batches of 5.  As soon as the first 5 are flipped, they must be passed, and so on. Each manager measures the full 20, until fully delivered.  Again, we write up the scores in public. Including the timing for the first and last penny.
9. Round 4: Each Dept must process 20 pennies, but in batches of 1.  Flipping must be separate from passing. As soon as the first penny is  flipped, it must be passed, and so on. Each manager measures the full 20, until fully delivered.  Again, we write up the scores in public. Including the timing for the first and last penny.
The Dept with the lowest single score 'wins' the $20.  Hand the money to the manager.
10. You ask the participants: 'Did we do this game to find out that [George] is the best penny processor in [city] today?'  They say No.
11. Ask the people, "So, the numbers are talking to you. What are they saying?"  If you have experience with the game, you might comment on how 'normal' the numbers are.  Typically most numbers are quite normal, but a few are 'off'.
Usually the will come up with some very good, counter-intuitive Lean insights.

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