How Evivve Aligned with the 12 Agile Principles

At the check-in on 2 September 2022, the community members came together and we explored the possibility of using Evivve for an Agile program. To support that exploration, we attempted to align Evivve with the 12 Agile Principles and we were surprised by the outcome. All 12 Agile Principles aligned with Evivve's game mechanics.

We have summarized them in three categories here: Game Mechanics: indicates the specific game element(s) that are at play in relation to the principle, Facilitator Observations: indicates the things a facilitator should look out for while running the game and Debrief Questions: the questions that a facilitator can ask when conducting the reflection and debrief.

Please note that although these questions can directly be used, they are meant to spark a line of thinking for the facilitator. And that one may facilitate the inquiry of these elements across multiple Evivve sessions.

PRINCIPLE 1 - SATISFY CUSTOMERS

Game Mechanics

External Customer - CROB (Center for Research on Organic Biominerals) External Customer - The Chief Internal Customer - Other Players

Facilitator Observations

Have the players identified the customers that they are focusing on? Has the team consistently fulfilled the offers given by the chief? (Tribe value provides stats) Did the team decline offers that they cannot deliver? (This ensures they are being up front with the customer)

Debriefing Questions:

Who are your end customers? Why? How are you meeting their needs? How does the team decide whether to accept chief offers or not? Have you consistently fulfilled the chief's offers? Why or Why not? What were the effects, how did they affect your team? Were you aware that your reputation was getting impacted as a result of the missed offers?

PRINCIPLE 2 - WELCOME CHANGING REQUIREMENTS

Game Mechanics

The chief brings offers that are not always expected Players don't know how many Movilenniums to submit at the start of the Evivve game

Facilitator Observations

Check to see how the players are responding to the offers. Check to see if the players are able to evaluate how many Movilenniums they need to win after submitting their first one.

Debriefing Questions:

How did the ever changing offer requirements make us feel? How did we inherently respond when we didn't have the resource that the chief asked for? What do you think would happen if we were to respond to the offers differently? Did we make the time to evaluate how the end goal had changed (from "we need to evolve" to "we need x number of Movilenniums"? How can we make ourselves more resilient/robust to change?

PRINCIPLE 3 - DELIVER VALUE FREQUENTLY

Game Mechanics

Tribe Value is a result of accepting and fulfilling offers. At least 1 Movilennium must be submitted in order to know how many more are needed Submitting Movilenniums frequently progresses the genome experiment

Facilitator Observations

Check to see if the tribe value is above 7 Check to see if a Movilennium has been submitted by day 270 Check to see if the team is able to keep up with Nemesis

Debriefing Questions:

What would you consider "value" in this case? What contributed towards your team delivering/not delivering offers? What did that enable you to do? What contributed towards your team submitting your first Movilennium? What did that enable you to do? Did we make the time to evaluate how the end goal had changed (from "we need to evolve" to "we need x number of Movilenniums"?

PRINCIPLE 4 - BREAK THE SILOS OF YOUR PROJECT

Game Mechanics

Chief's offers Land harvesting Bounty Hunter's offer

Facilitator Observations

Check to see if players share that they have accepted the offer. Check to see if players talk about the lands they are harvesting. Check to see if the players talk about the resources they have/need. Check to see if players talk about the Bounty Hunter

Debriefing Questions:

We delivered x% of offers, which also means we didn't deliver x% of offers. What might be some contributors to that? What allowed/prevented us from sharing/talking about the offer we have accepted? What channels of communication did we have in place? Did they work for us? What enabled/prevented them from working? Was anyone approached by the Bounty Hunter? What did you do? Why?

PRINCIPLE 5 - BUILD PROJECTS AROUND MOTIVATED INDIVIDUALS

Game Mechanics

Some people understand the entire game really well, some don't some people understand some specific elements of the game really well, some don't Some people explore the intricate features of the game, some don't

Facilitator Observations

Does the team identify and empower those who understand the game really well? Does the team identify and empower those who understand some elements of the game really well? Does the team identify and empower those who have explored intricate features of the game? Check to see if the above people were given positions of authority or command

Debriefing Questions:

Let's cast a vote to see who you think understood the game/game elements/intricate features really well. You can vote for yourself. Were they given a position of authority or command? What do you think would happen if they did/did not get that position? Do you think the outcome would change? Why?

PRINCIPLE 6 - MOST EFFECTIVE FORM OF COMMUNICATION IS FACE TO FACE

Game Mechanics

Ticking time Natural Disasters

Facilitator Observations

Does the team make time to connect with one another beyond the operational activities? Does the team have any process of what to do during natural disasters?

Debriefing Questions:

What does face to face mean here in the game environment? What kind of impact did we experience as a result of the time ticking down? Did we create time to talk about activities beyond "I need wood/grain/sheep"? If you had the chance to create that space, what would you talk about? Do you think you'd have different results if you created time and space to put devices away and talk about the above points?

PRINCIPLE 7 - WORKING SOFTWARE IS THE PRIMARY MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Game Mechanics

Mining Movilenniums Genome Experiment

Facilitator Observations

How early does the team produce their first Movilennium? Does the team keep their focus on progressing the genome experiment? Is the team focused on cronos and resources or on mining Movilenniums?

Debriefing Questions:

What does "working software" mean here in the game environment? Were there times when the mines were idle? What kind of cost/impact does that have? What kind of result do you anticipate if the mines were never idle? What might be a key influencer to ensure that we have a "working software"?

PRINCIPLE 8 - MAINTAIN A SUSTAINABLE WORKING PACE

Game Mechanics

Busyness Constant pressure to deliver Ticking Time

Facilitator Observations

Does the team create a healthy and sustainable working style? How does the team spend their down time? Does the team have an approach towards alleviating pressure that specific members might be under?

Debriefing Questions:

Do you think your way of working was sustainable? Could you continue working like that for another year in the game? What might be something that you could do in order to make your style of working more sustainable?How would you spend your idle time differently?

PRINCIPLE 9 - CONTINUOUS EXCELLENCE ENHANCES AGILITY

Game Mechanics

Offer Delivery Production Quality

Facilitator Observations

Does the team deliver at least 70% of the offers they accept? Has the team figured out what influences their Production Quality?

Debriefing Questions:

Do you think having more cronos makes you agile? Why or why not? Do you know how your Production Quality is calculated? Any guesses? Does having a high Production Quality make your more agile? Now that you know how your Production Quality is calculated, what would you do different? Does that make you more agile? How?

PRINCIPLE 10 - SIMPLICITY IS ESSENTIAL

Game Mechanics

Strategy Harvest | Trade | Mine

Facilitator Observations

Does the team ensure that members know and understand the strategy? Does the team ensure that members know how to execute the strategy? Do the players know which buttons to press?

Debriefing Questions:

Let's take a vote: Would you call our strategy simple? Let's take a vote: Did you know how to execute the strategy? What enabled/prevented you from understanding or executing the strategy? If you had to redesign your strategy, how would you do it?

PRINCIPLE 11 - SELF ORGANIZING TEAMS GENERATE THE MOST VALUE

Game Mechanics

Freedom Player Roles

Facilitator Observations

How the team exercises strategic and executive freedom? Does the team create power centers or empowers members to be autonomous? Did the assigned roles provide flexibility to the actors?

Debriefing Questions:

Do you think you were a self organizing team? What factors enabled/prevented you from being a self organizing team? Would benefits do you anticipate will come from being a self organizing team? What governing factors or values would need to be instilled for a self organizing team to be functional?

PRINCIPLE 12 - REGULARLY REFLECT AND ADJUST YOUR WAY OF WORK TO BOOST EFFECTIVENESS

Game Mechanics

Natural Disasters Dashboard Feature Discovery

Facilitator Observations

How does the team use the time during natural disasters? Does the team utilize the dashboard in anyway? Does the team have a way of discussing new discoveries?

Debriefing Questions:

Did you realize that when a natural disaster occurs, is the only set of 60 seconds in the game when the clock stops? How did you use your time during natural disasters? Could you have used your time differently? You might have noticed that the dashboard had lots of data points on there, did anyone try to make any sense of it? Different members from the team were exploring the app and found various additional features. Does anyone want to share a few here? Do you think if this information were to be shared, it would help you in some way? What do you think can be done to create a space to regularly reflect and adjust our ways of work?