The XP Game

• Presenter: Vera Peeters
• Type: Simulation
• Duration: 120 minutes
• Audience: developers, business people, managers, coaches, teachers, and everyone else who is involved with a project

Objectives

Let newcomers to XP experience several key concepts: the developer and customer role, the planning game, stories, estimating cost and value of stories, acceptance tests as requirements.

Give experienced XP practicioners and coaches an effective tool to introduce these concepts.

The XP Game is especially useful when a company starts adopting XP.

Abstract

The XP Game is a playful way to familiarize the players with some of the more difficult concepts of the XP Planning Game, like velocity, story estimation, yesterday's weather and the cycle of life. Anyone can participate.

The goal is to make development and business people work together, they both play both roles.

In real life Planning Game, development and business people are sitting on opposite sides of the table.

Both participate, but in different roles. The XP Game makes the players switch between developer and customer roles, so that they understand each other's behaviour very well. Some of the concepts in the Planning Game are difficult to grasp, for developers and for customers.

What exactly is the meaning and background of stories, iterations, consequent estimations, velocity, yesterday's weather, planning game, feedback? The XP Game is a simulation of the XP Planning Game, which includes the following phases: story estimation, story prioritization, planning, implementation and feedback.

No knowledge of coding is required.

This XP Game is a practical way to demonstrate how the rules of the XP Planning Game make up an environment in which it becomes possible to make predictable plans. After all, the easiest way to get a feeling for the way it works is to experience it.

More info + history: http://www.xpgame.be

Benefits of attending

Anyone can participate. Developers and customers benefit from experiencing both sides of the planning game.

The XP Game explains velocity, in particular, showing how velocity is not the same as business value.

This simulation demonstrates how you can quickly learn to make predictable plans.

What will the organisers learn

The organisers expect to learn more stories and anecdotes about situations in the simulation that fit people's real life experience.

They also expect to learn more about situations where the game can go wrong, in order to improve the game.

Session Outline

• 00:00-00:05 Introduction - short explanation of the rules of the game
• iteration 1:
  • 00:05-00:20 Estimation
  • 00:20-00:25 Plan
  • 00:25-00:45 Implementation
  • 00:45-00:55 Debrief
• iteration 2:
  • 00:55-01:00 Estimation
  • 01:00-01:05 Plan
  • 01:05-01:20 Implementation
  • 01:20-01:30 Debrief
• iteration 3:
  • 01:30-01:35 Estimation
  • 01:35-01:40 Plan
  • 01:40-01:55 Implementation
  • 01:55-02:00 Final Debrief + celebration of the winning team

The timetable is rather tight, it is possible that we will decide to spend more time on debriefing, in which case we will do only 2 iterations.