In this blogpost, you find the ingredients for a workshop we have conducted at the Global Scrum Gathering 2023 in Amsterdam and at the Agile Monday in Nuremberg. Our participants found it so useful that they asked us to provide the format and working material so they can use it on their own.
Here you go! In case of questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at sabine.canditt@improuv.com. I am happy to help — for the sake of our planet.
Purpose: Allow a group of people with any shared context (i.e. all agile coaches, all people from your neighborhood) to develop an idea, how they can contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Approach: Groups of 3-4 people work in 2 iterations (in a Scrum-like way). Each group chooses a Product Owner to make decisions (e.g. continue to work on a story or proceed with the next story, omit the last story etc. ), and a Scrum Master (for time keeping).
Stories on the backlog outline an ideation-process starting at a problem statement (Story 1), stakeholder analysis (Story 2) and an exploration of uncertainties (Story 3). The final story tries to move the group to action via a “first week action” (Story 4).
Duration: 90 min (minimum time required, 2 hours allow more exchange and deeper discussion).
Material:
Tips:
- During facilitation, encourage a “YES, AND..” attitude and invite people to use rich colors and creative materials (depending on time). Let them have fun during this activity!
- Guide the group in developing an idea that is not too big. They should be able to at least influence the realization of the idea (see Acceptance Criteria for Story 1).
- Allow the group some freedom, e.g. if they want to continue with their first idea, or take up something new in the 2nd Sprint.
- Use End of Sprint events (review and retro) also for slightly other things: e.g. bring multiple groups to share their ideas after the first sprint, or debrief workshop during retro at the end.