It is quite difficult for me today to talk about Agility without talking about complexity and the Cynefin framework. Despite my strong theoretical interest in the model, I am well aware that a practical workshop would be welcome to introduce the subject in a lighter way. Not being a particular fan of Cynefin Lego Game (wrongly or rightly), I started looking for an alternative which I finally found on the site of Dandy People.
This is what I suggest you discover in this article! 🙂
The workshop
As you know, I particularly like short workshops that do not require a lot of material, or at least little specific material.
This is exactly what we find here:
- no equipment needed,
- just a space for people to move around,
- a duration of approximately 15 minutes (depending on the debriefing you wish to provide).
A little fashionable Walk/Stop, you will give a series of instructions to the participants who will have to respond to them physically in space.
Turn 1: Obvious Domain
Instruction
For this first round, the instruction given to participants is as follows:
Form a line in order of size
| Note: Remember to specify where the largest and the smallest are to avoid doubts. |
Procedure
- Participants naturally stand next to each other observing each other
- Some people sometimes take the lead in correcting potential errors. This leadership is very rarely questioned.
- The result is achieved in less than a minute.
Debriefing
- The decision-making method is fast because the problem appears simple enough for everyone: the visualization of the result is common and direct.
- Self-organization is possible and everyone can act in conscience.
- Leadership expresses itself freely and is naturally listened to, not as an overwhelming authority but generally as a lever of action for the group.
- To introduce Cynefin, we are in the domain of the Obvious, the associated strategy is: Feel – Categorize – Respond.
- Feel : perception of the problem
- Categorize : the problem can be solved by a simple glance
- Respond : immediate implementation
Round 2: Complicated Domain
Instruction
For this second round, the instruction is as follows:
Keeping this size variable that you obtained in the first round,
add to this the variable of the time you take to come to work in the morning.
| Note: The main idea is to add a variable to the equation. You can use a time (as in the example above) or a distance for example. |
Procedure
- There is often a moment of chaos at the start, people not really understanding the instructions: indeed, how to combine the notion of size with the notion of time (or distance)?
- Some people also question the deposit by saying that it is not possible.
- Many discussions can emerge as to the best way to respond to the problem: a bit of facilitation is sometimes necessary.
- Generally, after a while, a person will propose to the group to organize itself around 2 axes:
- One corresponding to the size (as in the previous round)
- The other corresponding to the time to come to work in the morning
- The group then quickly defines a scale for the second axis and quickly gets into action
| Note: It can sometimes happen that the group does not have the idea to put itself on 2 axes and goes around in circles in discussions. I then sometimes give them a lead or the solution so that the group gets moving. You will see, this does not prevent debriefing 🙂 |
Debriefing
- In this round, we are in a problematic of the domain of the complicated.
- According to Cynefin, the associated resolution strategy is: Sense – Analyze – Respond. We can see that this is really what is happening.
- Feel : perception of the problem.
- Analyze : discussions around the best solution
- Respond : implementation of the solution
- In other words, the domain of the complicated is very similar to the domain of the obvious, we simply add a notion of delay between the perception of the problem and the implementation of the solution. Delay which in some cases can be particularly long.
- Indeed, while we see the group get moving immediately in the first round, the group will rather question / wonder / debate for a while before finally agreeing on a solution and putting themselves in movement. Doesn't that remind you of something? 😛
- We consider the Complicated domain as the domain of Experts: all it takes is for one person in the group (or me as the facilitator) to provide an element of a solution and the group starts moving almost immediately.
Round 3: Complex Domain
Instruction
For this third round, the instruction given to the participants is as follows:
Choose one person from the group.
Estimate the number of steps needed to reach it.
Then raise your hand to indicate that it is done.
When everyone raises their hand indicating that they are ready:
Well now go ahead and check it out.
Procedure
- The group is quick to choose a person and estimate the number of steps needed.
- When the second instruction arrives, we see the people take that first step after which the people stop, realizing that everyone is moving at the same time, which completely falsifies their forecast.
- The round then ends quickly.
| Note: Some people nevertheless rush headlong to where the person was, even if they are no longer there. |
Debriefing
- We are here in a problematic of the domain of the Complex where multitude of elements are interconnected.
- According to Cynefin, the associated strategy is: Probe – Feel – Respond
- probe : Take a measurement (this can be a step and an observation of the result on the set)
- Feel : Review the problem from this new angle
- Respond : Continue if going in the right direction or change course if going in the wrong direction
- We are therefore in the field of experimentation where it is not possible to plan everything in advance because there are too many variables that move at the same time.
- However, it often happens that we use a strategy of the domain of the complicated to approach complex problems. In our case, this would mean analyzing all the potential movements of each person in order to be able to adapt the path to take to reach them at a time t and therefore count the number of steps required. That would be a phenomenal waste of time, wouldn't it? In this context, self-organization is a good way to approach the problem.
- We are dealing here rather with a living system and no longer a mechanical one.
- The strategy proposed by the domain of complexity is to test (prototype) and adapt, which is a faster (and generally less expensive) response to a problem of this nature.
Conclusion
This workshop is one of my favorites at the moment: it is simple, fast and above all sets up an experience that allows participants to realize through the practice of different possible strategies in relation to a problem.
Introducing complexity by comparison seems to me to be a very good way of doing things, especially in relation to the Complicated strategy which often plays tricks on us!
The feedback I've had so far is very good because this first step taken by the participants with all the pieces moving at the same time often has its effect! 😉
I invite you to test it and tell me what you think! 🙂
10 Responses
Hello Oliver,
I was looking for a workshop to better understand the notions of complexity (which are too often assimilated to notions of working time). Thank you for this workshop which seems really simple and clear to me!
Yohan
This workshop is great!
As Yohan mentions, I think that too often the notion of complexity is misunderstood, and associated almost exclusively with a notion of effort, or time. Such an exercise will be able to demonstrate to our teams that complexity is not necessarily only related to this temporal dimension.
Experienced workshop: it has its little effect 🙂
The difficulty of the workshop really lies in the understanding of the participants on the last notion of complex. During the debriefing, the participants tended to want to find an answer to the problem by analyzing the initial request, and questioning it.
After a few exchanges and clarifications, the group began to understand the concept well by talking about a purely agile solution to respond to the problem (we take a step, we count, we adjust the route, we start again…).
And the circle is complete 🙂
In any case, thank you Oliver!
Super Yohan, you were quick to test it!
Thank you for the feedback, you highlight the importance of the exchanges around the debriefing otherwise the activity would lose its meaning! 🙂
To the pleasure!
Hello Oliver!
Thank you for sharing, the workshop seems to me quite appropriate. I find it excellent that there is no material to prepare and that there is a debrief at each stage. Can't wait to be able to put it into practice with my next groups.
Hello Olivier, thank you for this enlightening sharing (once again).
To illustrate the chaos, what idea of instructions would you have?
What do you think of asking participants 'you are a group, classify yourself, without talking'?
See you soon Kervin
Hello Kervin,
I asked myself the question for a while then changed my mind, telling myself that the description of the chaotic environment might not bring much (especially that if we wanted to be more complete, we might have to try to describe the mess – and for once I would not have been able to do!).
The difficulty of the chaotic environment from what I understand is that it is above all an unstable system. What Snowden says about this is that it is generally difficult to create a chaotic environment in a sustainable way since it will tend to stabilize very quickly.
When I think of a chaotic situation, I sometimes think of a crowd talking and whose cumulative sound only increases. If we do nothing to stop this, it could become dangerous for our psychological survival! One way to respond to this might be to shout a good shot, which would describe the associated strategy of: Act, Feel, Respond and stabilize the system at the same time.
Olivier
Nice!!! can't wait to test it and see the chaos generated by the 3rd round!!!
Je propose un 4ème tour
Répartissez-vous dans l’espace : « Faites des groupes, sans parler »
Débrief : Comment vous êtes-vous senti ? Passé le léger moment de flottement, vous vous êtes mis en mouvement, vous avez expérimenté le chaos. Puis quelqu’un a proposé une vision ‘groupes par couleurs de chaussettes’ par exemple (complexe, solution émergente), puis vous êtes passé dans le compliqué (chacun a proposé sa solution) et lorsque vous vous êtes mis d’accord qu’il fallait relever un peu les ourlets du pantalon vous étiez dans le simple.
Super merci pour ton partage Kervin ! 🙂