Post-Halloween is a candy sale bonanza. Couple sweet deals with the start of shorter days, colder weather, and the long anticipation of holidays, this is an excellent time to take advantage of some team building activities to boost morale and some agile skills. I introduce for your agile consideration: The Candy Debate.
The goal is simple, team up with fellow candy lovers in your designated candy of choice, and work together to debate why your candy is the best. What do teams get out of it? The power of debate cannot be understated. Multiple soft skills are exercised during debates that are critical to agile; constructing thoughts and presenting ideas confidently and concisely, working within boundaries both categorically and time-wise, and working together with a team to synthesize multiple viewpoints and ideas.
And why candy? It’s fun! Candy is a universal entity. Everyone has a favorite (or a strong distaste for one), and in talking with your teams a good PO or coach can find out preferences and use that info to prep for The Candy Debate.
How it works (aka, coach’s notes):
- Pick a well-sized room depending on the team size
- Arrange candy options on different tables
- Candy options (depending on team size): Chocolate (milk or dark), gummies, sour candies, classic candies, mint, no candy (some people don’t like it)
- As your team enters the room, have them choose their candy of choice
- Once everyone is settled, set up the debate
Round 1: ‘I want candy”
- Teams will debate one another about why their candy of choice (eg: chocolate) is the best
- Each team will have 5-10 minutes to discuss amongst themselves
- Each team will nominate 1-2 people to present their argument to the group
- Each team will have up to 3 minutes to present their argument
- Coach will designate someone to be the judge, if no one is available, coach will be the judge
- Rules: stay positive, focus only on their candy
Round 2: “Pour some sugar on me”
- Teams will have a second round to debate, only this time, rules are out
- Teams will have no more than 5 minutes to create a new argument about their candy
- Teams can choose two options: double down on why their candy is the best, or attack other candies about why they are terrible, or both!
- Team will nominate a new presenter
- Each team has 1 minute to present their argument
- Coach will designate someone to be the judge, if no one is available, coach will be the judge
- Rules: none (maybe no profanities or derogatory terms, this is a work team building exercise after all)
Retro
After all the teams have presented their arguments, the coach will pick a winner and explain why they won (best argument, best teaming, most creative, etc). To mix it up, let the teams vote for a winner themselves, you might be surprised how people vote! Finally, let everyone enjoy their designated candies while the coach leads some retro time.
Questions for coach to lead the team:
- How was it working with your team?
- Purpose: Get the team to think about team dynamics, new people, different opinions, etc…
- Were presenters nominated, volunteered, or voluntold?
- Purpose: Do people naturally move into these roles or rise to the occasion, take note of the adopters/detractors in each group, and the introverts/extroverts, who did what.
- What will people take away from the exercise?
- Purpose: Perspective is critical to an agile team, and making sure people hear thoughts about exercises, good or bad, ensures that they can continue or discontinue as needed. Some teams build trust through team building, others see it as a distraction, it’s critical to get the pulse of the team to take it into the next exercise.
- Coach’s note: Read the room and let the team drive the conversation
Sugar highs, and the inevitable crashes, are sure to happen during this fun team building exercise. I hope you and your teams find this a sweet escape from the norm and expands on their agile soft skills. Happy candy debating!
If you’re interested in an outside facilitator to work with your team, reach out to productoffensive@gmail.com.
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