Warm Up Exercise - Sprint Draw & Guess

A fun 10 minute warmup. I don't know the source of this, so am happy to be corrected.

Ingredients:

X index cards per team member, where X is the total number of people within the dev team
Sharpies or pens
A pair of phones to use as countdown timers

Method:

Give each person index cards and a sharpie/pen
Each person should write 1 to X in the top left corner of the index cards, front to back
If team size is even, each person has 1 minute to draw (without using words) how they felt the previous sprint went
If team size is odd, each person has 30 seconds to write down in words how they felt about the previous sprint
On completion, place the card at the back of the stack and pass it to the right
The next person, looking only at the last card at the back, attempts to interpret it
If they see a drawing, attempt to write down what it represents
If they see text, draw it
Facilitator should keep time - 1 min for drawing and 30 seconds for writing
Everyone should be doing the same thing
Keep going around until you write or draw on the last card
Once complete, lay them all out in order
Enjoy comparing the interpretations

Leave the index cards out during the rest of the retrospective, as a visual aid to whatever activity you have planned.

Alternatively, if the activity planned requires index cards, just flip them over and reuse.

Sounds silly, but is rather great in lightening the mood.

Navigation menu