6. POA Techniques

6.3 Collaborative Games

Guide to Product Ownership Analysis

IIBA.org KnowledgeHub Guide to Product Ownership Analysis 6. POA Techniques 6.3 Collaborative Games

Purpose

Collaborative games encourage participants to collectively build shared understanding, trust, and team spirit. These games can be used for:

Elicitation,
Prioritization,
Risk assessment,
Knowledge sharing,
Problem-solving,
Decision-making, and
Planning.

See section 10.10 of BABOK® Guide v3 for details.

Games engage and provide team members with a safe space to express themselves. Collaborative games usually involve cross-functional members, the extended product team, and customers, depending on the intent of the game. Several types of collaborative games are used:

Team-Building Games:
- Aimed at developing team spirit and trust.
- Designed for team members to bond and help each other. They may or may not have product objectives associated with them.
Prioritization Games:
- Aimed at a group of stakeholders to prioritize product features for iterations and releases.
- The $100 test is an example. During the activity, participants are asked to spend $100 on a list of proposed features. It helps team members identify the most important features.
Stakeholder Analysis Games:
- Aimed at analyzing stakeholders and their disposition towards the product.
- The "friend or foe game" is an example. Participants are asked to discuss and identify whether a stakeholder would support various product build or team activities.
Problem-Solving Games:
- Participants are asked to address a situation or a problem. For example, a semantic environment mapping can be used to analyze a situation in various ways:
  - Rules,
  - Touchpoints,
  - Actors,
  - Environment, and
  - Keywords.
Games for Product Perception:
- Designed to elicit a response from customers, stakeholders, or other participants, about the product:
  - Discover what excites them about the product,
  - Assess value propositions, or
  - Identify emotional appeal.
- Example Games:
  - 2 Brains - Tell It and Sell It,
  - Product box,
  - Elevator pitch, and
  - Sound bites.

POA Domain	Collaborative Games
Applying Foundational Concepts	Collaborative games help in the early stages of team setup and capability analysis. It is surprisingly effective in generating insights in an organization that fuel strategic decisions.
Cultivate Customer Intimacy	All collaborative games are designed for participants to have a good experience. When customers are part of these games, they express themselves without reservation since the games provide a safe environment for dialogue and exploring ideas.
Engage the Whole Team	Collaborative games engage the entire team to promote team bonding and build mutual trust. Games help build work agreements and an understanding of team dynamics.
Make an Impact	Since each game has a fun and engaging theme, they are usually memorable for the product team and customers which can leave a good impression on them. A well-conducted game can motivate the team to be more productive.
Deliver Often	Collaborative games are often ignored due to work pressure, schedules, and deliverables. However, games can motivate teams to drive towards the desired outcomes.
Learn Fast	Tying collaborative games to a product objective may provide surprising feedback from stakeholders, the product team, and customers. They can be used as a learning tool when concrete data is not available for generating robust analysis.
Obsess About Value	Collaborative games support the objective of the team to think and act creatively, unlocking the team's potential to add value and innovate.