In these times of remote teams, it is always difficult to generate pleasant team dynamics.
I have used this dynamic several times, it helps me to improve communication, cohesion, and participation within the teams.
Checklist
- The video game “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” can be played on mobile or desktop (and can be found in the Steam store).
- The manual for the game (it’s in different languages)
- Some video call software (Teams, Zoom, Meets, Skype)
- Disposition
“Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” is a game where you have to defuse a bomb, at a certain time which contains different modules (varies according to the difficulty), whereas using a manual you can disarm these modules (sounds some agility value).
The dynamics are easy, someone on the team has to be the one who disarms the bomb (bomb operator), and the other members guide the one who disarms the bomb (manual instructors), looking at the manual, they should not see the screen of who is the bomb operator, they should only be focused on the manual and the descriptions of the operator.
Then do several iterations (much better if the role of the operator changes in each iteration).
Until the team decides or the time is up.
Close by talking about how the team felt about the dynamics.
Questions to ask
- What did we learn?
- Which role is more difficult, pump operator or manual instructor?
- How can we improve (in case of constant failures)?
I hope you enjoy it and use it as much as I do, I look forward to your feedback.
