AGILE GAMES

Egg & Shell

AGILE GAMES

Egg & Shell

Experience the power of letting go, and how it feels like to trust and to focus on someone who is relying on you.

  • min # of participants: 8
  • max #: unlimited
  • length: depending on the number of participants, ca. 20-30min (incl. debrief)
  • materials needed: large room

Facilitation

  • form quadruples or groups of five for larger groups, form circles
  • invite volunteers to become the first “egg” and enter the circle, the rest of the group becomes the “shell”
  • members of the shell reach out and hold hands
  • invite Egg to close their eyes
  • the shell takes care of the “egg” which may start to walk (with closed eyes) in any direction at any speed it wants by moving with it, shielding the egg from any possible collision with any obstacle
  • if there is a collision likely, the shell – still holding hands – gently touches the egg indicating that there is an obstacle
  • after two minutes or so, invite groups to change and let someone else volunteer to become the egg

Exercise has the best results when enjoyed in silence.

Debrief

Debrief questions:

  • What was it like as an egg?
  • How did it feel?
  • How was it as a part of the shell?
  • What did it feel like?
  • As a shell, did you observe any differences in the movement of different eggs?

Usually, quite good discussions start which often touch on:

  • Trust and different trust levels/diversity within teams
  • Letting-go
  • Focus & responsibility
  • Ownership
  • Taking care of someone

Source

I picked up that game at play4agile 2019 – I forgot the name of the session host, though (sorry!). If you are aware of the original source, please comment below!

About Tasty Cupcakes

This content was originally published on Tasty Cupcakes, a community-run website founded by Michael McCullough and Don McGreal after they presented a series of games at Agile2008 in Toronto. The site’s tagline was “fuel for invention and learning.” After 15 years at TastyCupcakes.org, the content has found a new permanent home here at Agile Alliance.

The games, techniques, and approaches presented are here to use and explore. All we ask is that you tell others about us and give us some feedback on the games themselves. All of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Got feedback? Join the conversation!

Explore additional Agile Games

While we've all heard about "pair programming", pairing is not just for programmers. In this activity, participants will use fiction/creative writing to understand the importance and value (and fun) of pairing. Timing Prep: Printing out the ha…
Objectives Learn about the attributes and duties of a role. Verify what your students already know about the subject (complemented by a short lecture). Let your students learn from each other. I've successfully used it with all three Scrum roles: th…
Timing: 30 minutes Materials: Large whiteboard or roll of white paper Appropriate drawing, colouring or painting materials Instructions: Ask the team to draw/paint their interpretation of the Sprint. This is usually done on a large whiteboard/she…
Timing: 15-30 minutes Materials: (Optional) Pre-printed photographs of 10-15 celebrities. Try and get a range of celebrities including controversial (Lance Armstrong), old (Nelson Mandela), difficult (Stephen Hawking), young (Justin Bieber) Instructi…

Ready to join Agile Alliance?

Unlock members-only access to online learning sessions, Agile resources, annual conference discounts, and more! And when you join, you’ll be supporting our member initiatives, regional events, and global community groups.

Privacy Preference Center

IMPORTANT: We have transitioned to a new membership platform. If you have not already done so, you will need to SET UP AN ACCOUNT on the new platform to establish your user profile. Your previous login credentials will not work until you do this set up.

When you see the login screen, choose “Set up Account” and follow the prompts to create your new account. You can choose to log in using your social credentials for either Google or Linkedin (recommended), or you can set up your account using an email address.