Also called: Agile Radar
Alternative plays: Hopes and Fears, Sailboat
Follow-up plays: Hopes and Fears, Start / Stop / Continue
Timing: Monitoring and Control
Prep time
30 minutes
Run time
1-2 hours
Group size
4-10
Why: Pinpoint areas of consensus and divergence in team opinions to promote open communication and understanding
When: Gauge team alignment during team-building activities or post-project reviews
This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.
A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2023 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.
Reserve your deck!Instructions for running this play
- Plan the graphic and topics beforehand on a flip chart
- Introduce the exercise and explain its purpose of gaining alignment, understanding, or clarity. Explain why each of the listed topics were chosen and ensure a shared understanding of each.
- Ask the team to assign and agree on a rating (1-7) for each topic. Timebox discussing each axis to 10 minutes. Ratings could be confidence level in the topic, future outlook, etc. Discussion starts with the first axis and working your way through all, topic by topic, rating by rating.
- Discuss. Connect any dots or determine which topics have scored negatively and why.
- Gauge general sentiment from the team by asking them to do Roman Voting on each topic on whether it is improving or if they expect it to get worse.
- Plan Next steps. Assign action items for 2-3 of the topics. Start with topics that scored the worst (or lowest) and note what steps can and should be taken next.
Topics can vary
Agile values are popular:
- Commitment
- Focus
- Openness
- Respect
- Courage
- Simplicity
- Communication
- and Feedback
So is:
- Customer Centricity
- Motivation
- Goal Clarity
- Pace
- Trust
- Process
Tips to perfect this play
Master and adapt the play to fit your context and needs.
Tip: Follow up
Consider introducing the Team Radar as a recurring exercise every quarter.
Tip: Choose topics on the go
More advanced teams can decide on the topics during the meeting
Tip: Contrast cultures
If two cultures collide, consider painting the Team Radar as represented by each cultural mindset to highlight differences and gaps.
Related plays
- Retrospective: Using the Team Radar
- The Secret Weapon of Retrospectives the Team Radar by Petra Wille
- Retrospective: Do The Team Radar by Christiaan Verwijs
- Team Radar by Douglas Ferguson
- Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers