NEW! The PMzone Game: Predictive Versus Agile Project Management with Daniel Zitter

Upon completion of this training, learners will be able to: 

• Develop goal-oriented thinking and practice the basic concepts and main challenges of project management; acquire and improve project management skills. 
  
• Identify the languages, principles, roles, rituals, tools, and mindsets of the agile approaches, Scrum and Kanban.
• Distinguish the key differences between the agile and predictive project management approaches.

The PMzone simulation board game experience is a game-based training that provides skilled and occasional project managers and their team members with a deeper understanding of the fundamental concepts and main challenges of project management through an enjoyable, hands-on experience.

During the game, players will need to add value to their project, plan their way forward, perform both known and unknown tasks, deal with constraints, manage risks, and operate within a defined budget and resource constraints. Learners will also need to consider the bigger picture, be in control of the details, think creatively, compete and cooperate with other players, manage uncertainty, and remain on target.

Players will encounter challenges and dilemmas during the game which will allow them to develop new perspectives and improve their decision-making skills, helping them tackle real-life projects.

At the end of the game a group discussion will be held, allowing players to focus on the main issues that arose during the game and understand their implications on the everyday challenges associated with managing a project. The discussion will further address how project goals influenced the players’ strategy, the need for advance planning, the uncertainty inherent in any project, and the project managers’ leading role in project success.

During the second part of the training, we will play a smart board game to learn how to manage a project using an agile approach. Participants in the game will learn the language, principles, roles, rituals, tools, and concepts behind the agile approaches, Scrum and Kanban, in a fun, innovative, and unique way. Participants are divided into teams (tables) of up to five players—two to four scrum team members and one scrum master. During the game, participants will need to plan and play a project scenario detailed in a backlog, containing six epics and 42 user stories and deal with unexpected events and issues that will affect their project.

Each team must plan and complete their project scope (user story cards) in several sprints. The game starts with prioritizing the product backlog and sorting the user story cards according to their value and size. After prioritizing the product backlog, the team will design the work plan for each sprint according to the estimated velocity of all team members. The scrum master will track the team’s performance and conduct sync-up meetings during the sprint and a retrospective meeting at the end of the sprint.

At the end of the game a discussion will be held, allowing participants to refine the key points raised during the game and their connection to real-life challenges. The differences between the agile and the predictive approaches to project management will also be discussed, as well as the application of the approaches to different projects.