DesignScrum–An agility educational resource powered by creativity

Abstract

Agile methods have been widely adopted by the industry and its teaching hasseen a surge, particularly in the software development field. However, thesemethods have a number of limitations which affect product outcomes, such asthefactthatmanysoftwaredevelopmentcompaniesnowuseScrumtogetdevel-opers to work without interruption between iterations, rather than to maintaina sustainable rhythm. Agile experts have stated the importance of incorporat-ing creativity into Scrum, and although there are several agile resources thathelp with the learning process, it seems essential to approach such learningfrom a practical point of view. Furthermore, none of these resources introducecreativity. In this paper, we present an educational resource in the form of aserious game that allows you to acquire all the key concepts of agile and cre-ative methods. The game is based on the use of LEGO pieces to simulate a realproject, applying the key concepts of the Scrum and Design Thinking frame-works in a gamified way. It was assessed in a professional training centre ofcomputer science by using surveys through which participants evaluated theirprevious knowledge of agile and creativity methods. We analysed the improve-ment of these competences, as well as the general level of satisfaction with thegame. After the game, the results showed that the participants’ knowledge of theScrum and Design Thinking frameworks had improved and that they were verysatisfied with the whole experience.