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Mission to Mars: An Agile Adventure

Work Together to Launch a Rocket to Mars. This innovative board game challenges players to build and launch a rocket to Mars.  Players form Agile teams, collaborating through “Sprints” to complete important tasks. The game tracks each team’s score, along with other metrics used in Agile, such as “Velocity”. In order to win the game and successfully launch your rocket, your team will have to demonstrate characteristics of actual successful Agile teams.

Agile Gameboard

Why Games?

According to Gartner researchers, 70% of business transformation efforts fail due to a lack of engagement. It’s hard for people to learn if they aren’t engaged while doing so. One of the best ways to ensure that people are engaged is by making the learning fun. Mission to Mars: An Agile Adventure makes learning Agile fun while also guiding players through valuable Agile decision-making. These critical-thinking opportunities reinforce Agile concepts in ways traditional training can’t, by having players actually participate on an Agile team, making decisions collaboratively and learning from their outcomes. Players will have a blast while reinforcing the Agile mindset!

Benefits

Along with being a fun way to learn or build on Agile concepts, this game gives players valuable first hand experience with:

  • Building a balanced team around individual skillsets
  • Prioritizing requests to ensure vital tasks are completed on time
  • Planning a Sprint based on customer interests and team member skills
  • Adapting to unplanned events  in an Agile environment
  • Collaborating as a team to maximize productivity each Sprint
  • And much more…

How to Play

Players are split into teams at the start of the game. Your team’s goal is to build your rocket and successfully launch it to Mars. To do this your team will need to work together through multiple Sprints in an Agile environment. At the beginning of the game your team will be contracted by a company, each with different objectives and focuses. Next, each team member will pick one character card based on their skills. These skills will determine how effective players are at completing tasks. It is important to work together to pick a balanced team that aligns with company goals.

Agile Board Game Players

Each team works on completing “User Stories”. Some are critical components of the rocket and must be completed to win the game. Completing each User Story card will give your team points.   Points represent the value your team has delivered to your customer and will determine the winning team! In each Sprint your team must plan based on your limited player time and resources. You also have to prioritize tasks, as some need to be completed before each test launch. After planning the sprint, you will roll the dice to see how effective your team is in completing each task.

Agile Game Rolling the Dice

At the end of each round your team will pull one event card that could majorly shake up the game, and prepare for the next round. You will also be given opportunities to increase your “Agility”, which increases your influence! Influence allows you to access resources that to help your team and can gives you more time to complete certain actions.

Agile Board Game Players

Successfully completing tasks gives your team victory points, and the team with the most victory points at the end of the game wins!

Testimonials

“The Mission to Mars Agile team simulation gives me the chance to sit the different teams down, perform their practices, and learn from each other without having to punt or bash components, methods, objects, UI’s or whatever they feel like slinging at each other to gain superiority. None of them know anything about building and launching space crafts. So it puts them all on a level playing field without sacrificing their current Agile practices.Thank you for this tool – its more useful than all the methodology explanations and guidelines our Scrum Masters could come up within 3 years.”– Chris K., Software Engineering Manager at SageIf you are interested in purchasing the Mission to Mars Board Game, or would like to learn more, please fill out the form on the right to get in contact with a representative.

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