Games to teach technical practices

Written By Allison Pollard

Image by nur_h

Good engineering practices are needed to sustain agility. I’ve been reading Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim; in their research, they found that technical practices predict culture, continuous delivery, job satisfaction, software delivery performance, less deployment pain, and less time spent on rework. Technical practices are incredibly powerful!

It can be helpful to have folks outside of development teams understand the concepts behind the practices so they can better support them. Sometimes stakeholders will surprise you and find ways of applying the concept in their own work. In some cases, holding a workshop with live coding may be a fit—if not, there are games you can facilitate to teach technical practices:

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard helps overwhelmed technical leaders debug their management approach. She teaches them how to manage up, support people through change, and make time for strategic work. Her education in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University helps her connect technical work with people management. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Allison focuses on improving product delivery and leadership culture. Her experience includes work in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries. Allison regularly speaks at global conferences like Scrum Gatherings and Agile Alliance's Agile20xx. She promotes women's leadership as the program director for Women in Agile's Mentorship program. When she's not working, Allison likes to drink lattes and listen to Broadway musicals. Allison is a proud glasses wearer and co-owner of Middlegame Partners.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
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