Pyae Thuta - BlogPenny Game: Smaller batches, Greater efficiency

June 06, 2024 ⋅ 5 mins read

Most people, including me, like to focus on a specific task alone peacefully. I’m pretty sure that almost all of us have already experienced that we’re much more productive while working individually and focusing on a particular task. We usually take half-day or the whole day to finish all of our workloads, then schedule a meeting or call to handoff respective co-workers. You, individually, may be super-productive while working alone. But on the other hand, the productivity is decreasing as a team overall.

In the world of Agile, there is a popular illustrative exercise called “Penny Game”. It’s a hands-on experience that demonstrates how breaking down large workloads or tasks into smaller batches helps in enhancing team’s efficiency. The game, just like its name, is quite simple and easy for everyone to participate.

Let's see the process...

Within the game we have:

• 5 participants
• 10 pennies
• 3 rounds of game

How we carry out the game ...

All the participants have to gather around a table. 4 of the participants are the workers who will deliver the task and one will be the client. The participants role playing as workers have to flip the pennies and pass to the next person. The game will end when the client receives all the flipped pennies. There will be 3 different rounds and each round and duration will be recorded.

Round 1

Each person flips all 10 pennies before handing it to the next person. This is how most of us like to work. We want to focus on our individual workloads take time to finish them all while the next persons are waiting. It takes them around 1 minute before the client receiving all flipped pennies.

Round 2

This time, the pennies are separated into 2 batches with 5 pennies in each. Each workers flips 5 pennies and hand them off to the next person before continue flipping the remaining 5 pennies. This time, the client receives the pennies with 2 different batches and it takes team around 35 seconds to complete both batches.

Round 3

In the final round, the 10 pennies are broken down into 5 batches with 2 pennies in each. Each person has to deliver after flipping 2 pennies. It makes each worker to multi-task and reduce their individual productivity. But, as a team overall, the client receives the first batch in just 12 seconds and receives all the flipped pennies just in around 25 seconds.

What does it demonstrate?

This simple game represents how we should deliver our daily tasks with an Agile Mindset. Of course, we’re not flipping pennies at office. But we already proved the focusing on the big batch of work causes big handoff and reduces the team’s efficiency. Other team members don’t have to wait you finish the whole batch of work and you can avoid the large handoffs.

By breaking down the tasks into smaller batches, you can

• Improve the predictability: small tasks are easier to estimate, and it helps a lot in project planning
• Reduce cycle time: faster feedback and iteration
• Increase motivation: frequent delivery of tasks keeps team morale high, and motivation sustained

Moreover, we can build a better relationship with clients by frequent delivery of tasks and gaining feedback. Most of our clients love to see the progress. I’ve seen a lot of clients who are not enough with a project plan. They want to check the completed tasks with a proof. It’s true that working with small batches reduces the individual productivity. But the penny game already proved that as the productivity decreases individually, the team productivity will increase, and clients will receive the product more quickly.

Conclusion

Are you ready to discuss your ways of finishing tasks with your team? You may feel a bit uncomfortable while adapting with this practice. But I believe it's a great practice for an agile team to enhance team's productivity.

(First published on 2024-06-06)

by Pyae Thuta

#AgileProjectManagement #PennyGame