Note: This article is part of an experiment with AI, specifically with the DinoBrain tool. The initial version produced by the tool is published in its entirety, and I will be editing it personally, making clear what content is added by tagging (BP).

Importance of creativity in agile teams

Creativity plays a fundamental role in agile teams, as it allows to generate innovative ideas and effective solutions to the challenges that arise in the development of projects. Fostering creativity in these teams provides numerous benefits that contribute to the success and growth of the organization.

Benefits of Fostering Creativity in Agile Teams

When creativity is fostered in agile teams, it opens up a wide range of benefits that directly impact project performance and results:

Generation of innovative ideas: creativity stimulates the generation of fresh, original and out-of-the-box ideas. This allows finding unique and disruptive solutions to complex situations.
Increased collaboration and effective communication: Fostering creativity involves all team members, promoting collaboration and fluid communication. This strengthens team cohesion and promotes synergy among team members.
Efficient problem solving: Creativity helps to face problems from different perspectives, generating optimal solutions. It allows thinking ‘outside the box’ and finding innovative alternatives to the obstacles that may arise.
Greater commitment and involvement: When creativity is encouraged, team members feel valued and their sense of belonging increases. This translates into greater commitment and involvement in the project, which in turn boosts the quality of the work performed.
Development of key skills: Creativity stimulates the development of skills such as critical thinking, adaptability and flexibility, essential competencies in an agile environment.

The role of games in the development of creativity

Games play a fundamental role in the development of creativity in agile teams. These playful activities provide a safe and fun environment where team members can explore new ideas, develop their imagination and challenge their conventional thinking. Games encourage collaboration, the exchange of perspectives and the search for innovative solutions, all in an interactive learning context.

Tools and methodologies to foster creativity in agile teams

Creativity is a fundamental element in agile teams, as it allows them to generate innovative solutions and adapt to changes effectively. In this sense, there are several tools and methodologies that can be used to foster creativity in these teams and thus enhance their performance.

Design thinking: fostering innovation in the creative process

A widely recognized methodology to foster creativity in agile teams is design thinking. This methodology is based on a user-centered approach, which seeks to understand the user’s needs and generate innovative solutions to meet them. Through different stages such as empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping and testing, design thinking encourages the generation of disruptive ideas and different perspectives that drive creativity in the team.

Agile methodology: flexibility and adaptability in the creative approach

Agile methodology is another key tool for fostering creativity in agile teams. This methodology is characterized by its iterative and incremental approach, where collaboration, effective communication and team decision making are encouraged. By adopting agile practices such as Scrum or Kanban, teams can be more flexible and adapt quickly to changes, which facilitates the generation of creative ideas and the constant search for improvements in the development process.

In addition, agile methodology promotes transparency and continuous feedback, which allows to constantly evaluate and improve the ideas and solutions proposed by the team. This boosts creativity by providing opportunities for learning, experimentation and adaptation in the creative process.

Conclusions

In short, having the right tools and methodologies in place is essential to foster creativity in agile teams. Both design thinking and agile methodologies are effective approaches to enhance innovation and flexibility in the creative process. Through these tools, teams can generate disruptive ideas, adapt quickly to change and generate effective solutions to meet user needs. By fostering creativity in agile teams, it promotes collaboration, effective communication and the generation of successful results in project development.

Remember that Asana offers resources and features that can support fostering creativity in agile teams, providing collaborative tools for effective communication and task tracking and management that support agile project development.

Games to foster creativity in agile teams

Games are powerful tools to stimulate creativity in agile teams. Through playful and fun activities, they promote an environment conducive to exploring new ideas, encouraging collaboration and solving problems effectively. In this section, we will highlight three specific games that will help boost creativity within your agile team.

Possibilities game: exploring new ideas and perspectives

The game of possibilities is an activity that invites team members to think outside conventional boundaries. It consists of generating different fictitious or alternative scenarios related to the project or task at hand. Through the exploration of these possibilities, creativity and imagination are boosted, allowing the discovery of new solutions and perspectives not previously considered.

Winner/loser: promoting collaboration and problem solving

The winner/loser game is a dynamic that promotes collaboration and problem solving in the agile team. It consists of posing a challenging situation that requires the participation of all members to achieve a common goal. As they advance in the game, obstacles and challenges are presented that they must overcome together, encouraging creativity to find solutions and strengthening teamwork.

Mixing objectives: stimulating creativity and teamwork

Mixing objectives is a dynamic that seeks to stimulate creativity and teamwork by combining different goals and challenges. Each team member is assigned individual goals and then invited to collaborate and find ways to merge their goals to achieve joint results. This boosts creativity by addressing the need to adapt and mix ideas, generating original solutions and promoting collaboration among team members.

Actions to foster creativity in agile teams

Actions applied to foster creativity in agile teams are fundamental to enhance innovation and creative thinking. Below are some of the most effective actions:

Make time for creativity in the development process.

Sometimes, the fast pace of agile teams can limit the space for creativity. It is important to set aside dedicated times exclusively for generating ideas and exploring new solutions. Establishing specific times for creativity in project planning ensures that it is given due importance and provides an environment conducive to the generation of innovative ideas.

Avoid micromanagement and encourage autonomy and freedom of ideas.

Micromanagement can stifle the creativity and innovativeness of agile teams. It is critical to trust team members by giving them autonomy and freedom to propose ideas and solutions. By allowing them to make decisions and experiment, creativity is encouraged and innovative solutions are fostered. Trust in the team is the basis for developing an environment where creativity flourishes.

Asking why: fostering reflection and critical thinking

To foster creativity in agile teams, it is essential to promote critical thinking. Asking challenging questions, such as ‘why are we doing this this way’ or ‘are there other options we haven’t considered’, stimulates reflection and challenges team members to question existing assumptions. Through this practice, teams can find innovative and creative solutions.

Engage in the decision-making process: drive creative thinking throughout the team.

Promoting the active participation of all team members in the decision-making process is key to fostering creativity in agile teams. By involving all members, you gain diverse perspectives that enrich the creative process and generate more innovative solutions. Actively listening to the ideas and opinions of all team members and fostering a climate of respect and collaboration enhances creative thinking as a whole.

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Creativity is a talent with which all people are born and that some of us have something rusty. To activate it, in addition to using creative techniques, we can play games, modify our environment and drink beer in a very specific way.

Apart from the creative materials, I have been able to experiment with activities and board games that serve to develop empathy, collaborations, storytelling, visual language and creativity (divergent thinking in particular). These skills are the necessary pillars to work optimally in innovation processes such as design thinking , and it is necessary to activate them systematically.The key in all these initiatives is to look for the loopholes through which we can operate, instead of looking at what other people are doing and lamenting that we can’t. If we can’t have a creative room, let’s have a creative box with the same philosophy and bring it to the meeting rooms. And now that we can’t have face-to-face meetings, let’s take them to virtual spaces such as collaborative whiteboards (Mural or Miro type).

With these playful activities we not only increase the possibilities of innovating, but those who participate know each other better, feel better and are activated, so they are also more productive and productive; and if you find yourself obliged to work remotely, then you need to find the corresponding alternatives, even if they are not identical. The approach is “How could I…?” applied to the creative process.

How beer can make you more creative

Creative techniques are not enough. Creative processes are not enough. I have been able to see it live and direct countless times. If you put any ten people in a room and brainstorm ideas, I could predict how original they would be, based on their profiles. If they all look alike, have the same seniority, training and tasks…, it is likely that their proposals are limited to a similar scope, and this does not change in the duration of a one-hour session, or a design thinking process .

The brain generates new ideas by combining elements. If the pieces you have are similar, you will be able to find fewer combinations than if they are numerous and varied. In other words, the more experiences, data, knowledge and insights you have, the more combinations are possible and therefore the more original your ideas can be.

For example, so as not to have to go very far, and within your usual routine –so that it doesn’t take you time–, the next time you go out for a beer, have a drink or have a family reunion, try something different. Whether the first beer is of another brand than usual, or the wine, the water, the starters, the main course or the dessert, it doesn’t matter. “Feed” your curiosity. It can work with new readings, music and walk routes.

If you get in the habit of trying new things every day or every week, you will be giving your neurons new information to process and a new pattern to match. As a personal recommendation, make sure that these new things are legal and do not endanger your personal integrity or that of others!

Resilience needs creativity

For years I have been clear that the world needs a lot of creativity to solve global problems. Now, in addition, we are in a difficult moment for many people and it is time to reinvent themselves at full speed, as individuals and as companies.

In the latest Linkedin Learning 2021 report, resilience takes first place for the most important skill to develop this year. In the text they quote Gemma Leigh Roberts, who explains it this way: “Improving resilience is about creating your advantage at work. […] It’s not just about learning how to cope exceptionally well with challenges, but also learning how to thrive and reach your full potential.”

In other words, resilience is our ability to withstand the storm and reinvent ourselves. Creativity is the basic skill to be able to do it and, play, the safest context to develop it.

Reference

Article first published here:

PINO, Begoña. «Creatividad: es momento de la ludorrevolución (#playfulrevolution)». COMeIN [en línea], junio 2021, no. 112. ISSN: 1696-3296. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7238/c.n112.2145

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1′ – Introduction

3′ – Racial wealth gap

5′ – Universal principles for everyone

7’30” – Book journey of a story teller

13′ – Creative types and money

20′ – Book key lessons

22’30” – Tips to make money matter playful

30′ – Final thoughts

The Author

With over 17 years experience in financial services, she is the founder and financial planner of Your Story Financial, LLC, a virtual, fee-only fiduciary boutique firm committed to helping women and #STEM professionals oversee their financial affairs. At Your Story Financial, they believe everyone has a story, especially when it relates to one’s finances. Shehara helps clients create their financial success story, one chapter at a time.

Originally from Columbus, OH and graduated with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University Shehara reinvented herself. Soon after working as an engineer and taking on various roles, she decided to pursue her purpose in promoting financial literacy and financial planning.

In 2004, she changed careers and began working with a global financial institution. Five years later in 2009, she became a financial advisor with a national broker-dealer firm and began assisting professionals, business owners, married and single women with their financial futures. After seven years with that broker-dealer firm, she launched her own firm to continue to promote financial literacy and stay true to her vision to provide financial planning regardless of one’s age or accumulated assets.

In addition to helping clients achieve financial success, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, hosting line dance parties, reading a good non-fiction book, watching historical documentaries, and spending time with her husband.

The book

Did you know that Black wealth will fall to zero by 2053 unless we do something about it?

Shehara Wooten’s In the Meantime: Own Your Financial Narrative highlights people who have succeeded by creating their own definition of financial freedom. Systems exist that have excluded the Black community’s ability to achieve wealth. However, despite the challenges, readers can be inspired by the stories of others who have succeeded “in spite of.”

You’ll learn the power of values and tenacity and gain insights on personal finance while hearing about innovative and inspiring people, such as:

• How O.W. Gurley, the founder of “Black Wall Street,” was ahead of his time
• How to determine your values so you can create a path for financial success
• How various entrepreneurs are creating their own definition of financial freedom
• When you embrace the principles of In the Meantime, you can make a change for yourself, your family, and the generations to come.

You can find the book here

(Affiliate link)

In the Meantime: Own Your Financial Narrative

Contact

contact Shehara Wooten here:

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Background

Dr. Falcon is a high performing, versatile, and commercially astute forward thinker offering a career of impressive successes as a Healthcare Administrator,Entrepreneur, and Professor. Currently, Dr. Falcon is an Assistant Professor of Business and Free Enterprise. In2019, Dr. Falcon was awarded the Outstanding Faculty of the year and the Sam Walton Fellow of the Year for excellence in the advancement of the entrepreneurship spirit. In 2020, Dr. Falcon was appointed to the prestigious position of the Dorotha C. Tanner Endowed Chair in Ethics in Business and Economics.

The interview

The book: Lectures and Play. A Practical and Fun Guide to Create Extraordinary Classroom Experiences.

Her book makes a case for higher education professors to incorporate educational games to their traditional lectures in order to enhance the learning environment and yield deeper learning. The book includes a collection of outstanding games, tips, tricks and stories that can be used to teach more than a single subject or principle. 

You can find it here (affiliate link), among other places where books are sold.

How to contact Dr. Silviana Falcon

email: sfalcon@flsouthern.edu

instagram: Lectures_and_Play

linkedin: dr-silviana-falcon-a4597831/

phone: 863.398.3344

Here is a little gift from Dr. Falcon to you -free download:

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I started sketchnoting in 2016 right after I learned the basics of visual facilitation from Xavier Quesada –Bikablo style- during a Scrum Product Owner certification course by Agilar.com. Long before that, I had been using mindmapping for years (courtesy of my English teacher, in prep for Edinburgh University access requirements), and taught myself to draw with Betty Edwards “Drawing on the right side of the brain“. Well, just enough to know I could draw better if I wanted it.

My first steps were to start copying as much as I could, from free resources like Xplane “Visual thinking ebook” (free download) and Mike Rodhes book “Sketchnoting Handbook“. My materials, A5 notebooks, A4 print paper, and the regular Pilot black pen… no fuzz. I got a tiny bit fancier later with grey and coloured brush tip pens, but only later. After copying most of Xplane’s drawings and some of Mike’s, I went on corporate icon library and translated these into hand drawings, just to expand my visual vocabulary to that of my workplace.

It was about that time I discovered the Doug Neill’s Verbal to Visual Youtube Channel, and website, which served as an inspiration for some sketchnoting recording of my own (they call this style “videoscribing”):

• How to Sketchnoting Without drawing

• My interpretation of Tina Seelig’s Innovation Engine House

• And a Visual Summary Hack your Learning Chase Jarvis RAW with Tim Ferriss with my added take on the topic

I strongly recommend you to visit the Verbal to Visual Youtube Channel, since it is full of free resources to dig deeper into the sketchnoting world.

All this time, I have used sketchnoting to learn, to share concepts and ideas, to brainstorm, and also to take notes at conferences, even at corporate events. Now that I want to take it further, I have joined the beta course Digital Sketchnoting at Verbal to Visual, where I hope to develop specific digital skills, as well as get in touch and learn from other sketchnoters out there.

How to go digital sketchnoting

I am drawn to digital sketchnoting because I love my iPad 2018+ pencil, I carry it everywhere, and the workflow from thinking to sharing is quick and efficient.

• In the course I’m taking, we start stating the purpose of Digital Sketchnoting within the great scheme of things… or our grand plans. And I do have grand plans.

I am a visual thinker, so I use sketchnoting among other visual and manual techniques to learn and think. I want to use them to share, inspire and teach people creativity skills in a differentiated way, so it is part of my brand, I guess… still in very early stages, but with great ambitions to change the world :)

Then, we have shared the tools we use:

What app for beginners?

I would start with Paper by Wetransfer (formerly by Fiftythree), no matter what use you are going to give it, because it is free, it works nicely even with your finger or one cheap stylus and has limited space, limited tools. You can keep it to two-3 types of pens, and limited colours. I use it all the time for live sketchnoting where I don´t want to fiddle with tech, just listen and take notes.

Drawing

• I use Paper  (all the time, for everything visual), because of its simplicity
• I use Procreate (some times, for live sketchnoting) because of screenrecording
• Other apps fall in between Paper and Procreate. I may give Concepts a second chance, because of infinite canvas 

Notetaking

• I use GoodNotes because of the filing system (and simplicity of tools)
• I bought Notability because of the recording option 

Whiteboard

• I use Miro for collaboration (they have an app with limited drawing options, but works well enough for brainstorming visually)
• I may try Explain Everything because of the screencasting option

Device

• iPad 2018  (on offer last year 270€)
• first generation pencil (second hand 60€)
• Paperlike screen protector (34€) – the most budget friendly combo for the best quality

My recommendation:

You can get by to get started with almost any tablet that can run Paper app (by Wetransfer), and the cheapest stylus. When I was starting out, I tried lots of different apps: sketches, taysui, concepts, and more, and I settled with Paper because it was hassle free… with almost zero learning curve: you get in, pick a tool, start drawing.

Now I am in the middle of the development of CreativeSensei brand look and feel, and it is about time my sketchnotes start being more consistent. The exercise requesting a style guide has been timely on this. Here is my first attempt done in Goodnotes:

Another part of the exercise is to decide on canvas size. Doug’s recommendation is

When in doubt, use screen size. (Doug Neill, Verbal to Visual)

I follow that for live sketchnoting, but I am drawn to infinite canvas for mindmapping and brainstorming, as it lets you expand without borders…Still, work in progress.

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