Focus on delivering value

expedition agility

Focus on Delivering Value

In the book Expedition Agility, you’ll find numerous exercises to help organizations transition to agility in a playful and engaging way. Agility is the ability of individuals and organizations to respond quickly and effectively to change, which is vital to remain relevant and successful in a constantly evolving world. Each blog in this series highlights one exercise to inspire you and encourage experimentation. This time, we’re diving into The Value Trophy.


Thinking in Terms of Value

Sharing results with stakeholders is an essential part of any team striving for agility. Feedback on results helps you determine whether you’re on the right track and adjust your course if needed. Typically, this is done through review or demo sessions. But what if we turned these moments into a vibrant and playful workshop?

The concept of The Value Trophy revolves around celebrating delivered value rather than simply checking off completed tasks. By shifting the focus to customer or organizational value, teams are encouraged not only to reflect on what they’ve accomplished but also on what it has achieved. This creates a healthy competition that is both motivating and increases awareness of the impact of their work.

The rotating trophy—The Value Trophy—adds an extra layer of excitement, with the team that delivers the most value earning the honor of taking it home.


Exercise: The Value Trophy

Here’s how you can implement The Value Trophy workshop:

  1. Organize the Workshop
    • The workshop is hosted by and for the teams, with at least 25 participants for optimal engagement.
  2. Plan Presentation Slots
    • Arrange five 10-minute time slots where teams can showcase the value they’ve delivered.
    • This could include experiments they’ve run, new or improved features, successes achieved, or even mistakes made—value can come from many places!
  3. Keep it Short and Engaging
    • Limit team presentations to 10 minutes to match the average attention span for a presentation. Use music or sound cues to mark the end of each slot.
  4. Encourage Interaction
    • Teams should use interactive formats like questions, statements, or other engaging methods to foster discussion. Keep it dynamic, fun, and impactful.
  5. Let the Audience Choose
    • If you’re running parallel sessions, let the audience move to the session that interests them most.
  6. Vote for the Winner
    • At the end, participants vote on which team delivered the most value and why. The team with the most votes wins The Value Trophy.
  7. Reflect Together
    • Conclude with a group reflection on what was learned during the session.

Results that Matter

At the end of the session, it becomes clear that value is not just about what you’ve done but the impact you’ve created. Teams shift from task completion to focusing on delivering meaningful results.

This exercise brings a playful and competitive edge to reviews and demos, giving teams a chance to reflect on what truly matters: the value added for customers and the organization. By voting and reflecting as a group, you create an environment where successes and lessons are openly shared. Winning the trophy becomes more than just recognition—it’s a motivator for teams to continuously improve and deliver impactful work.

Source: Expedition Agility

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The carpet of connection

expedition agility

In the book Expedition Agility, you’ll find numerous exercises designed to tackle the shift toward agility in a playful and lighthearted way. Each blog article highlights one of these exercises to inspire you and encourage experimentation. This time, we’re diving into the exercise called “The Carpet of Connection.”

Barriers and Obstacles

In many teams, barriers and obstacles sneak in unnoticed, preventing members from responding effectively. This exercise helps you address these barriers, enabling you, your team, and your organization to become more agile.

Barriers and obstacles are often accepted as “just the way things are” and fade into the background. No one mentions them anymore, and sometimes they seem to be swept under the proverbial carpet. This pattern can create a culture of stagnation, where the discomfort of change seems greater than the benefits of progress.

However, this situation offers an excellent opportunity to dig deeper into some critical questions. Why don’t we talk about these obstacles? What underlying fears or unspoken concerns are holding us back? By initiating these conversations, teams can not only identify barriers but also begin actively working to remove them.

Using the exercise “The Carpet,” you can explore the unspoken obstacles in your team in a playful and visual way. Together, you’ll make visible what often remains unsaid and take steps toward meaningful change.

Exercise: The Carpet

Organize a team session with a group that has started adopting an agile way of working. Ensure you have an actual carpet for the session. Don’t have a carpet? A bath mat will do!

  • Identify barriers. Ask the team to identify barriers or obstacles that are currently preventing the quick delivery of value. Write each one on a separate sheet of paper (A4) and slide these under the carpet.
  • Discuss what’s hidden. Talk about what lies under the carpet: which barriers or obstacles have been known for a while but keep getting swept under the rug?
  • Choose one to address. Decide as a group which sheet of paper you’ll pull out from under the carpet to address the “unspoken” conversation. You don’t have to tackle everything at once; it’s already a win if you bring one issue to light and take action on it.
  • Ensure a safe environment. Agree that the unspoken conversation will take place in a safe space. Only what the group agrees to share will be communicated outside the room.
  • Reflect on the reasons. Ask the following questions as a group:
    • Why was this barrier swept under the carpet?
    • Why is it painful to bring it to light?
    • Who or what has been protected by keeping it hidden?
    • What sustains this situation? In other words, why is it easier to leave things as they are?
  • Share personal reflections. Invite team members to reflect on which answers impacted them the most. Share these insights with the group.
  • Return to the original issue. Bring the insights back to the original problem. Are you willing to truly solve this issue?
  • Take action. Solve what can be solved, using questions like:
    • What could we do more or less of?
    • What should we stop doing?
    • What should we start doing to address or resolve this barrier?

A Shift Beneath the Carpet

When teams find the courage to look beneath the carpet, something extraordinary happens. Barriers that once seemed invisible take shape and become topics of discussion. More importantly, the team reflects on the deeper causes: why were these obstacles hidden for so long?

By consciously engaging in this process, not only does the team’s agility grow, but a culture emerges where members are open about barriers and actively work on solutions. This approach creates space for genuine progress, where everyone contributes to an environment where obstacles are no longer swept away but are instead tackled head-on.

The carpet no longer symbolizes something that conceals but rather something that connects and opens up possibilities.

Source: Expedition Agility

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