Project-based
Max. participants
5
Min. duration
10 minutes
Cost per head
Free
Mode
Online, In-Person
Team phase
Forming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning
About the intervention
Very short recurrent activity to track our progress in a project through time in a visual way. Using 2 axis with predefined characteristics, the cohort sets their starting point in the graph each morning. This activity helps visualize when a team is getting stuck or moving backwards, and allows everyone to verbalize and visualize how they feel about the progress, their concerns, and helps members understand where others stand.
How to set it up.
Remote:
Prepare a Miro board for your map.
In-person:
Prepare a whiteboard or large paper hanging somewhere visible to everyone during the day.
What to do during.
Both remote and in-person
Define the main trackers for the project at the start of the project.
Prepare the support to track progress daily.
Every morning before starting the day, gather your group around the map and ask them to share where they think it should be after the previous day progress.
It's preferable to use a tracking method that enables the team have a "history" of the progress each day.
Examples include drawing non-erasable points, adding post-its or tracking the past progress with a line that joins each individual point. The material should be ready before the first session, and the facilitator should ideally have ready a proposal for the 2 axis characteristics in case members are not participative or don't come up with them. Organising this activity for the first time after project goal-setting will help everyone to be aligned with the trackers to use.
How you can mix it up ...
Size: When working in larger groups discussion can be hard to promote or take too long. In that case, the team can be divided into smaller review groups, joining members in relation to their role (there can be a team of engineers tracking the progress in their tasks, while the team of graphic designers track the progress on theirs). Individual tracking can also work in small groups to allow everyone to express themselves and avoid hierarchies suppressing thoughts or concerns from other members.
Representation variations: Other ways of representing the graph and submitting the daily status can be explored. Alternatives can be using pins and threads to see the progress or a chalkboard.
Frequency: For longer-term projects, the review can be weekly instead of daily. For shorter projects, the review can happen asynchronously when an individual or team feels that progress has been made.
Useful resources.
No further resources needed.