One principle by which agile teams work together is that of cross-functionality. Cross-functionality is often confused with interdisciplinarity, which by far does not bring the desired added value.
Interdisciplinary teams consist of team members who belong to different disciplines. A team in which economists, developers and physicians work together is thus already interdisciplinary, but not yet necessarily cross-functional.
Cross-functional teams have what is known as a T-shaped skillset. This means that they continue to be experts in their discipline, but also have knowledge to the left and right of it, for example at their immediate interfaces, of the fields of activity of their colleagues from the other disciplines. In doing so, they do not build up a second expertise, but acquire basic knowledge in these disciplines relevant to the team.
A common mistake is that the expertise is conveyed in a purely oral way. The following Native American proverb illustrates why oral communication is not sufficient:
“Tell me something and I will forget it.
Show me something and I may not remember it.
Involve me and I will understand.”
The added value of agile teams working cross-functionally is therefore not their interdisciplinarity, but the participation of each individual team member along the entire value creation process.
Escape the Boom offers an interactive way to make the added value of skillbuilding outside of one’s own expertise tangible in a striking way. The team has to defuse a bomb, which is downloaded as an app onto the cell phone of one of the team members. The remaining team members receive the bomb disposal manual without ever having seen the bomb themselves.
The serious game shows why it is worthwhile to build up redundancies in the team, especially at the interfaces, and that establishing a common language and a common idea of the task significantly accelerates and facilitates implementation. It is ideal for illustrating these principles in trainings, workshops, retrospectives or team building events.
