The Tadpole Technique

Breaking things down with an interactive approach

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Hello and Welcome!

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Just who am I?

CHRIS LI

• 16+ years in the IT Services industry in

the DC, Maryland and Virginia area

• Provides agile training and coaching for

individuals and organizations

RealChrisLi@gmail.com

@RealChrisLi

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Wait, did you say Tadpole?

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What is it?

Facilitate discussion

Focus conversations

Visualize ideas

Generate takeaways

An exercise that a group of people can use a simple mechanic to break an idea down into smaller parts. It can help teams:

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Why is it useful?

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Where is it used?

10 participants!

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What’s needed?

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Step #1 – Talk about the topic

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Step #2 – Write a few words

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Step #3 – Build the wall

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Step #4 – Build a pile

(Name) (Name)

“What did

you mean

by this?”

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What it looks like

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Exercise Setup – Yard Sale

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Yard Sale Part 1 – [2 mins]

Exercise Instructions:

• Someone at your table volunteers to be the moderator for this exercise.

• Write what things need to be done to host a yard sale on sticky notes.

• Each sticky should have one to two words at maximum.

• After participants finish, the moderator will use space to spread out the

sticky notes RANDOMLY.

• Note: the yard sale is this weekend at YOUR house!

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Yard Sale Part 2 – [10 mins]

LARGER piles to

the left

SMALLER piles

to the right

Exercise Instructions:

• The moderator chooses one of the ideas randomly and asks the author

what they meant when they created that note.

• The moderator works with the group to find similar sticky notes.

• If there are stickies that can be grouped, create a pile.

• Name the pile after the group has gathered all related notes.

• The moderator then selects a new sticky to start another pile.

(Name) (Name)

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Things to avoid

1. Forgetting to ask “what did you mean?”

2. Vocal participants driving the conversation

3. Building multiple piles at once

4. Everyone touching the board

5. Moving on without naming your current pile

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Facilitation Tips

1. Find a strong moderator for the exercise

2. Always ask for clarification

3. Focus on your current pile

4. Have the group name the piles

5. Engage all participants in conversation

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Different levels of thinking

Gather shoes from bedroom

Gather shoes from garage

Gather shoes from basement Gather shoes

from closet

Gather items

Gather shoes from guest room

Gather sweaters from bedroom

Gather sweaters from closet

Do these cards belong together?

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Understand by talking

Price Items Price Items

Words might match, but meaning does not!

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Creating a Product Backlog

+

Name

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Decomposing items

Break things down through focused talks!

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Graphic Credits: AGILExicon™

• One or more slides in this presentation

contain items from the Visual AGILExicon™, which is a trademark of

Innolution, LLC and Kenneth S. Rubin.

• The Visual AGILExicon is used and

described in the book: Essential

Scrum: A practical Guide to the

Most Popular Agile Process.

• You can learn more about the Visual

AGILExicon and permitted uses at:

http://innolution.com/resources/val-

home-page

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Questions?