Lego Agile Activity

Students

You will complete this Lego Agile Activity during your first lab session of fall semester. Your TA will facilitate this lab. You do not need to bring any supplies. The Data Mine will provide Legos and virtual resources for online teams.

Please review this article about the benefits of Agile.

Resources for Facilitating

TAs: Download these resources to lead the Lego Agile Activity:

Instructions

Task: Design and build a new building for The Data Mine

Teams

  • Unless otherwise instructed, split your team evenly into 2 groups

  • There should be 3-9 people per group

  • Each sub team should have a Lego set and project board.

Teams with Online Students - National Data Mine Network

  • Use Miro as your virtual workspace for this activity.

  • Lockheed Martin

  • Work together and communicate as a team like normal. Follow all other instructions.

Product owners have developed a backlog of tasks. Your sub-team will be responsible for allocating work in an Agile methodology and executing the tasks.

However, there are a few caveats…​

  • Your team will need to identify and deliver the minimum viable product (MVP)

  • You will need to work with the product owner to clarify requests tasks in the backlog.

  • You may not be able to complete all of the tasks on the backlog with the time and materials provided (you will need to negotiate with the PO!).

  • Remember, product owners can also change their minds – you may need to be flexible if you build something and they don’t like it.

  • Creativity is encouraged! A Lego can represent anything as long as it is explained (and communication is a key part of Agile!)

Roles

  • A Data Mine staff member or your TA will act as the product owner for this activity.

  • All team members will act as developers

Sprint Timeline

Sprint Planning (4 minutes)

  • Choosing what tasks to do during the sprint, estimating time/distributing work, and working with the product owner to clarify tasks.

Sprint (8 minutes)

  • Work time in which the product owner is not actively working with you.

Sprint Review (3 minutes)

  • Present work from the sprint to the product owner and get feedback.

Retrospective (2 minutes)

  • Discuss what went right, what went wrong, and how you can fix issues in the next sprint (e.g., how you collaborate, estimating time required for tasks, etc.)

Repeat! (3x)

Product Backlog Tasks

  1. It is important to be accommodating to students and visitors with disabilities.

  2. It is important that the building be built to be as "green" and energy efficient as possible.

  3. As we are on Purdue’s campus, we need to show Purdue pride with our decorations.

  4. Students should feel safe in and outside the building. It is important to incorporate safety features in the building.

  5. Many of the tasks teams will work on are confidential (required NDAs) so it is necessary that there are private meeting areas.

  6. It is important that there are offices for the Data Mine staff.

  7. Students will need a lot of spaces to work collaboratively wth their groups - it is important that the is building has plenty of areas for teams to work.

  8. We would like to have a large area for students to gather all at one time for seminar, outside events, student activities, etc.

  9. As we work with lots of companies, it is important we have a nice reception area for visiting corporate partners.

  10. Most teams will work primarily on laptops - we need to have lots of places for people to charge their computers.

  11. Dr. Ward has a lot of Data Science reference books (available for students to check out and borrow) and needs a place to store them with easy access.

  12. We would like to have a space for visitors (visiting scholars, corporate partners, etc.) to stay overnight.

  13. We would like to be able to get food within the building, so we don’t have to go outside if there is bad weather.

  14. Sometimes you need to take a walk to clear your mind before coming back to a problem. It would be nice to have a green space to walk around.

  15. There will be a lot of meetings between corporate partners and students - we need to have a good IT infrastructure.

  16. The Data Mine staff needs to stay caffeinated - we would like to be able to get a coffee or tea within the building.

  17. A lot of the students will walk to this building. It is important that the outside areas be pedestrian friendly.

  18. It would be nice to have a way for students and staff to exercise within the building.

  19. A lot of students use bikes to get around campus. We will need a place for students to store their bikes when visiting the building.

  20. As parking is always at a premium at Purdue, we would like to have dedicated parking spots for staff and visitors.

  21. As we work on cutting-edge technologies, the building must be high tech.

  22. We know the Data Mine students are going to be successful - we would like to display the accomplishments of TDM alumni.

  23. To better integrate the building on Purdue’s campus, we would like it to be on the path for fountain runs.

  24. Several of the corporate partner projects involve working with hardware in addition to software. We would like to have a maker space.

  25. It is very important to keep a space clean and tidy.

  26. As more cars are starting to be electric, we need a place to charge electric cars.

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