Retrospective Activity
The Three Little Pigs
Playful Medium Popularity: 6
This activity:
- Easy to follow
- Focuses on improvements
- Well understood metaphor
Introduction
This activity uses the metaphor of the well known fable of 3 little pigs. In this fable, the 3 pigs - which represent the team - build three houses with different materials to be protected by the wolf. Ask members to add notes in the well known three houses that the pigs built, House of Straw, House of Sticks and House of Bricks. Each house represents how stable or vulnerable the things team is doing are.
For the specific activity, the facilitator could use these points to describe the process:
- The House of Straw column is for things that barely work and could collapse anytime with a slight misuse, like the light air blow from the wolf.
- The House of Sticks column is for things that are solid but can improve further to facilitate the team.
- The House of Bricks column is for things that are well establish strengths of the team and you can rely on.
Onboarding the team to the selected activity is important for a successful meeting. To learn more on what's needed to onboard your team to a retrospective meeting, read here.
Tips & Tricks
This activity can be useful when you are just starting on a new project. The team can identify risky points and stability pillars to improve the work delivered.
Popularity: 6
The "The Three Little Pigs" activity is useful among Team O'clock teams. It seems that enough teams use this activity for their retrospectives.
Recap
The Three Little Pigs
Playful Medium
House of Straw
Things that work but can collapse anytime
House of Sticks
Things that are quite solid but can improve
House of Bricks
The biggest strengths