• Scrum Master

An escaperoom in 3 weeks

This requires an Agile mindset

“What is your plan?” asks the hotel owner at the rolling top of a beautiful Italian hill. Good question. We may stay here for 3 weeks in exchange for building an escaperoom for his guests. But how do you go about that? Before you know it, you shout something like, “We’ll work out a plan and put it on paper. Only to deviate from that. Not very handy when your timebox is 3 weeks. What does come in handy? Agile mindset!

Agile trainer in a ruin
Although we don’t know exactly what we’re going to make and not exactly how we’re going to make it, we do know what the end result will be: a group of escape room guests with big smiles and a mountain of adrenaline. As an Agile trainer, I can hear the empiricism reverberating through the hills. Bellissima!

Sprint retrospective
Our team will have a ruin at their disposal! The old stable of the abandoned village. A hundred years ago the animals were here and a signora lived above the stable. This will be the place for the team activity: go inside, start time, work together, observe and listen to each other. But also make sure to actively investigate, evaluate and sometimes step back. This applies, by the way, not only to the final escape room visitors, but also to us as an Agile team. Sprint retrospectives, in other words.

First Agile partial product
We sweep the dust off the furniture and chase a scorpion out of the barn. We find binoculars, a rug and a cover-up. Through the windows we have a nice view of other houses in the village. And so the story emerges. This signora is the gossip aunt of the village and collects gossip in her cover-up. It’s up to the guests to unmask the gossip. Eureka! Behind a hay bale is an old mirror. While we are blowing off the dust, someone comes along with an encyclopedia… Et voila, the first puzzle and at the same time the first partial product.

Validating with future escapees
Meanwhile, our Agile team has been active for over a week. At the end of each day we have drinks together with the hotel guests. An excellent time to see how our puzzles and stories are perceived. Spotting a key in the ridge of the room turns out to be quite a challenge. Funny, because to us it is clearly visible. Conversely, cutting shapes to the puzzle turns out to be a snap. See, we can make those a little trickier. The anecdotes of the hotel guests constantly provide input for new puzzles. In short cycles, we build on.

The success of an Agile mindset
Guests are getting more and more curious. They can’t resist stopping by and taking a peek inside. What does it look like now? How are the sticks you have to screw together to get the key in the ridge? The ruin has never been visited so often. And after three weeks, the time has come: the ruin has been transformed into an escape room and is open for bookings. After a 60-minute timebox, the first group is back outside. With a big smile and a mountain of adrenaline. PROUD!