Speed car
Inspired by the Speed Boat, this activity is used to reflect on the future while keeping the past in mind. It is a mixture of retrospective and prospective reflection, which allows your team to explore risks together.
Pre-requisites
Add a Metaphor activity to your Beekast session. Define the issue, choose the Speed car format, and decide whether or not to personalise the predefined areas.
Activity settings Metaphor
- Vote: none
- Activity background: Speed car
- Time management: optional
Process
Overview
Present the Speed Car activity to the group along with the issue and what is expected of them.
Make sure they understand the categories:
Engine: what pushed us forward, helped us to accelerate?
Parachute: what slowed us down?
Ravine: what dangers are up ahead?
Bridge: what could we build to get around these dangers? What could we do to get over the ravine?
Remind the group about the rules: no judging activities suggested and no conversation during the exploration phase.
Exploration
Allow 5 minutes for reflection before starting the brainstorming.
Then have participants work in two phases:
Phase 1: participants will first look back in their retrospective. Ask them to think about the engines and parachutes that got them to where they are today.
Phase 2: participants will then look ahead to the near future. They can submit their ideas in the ‘bridge’ and ‘ravine’ categories.
Estimate a time for each phase and end them either when the time is up or when participants stop submitting ideas.
Discussion
There are two methods for discussing the ideas put forward, which can be adjusted according to the size of your group:
- Method 1 - Small group : each participant quickly explains the ideas they suggested in each category.
- Method 2 - Larger group : go through each category with the participants and make sure each idea is understood by the whole group.
Group similar ideas together: keep just one idea and add a marker beside it to indicate that it was suggested multiple times. (Add a number or symbol counter, for example, ‘x 5’ or ‘***’.)
Summary
Once all ideas have been sent and ‘cleaned up’, you’ll have to select the most relevant ones in order to leave the meeting with an action plan.
To do this, move into a ‘voting session’. Ask your participants to vote for the ideas they feel are most important. This will usually focus on:
Parachutes: barriers to plough through or actions to implement to eliminate them
Bridge: countermeasures planned based on the identified risks
Record all actions and decisions directly in Beekast, identify the person responsible for each action and set deadlines for tasks to complete by the next meeting.
Finally, you can share the session’s action plan with all your participants.
Suggestions and variations
This is a good activity to use when you’re coming up on a key milestone or when you’re starting a new project.
