Planet Earth as Our Stakeholder- The Workshop
Over the past year I have started with retrospectives about Planet Earth as our stakeholder, with the aim to get the conversation in my teams started about our climate impact. The retrospectives evolved into workshops and in the past few months I also gave the workshop to fellow scrum masters to coach them in how to do this with their own teams.
The objectives of the workshop:
- To raise climate awareness in scrum teams;
- To define actionable steps for reducing their IT carbon footprint.
The workshop is structured in three rounds of about 30 minutes.
Before we start I always do a Mother Earth check in. I put a picture of the earth on the ground, and ask the group: Where do you stand in relation to our planet and it’s challenges? Do you stand close to it, further away, do you face Mother Earth directly or do you look away? How does it feel to be standing there?
This check in can take quite some time but it’s worth it. Climate change is a topic that people feel strongly about, and it is valuable to have that conversation before diving into the workshop.
Round 1: Brainstorm
What is needed to halve our teams’ carbon footprint by 2030?
- Write your ideas on post-its (1 idea per post-it)
- Discuss your ideas in couples. Also write down new ideas that come up during your discussion.
- Make groups of 4, discussion and brainstorm for any new ideas.
- Plenary discussion
Round 2: Circle of Control, Influence and Concern
How can we as agilists help make this shift?
- Plot your ideas from round 1 into the circle of influence.
- In (the same) groups of 4: Try to shift as many ideas inward by rephrasing the ideas in the outer circles and try to make them smaller.
- Discuss your findings plenary
Round 3: 15% solutions
- Write down any first step you can do without approcal or resources from others. Actions that you can start with right away
- Refine your actions in your breakout group: help each other define actions that are both impactful and achievable in the coming sprint.
