Explorer, Shopper, Vacationer, Prisoner

Icebreakers get teams in the "mood to share" and are a brilliant way to start off a workshop where you need to drive participation.

ESVP is a short icebreaker to use at the beginning of a retrospective or team meeting.

It helps individuals communicate their attitude toward the meeting. It is an anonymous way to find out if people really want to be there or not.

The exercise can open up discussions about how the team are using their time together.

This activity is adapted from the book “Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great” by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen.

How it works:

Step 1: Set the stage

Explain to your team what information you want to collect from them. Let everyone know that this technique isn't about judging anyone. It's a symple way for the Scrum Master to understand team's mood and motivitations.

Step 2: Explain the categories

The ESVP isn't about shaming those who feel disinteristing, It's about creating an opportunity to improve the process and promote engagement.

Step 3: Collect feedback

There are a few ways to collect feedback. You can use dot voting, an online tool, etc. Anonymously collecting answers can help team members honestly identify their motivation level.

Step 4: Analyze the results

Once the team has given their answers, you can look at the results to see how your team feels overall. If the average response is vacationer or prisioner, it's a sign that you need to adjust how you run your sprints.

Step 5: Act on the results

There's no point using the ESVP method if you are not going to do anything with the information you gather.

If the whole team is feeling apathetic to retrospectives, consider changing up the framework.