“We used initiate.collaborate as a way of both introducing our team and “getting to know each other” at the outset for the project—the outcome was a common understanding between all team members on what success would look like, what we were aiming to achieve and other important aspects of how the team was to interact in a positive way. What we have learnt from using initiate.collaborate is to agree a process up front as to how we will manage the project when we hit roadblocks and politics!”
— Nicole Wason, AUT

“The toolkit helped us to have deeper conversations, and the cards ensured that we all participated and all had a voice. We were able to discuss the values and expectations behind the project, which meant we had a clearer foundation to move from. Each member of the group would like to use it again.”
— Sarah Stevenson, Bay of Plenty District Health Board

“Thanks so much for facilitating our team day last week. The team really enjoyed your session and thought it was a lot of fun. They found value reviewing what they wanted from their Project Manifesto - it was a different approach and they liked it. At the end of the day we had some really good action plans for the teams to work on.”
— Susan Walls, Griffins

“You are about to start a new 3-6 months project and there are few unfamiliar members. How do you kick this off? Jump right in, broadcast sponsor’s email, or host a lunch? I’ve personally done few creative ways to gel the team together and craft unified blueprint. Never underestimate the investment for the #RightStart!

Tested a new toolkit, #InitiateCollaborate at Auckland #AgileCoaching meetup. The tool is a series of guided interaction to accomplish certain task and in our case, it was for Agile Coaching Camp planning. Although it was only a simulation, there was plenty of energy from the participants… expressing views, challenging (politely) groups’ positions, highlighting concerns, achieving decisions, and agreeing to press on. The collaboration was not perfect. We ran out of time in few instances and rarely obtained unanimous alignment for every decision, but I believe that is the intent of the exercise. Allowing the team to interact quickly and early in the project, so we can align personal value systems with broader communal objectives.

The tool was well designed and easily applied in any team formation exercise (i.e. not just for Agile projects).”
— David G Siauw