Lego Serious Play

I read an article by Katarina Sand in yesterday’s Dagens Nyheter, entitled Playful Learning, about developing corporate identity and management strategy using a technique called Lego Serious Play, where everyone expresses in Lego his or her view of the company.

The idea for Lego Serious Play was born when Swede Johan Roos and American Bart Victor, both professors at IMD (International Institute for Management Development), were assigned with the mission to design a management program for toy manufacturer Lego. [–––] They were amazed with the results. Building spawned long, deep discussions and new kinds of questions.

The article continues, “[scientific] research and all theories about learning show that play has an enormous significance even for adults, in terms of faster learning, intellectual development, social training and because it prepares for the unknown. And in addition large parts of the brain awakes when we use our hands.”

Reading this made me (of course) think of Extreme Programming. Perhaps Lego could be used to model the problem domain more effectively, and serve to engage the customer in the project? It reminds me of CRC cards, except in that it’s probably more accessible to non-programmers.