Equilateral Triangle Guide
Introduction
Grasping self-organization in intricate systems can seem daunting, but it’s actually an inherent strength and often more effecive than central control. This game showcases precisely that principle; the power of decentralized decision-making.
Use Cases
- Learn about self-organization: This is a great game to introduce the concept of self-organization and emergent behavior to teams or stakeholders.
- Ice Breaker: Use Equilateral Triangle as an ice breaker to demonstrate the power of self-organization and decentralized decision-making.
How to Play
- Once players have joined start the game.
- Ask each player to randomly - without talking - selecting to other players by clicking on their avatars.
- Once everyone has picked two other players tell everyone to form an equilateral triangle (regular shape with three equal sides) with the two players they selected by dragging their own avatar around.
Facilitator Tips
After the exercise, a few interesting takeaways and discussion points could be:
Efficiency of Self-Organization: How did the self-organization help in finding quicker solutions as compared to centrally-directed strategies? Share experiences.
Emergent Behavior: Did simple individual actions lead to the creation of system-wide patterns (an example of emergent behavior)? Discuss.
Importance of Communication: Reflect on how communication played a role in this exercise, influencing decision-making and movement within the game.
Adaptation: Did adaptation play a significant role in the game? Discuss how strategies changed based on the actions of others illustrating self-organization.
Learning Curve: Reflect on the perceived difficulty of the task at the beginning as compared to end of the exercise. Was there a learning curve?
Decentralization: Discuss the benefits or challenges of decentralized decision-making versus central control based on this exercise.
Real-world Application: Can the fundamentals of self-organization be applied in real-world scenarios? Brainstorm the potential applications.
