Cupcake design factory

Setup

• Provide each team with 10 cupcakes and all the supplies they will need to decorate them.
• Each team should have the exact same amount of supplies
• Give each team different mission statements
• If you have more than 4 teams, then give the same mission statement to more than one team
• Make sure teams with different mission statements are spearate, if possible in different rooms, so that they don't see the differences between mission statements.

Mission statements

Team 1 : Focus on quality

• As a team, decorate 10 exactly identical cupcakes
• Each worker will be in charge of a different task
• Worker 1 : Nutella frosting
• Worker 2 : Sprinkles
• Worker 3 : 1 green leaf candy
• Worker 4 : 1 lollipop
• Only when a worker has processed all 10 cupcakes can you move to the next stage
• 1 batch of 10
• Elect a factory chief who will be in charge of
• Ensuring the quality of the final products
• Measuring the time it takes the team to finish their work
• Preparing a team debief using the debriefing cube
• The team should focus on QUALITY

Team 2 : Focus on speed

• As a team, decorate 10 exactly identical cupcakes
• Each worker will be in charge of a different task
• Worker 1 : Nutella frosting
• Worker 2 : Sprinkles
• Worker 3 : 1 green leaf candy
• Worker 4 : 1 lollipop
• Only when a worker has processed 5 cupcakes at a time, can you move to the next stage
• 2 batches of 5 cupcakes
• 10 cupcakes in total
• Elect a factory chief who will be in charge of
• Ensuring the products are delivered as fast as possible
• Measuring the time it takes the team to finish their work
• Preparing a team debief using the debriefing cube
• The team should focus on SPEED

Team 3 : Focus on quality & speed

• As a team, decorate 10 exactly identical cupcakes, one at a time
• Each worker will be in charge of a different task
• Worker 1 : Nutella frosting
• Worker 2 : Sprinkles
• Worker 3 : 1 green leaf candy
• Worker 4 : 1 lollipop
• Only when a worker has processed 1 cupcake, can you move to the next stage
• 10 batches of 1 cupcake
• 10 cupcakes in total
• Elect a team leader who will be in charge of
• Ensuring the team focuses on the quality of the final products
• Ensuring the team delivers fast enough
• Measuring the time it takes the team to finish their work
• Preparing a team debief using the debriefing cube
• The team should focus on QUALITY and SPEED

Team 4 : Focus on creativity

• As a team, decorate 10 different cupcakes.
• Be creative, be bald, innovate!
• Elect a facilitator that will be in charge of
• Helping the team achieve its goal
• Preparing a team debief using the debriefing cube

Debrief

• Have each team debrief using the debriefing cube
• The team leader / factory chief is in charge of the debrief
• Give them 5 to 10 minutes to debreif within their team
• Have them write down their main discoveries
• Share with everyone, going from station to station, comparing end results
• Make sure everyone is aware of the differences in mission statements
• Compare batch size and measured time for each team

Take aways

• Speed vs Quality
• Fixed process vs Creativity
• Command and control vs Leadership
• Principle of flow
• Batch size matters