A few months ago I published a blog called Build Your Own Manifesto, describing a game that I used to help teams understand the Agile Manifesto and also to help myself as a trainer understand what the group whom I am working with are at in terms of knowledge and experience.
I have run this game over 20 times now this year as part of “An Introduction to Agile“, a flagship course for McKenna Consultants, and continue to receive great feedback!
Here are some photos of the latest group, 4Com plc, a telecommunications company based in Bournemouth, getting hands on playing Build Your Own Manifesto!
Feel free to download the pack, customise it, try it and let me know what you and your participants think!
Why Team-Level Values Matter
The Agile Manifesto provides a powerful set of principles, but every team operates in a unique context. What matters most to a customer support team will differ from a software development team or a marketing squad. The "Build Your Own Agile Manifesto" exercise helps teams articulate what they collectively value and how they want to work together — creating shared ownership of their ways of working.
When we ran this exercise with teams at 4Com plc, the discussions it generated were as valuable as the final manifesto itself. Teams surfaced assumptions about priorities, debated trade-offs, and reached consensus on principles that genuinely reflected their working reality rather than abstract ideals.
How the Exercise Works
The game is designed to be collaborative, engaging, and time-boxed. Teams work together to select and rank value statements, then craft their own manifesto using the classic "We value X over Y" format. The process takes around 60 to 90 minutes and works well as part of a team kick-off, retrospective, or away day. For more ideas on team activities, take a look at our agile team health check or festive agile retrospective guides.
Having facilitated this exercise over 20 times across different industries, we have found that it consistently produces meaningful conversations about team culture, collaboration, and delivery focus.
Download the Game Pack
We have made the "Build Your Own Agile Manifesto" game available as a free download so you can run it with your own teams. To learn more about the original concept behind the game, read the Build Your Own Manifesto blog post.
If you would like a facilitated session with your team, explore our agile services or book a free consultation.
