How to Play the Banana Measuring Game

Lauren Macy, Improvement Advisor, IHI

This exercise is an easy way to learn a critical concept and improvement, defining your measures. How will you know that a change is an improvement?

To be able to learn from our data we need an agreement about how the data will be collected and a process for ensuring it will be collected in a consistent way. This agreement is known as the operational definition of the measure. The operational definition should clearly communicate how to apply the measure in the real world. IHI Faculty Richard Scoville created this exercise to help teams practice creating their clear operational definitions.

After playing this game you'll be able to 1. discuss the importance of developing a clear operational definition for your measures and 2. identify an easy way to test your operational definition before using your measure in the real world.

You'll need at least two teams made up of at least two people each to play. Each team will need these materials, a ruler or measuring tape, a piece of string, a paperclip, and a banana.

The objective of the game is to create an operational definition for the bananas size that's clear enough for another team to replicate and get the same results as your measurement.

The instructions are simple. First, work with your team to create a step-by-step operational definition to capture the concept of banana size. Next, measure the banana using the definition. Write down your result and keep it a secret. Then pass your definition and the banana to another team. The second group will use your definition to measure the banana. Finally, compare the results. Did the second team arrive at the same size? Remember, you can measure the banana however you choose, just make sure that it's clear to the other team how to do it.

Good luck.