Everything Is Urgent

Everything Is Urgent is a serious game about overload, multitasking and false urgency. In teams, participants plan a workweek, absorb surprises, and refuse or negotiate requests. The game compares a first reactive week with a second week supported by prioritization rules. It is designed for project teams, managers and groups exposed to constant urgency.

Walkthrough

1. 1

   Set Up the Tension

   7 min

   Present the theme, objectives and components. Create teams of 3 to 5. Give each player a “My Week” canvas and each team a “Review”. Explain that you will play two comparable weeks. “You are about to experience a week where everything seems urgent. Your challenge: deliver value without drowning.”

   Tip — State that the game is deliberately pressurized: it is a simulator, not a skills test.

2. 2

   Explain the Rules

   8 min

   Show a Request card: value, effort, deadline, arrival. Explain refusal, handover, delay, slot loss through multitasking and interruptions. Check that everyone can mark a completed slot on the schedule and on the card. “A request completed too late scores nothing: being busy is not enough, you have to finish at the right time.”

   Tip — Run a mini-example with a 2-slot request before starting the real week.

3. 3

   Week 1: React

   16 min

   Reveal the Monday requests and let teams plan. Draw an interruption after planning. Reveal Wednesday, draw an interruption. Reveal Thursday, draw an interruption. Draw the last interruption before Friday’s final trade-off. Apply multitasking at day end. “Decide quickly: you can accept, hand over or refuse. Decision time is part of the workload.”

   Tip — Do not rescue teams. If they accept too much, let the schedule show the saturation.

4. 4

   Week 1 Review

   7 min

   Each team adds up values delivered on time, counts late requests and refusals. Each player gives a feeling score from 1 to 5; record the average. Ask for one quick observation without a deep debrief yet. “Let’s look coldly: what was actually delivered, and at what relational or mental cost?”

   Tip — Display reviews side by side if several teams are playing.

5. 5

   Choose 3 Practices

   6 min

   Present the 6 Rule cards. Each team chooses 3, reads them aloud and states how it will apply them. Reset the schedules to zero and keep the week 1 results visible. “This time, you are allowed to change the system, not just try harder.”

   Tip — If a team hesitates, ask: which rule would have prevented your biggest loss in week 1?

6. 6

   Week 2: Manage

   16 min

   Take the same Request cards, sorted by arrival, and reshuffle the interruptions. Replay Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, then Friday at the same pace. Enforce the 3 chosen rules and note when they change a decision. “Apply your rules even when pressure rises: that is when they are useful.”

   Tip — Highlight moments when a team clearly refuses or negotiates: these are learning wins.

7. 7

   Debrief and Transfer

   10 min

   Compare the two reviews, then facilitate the debrief with the suggested questions. End with a concrete action: each team chooses one rule to test in its real work for one week. “The aim is not to win the game, but to spot what makes work sustainable and useful.”

   Tip — Have people write the final commitment; an unwritten rule often disappears with the next emergency.

Variants

• Remote : Use a collaborative board: one area per player with 10 boxes, virtual cards and a team counter. Interruptions are drawn by the facilitator and copied into the board.
• Large Group : Run several teams in parallel with one printed deck per table. Compare only the final reviews to keep the pace and avoid long report-backs.
• Manager Mode : Add one constraint: any rule chosen in week 2 must be phrased as an observable team rule, not as an individual effort.