Product Team Plays D&D XV
Chapter 15: Halls of Justice

ll was not well in the city of Neverwinter. A calamity had struck the city in the form of a volcanic eruption ten years prior, and the city had never fully recovered from the incident. The folks who had fled were slowly coming back, but there was an atmosphere of gloom in the city. The citizens wanted someone who could usher in a new golden age: a champion and a leader.
A towering statue of Tyr looked upon the proceedings
This was the scenario the adventuring group of the Knight, Priest, Wizard and Rogue encountered when they were exploring the city.
There was a lot of activity at the Halls of Justice, where they worshipped Tyr, the God of Law and Justice. A newly appointed mayor was attempting to listen to the complaints of the citizens and offer them solutions. This mayor was very tired of all the problems being piled on him and was barely addressing any of them.
A trio of brothers marched in with several beautiful weapons
A towering statue of Tyr looked upon the proceedings. With his winged helmet, a sword in his left hand, and his right hand broken off at the wrist, the statue stood in a dilapidated state in the background.
That was when a trio of brothers marched in with several beautiful weapons in their hands. They announced to the mayor, “Our father was a skilled weapon-smith in this city. He crafted these 26 beautiful and ornate swords and wished to pass these on to us as his legacy. However, his dying words were as follows: ‘2/3 of these should go to my eldest. Of the remaining, 2/3 should go to the middle. And of the rest, 2/3 should go to the youngest.’ We wish to honor our father’s wishes. But this instruction seems impossible to fulfill. If you are honorable and just, please help us resolve this!”
This 2/3 rule is absurd
Considering this bizarre request, the mayor declared, “26 cannot be divided into three parts. This 2/3 rule is absurd. I believe your father’s intention was to donate all of these swords to the city that he served so well in life. You may hand them over to me now, and I promise they will be put to good use.”
The three brothers voiced their protest, “This is unfair and unjust!” The crowd joined in, booing the mayor.
Taken aback by this reaction, the mayor backpedalled, “Um, well, then perhaps you should sell the swords and split the money in the parts as your father wished.”
The eldest brother shook his head, “The swords are very valuable, and nobody here is able to afford to buy all of them at once. And even so, there is still the matter of a little bit that would be left-over. What is to become of this last piece?”
We’re not going to donate it to you!
When the mayor opened his mouth to say something, the youngest brother shouted, “And no, we’re not going to donate it to you!”
There were hushed whispers and murmurs around the hall as people were debating what the appropriate course of action would be. The three brothers stood there calmly, patiently waiting for a verdict.
The adventurers looked at each other in confusion and discussed possible solutions the problem. The Priest was shuffling about, trying to think of a suitable answer. The Knight was tapping the hilt of his own sword in frustration. Glancing at the Knight’s sword, the Wizard got sudden flash of insight: they were focussing too much on the options presented, and had to think about external factors that could affect the problem.
“I have a solution,” called out the Wizard. “If you’ll allow my Knight friend here to contribute his sword to your collection, I believe you’ll find that all of the parameters are suitably addressed.”
It is only for the purpose of math
The middle brother was taken aback by this, “Our father’s wishes were only pertaining to his swords. We couldn’t possibly accept someone else’s things, even if it were to solve our problem!”
Smiling, the Wizard said, “It is only for the purpose of math. The Knight’s sword will go back to him at the end, you’ll see.”
Confused, the three brothers agreed. The Knight added his own sword to the pile of swords to make 27. The eldest brother stepped forward and took 2/3, which were 18 swords. Of the 9 that remained, the middle brother stepped forward and took 2/3 which were 6 swords. Of the 3 that remained, the last brother took 2/3 which were 2 swords.
Only one sword remained. The Knight stepped forward and reclaimed his weapon and held it aloft in the air, “And so justice has been served!”
Often, Product Teams are presented with problems to solve, and assumptions are made about the parameters within which it must be solved. This is called a zero-sum game, where all the factors are known. Thinking about problems with this mindset is common when there are limited resources, or when several similar problems are encountered, and works fine for routine issues.
However, once in a while, an extraordinary problem presents itself which requires a bit of lateral thinking. Regular solutions no longer work, and something new and innovative is required. The usual frame of mind doesn’t give us enough insights and we need to step back and look at the larger picture.
Like any skill, unless practiced regularly, this type of thinking is not something that comes naturally to us. Teams need to be allowed a little space to exercise this skill and explore what they are doing instead of just jumping at the first seemingly logical solution. Games, workshops, hackathons, meetups and team swaps are all essential activities that keep a Product Team’s skills sharp.
And so justice has been served!
The mayor grumpily closed the session and slunk away. But the crowds stayed on, cheering for this wonderful solution and praising the adventurers for their unique and clever thinking. Slowly their fame and popularity was growing. People around them started recognizing their special talent and started bringing them more interesting and puzzling problems to solve.
And in the background, from a certain angle, one could say the eyes of the statue of Tyr gleamed ever so slightly.

