How to Prepare and Facilitate Requirements Workshops

Gathering business requirements from subject matter experts is arguably the single most important activity in any project. If the business requirements aren’t right, the project will not succeed. Unfortunately, this is also one of the most challenging activities of the entire project. Getting the right stakeholders together can be difficult to impossible. The business analysis process is filled with uncertainty, both from a methods perspective as well as a business needs perspective.

This training workshop presents a set of techniques that are designed to help the business systems analyst ask the right questions at the beginning of the project and effectively structure requirements gathering meetings with the subject matter experts. Knowing what to ask, how to ask it and how to help the business subject matter experts discover their requirements are all critical skills for the business analyst role. Planning, preparing, and facilitating effective requirements gathering sessions are some of the most critical business systems analysis skills.

1. Introduction to Meeting Facilitation

Types of Requirements Gathering Meetings

Workshop Sessions (groups)

Brainstorming Sessions

Focus Groups

User Groups

Exercise: The Need for Speed

Accelerated Workshop Sessions

Time Compression and Understanding

2. Setting the Right Stage

Documents of Meeting Preparation

Evolution of an Effective Meeting

Documents of Meeting Preparation

Exercise: Participant Selection

Meeting Invitation Contents

Exercise: Creating Effective Invitations

Sample Invitation Contents

Time Versus Depth

Preparing an Effective Agenda

Preparing an Effective Agenda

Activity Dependencies

Setting and Managing Expectations

Sample Agenda Format

Exercise: Sequencing Meeting Activities

Selecting the Right Seating Arrangements

Seating Arrangements

Exercise: Selecting the Right Seating Arrangements

Ad Hoc Group Dynamics

Managed Group Dynamics

Static Versus Dynamic Groups

Exercise: Doing the Group Thing

3. Getting the Show Going

Identifying Icebreakers

Your Assignment, Mr. Phelps

Breaking the Ice

Sample Icebreakers

Exercise: Identifying Icebreakers

Assigning Group Work

The Momentum Challenge

Exercise: Maintaining Momentum

Assigning Group Work

Debriefing Group Assignments

Analysis Techniques

4. Managing the Deliverables

Managing the Session Deliverables

Preparing Meeting Documentation

Restructuring Deliverables to Increase Productivity

Example of Activity-Based Formatting

Maintaining Group Memory

Increasing Participant Productivity

Increasing Participant Productivity

Exercise: Managing the Facilities

Meeting Equipment

The Last Commandment

5. Meeting Murphy and Fighting Back

Meeting Murphy and Fighting Back

Dealing with Murphy

Everything Takes Longer Than You Think

Problem People or People Problems

Creepy Scope

Equipment Dependencies

Facilities Problems

Exercise: Back to Square One

6. Closing the Workshop

Wrapping Up the Workshop

Critical Success Factors

Assigning Open Issues

Post-Meeting Task List

Staying In Touch

Exercise: 3-Minute Meeting Evaluation

• Organize and schedule a business requirements gathering workshop
• Adapt a check-list of pre-meeting activities
• Create and sustain a productive workshop environment
• Use standard requirements gathering questionnaires to structure the meeting
• Prepare the participants for the workshop using effective email communication methods
• Organize and analyze the visible results of the workshop
• Use open issue, question, and post-session task lists to maintain momentum in the meeting
• Develop contingency plans for dealing with unpleasant situations
• Evaluate a workshop to improve the process
• Evaluate a session to improve the process
• Apply 5 methods for maintaining the project momentum after the JRP/JAD
• Use open issue, question, and post-session task lists

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We do not currently have a public offering of this class scheduled. To add your name to the waiting list or request alternate offers, please contact us.
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