How to facilitate business requirements

1. 2013
Facilitating a Killer Session!
Presented by:
Laura Arber, Senior Consultant
Karen Foster, Senior Consultant
Stefanie Savino, Senior Manager
Kristin Selvaraj, Senior Consultant

2. Outline of the Lunch and Learn
2
Overview of Typical Project Issues
Goals of an Effective Session
Solutions for an Effective Session
• Prepare the Room
• Prepare Meeting Logistics
• Do Pre-work
• Initial Meeting/Kick-Off
Be Considerate of Time

3. Overview of Typical Project Issues
3
Fixed end date
Not enough time to gather requirements
Way too much to do
SMEs stretched too thin
Sound Familiar??
“No Leader plus no Documentation plus no
Follow-Up = Waste of Time” – Steve
Tobak, of INC

4. Goals of an Effective Session
4
Need to figure out how to make the
working sessions/workshops Effective
and Efficient
Need to make the most of the SMEs’
time
Need to make the SMEs as productive
as possible
Need to make the Project Team as
productive as possible

5. Solutions for an Effective Session
Prepare the Room
5
• Designate one room for meetings – 24x7 for the duration of the project
(be sure to reserve the room)
• Set it up to comfortably accommodate all participants
Have enough chairs and table space
Get to know the Facilities people (be their friend)
Have extra power cords, mice, and mouse pads for those carrying their laptops
Make sure all connections are ‘Hot’, if there is no wireless connections
Have hubs ready
Have network cables ready
Have snacks! Seriously
• Have a high quality phone (e.g., spider phone)
• Have a projector (be sure to reserve this, if needed)
• Have white boards (smart boards would be wonderful)
• Tape big block paper on the wall
• Have large post-its
Useful for flowing
• Have supplies - lots of markers – different colors, post-its, mouse pads
• Have terms/definitions posted on the wall

6. Solutions for an Effective Session
Prepare Meeting Logistics
6
Identify meeting participants
• Project team members, SMEs, decision makers, developers/IT, testers,
trainers, change management, legal, compliance, etc.
• Designate back-ups
Designate the same times/days every week (i.e., Tues, Wed, Thurs 1:00-4:30)
Share meeting times with other resources so you use the SME’s time wisely
Have a dedicated call-in number (e.g., WebEx), if participates are dialing in
• Have ability to share your computer screen
• Test sharing computer screen with you and participants prior to meeting
Designate the facilitator, scribe and time keeper
• The scribe should post minutes after every meeting
– Take attendance
– Take pictures of items on the wall
– Ensure Risks, Action Items, Issues, and Decisions are documented
Designate roles
• Prepare decision makers
• Prepare one person as “bad cop” to facilitate the room
Coordinate time with SMEs so they are not asked the same questions more than
once

7. Solutions for an Effective Session
Prepare! Do-Pre-Work
7
Send out agenda the day prior to make sure
folks know what we will be covering so they
can prepare in advance (or delegate sub)
Email and have hard copies of items to be
reviewed by all participants
Have systems up and running that need to be
referenced
Confirm with attendees that the correct people
will be present (may need to reschedule if not)

8. Solutions for an Effective Session
Initial Meeting/Kick-Off
8
Make it a Big Deal!
Ensure all participants are present – SMEs, Stakeholders,
etc.
Food
Determine Success Factors
Assign a SME to be “in charge” of the success factor
through-out the sessions
Place these on the wall
Set expectations and ground rules
Stakeholders have to understand responsibilities if they do not
attend meetings

9. Be Considerate of Time
9
Start on time
• If you don’t have a dedicated room
• Book room earlier to set up the room and prepare
• Book room later to tear down
Finish on time – always!
• If you will finish with a significant amount of time left, re-
schedule the meeting to be shorter so the participants
can better plan their day
Make the MOST of the time
• Double-up/triple-up on agenda items

10. Lessons Learned
10
Be Flexible – do what works and change course as
needed
• Example – initially used questionnaire assuming
business knew current state; quickly realized they didn’t
know current state and therefore questionnaires were
useless
• Changed course and ran business through As-Is
modeling
Communicate with the Project Manager on
expectations and responsibilities of the team
Need to keep Stakeholders engaged – key to project
success
• Hold regular Steering Committee meetings (decision
makers), physically bring the Stakeholder to the room

11. 6/12/201311
Questions/Comments

12. Thank You…