Workshop Preparation

Workshop Planning
Business Analyst Academy

Where We Are
Business Analyst Academy - Workshop Planning 2
Preparation Investigation Tech Design Agile Delivery
Process
Presentatio
n
Persistence
(Data)
App Design
DevOps & CI
Platforms and
Products
Sprint Execution
Release Mgmt
Planning &
Backlog
Workshop
Mgmt

Duplicate for re-use
Preparation Investigation Tech Design Agile Delivery
Process
Presentatio
n
Persistence
(Data)
App Design
DevOps & CI
Platforms and
Products
Sprint Execution
Release Mgmt
Planning &
Backlog
Workshop
Mgmt

What We Cover in
Workshop
Preparation
Why Not Just Launch Workshops ASAP?
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are not (yet) Business Analysts
Scheduling the SME commitment
Selecting the right mix of SMEs
Getting Release Time (for real) for SMEs
Preparing the Straw Models for Effective Elicitation
Understanding Elicitation Techniques
Sponsor Buy-In and Communication
Arranging the Right Facility
Teleconferencing Topics
Facilitator and Scribe Preparation
Repositories and Update Management

Why Not Just Launch
Workshops ASAP?
You get one change to make the right impression
Takes Time to Build Confidence
Client gets idea you have done this before
You want Workshop participants reporting back that there is a process
and their time is respected
Getting management engaged in thinking through who to select
Want a chance to get from Exec Management what is important to them:
KPIs and what to watch out for to distinguish wants from needs

Good Workshops are not an Accident
Tasks
• Selecting the right team
• Getting management
support for release time
• Prepare Workshop Facilities
• Prepare Workshop team
Techniques
• Research
• Facilitation
• Empowered Participants
• Document Workshop
sessions
• Communicate Workshop
findings to members,
managers, and stakeholders
• Maintain Workshop
Repository
• Issue Management
• Support team multi-tasking

Takes Time to Build Confidence
Business Analyst Academy - Elicitation Techniques and Tools 7
There is nothing more difficult to take in
hand, more perilous to conduct, or more
uncertain in its success, than to take the
lead in the introduction of a new order of
things.
For the reformer has enemies in all those
who profit by the old order, and only
lukewarm defenders in all those who would
profit by the new order, this lukewarmness
arising partly from fear of their adversaries
… and partly from the incredulity of
mankind, who do not truly believe in
anything new until they have had actual
experience of it.
– Niccolo Machiavelli

One Chance to Make a Good Impression

Scheduling
Commitment for
Subject Matter
Experts?
You need two weeks at least to prepare for Workshops,
maybe more
Clients and your Manager are eager to demonstrate
action so there is pressure to start workshops too early
Once workshops start, SMEs and their managers need
to know when and for how many sessions
So prepare a schedule of expected session dates
Also Schedule the time to complete your Elicitation
Materials

You Need Time to Plan the Work Shops!!!!
• Research the Business
• Prepare Straw Models
• Working with Execs to get…
• Key Performance Indicators
• Project charter
• Verify cross-division effort
• Overcome apprehensions from past
• Obtain support for key participants
• Leveling supervisor-specialist

Analyst Advance Work
• Allow at least two weeks before
conduct of the first Workshop to learn
the business
• Understand or prepare the charter
• Meet with the Project Sponsor to verify
understanding of the project’s role in the
enterprise strategic direction
• Work with other business analysts to collect,
read, and catalog reference materials
• Understand the enterprise technology
investments and the project’s contribution to
them
• Prepare “straw model” process flows
• Update Charter as Needed
Business Analyst Academy – Workshops Overview 11
Workshop
Kickoff
Research
Straw Models
KPIs and SME selection

Kickoff Meeting
• Save the Kickoff Meeting until ready to start the Workshops
• Can Invite more People than attend a single Workshop
• Describe the project process
• Introduce Tech leads as well as PM and analyst(s)
• Project Sponsor presentation
• Show calendar and/or topics for Workshops
• Show the straw models that will be critiqued as elicitation approach
• Emphasize models are there to elicit, not solution to be sold

Selecting the Right
Mix of Subject
Matter Experts
Understanding what makes a Workshop Subject Matter
Expert
Willingness to Challenge Assumptions
Ensure representation across organizational boundaries
Involve different levels in the hierarchy: staff, supervisor,
manager
Watch out for automation zealots
Verify with Management the strengths and shortcomings of
proposed participants and their Agendas

Understanding What Makes a Workshop Subject Matter Expert
• Workshops Provide Guided Elicitation
• A Prepared Facilitator Elicits Critical
Information from Subject Matter
Experts (SMEs)
• The knowledge from Subject Matter
Experts is Organized and Transformed
into Analytical Models
• A Good analyst may not have the
knowledge of the SME
• Good SMEs are busy so you MUST
demonstrate preparation,
comprehension, and responsiveness

Selecting the Workshop Participants
• Based on research and preliminary
interviews:
• Determine which units, branches, divisions,
and locations need to participate
• Make certain nominated staff will be solid
contributors—don’t take people because they
have nothing else to do
• The best people are already the busiest!!!
• Get permission from managers for the
selected staff to participate with release time
from other obligations
• Get geographic balance if appropriate
• Keep Workshop attendees to Seven – Plus or
minus two
• Observers are possible, but they do NOT
participate

Cross-Division Effort
• Sponsors can’t commit other divisions
• Anxiety about involving other divisions
• Rarely does a Solution involve only one
Division
• Enterprise systems may be impacted
• Even with the Division, involve multiple
steps in the process

Get Insight on Participants as Part of Selection Process
• Not looking for automation zealots
• The author of the legacy system may be
jealous or may want to be the Sage
• One last “hurrah” or already checked out
• Don’t let supervisors offer low performers
• New staff may be enthusiastic but may
lack insight; knowing the ebb and flow is
important
• Protective Bear
• Vermont Farmer—You are not from
around here

Bringing Baggage to the Project
• Headquarters relationships frayed
• District offices, vendors, customers
• Leads to lack of trust and enthusiasm
• People competed for same promotion in past
• Few have confidence in the technology shop
• Technology shop feels it should be given a chance, its
staff feel slighted
• Program areas want to
Prove they can do it

Team Chemistry
• You wont know how people will
interact until after a few sessions
• If permissible, introduce Myer-Briggs
• Thinker, feeler, just the facts, shoot
first

Sponsor Buy-In and
Communication
Explain importance of getting right participants in
Workshops
Get KPIs from Exec and other Senior Managers
Prepare Exec for Push Back of Workshop Effort
Explain how Workshops will build confidence plus lead to
the best possible solution
Arrange for Exec to Stop By
Communication not just with Project Manager
Line of communication with Product Owner

Meeting with Project Execs
• Use your Management to aid in
arranging introductory meetings with
Sponsor and senior staff
• Bring Your Manager, Project
Manager and Key Business Analyst
• Is there an issue of confidence?
• Refer to a successful project as a
reference model

Don’t Confuse a Symposium for a Workshop
Symposium
• Deliver information and Status
• Show and Tell
• Explain the project, process, how to stay in touch and
contribute
• Present Results of Major Milestones
• Voluntary attendance
• Kickoffs
Workshop
• 7 Participants plus/minus 2
• Brainstorm
• Collaborate
• Active formulation and Critique
• Identify gaps, overlaps, problems
• No observors, only participants
• Consistent participation to build expertise in collaboration

Automation as Tip of the Spear
Large organizations often seek to standardize business processes across regional offices where
individual differences have evolved over the years.
An automation project is used to force standardizing business practices.
However, little effort is made to educate the participants to buy into the value of the consistent
practices.
Without regional office
buy-in, no automated
system has a chance of
success. Automation gets
blamed for the lack of
investment in
organizational change
management.

Taking too many Bytes out of the Apple
• Effort to get a project approved,
budgeted, resourced, and
managed
• May be several years before
getting another chance
• Second phase gets lost in
priority shuffle
• Now or never mentality
• If you knew you needed it, you
should have asked for it
• Fear of leaving something out
Consequences?
Leaders try to get too much
functionality in one effort.

Key Performance Indicators
• What are the three pains to eliminate and/or
improvements to implement?
• Business partner ease of data sharing
• Provide annual report to Legislature
• Reduce staff turnover, make this a desirable
assignment
Unencumbered fund balance
Duration of Open Positions
Number of applications in process GT
60 days

Commitment of Staff Time
One
Getting the Sponsor to Tell Managers and
Supervisors to ensure that the right SMEs
are selected is The first part.
Two
The second part is for the Sponsor to
Tell Managers and Supervisors to
Reduce workload so the SMEs can
Invest the effort needed by the
Workshops.
Three
SMEs must not have to work overtime
Or skip Workshops to get their regular
Job done.
Your Goal
Getting the Sponsor to say this is part
Of getting engaged and demonstrating
Commitment.
Number of meetings
Any Preparation time
Let Supervisors know about release
time accommodation
If you want to get something done, ask
a busy person
Offer briefings for supervisors of
participants
Something in writing helpful

Selecting the Workshop Participants
27
• Based on research and preliminary interviews:
• Determine which units, branches, divisions, and locations need to participate
• Make certain nominated staff will be solid contributors—don’t take people
because they have nothing else to do
• The best people are already the busiest!!!
• Get permission from managers for the selected staff to participate with
release time from other obligations
• Get geographic balance if appropriate
• Keep Workshop attendees to Seven – Plus or minus two
• Observors are possible, but they do NOT participate
Business Analyst Academy – Workshops Overview

Release Time for Participants
• Prepare a letter that goes to the Division Chief or Manager for
each Workshop participant
• Purpose of the Workshop: how they work, time commitment, what
participants expected to do
• What your division will get from participation
• Get the Project Sponsor to send
• Part of getting Sponsor to have skin in the game
• Shows managers the activity is important
• Assures the participants they have permission
• Shows that you as the Analyst are taken seriously and that you take the
participants seriously

Mix of Workshop Participants
• Minimize technology participants
• Sends wrong signal to the business specialists
• Can let a tech person do a walk through of the “as is”
system capabilities.
• Often times the hands-on users are not aware of some
of the subtleties of the legacy application: interfaces,
cross-references, eligibility screening
• Cross organizational boundaries
• Accounting, contracts
• Impacts on local governments, trade association
members, public advocates

Elicitation Techniques
Start the process to earn credibility with the SMEs
Use Reference Materials, Tool Belt, and initial interviews to
prepare Straw Models
Straw Models visually demonstrate concepts for the Solution
Serve to Elicit responses from SMEs
Business Process Model diagrams the end to end process
showing major participants, functions, and workflow
Data Model shows the major “things”
Story Board illustrates the web pages for user interaction

Final Steps in Workshop Preparation
• Go through your straw models to identify
topics to present:
• Emphasize questions about “why” it is
done in a certain why
• Introduce best practice concepts
• Identify “termite droppings” – these are
examples of manual or duplicative steps
because the legacy system was developed
years ago.
• Always emphasize we are smarter the
second time and we owe gratitude not
criticism for those who blazed the trail
before us.

Challenging Assumptions that No Longer Need Apply
• What are Underlying Assumptions?
• The constraints and conditions that
mold the way business is currently
performed
• Outmoded technologies
• Personal preferences of supervisors
who have long since retired
• Responses to concerns that no longer
exist
• Limitations imposed by laws and
procedures no longer applicable
• The number of forms that can be tied
together by a 30 inch length of string

Foundation for New Assumptions
• Staff are more highly trained than ten years ago
• Staff are computer literate
• Verifications can be done at the end rather than
serving as a condition of approval for each step
• People are empowered to make decisions with
audits at a later time
• Edit and correct without error listings
• Customers can decide for themselves what is best
• Technical assistance, not control and approval
• We can offer wisdom, but can not require its use

Preparing Straw
Models for Effective
Elicitation
Start the process to earn credibility with the SMEs
Use Reference Materials, Tool Belt, and initial interviews to
prepare Straw Models
Straw Models visually demonstrate concepts for the Solution
Serve to Elicit responses from SMEs
Business Process Model diagrams the end to end process
showing major participants, functions, and workflow
Data Model shows the major “things”
Story Board illustrates the web pages for user interaction

Preparing Straw Models for Effective Elicitation
• Start the process to earn credibility
with the SMEs
• Straw Models visually demonstrate
concepts for the Solution
• Serve to Elicit responses from SMEs
• Business Process Model diagrams the
end to end process showing major
participants, functions, and workflow
• Data Model shows the major “things”
• Story Board illustrates the web pages
for user interaction

Reference Materials, Tool Belt, and initial interviews
• Now you know why you did all that research and saved
reference materials before you were asked
• Tool Belt includes the Case Management Process
Model templates for Ten Typical Phases
• Have Exec arrange introductions with selected staff to
clarify reference materials to sketch out your models
• Collect a list of questions, assumptions, and best
practices to quickly get SMEs engaged from the
beginning

Straw Models Guide Elicitation
• SMEs will get more engaged Reacting to a
model than having to start with a blank
white board.
• There is a separate seminar on Elicitation
techniques. In summary
• Straw models show you’ve done some
homework and incorporated some of the
business’s specific terminology and
functions in your illustrations
• You are not demonstrating a solution!!
• Your models are intended to be torn apart
by the users—that is why they are called
“straw” models
Never start a workshop by saying,
“Tell me about your business” or having to
Ask the meaning of the basic
Terminology.
Do your homework, ask questions
Based on your research into their
Reference materials, what you have
Learned about the legacy systems (
Data, screens, reports, batch processes,
Interfaces, service requests)

Visualization Straw Model – Story Board
• Provide examples of screens (web
pages) – represent a happy path
• Take the user through an illustrative
page for each of the major functions in
the end to end process.
• There are a wide range of tools to aid in
rendering pages
• You are not trying to represent every
aspect of the design standards—just
provide enough to tell the story
• Aligning pages with the Process Models
is highly desireable

Functionality and Workflow Straw Model: Business Process Model
• Use the Case Management Reference
Model as a place to start
• Apply any details from the Project Charter,
a requirements document, interviews with
senior execs, contract materials
• Use the models as a place to start
• Be highly visible in changing as you
go..show there is no pride of authorship
• The models will help you identify
questions and assumptions to challenge or
highlight once the workshops begin
Perfection is the Enemy of the Practical.
During the Workshops, you will be
Very quick, visible, and happy to make
Changes in response to the reactions
And contributions of the Subject matter
Expert participants.
They will quickly recognize you are not
Trying to sell a solution, you are providing a
Process through the straw models to get the
Highest value from the SMEs with the most
Efficient way of using their time.

Data Straw Model – Conceptual Data Model and Glossary
• Your effort rarely has a green field. This
means you will be consuming data from
other systems your users do not
control;
• Make certain you understand where
the constraints exist with existing data
sources and organizational policies.
• A high level model that blends existing
data sources and any new ones your
solution will introduce will help the
SMEs see where their work fits in the
overall enterprise.

Arranging the Right
Facility
Workshop Facility Features
Consistent Room Availability
Facility Pitfalls
Teleconferencing versus OnSite
Workshops

Workshop Facilities
• Have all key participants at the table
• Large white board
• Clean, Markers, eraser
• Projector
• Can use a separate wall or same
• Scribe and Facilitator may both use
White Board and Flip Charts
• If too large then Observers are going to
want to attend—no lurkers!
• If too small, people feel de-valued

Why Fight for the Right Facility
• Shows you know what is needed for success and your commitment
• Functionality, not sizzle
• You aren’t asking for the Board room, your team works for a living
• People need to all see the same..
• Board that records notes
• Screen that shows the Straw Model
• Get Management engaged in the project—rooms are not an out of
pocket expenditure

Teleconferencing
Teleconferencing no longer feared
Many advantages over traditional in-person workshops
Maintain limit on participants to 5-9
Presenting straw models
Scribe can display notes
Pitfalls are avoidable
Specialized tools with Zoom and MS Teams

Teleconferencing No Longer Feared
• Everyone has access and knows how to
use it
• Telecommuting is here to stay

• Overcomes past challenges in arranging participation by
specialists in regional offices
• Reduces absences due to illness or even vacation schedules
or rotating 4/40 work weeks
• People on travel assignments can still connect to participate
• Harder for an overbearing person to give the stink-eye to a
competitor
• Bashful people feel less pressure from someone glaring at
them
• But make people have their camera on so you know they are
paying attention!!
• Eliminates room scheduling and competition for scheduling
• Can’t get bumped
• No waiting in the hall for prior meeting to end
• Next meeting attendees not breathing down your neck—but
you do want to finish on-time
• Can stay and talk after others have left; no pressure to get
your materials out of the room

Maintain Limits on Participants to 5 to 9
• 5 to 9 participants can easily be seen on
a screen
• Management may want others to be
able to “observe” with mic and camera
off

Tips, Tricks, and Traps for Teleconferencing
• Encourage participants to avoid
stacking other meetings immediately
before or after the Workshop
• Keep camera on so that participants are
engaged and not multi-tasking
• Avoid substitutions
• Don’t let Observers have the mic
• Can let Observers submit questions via
chat—Facilitator still filters what to
bring to the team
• Offer a “live” Q&A for interested people
who are not selected for workshops

Facilitator and Scribe
Preparation
Teleconferencing no longer feared
Maintain limit on participants to 5-9
Presenting straw models
Scribe can display notes
Pitfalls are avoidable
Specialized tools with Zoom and MS Teams

Facilitator and Scribe Communications
• Facilitator and Scribe are EQUALLY
IMPORTANT!!!
• Consider taking turns for at least one
topic
• Provides a backup, cross-training
• What is Facilitator Communicating to
Scribe?
• What is Scribe Communicating to
Facilitator?

Business Side
Repository
Workshop documents do not fit well into the
Developers’ code repository
Maintain a Library of Reference Materia
Encourage use by project participants but maintain
version control
Effort to keep Repository Organized
Communicate with Technical Team for future use
during Agile Delivery
Options for cataloging Reference Materials

Organize Repositories
• Email list of team members
• Shared directory for project materials
• Reference materials
• Project work products
• Templates
• Process Model
• Agenda
• Requirements
• Decisions
• Business rules
• Glossary

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