Now we’re all working remotely, can we just move our workshops online too?
In the past month we have transformed our kick off workshop into something we can run online. But this hasn’t been as simple as keeping the agenda and running it over video conference — it required us to consider the goals of the workshop, and design new exercises which best achieve those goals when we can’t meet face to face.
Like virtually every other business out there, DataSparQ is needing to adapt to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. We’re fortunate to be able to do a lot of our work from home with little impact on our effectiveness. However, there’s one key part of how we work that’s had to change significantly: our kick-off SparQshop.
Our core business is in designing, building and running AI and data science products. The longer I work here through, the more I realise that the most important part of any DataSparQ engagement happens before we even get to the design phase: it’s identifying the problem to be solved, and the value to be gained.
As any Product Manager will be all too familiar with, the whole product development process from design to shipping can become particularly painful if the team loses sight of the purpose: Why are we building this? What will be better once it’s delivered? How will we measure success? It’s vital that we have absolute clarity (and agreement!) on the answers to these questions before we start designing a solution. Sometimes we work with organisations who know these answers before we start working with them, but the vast majority of time that’s not the case. Sometimes there’s a lack of agreement over what problem is the most important to solve, sometimes there’s a lack of understanding of where the pain points really lie.
This is why we kick-off all our engagements with a workshop to validate the impact and feasibility of AI opportunities: the SparQshop. It’s typically ½ a day to a day, at our customers’ offices. We keep the attendance broad enough that we have all the voices that matter in the room, but narrow enough that we can get everyone’s input and we have a decision maker to ensure we can close down decisions and move on when necessary. We achieve 4 things in the SparQshop:
Mapping out the value chain for your business: Who does what, where, how, when. And how does the success or failure of each of those processes affect the success of the organisation?
Identifying the pain points: Where could things be better? Which processes are costing time/money/people that would be of more value to use elsewhere?
Prioritise the problems: For each problem, what would the impact be to the business if it were solved tomorrow. This forces focus on what really matters for the business and removes the distraction of pet-peeves.
Define products: Given 2 or 3 top priority problems to solve, is there an opportunity for AI/ML to help? If so, how would it work (at a high level) — eg what data would it need, who would use it, what changes would need to be made to existing business processes. And is an AI solution significantly better (and worth doing) than a more lo-tech solution?.
It’s a lot to do in a day or less, but we’ve found that condensing it really helps keep up the energy in the room, and people have an amazing ability to focus on what matters when time is tight!
But clearly the SparQshop as it was couldn’t happen in the current climate, yet it remains a vital part of how we engage with clients. We needed an alternative approach.
Since late March we have transformed the SparQshop into something we can run online. This hasn’t been as simple as keeping the agenda and running it over Hangouts or Zoom. There are some exercises which simply don’t translate well to online, and there are other opportunities that working online gives us that I want to take advantage of. The goal was to make the SparQshop as effective online as it had proven to be in person. That way it becomes another tool we can use after the lockdown has ended. Being able to run SparQshops with remote teams will be really valuable to us.
We’re now starting to deliver SparQshops in this new format and I’ll be writing a followup post explaining in more detail the structure and what works well, what we’re still looking to get better at. For now though, here are a few of the things that we had to think about and some tips for addressing them.
Engagement: In a room, people will subconsciously absorb your energy as a host, from your body language and eye contact. And if they’re drifting off, you’ll be able to tell and can adapt, or take a quick comfort break. This is much harder over video conferencing. How do you ensure people keep engaged, and how will you notice when they’re not? It turns out that much in the same way as actors on the screen need to be more expressive than in real life it helps to over emphasise facial expressions and body movement. Small gestures just don’t come across in video conferencing. Basically you need to spend a lot of time smiling like a loon!
Timing: ½ a day straight on video conferencing is enough to numb anyone’s brain. What’s the best structure for an event where people will be mainly seated, looking at a screen? We try to keep the online sessions broken up into parts of no longer than hrs, and within those 2hrs there are break times, and ‘off camera’ times when we ask people to do an exercise alone and share it back with the group.
Working in groups: Some of the workshop is done in groups, then they come back and share their thoughts. How does that work logistically — what tools do you need? Some conferencing tools, like Zoom, offer the ability to segment your group into smaller groups, then bring everyone back together after a defined time. This can be really useful, though is a little jarring at the end of the time period as people are cut off mid sentence. I’ll talk more about how we dealt with that in the next post.
Hearing from the quiet people: It can be frustrating when one or two individuals dominate the conversation, but in a room it’s manageable — it’s relatively easy to pick up on people’s body language if they feel like their views aren’t being heard. But one a VC, how do you ensure everyone has an opportunity to make their voices heard? There are a few techniques we use for this. One that works really well both online and face to face is the Together Alone approach used in the Google Design Sprint. Here people work alone on their ideas, then everyone has a chance to share them with the group. I’ll talk more about how that works in context in the next post.
Let me know in the comments about your experience moving workshops online. We’re always looking to learn so any tips gratefully received!
