Simple things for better workshops
In an industry where technology skills are becoming commodities (you can get developers off upwork.com for as low as $5 an hour), our value with customers is differentiated by how well we understand them.
One place this happens is at the customer workshop. This is my chance to learn as much about your business and where you want to go. It’s just me and anywhere from 3 to 15 people from different areas of the business.
The workshop is critical. It’s part preparation, part art, part nuance and part improvisation. It’s an opportunity to get people excited about their solution.
It’s critical but it’s also complex. It’s people talking about a future they can’t clearly envision, and ideas they’re not sure how to articulate. It’s also a mix of people that are extroverted, introverted, have power dynamics, disagree or agree with the project, and possibly don’t like each other. You may also have the wrong people in the room.
The quiet sales administrator is the one who actually knows how the whole business works, but it’s the loud sales executive who’s voice gets heard.
To do this well, you need a flexible framework. This is something you need to develop over time and deliberabe practice. You’re already familiar with ice breakers, closing laptops, timeboxing, voting and business process diagrams.
There is so much more to talk about, but here are some simple items that have helped me. It’s important to note, I’ve never been taught these, and these are different to other people’s, you need to find your own style.
Several of these I credit from the spectacular book “Sprint”.
Have a 1-on-1 session with a ‘friendly’ prior to any group workshop
- Know how the business works, the organisation structure, who their customers are, ask 1000 questions. You can do this at someones desk, with a pen and notepad.
You know (almost) nothing about their business, tell them that
- Be upfront and honest, and don’t pretend you know their business. I start most workshops by saying “please explain this to me as if you were talking to a golden retriever”. I stole that from Margin Call (interesting point, there was no actual margin call in Margin Call). It’s liberating to say “I know nothing, teach me, and expect dumb questions”.
Ask for examples. Ask for more examples
- Nothing can articulate an abstract concept like an example. Keep asking for more until you get it. I promise you that at the same time, this will be the first time several people in the room ‘get it’.
Always visible, loud, creative. Never in your head
- Don’t remember things, don’t type them into your fancy note taking app. Always make it visual and public, draw it big and loud on the white board or butcher paper on the walls (I carry my own). Draw pictures, arrows, question marks. Circle things. Make it bold. Highlight questions, draw timelines.
- You don’t need to know how to draw.
ABC — Always be capturing
- The same as above. Make sure you always write everything somewhere that everyone can see. I promise that when you summarise it, you’ll notice those 2 little words on the board and you’ll be glad you did.
You don’t need someone taking notes
- The same as the two above. Notes should be visible, or else they are open to misinterpretation.
You’re allowed to use your phone, but outside please
- Most of us are addicted to our phones. Most of us have important shit to be across during the day. You can use your phone, but please do it outside. The laptop needs to stay closed though.
Start with what you know
- After a 1-on-1 session, start with drawing a diagram of their business process, who their customers are, and what they do. This will help get things going.
Brainstorm in private
- Hand everybody a stack of post-it notes, get them to write down what the key issues are, but every problem is an HMW opportunity — “How Might We”. Each note has HMW written at the top. “Data quality is crap” turns into “HMW improve data quality”.
- Eventually collect all the notes, put them up on the board, group similar themes together, and talk about them.
- This avoids the horrible horrible organisation destroying group think.
Independent voting
- Now people get to vote on what their most important issues are. Get dot stickers, 2 per person, and 4 for the business sponsor/senior stakeholder. You can vote on your own ideas twice if you want.
- This also avoids the horrible horrible terrible organisation destroying group think.
Anonymous survey after every workshop
- Use typeform.com and give a friendly url using tinyurl.com to give everyone a survey to complete at the end using their mobile phones, straight away. It’s a great little tool, no app, no login required.
- Include the usual things (Facility, presenter, etc) but also include:
“Do you believe the whateverwhatever initiative is important to Big Corp Co?”
“What are you most worried about?”
“Do you believe all requirements have been captured?”
“If not, what requirements have been missed?”
“Which department are you from?”
- In my last workshop everyone was worried about internal IT delivering the timelines… including internal IT. But 100% of the 12 users believed that all requirements had been captured (at that time… things change)
Speed
- Once finished. Follow up on your next actions, get the summary out, do it all quickly. The same day if possible.
Some other tools
- The free post-it note app will convert your sticky’s to a formatted powerpoint… that’s f̶u̶c̶ very cool
- Scanner pro will convert your whiteboard to a powerpoint/email friendly picture. It will just look hand drawn sketches on a white background
- Typeform. The bomb for creating surveys. Try it. It’s very cool
