11-Steps Guide to Run Agile Workshops
In a fast-changing world, we use agile methodologies to respond to change. COVID-19 shows us that we need more dramatic shifts in our way of working. This article is about how a firm can use Dogma Alares’ 11-step agile guide to run workshops better.
Dogma Alares team has facilitated tens of agile developments sprints and workshops. We encountered few obstacles like finding a perfect workshop space or having international squad members of the agile teams. This guide is built on the learnings of running these workshops and sprints in different client situations, varying physical environments and firms with different clock speeds. Remote working was one of the things we had experienced a lot. Our experience says there were lots of positive things about working remote:
- Focused sessions and outcomes
- Flexible availability
- No need for a perfect space
- Less paper/post-it wastes
- Easy to document (recorded with permission)
- Easy to reach test users and potential customers
The positive effects of working remote come with a structured approach to running the workshops. The structure approach follows in three section: What to do Before, During and After the Workshop:
A. Before the workshop
- Test the tools and create the workplaces: Test the tools and make them ready for the workshop. It includes controlling the plan of the tools, whether it has the right amount of credit or which elements to use.
Create the workplace platforms (There is no ultimate list of tools to collaborate and communicate, but not all of them are appropriate for every situation. Depending on who you work with and their location, there might be restrictions on what tools they can access and use.) Some of the tool we use are:
- Video conference tool (we use Microsoft Teams or Zoom),
- Text/file sharing tool (we use Slack and/or OneDrive),
- Dashboard to see the workshops plan (Trello or Mural/Miro) and
- Collaboration tool (Miro or Mural)
2. Define team roles: As we know from the agile squads, the decider and the facilitator have to be different players in the team. So, before the communication starts, choose whom to facilitate (like scrum master) and decide (like project owner)
Bonus tip: Select a co-facilitator with you to take notes, prepare meetings, update teams, fix bugs and help the facilitator not to miss any point. It will be beneficial if the co-facilitator comes from the client side. So, facilitation tactics will be transferred accordingly.
3. Set up expectations and meet with everyone face-to-face: Show-up and meet with the attendees one day before the workshop, while you’re doing this meeting, you should send an expectation survey (we use Google Forms), set some golden rules of the workshop and receive their point of views (i.e.. everyone should wait on mute while the facilitator speaking) and manage their expectations and frame the workshop’s purpose. Send the time-boxed daily schedule to everyone’s calendars. (Don’t forget to put video conference links to the invitations)
B. During the workshop:
4. Onboard and brief the facilitator: Work on an onboarding message and choose a co-facilitator to brief the tools we use, golden rules to evaluated one day-before the meeting, and prepare the program.
Start the day with an Ice-breaker meeting session -no longer than 30 minutes.
5. Walk through the daily program: and time-boxed calendar with no longer 2.5-hour sessions: it’s not easy to sit in front of a computer that long. Put the daily program in the Trello board for everyone to keep track.
It is more engaging when cameras are on (emphasis on the onboarding message and show-up meetings previous day)
o Bonus tip: As a facilitator, using multiple screens make your operation easier (a tablet or tabletop screen.)
6. Don’t start with a blank board: As you gathered some information on show-up meetings or from any other request, prepare and discuss some pre-documented information.
7. Give space to small team gatherings: Give time to small teams to gather and synthesize information on their separate Trello boards.
8. Create a motivation booster structure: Useful tips: While the discussion is ongoing, , make sure the chat view of the video conference or your text communication tool is working so that all functionalities are “on”: gather questions, raise flags, get feedbacks etc.
a. Bonus tip: Send a relaxing Spotify playlist at the end of the night.
9. Prototyping and user testing: If this workshop includes design sprint elements, you should be prototyping and user testing: we are using Figma and Adobe xD for prototyping and User.Vision to recruit and conduct digital user testing sessions
a. Bonus tip: You can always ask your client to refer some users to test the prototype.
C. After the workshop
10. Send a summary document explaining all the outcomes.
a. Bonus tip: Use Google Slides to prepare a summary document with contribution of whole team. After the facilitator create the storyline of the document, assign different pages to different teams.
11. Organise a feedback session and recognize the contribution of All: Following day, assemble a short feedback session and update the golden rules accordingly. In order to do this in a data driven and reportable manner, send an online survey and check if it fits with the expectation survey or not. For the last step congratulate all attendees.
Summary of all the tools we use: We love working with proven online collaboration tools for different purposes: Research, Collaboration, Test, Survey etc. You can a combination of the below tools as per your needs. We will help you how to choose and put them together. The list follows:
• Slack
• Trello
• Asana/Notion/Basecamp
• Zoom/Whereby/Teams
• Mural
• Miro
• Google Jamboard/Forms
• Discord
• Typeform
• Marvel
• Youcanbookme/Calendly
• Loom
• Hellosign
• Figma/Adobe xD
• Buffer
• Canva
• Webflow
• User.Vision
Reach out to Dogma Alares to discuss a business problem you are facing.
sonat.kaymaz@dogmaalares.com
