Discovery Phase Goes Remote

1. About remote work

Nowadays, flexibility contributes decisively for the success of organizations, where those who are truly flexible, adapt quickly to change, go further, and actively build change. The fact of having teams working from different locations is something that has emerged over the past few years, especially in the Information Technology field, where the work methodologies, tools, and technologies facilitate this scenario.
This new era, that we are now all living, makes us look into this approach more carefully and try to understand how can we, as individuals and as a team, keep the effectiveness.
Bearing this in mind, there are some principles that we consider critical success factors for remote work to be effective, which we share below:

1.1. Critical Success Factors

• Clear communication to avoid impact on Project engagement.
• Meet by video conferencing whenever possible.
• Identify decision-makers and stakeholders responsibilities.
• Teams collaboration to establish some remote work tools, norms, and rules applicable to the project.
• Active participation of the stakeholders throughout the Project, especially to support the initial analysis (make sure you have Discovery Phase workshops booked in the calendar), sprints preparations, demos and other activities as the testing and feedback gathering.
• Project leaders/managers must act as facilitators for remote teams. It is a key factor having a well-defined agenda for each workshop and share those guidelines with stakeholders to make it engaging for all. It is also important to give an idea of how long the workshop/meeting will last.
• Regular project’s status updated, using the prearranged mutual communication tools, in which everyone in the process can interact.
• Follow a preventive approach, acting quickly to resolve any deviations identified.

2. Work Methodology/Procedures

2.1. Discovery Phase goes remote

One of the most challenging parts of an IT project to be conducted remotely is the Discovery Phase. This is the first contact between both teams (business and developers), as well as the first contact with the business context, needs, and challenges. Therefore, sometimes it is hard for some customers to imagine this phase being fully conducted remotely, but the truth is that it is possible! We have successfully delivered several projects fully remote in the past and we continue to do it. So, in this article, we are going to propose a way to carry out a productive Discovery Phase together with your customers (do not forget the aforementioned critical success factors that should be applied to all project phases!).

First of all, we use Agile methodologies-Scrum framework to address our projects, so roles must be clearly defined before starting a project. It is also important to define how the Discovery Phase will be conducted, as it is a vital phase for the business objectives to be understood and where the vision of the future application will be defined, hence we must prepare it thoroughly. Consequently, there are some objectives that we must accomplish on a successful Discovery Phase, such as:

• Project objectives and high-level steps towards the ultimate goal;
• Methodology and governance model alignment;
• Project team and roles clarification;
• Assumptions and risks identification as well as the mitigation plan;
• Project timeline;
• Creation of a Vision Document;
• Requirements gathering;
• Sprint 1 analysis and scope settlement.

To achieve these goals, we need to set the agenda for the Discovery week(s) as well as reach an understanding of which project management tools and communication platforms should be used. Considering this, and depending on the customers tools stack, these are the ones we have been using in the multiples projects on which we have collaborated 100% remotely:

• Azure DevOps or Jira: We have been using these tools to handle project management activities, define project scope and sprint goals, personas, DoR (Definition of Ready) and DoD (Definition of Done), user journey analysis, estimate, track and manage board’s work items, capture possible increments for next phases, decision tracking, among other activities.
• Microsoft Outlook: We mostly use for e-mail service, document sharing, meeting scheduling, and for summing up action items and decisions.
• Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams: We have been using these tools for video conferencing meetings and for all Project events (Daily Scrum, Sprint Refinement, Planning, Review, and Retrospective).

2.2. How can we do it?

From our experience, Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration tool that used along with other Board management tools, makes it easier to share documentation, do online meetings, schedule appointments, among other things. With this in mind, we decided to suggest two different approaches so you can choose the most suitable option regarding your project context.

• Use Microsoft Teams as the ‘work hub’, integrating it with Azure DevOps for the project management activities and storing the required files and data requirements in the project Wiki.
• Use Microsoft Teams as the ‘work hub’, integrating it with Jira for the project management activities and storing the required files and data requirements in a Confluence page.

Figure 1 — The 2 different proposed solutions

Regardless of the choice, here is how we can use Microsoft Teams to work collaboratively:

• Teams with different channels where communication can be divided by topic, but all stakeholders can communicate with each other.

• In addition, Microsoft Teams has a chat feature that can be used, for example in meetings.

• It is possible to access the Calendar and add meetings regarding the different channels.

• Once Microsoft Teams is connected with Azure DevOps, we can see directly the activity in Azure DevOps and all the information remains updated. We can create a new tab in a specific channel where we can see the Board or even have the ability to attach work items to the thread, and easily discuss acceptance criteria or just follow up. That way we can have one place for everything.

• For requirements gathering, we should do dynamic sessions where the stakeholders can explain and show the As-Is process as well as their needs and concerns to be covered in the new application. We use video conference calls, with audio and video, because this way we can communicate more clearly, interpreting participants’ reactions, which helps us to understand if we are going in the same direction.
• In these sessions, we suggest using Microsoft Whiteboard directly through Microsoft Teams during the meeting or by opening the application.

• We can also share it with other stakeholders or invite them to attend the meeting. To keep the information captured in the same place, we can export the whiteboard and add it to the specific channel if needed.

• Windows store includes a Whiteboard application, and, after login, we can share and open all whiteboards including the meetings whiteboards. In the application, users have more tools to explore.

We can ‘replicate’ a physical whiteboard with lots of benefits:

• Multiple users (either using Teams whiteboard or the Whiteboard application);
• Multiple tools and features available (ink to shape, write notes, insert Word, PowerPoint and PDF pages into the whiteboard, vote images and other objects, upload images from Bing, camera or desktop, add default templates like Kanban board, retrospective template, among others);
• In the end, we get a shareable image that we can export or publish in Microsoft Teams channel;
• All the information remains organized regarding the topic (for example using the Teams Channels).

Considering an alternative option, and in case of constraints using Azure DevOps as a project management tool, we can also integrate Microsoft Teams with Jira. We know that Jira is one of the most popular tools used for software project management and many teams are used to working with this tool for that purpose.

Image from Microsoft Teams for Jira add-on available on Atlassian Marketplace

This connector does not offer all the features that we can have with the Azure DevOps-Teams integration, however, it also allows to create issues, visualize the backlog, and reference issues. Besides, the user can receive notifications when issues are assigned to him.

These are the two options that we mostly use in order to address a successful remote Discovery Phase. However, in case these solutions are not possible, together with the client, build the most suitable plan.

3. Conclusion

Darwin said: “It Is Not the Strongest of the Species that Survives But the Most Adaptable”.

This is the right time to put that into practice, to reinvent the way we work as a team and to adapt ourselves to this new moment.
We are used to delivering completely remote projects, so we can prove that this is not only achievable but can also be effective. However, to achieve it, collaboration is essential! Technology has evolved and combined with pre-defined policies, it is possible to break the barrier of distance, especially in an IT project daily life.

In a nutshell, there is no reason not to continue delivering successful projects! Challenge your team, think outside the box and you will see that anything is possible.
In the end, if you need some help, advise, or just want to discuss some topics, comment on this article, send us your messages, or simply contact us!