Requirements Facilitation Workshop

If information technology projects are to be successful, they have to be built on a strong base of business and user requirements, and though engaging business representatives and customers in useful dialogues about project deliverables sounds easy. It is anything but. In today's fast-paced business environment, managing effective dialogues with users and business representatives can be challenged by: The complexity of today's systems The competing demands on the time of both users and PM/BA/SAs Competing requirements The fear of changes in business processes and systems The lack of skills among PM/BA/SAs The conflict between systems as they are intended to operate and informal work-arounds and processes The inability of users to articulate requirements The unwillingness of users to sign-off on requirements Because of these and other challenges, it is critical that BA/SAs for information technology projects have the ability to facilitate useful and cost-effective dialogues with business users. They have to create trust with the user and ask solid, open-ended questions. They have to draw out requirements, eliminate assumptions, and develop consensus among business stakeholders at the user level and above. Meeting those challenges requires both skill and the confidence to meet them head-on. Building those skills and confidence is the purpose of this workshop. It will engage participants in a learning experience designed to introduce them to critical skills of facilitation including: Working with customers to set and prioritize requirements Identifying and eliminating assumptions Preparing for the customer dialogue Creating a good opening statement Designing good, open-ended questions Identifying customer interests, separating their real needs from the positions they take and managing conflict Getting past emotional responses and engaging in rapid and effective dialogues with customers and stakeholders to identify the problems that need to be solved Thriving in a tough, demanding workplace and recovering from adversity Participants in the workshop will be engaged in exercises designed to increase their understanding of concepts and help them apply those concepts to their work environment. At the close of the workshop, participants will be provided with checklists for the application of concepts explored in the workshop.