mastering facilitation workshop - wild...

Beautiful Definition

“The art of leading people through processes toward agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership, and productivity from all involved.”

From the book “Requirements By Collaboration”, By Ellen Gottesdiener

Multi-Disciplinary

Facilitation is a Megatrend

• In every field - Education, Nonprofits, Business

• Collaboration, Teams, Innovation, Social

• Dawning awareness that old forms don’t fit

• Gen X, Gen Y, Millenials have different expectations

Monteleone Consulting, LLC 1

Facilitating Processes and Behaviorsfor Eliciting Requirements

Mark A. Monteleone, PMP, CBAP, CSM/CSPO

Free copy of this presentation can be obtained via http://baquickref.com/Services.html

The BA Facilitator:


Author BiographyMark Monteleone is an independent consultant and author of “The 20 Minute Business Analyst: a collection of short articles, humorous stories and quick reference cards for the busy analyst.” He has also written several articles in ESI Horizons, BA Times, BA Connection, International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Global Flipchart and Modern Analyst.

With more than 40 years of experience, he has conducted strategic enterprise analysis and consulted on business applications and project management in more than 35 countries.

Mr. Monteleone holds a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in computing science from Texas A&M University. He is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP®) by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSMTM) and Scrum Product Owner (CSPOTM) by the Scrum Alliance.


• This is an ‘intro’ workshop: truly ‘mastering’ facilitation is a life-long practice

• Advance or deepen your current understanding • Access some new resources • Experience (hopefully) good facilitation in action

Level Set – what to expect


Project Expectations• As a project proceeds

• Risk decreases • Change cost increases

• Project risk decreases due to the increasing knowledge of requirements

• Change cost increases due to having to rework “accomplishments”


In Reality Project Expectations Are Not Met

• In many projects, risk remains high due to poorly stated requirements

• Much (over 60%) of the rework cost is due to poorly stated requirements during Requirements Elicitation1

1 Chaos Report 2012 The Standish Group


Requirements Elicitation Methods (Opportunity to Eliminate Much of the Rework)

• Document Analysis • Interface Analysis • Interview • Observation • Facilitate Groups • Prototyping • Survey/Questionnaire • Reverse Engineering


BABOK™ Knowledge Areas

▪ Enterprise Analysis ▪ Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring ▪ Elicitation ▪ Requirements Management and Communication ▪ Requirements Analysis ▪ Solution Assessment and Validation ▪ Underlying Competencies

Source: BABOK™, Version 2.0

Facilitation mentioned over

70 times!


BA Facilitation Opportunities• In Enterprise Analysis, Elicitation, and Requirements

Analysis, the BA assists stakeholders to — – Identify process improvements via brainstorming

– Summarize their opinions via focus groups

– Elicit requirements via joint application design

– Determine action plans via gap analysis

– Improve usability via force-field analysis


BA Facilitation Opportunities (cont’d)• In Requirements Management and

Communications, the BA conducts— – Formal and informal

presentations with stakeholders

• In Solution Assessment and Validation, the BA assists— – Technical teams to evaluate

options and select vendor software


Managing Risk with Colocated (F2F) Meetings


Managing Risk with Virtual Meetings


Facilitating Requirements is Iterative

Deciding (Consensus/Compromise

/Ranking)

Eliciting (As-Is/To-Be)

Decomposing (Analysis)


BA Facilitation Processes

• Multi-voting • Comparative Ranking • Criteria-Based Grid • Impact/Effort Grid • Let’s Make a Deal

• Gap Analysis • Root-Cause Analysis • Force-Field Analysis

• Brainstorming • Crawford Slip

Deciding

Analyzing

Eliciting


❖ Paraphrasing ❖ Using Visuals ❖ Maintaining Focus ❖ Getting Feedback ❖ Summarizing ❖ Synthesizing

❖ Generating Participation ❖ Active Listening ❖ Neutrality ❖ Questioning ❖ Intervening

BA Facilitation Behaviors


References for Further Insight• Bens, Ingrid, M.ED, Facilitation at a Glance!, 2000 Jossey-Bass Inc. • Bens, Ingrid, M.ED, Facilitating with Ease!, 2005 Jossey-Bass Inc. • Brinkman, Dr. Rick and Dr. Rick Kirschner, Dealing with People You Can’t Stand: How to

Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst, 2002, McGraw-Hill • Eberle, Bob (2008), SCAMPER, Prufrock Press, Inc. • Gottesdiener, Ellen. Requirements By Collaboration. Addison-Wesley, 2002 • Heron, John, The Complete Facilitator's Handbook, Kogan Page, 1999 • Monteleone, Mark A., Managing Risk when Facilitating Face-to-Face and Virtual

Meetings. IAF Global Flipchart – September 2012 • Monteleone, Mark A., The Twelve Shades of the Business Analyst (BA) Facilitator, http//

www.modernanalyst.com • Tenner, Arthur R. and Irving J. Detoro, Process Redesign: The Implementation Guide for

Managers, 2000, Prentice Hill

• International Association of Facilitators, http://www.iaf-world.org • International Customer Service Association, http://www.icsa.com

http://www.iaf-world.org/

http://www.icsa.com

Designing Workshops (in 10 min.)

ElementsWHO WHY WHAT WHERE HOW

Participants Facilitatorscustomers, SMEs, outside experts, various stakeholders

Lead Co-Lead Scribe Observer


Purpose Statement Context is KingVery important must be clear, concise, coherent, (written like a great requirement)

History Environment Current Issues Politics Financials People


Deliverables ActivitiesDesired outcomes: might be; Use cases, Storyboards, Roadmaps, Vision Statements

The Magic or “dark art” of facilitation - choosing the right activities, levels of detail, etc.


EnvironmentRoom choice (physical, virtual*, mixed)

Tables, Walls, Chairs

Accommodating Visuals

Ambience*www.BA-Squared.com

http://www.BA-Squared.com


Managing Group Flow“Behaviors” are key monitoring the energy of the group

Developing your plan

Executing your plan

Oh, and YOU

Know Thyself…

D (Dominance)

I (Influence)

S (Steadiness)

C (Conscien3ousness)

Workshop Facilita3on

Loves to lead workshops. It’s her

favorite BA ac3vity.

Considered effec3ve at it, if some3mes a bit too take charge.

Likes groups, but prefers face-‐to-‐face 3me more. Very sensi3ve to group dynamics, high emo3onal intelligence

Might get nervous to lead a workshop, conflict averse by nature, but very reliable, very

aLuned to serving needs of others

Plans for workshop weeks in advance, has detailed

agenda, and is a super 3me keeper, but may not catch group dynamics, or miss the

“big idea”

Know Thyself…

From the book, StrengthsFinder Leadership

Forming, Storming, Norming

FORMING: How Do We Begin?

• Kickoffs are King

• Intros and Ice Breakers

• Humor (but be careful)

• Articulate the Purpose Statement

• Elaborate ground rules

STORMING: What can possibly go wrong?

• Open disagreement or Hidden Agendas

• Cognitive Biases (over 50 documented)

• Doc List’s facilitation anti-patterns • Negator • Gladiator • Repetitor • Chicken Little • Etc.

NORMING: making group processes clear

• Establishing Parking Lot

• WarmUp Exercises

• Decide How To Decide (consensus, majority vote, )

PERFORMING: Generating Great Participation & Ownership

• Leverage Collaboration Patterns • Expand Then Contract (Diverge then Converge) • Middle Out, Top Down, Bottom Up • The “Sieve” (quality criteria to filter ideas) • SWOT matrices • many others…

• Mixing Activities, Flows, Generating “closures”

ADJOURNING: When are we done?

• Adjourning as a ritual

• re-visit parking lot

• Conduct Retrospective

Preparation Is KEY

Industry benchmarks suggest 2:1, even 3:1 ratios

Meaning;

1 hr. workshop = 2-3 hours prep time

1 day workshop = 2-3 days prep time (or more)

The “art”

• Is it okay to go “off script”?

• How much do you “push” and how much to “pull”?

• Are we “neutral” or “objective”? Is there a difference?

Resources To Leverage

Monteleone Consulting, LLC39

Vision – To-Be▪ Brainstorming, Crawford Slip

• Brainstorming elicits oral ideas on a topic; Crawford Slip is a written alternative for introverted groups

• The facilitator establishes a session rule that ideas are not evaluated

• Afterwards, the ideas are consolidated, and ranked per a decision process


Eliciting – As-Is/To-Be

▪ Focus Group, Joint Application Design (JAD) • A focus group elicits opinions and attitudes on

a situation

• JAD or a requirement workshop is a series of interrelated sessions with stakeholders to rapidly elicit requirements by consensus / compromise or via a decision maker to ensure results


Decomposing – Analysis

▪ Gap Analysis, Root-Cause Analysis, Force-Field Analysis • Gap Analysis determines how to transition from an as-is situation to a

to-be vision

• Root-Cause analyzes a problem from several points of view to determine the real source(s) of the cause – techniques are fishbone diagrams and the 5 whys

• Force-Field develops two lists – items that inhibit and items that promote progress

▪ Models used in Analysis • Data and behavior models

– business rules, class model, CRUD matrix, data dictionary, data transformation and mapping, entity-relationship diagrams

• Process flow models – activity diagrams, dataflow diagrams, event identification,

flowcharts, sequence diagrams, state diagrams, workflow models

• Usage Models – prototyping, storyboards, use case


Deciding – Consensus/Compromise/Ranking

▪ Multi-voting, Comparative Ranking, Criteria-Based Grid, Impact/Effort Grid, and Let’s Make a Deal • Multi-voting is participants casting a set number

of votes on alternatives

• Comparative Ranking is selecting the best choice given two alternatives at a time


Deciding – Continued• Criteria-Based Grid is evaluating alternatives per a

set of characteristics and choosing the best


Deciding – Continued• Impact/Effort Grid is categorizing alternatives

based on benefits and work effort

Impact

Major Improvement

Immediate Action Later Release

Minor Improvement

Prioritize Discard

Impact/Effort Grid Easy Difficult

Effort


Deciding – Continued• Let’s Make a Deal - negotiating a

compromise through “needs and offers”


Generating Participation

▪ The atmosphere set by the facilitator affects the participation • Facilitator interpersonal skills are reflected by

the group

• Room arrangement – promote conversations with small tables and facing chairs

• Open with short exercise to energize group


Active Listening

▪ Show full attention with the intent to understand more than judge • Show attentive body language; look

participants in the eye while they’re speaking; eye contact encourages quiet participants

• “Stack” questions as they are received to show respect


Neutrality

▪ Stay neutral on content, remember as a facilitator, you provide only process • Understand what you give up as a

facilitator; if you wish to participate in content, ask someone else to facilitate the session

• Pose open-ended questions or make suggestions to help the group interact, but never impose your opinion or take over decision making power


Questioning1

▪ Asking questions, particularly open questions, may be the most important facilitator practice

▪ Questions invite participation and provide: • Facts • Opinions • Elaborations • Evaluations • Visions

1 Eberle, Bob (2008), SCAMPER, Prufrock Press, Inc.


Intervention

▪ A “pause” in the session to improve the function of the group

▪ To intervene is a facilitator judgment call based on the - • Seriousness of the issue to the

session • Capacity in solving the issue on

their own • Impact to the atmosphere of the

session


Paraphrasing

• Involves repeating what people say • To make sure participants know

they’re being heard • Mirroring or echoing gives

participants a second time to hear and clarify their ideas

• Can be effective in conflict management.


Using Visuals

• Confirms that participants have been heard • Must use participant’s words • Reflect what the participants said,

rather than an interpretation

• Use constantly to record emerging ideas as well as final decisions


Maintaining Focus

• Staying on the agenda topics and timeframe • Ask a participant to track time • Point out digressions from the agenda topics • Note all on-topic issues on an “Issue Log” • Note all off-topic items on a “Parking Lot” to be dealt

with later

• Controlling the environment - eliminate side bar conversations


Feedback

• Requested by facilitators from participants periodically to help the group assess problems with the proceedings and make corrections.

• Areas include • Pace • Process • Content • Time • Focus


Summarizing

• Offering a concise and accurate synopsis of discussions • Can be used to revive or end a discussion

• Method to arrive at a consensus


Synthesizing Ideas

• Involves collecting, combining, and building on the opinions of participants • Key to building participant consensus

• Use in combination with paraphrasing

• Must validate any new ideas

mastering facilitation workshop - wild...

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