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Workshops
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Basic Format
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Key stakeholders are gathered together for a short intensive period typically 1-2
days. The requirements are extracted by a facilitator and instantly minuted by a
scribe
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Benefits
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- Team building / Encourage buy-in
- All voices heard
- Expose political issues early
- Instant feedback
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Problems
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- Grandstanding
- Non-contributors / Shy / Boss in the room
- Cheap shots
- Time commitment / Scheduling
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Comment
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Make sure the facilitator is not also the scribe
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Brainstorming
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Basic Format
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The core purpose is to generate ideas for solving a specific problem. It is not
intended to be precise. Key stakeholders are gathered together for a short intensive
period, typically 2-3 hours. The ideas are encouraged by a facilitator and instantly
recorded by a scribe
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Benefits
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- Team building / Encourage buy-in
- Instant feedback
- Thinking outside the square
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Problems
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- Non-contributors / Shy / Boss in the room
- Scheduling
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Comment
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- No criticism or debate
- Let your imagination soar!
- Generate as many ideas as possible
- Mutate and combine ideas
- The scribe and facilitator can be the same person
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Interviewing
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Basic Format
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The analyst approaches users individually for in-depth discussions around the problem.
It is simple, direct and detailed
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Benefits
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- Can encourage buy-in from the interviewee
- In-depth
- No silent participants
- Relatively easy to schedule
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Problems
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- Gradual discovery of individual biases
- Slow
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Comment
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- The analyst must decide the general questions that need to be asked before the interview,
but be prepared to ask new questions during the interview
- Research the obvious background beforehand
- Use a questions and answers template
- The scribe and facilitator is usually the same person, but not always
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Surveying
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Basic Format
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Prepare a document for circulation to larger numbers of users, which asks very specific
questions
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Benefits
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- Relatively easy to schedule
- Cover more people
- Corroborate other findings
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Problems
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- The scope is limited to a direct answer to a direct question
- Ambiguity and bias very difficult to overcome
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Comment
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- The questions in the survey must be unambiguous
- Set deadlines for response
- More suited to confirming existing ideas, than generating new ones
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Prototyping
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Basic Format
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Types of prototypes:
- Throwaway
- Evolutionary
- Operational focus
- Narrow focus
- Broad focus
- User interface or algorithmic
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Benefits
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- Encourages buy-in
- Exposes requirements errors early
- Provides something that users can touch and see early on, allowing users to clarify
their thoughts
- Demonstrates progress
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Problems
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- Prototyping death spiral i.e. endless tinkering with the prototype prevents real
development
- Time consuming
- There is a danger of throwaway prototypes being adopted in place of the real system
- The IT team eagerly jumps on the keyboards to the detriment of requirements analysis
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