Sample Agenda: The First Workshop

As mentioned in my previous article, the aim of the first requirement workshop with a new client is to get them to talk and voice their side of the story. Hence, in my workshop structure, the goal is to get a good understanding of their business or idea. 

I will share my first workshop agenda in brief here. However, remember that this is highly variable and can be customized according to many different factors. ✌

Agenda

Introduction 

This is where both parties say shake hands and say hello! If you have not introduced yourself in a previous email or a casual conversation, feel free to tell your stakeholder(s) your name, a bit about your experience, or contribution as a business analyst. Conclude this by showing your excitement to be starting on this new adventure. Most importantly, keep it short, concise, and to the point. 

Can a BA record a meeting? 

Yes. However, it is very important that all the stakeholders are aware that the meeting is a recorded session. 👌

Make sure you get permission from all the stakeholders involved in the meeting before you commence recording. When you request for recording permissions, let them know why you would like to record. Obvious reasons - you want to make sure no information is missed. We don't always trust our memory, don't we? So, the recording makes life a bit easier when it comes to analysis in the later parts. 

Set Expectations

Make sure all the participants work towards a common outcome and they know how they are expected to contribute as a participant to the first workshop. Typically, this is by describing their ideas, vision, why and anything else related. 

 

Let the stakeholder(s) introduce themselves

Just like you introduced yourself, make sure you give your stakeholder(s) to introduce themselves. 

Ask away... 

Since you are well prepared for the meeting with a potential list of open-ended questions, start with your list. 

Try to understand:

• Business idea
• Business model 
• The gap they are trying to address
• What inspired them to come up with this idea or vision
• Their target audience, strategies
• Kep USPs (Unique Selling Points) in case this is a product they are building - if this word is new, you can read about it here: 

        https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/unique-selling-proposition-usp

• Any features that they would like to have in their product
• The objectives they aim to achieve (may it be an increase in sales, reduce manual work, cut on down on their error rate)
• Budgetary and time constraints (they will most likely have some)

If it is a brand-new idea, always go with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Stay tuned - I will be writing about this in a later article.  

Don't be scared to ask a question from the stakeholder if you do not understand any buzz word or if you need more information to make sense of a statement they are making.  

Conclude the Meeting

Ask all the followup questions you may have. Before, you conclude the meeting, if time permits, do a quick recap of what you understand. Tick off the list of meeting outcomes as they are met. 

Usually, at the end of every meeting or a workshop, there will be a list of action items. 

This could include action items such as - sending a document for inspection, something that the stakeholder said that they will get back to you on, a piece of information you may have to share. 

A sample action item list

Discuss Next Steps - come to common grounds on the next step. 

Schedule the next meeting - Agree on a time and date for the next meeting. Make sure you give yourself breathing space to analyze the requirements and go through the next steps (which will certainly be discussed later 😉). 

Finish by letting them know that it was an absolute pleasure to work with them and show your enthusiasm! 

Also, be aware of the time! Timebox the meeting to the booked timeslot.