Advanced Elicitation & Facilitation Skills for Requirements Gathering Workshops

Facilitated, collaborative workshops are the most effective means to model business processes, gather requirements and design system architecture while building consensus among all participants. The role of the facilitator is the key to success of such workshops. Facilitators must possess a wide range of skills such as knowledge of requirements deliverables work products, understanding of the business context, facilitation tools, excellent communication abilities, and a genuine affinity for working with people.

Not surprisingly, there is a shortage of such well-rounded individuals. Aspiring facilitators can learn the basics from reading a book, taking an introductory course and learning-by-doing. However, what is required to make the most out of facilitating a collaborative workshop is well beyond the basics.

This intensive three-day workshop is designed to take participants to their next requirements gathering and facilitation skill levels. It moves beyond the basic facilitation and requirements elicitation skills. It bridges the gap from knowing concepts and having fundamental skills to becoming a skilled facilitator. The participants will experience first-hand how to plan and facilitate a group process in order to: create a common understanding, think creatively, generate ideas, analyze and evaluate ideas, lead the group through the decision-making process and set the tone of the requirements gathering workshop.

The number of participants is limited to eight so that each person has the opportunity to receive individual attention and feedback. As becoming a Star Facilitator is a process, each person will leave with a development plan uniquely suited for her or his professional growing edge.

Objectives

Who Will Attend

Business Analysts, Solution Analysts, System Analysts, Business Consultants, Project Managers, Architects, and anyone who facilitates requirements gathering collaborative workshops.

Instructional Method

Facilitation tools and techniques can only be taught through experience. This class is 70% experiential / 30% interactive lecture. Participants will engage in a series of realistic role-playing scenarios reflecting real project environments, where many of the facilitation tools and techniques will be experienced first-hand. Each participant will have the opportunity to facilitate and receive feedback from the group and the instructor. In addition each participant will also receive a confidential valuable feedback from the instructor in a one-on-one session.

In participants will take with them the course notes to be used as a reference, an advanced facilitation toolkit, and a self-assessment tool which will help them develop and track progress over time.

Prerequisites

This workshop assumes working knowledge of requirements gathering and basic facilitation skills. Prerequisite for this workshop is at least 3 months experience of facilitating in a project environment.

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