acceleratorworkshop_upa2008_after

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UPA 2008 Evening Workshop

Accelerator WorkshopsHow Rapid Facilitation gets things done in days instead of weeks

June 16, 2008 | 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Yvonne Shek + Ammneh Azeim

nForm User Experience Consulting

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AgendaTime Content/Activity Format

6:30 – 7:00 • Introductions + Ground Rules• What is an Accelerator Workshop? Etc.• Approach + Planning an Accelerator Workshop

Presentation

7:00 – 7:30 • Facilitation 101• Live capture

Demo + Discussion

7:30 – 7:45 Exercise 1:• Project Alignment + Goal Setting - Breakout

Facilitation practice

7:45 – 8:00 Break

8:00 – 8:15 Exercise 1:• Project Alignment + Goal Setting - Merge

Live capture practice

8:15 – 8:45 Exercise 2:• Storyboarding - Breakout

Facilitation practice

8:45 – 9:00 Exercise 2:• Storyboarding - Merge

Live capture practice

9:00 – 9:20 • Other Workshop-able Activities• Wrapping up an Accelerator Workshop

Presentation + Discussion

9:20 – 9:30 • Questions + Feedback Discussion

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Introductions+ Ground Rules

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Introductions

Ammneh is a consultant at nForm User

Experience, where she brings her passion for business analysis, usability, and information design to every project. Ammneh has been working in the IT industry for over eight years. Before joining nForm, Ammneh was at Upside Software, where she was a Development Lead and Senior Business Analyst. In 2002, Ammneh opened her own consulting company. Before that, she was a Medical Sciences Student.

Yvonne is a Director at nForm User Experience. She has ten years of experience in web usability, information architecture, user research, and user experience consulting. Many of her clients are Fortune 500 companies. Yvonne has spoken and taught at international conferences, colleges, and universities. Before that, Yvonne was a research scientist with the Defence & Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine in Toronto. She has a B.Sc. In psychology from the University of Toronto, and an M.Sc. of ergonomics from UCL in the U.K.

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Ground Rules for Today• Be on time• No cells, pagers, etc. except during break• Share your own story and listen actively • No violent agreeing (keep in mind the goal is not consensus, but exploring all

perspectives)• No pummeling (verbal or otherwise)• No beating of dead horses• No getting off track• No side conversations• No jargon, acronyms, or terms that the Facilitators do not understand• No objections to being fined (or you will be double-fined)

• Fine could be $1 or another form of punishment, whatever the group decides• All proceeds will go to a charity of the team’s choice

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Disclaimer (Handout 1)

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What is an

Accelerator Workshop?

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What is an Accelerator Workshop?

Early workshop to get everyone on the same page to stop indecision later.

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What is an Accelerator Workshop?

Compressed, well-planned, and real-time sessions aimed at project alignment, focusing on having the “right” attendees to make critical upfront decisions – using preceding research or evidence as fuel.

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So what makes it different?

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So What Makes It Different?

01 Codesign with decision makers

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02 Evidence = informed decisions

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03 Agile workshop approach

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04 Real-time capture and turnaround

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01+02+03+04 = Rapid Facilitation

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What about Agile?

2 Benefits

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What about Agile?

Long-range

leadership(beyond the 2 to 6-week iteration)

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What about Agile?

Dealing with “Executive Site Producers”

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What about Agile?

“Executive Site Producer” tries to channel Steve Jobs… and misses the mark

i.e., those who make decisions by channeling this guy ↑

Reference: googleimages

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Does any of this sound familiar?

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The problems acceleration tackles

Reference: Sapient Corporation, Harvard Business School Case Study

9-405—45, Jan 25, 2005

Your situation: Many decision makers, need their buy-in, and need to minimize

uncertainty around their expectations Not sure if I am making the right decisions (or if I am even asking

the right questions) Need better processes and methods Need better communications Need to maximize opportunities early and design with them in mind Need to maximize business value by knowing what to build Need to minimize fundamental issues of “what”/”why” Need to minimize scope definition (creep) Integrate planning and tracking

... in order to deliver on time and on budget

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The problems acceleration tacklesReference: “The Chaos Chronicles”, The Standish Group, 2003.

51%Challenged

34%On timeOn budget

15%Cancelled

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Approach + Planning an Accelerator Workshop

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Approach, Characteristics + Roles

• Active facilitation• Fast moving• Live captures• Visualization of info

Approach Characteristics Roles• Activity-based breakouts• Interactive merges• Intense, but fun• Pulse checks• Feedback driven• 20 client participants

• Clients are experts in their business, industry, environment

• We drive the process (facilitate and capture) and contribute from our knowledge and expertise in Value-Centered Design

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Planning your Workshop

Stakeholder meetings and find out who should be invited to attend

Discovery Summary * Research Summary ** Logistics

Workshop Prep1 – 2 weeks

Workshop 2 to 4 days

DocumentationA few hours to 1 week

Alignment session Business Goals Identify as a group the

mission critical initiatives (weigh and prioritize)

High level requirements Collaborate on a

presentation to sell solution

Team event

Exec Summary Presentation Shared sense of future

problem & changes needed Solutions priority & rationale High level road map Draft of scenarios, stories,

requirements High level plans (project, HR,

communications, marketing, etc.)

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Setting Expectations

Reassure your attendees about the rollercoaster ride of the Accelerator Workshop experience

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Planning your Workshop

Outline• Kickoff and welcome

• Introductions • Set expectations and goals• Ground Rules

• Discovery + Research presentation• Evidence-based recommendations for Management

• Project Alignment• Business Goals• Stories and Scenarios• Integrated planning and tracking• Recap, next steps, and feedback• Team event

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Main Room and Breakout Rooms

A B

D

C

flipchartscreen

whiteboard

poster

Main Room

Breakout 1

Breakout 2

Breakout 3

Breakout 4

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Handout 2

Setting up the Break Out Room Tip Sheet

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Questions?

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Facilitation 101+ Live Capture

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How is Meta this?

Having a Narrator >>

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Handout 3

Facilitation 101

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Live Capture

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Demo 1 :: Note taking with 2 peopleWhiteboard to Computer

(They don’t see this)

Tips :: Eye contact between tag team members Check off items as captured Alternate colors for easier read (bullets) Highlight changes for typist Prepare well so that you don’t have to mess with

formatting during session

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Demo 1 :: Note taking with 2 people• Want projects to be successful

• To be organized quickly

• Lots of conflict

• More UCD in Tech environment

• Quickly shave time off (dynamic) project (before it can change)

• Cheap clients to get the most out of them in a short period of time, cost effective for client

• Practical for my clients

What are your expectations for this workshop?

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Demo 2 :: Note taking by yourselfReal time Computer

(They see this – live)

Tips :: Hyperactive listening Apply Ground Rules to ensure all is captured Type fast (demo fixing things on the fly*) Prepare well so that you don’t have to mess with

formatting during session

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Demo 2 :: Note taking by yourself• Tell your PM that there is a serious risk to the project

• Define roles

• Get people together to resolve

• Ignore it and pretend that there is no alignment issue How do YOU tackle your project alignment problems?

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Demo 3 :: Predictive PowerPoint

• Freeze + Unfreeze - Use the Freeze function for the projector

- Jiggle the mouse to ensure it is frozen

- Do your thing; make changes (screen should be frozen to the desire screen)

- Go to where you want to jump back into the presentation

- Unfreeze and voila! Group sometimes doesn’t even realize you have made a change

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Practice live capture

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The rhythm of a workshop

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Divergent + Convergent Activities• Breakouts

Monitor Assign groups of 4 to 6 Clear assignment Time limit Active Capture

• Merges Summarize Amalgamate Live capture in group Vote Agree

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Divergent + Convergent Thinking :: Accordion Approach

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Exercise 1 Project Alignment + Goal Setting

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Company Mission Statements“To solve unsolved problems innovatively”

“To give unlimited opportunity to women”

“To preserve and improve human life”

(1990): “Become a $125 billion company by the year 2000”

Current: “To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people”

“To make people happy”

(early 1900's): “Will democratize the automobile”

(early 1950's): “Become the company most known for changing the worldwide poor-quality image of Japanese products”

(1950): “Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world into the jet age”

Reference: http://www.businessplans.org

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Company Vision Statements“To solve unsolved problems innovatively”

“To give unlimited opportunity to women”

“To preserve and improve human life”

(1990): “Become a $125 billion company by the year 2000”

Current: “To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people”

“To make people happy”

(early 1900's): “Will democratize the automobile”

(early 1950's): “Become the company most known for changing the worldwide poor-quality image of Japanese products”

(1950): “Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world into the jet age”

Reference: http://www.businessplans.org

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Project Mission Statements

Reference: flickr.com

Ultimate WHY.

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Project Vision Statements


What will it look like in the end?

Often includes Success Criteria. For example:“We know we are there, when cars can fly from tower to tower.”

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Aligning the Team

• “Do we have to do this?”• “We’ve done it a gazillion times before!”• “Ah – not again!”• “The last time we did this with business consultants, nothing

changed...”• “Nobody reads these...”• “I am going for a break!”• “Can I come back after lunch?!”

So what do we do?

When asked to do Mission / Vision Statements, be sure to expect these:

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Aligning the TeamWhat words can we use?• Project Purpose = Mission• Impact = Vision• Goals = Mission / Vision• Results = Vision

Just don’t use the M-word or the V-word

51%Challenged

34%On timeOn budget

15%Cancelled

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Team Assignment

Team A:- Chad- Lindsey- Sharon- Andrew

Team B:- Filip- Mark- Lukasz- David

Team C:- Raymond- Scott- Emma- Renee- James

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Exercise 1 :: Breakout

Vision Statement for Project Check-in

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Exercise 1 :: Merge

Assignment:Coming up with the Vision Statement together as a large group: Team presentations Discussion Vote or Agree Iterate and Finalize

Tip :: Look at effective examples Gather some recent industry press releases Keep it short and sweet Include project benefits (so what) Ensure Vision is measurable and achievable

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Exercise 1 Merge :: Vision Statement

Team B: To make check-in

as invisible and seamlessas possible

Team C: To improve

check in experience to 97% by 2009

Team A: Being known

as the easiest hotel to check in to

Votes: 3Votes: 8

Votes: 2

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Exercise 1 Merge :: Final Vision Statement

We came up with this at the end:

Being known as the easiest, fun, seamless, comfortable, enjoyable

hotel to check into by 2009, wherever we compete

Parked Issues :: Should we stick to “easiest”? Or

other qualities like fun, seamless, comfortable, etc.?

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Exercise 2 Storyboarding

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Storyboarding

• How does it start?

• Make it alive and real (Tip: Provide a photo gallery)

Reference: googleimages, flickr.com

Decide to fly Choose location Choose date Search online Compare Purchase

Ann wanted to go on vacation... to see the Mona Lisa, from March 15 – 23...

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Exercise 2 :: Storyboarding Breakout

Storyboarding Project Check-in

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Exercise 2 :: Breakout

Assignment:• Develop your storyboard• To share with larger group later

Tips :: Prepare some ‘straw’ stories Encourage teams to add Details makes for realism


The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais, oil on canvas, 1870. A seafarer tells the young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother the story of what happened out there at sea.

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Exercise 2 :: Story Flow Merge, Example from Visio

Reserve a Room Arrive at hotel Notify hotel of your presence Present your payment option

Validate and/or modify reservationAcquire room admittance

mechanismReceive location of room Oreint self to room location

Proceed to room Utilize admittance mechanism Enter room

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Exercise 2 :: Storyboarding Merge

Final product summary

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Questions?

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Methods Overview

A number of activities can be used in Accelerator Workshops including the list above, but by no means limited to these

Activity Analysis Affinity diagramming Back casting

Brainstorming Breakouts & Merges

Cognitive Task Analysis Design the Box Draw

the experience Empathy Tools

Examining Secondary Research Five-W’s Personas Predict next year’s headlines

Predict Project Press Release

Role-play Storyboarding Swimlane

diagramming Scenario flows

Sketch Sheets Usability Inspection

User Safari

• Use the Accelerator Workshop Methods Guide as a reference

• Different activities are fitted to required deliverables

• Activities are suited for various stages of the project

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Handout 4

Accelerator Workshop Methods Guide

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Backcasting for Visioning + Road mapping

IDEAL

CURRENT

Current State

Ideal State

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Design the Box for Strategy + Direction

From Jim Highsmith, Cutter Institute

Create a box for the product, even if it isn’t shipped in a box.

Elements for the Box:• Name• Tagline• 3 key selling features• Imagery / Color / Type (Later)• Back: Feature Set

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Empathy Tools for Goal Setting

• ExamplesCrying babyTight budgetGloved tasksBlindfoldedNo time (timed task)Others...

Reference: Flickr.com

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Examine Secondary Research for Goal Setting

• Examples: Marketing research Corporate documents Website analytics

Reference: Flickr.com

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Swimlane Document Example

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Wrapping Upan Accelerator Workshop

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Wrapping Up :: Things to doEnd of session: • Communicate Next Steps • Get feedback• Collect fines• Close issues and/or capture them • Address final FUDs (fears, uncertainties, and doubts)• Assign follow up tasks (names and dates)• Distribute work products (such as posters, PowerPoints, print outs, etc.)After session: • Draft to do list with team and assign tasks (names and times/dates)• Get internal feedback (capture these too)• Address final concernsDay after:• Complete to do list and push out deliverables• Congratulate and celebrate

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Accelerator Workshop End Products

• Good examples: A box or product Bullet points in PowerPoint Flows in Visio Stickies on a board (this

should be captured as photo)

Photos All merged into one

document (preferably PowerPoint)

• Poor examples: Text / diagrams on a board Text / diagrams on large paper Personal notes Word documents Unmerged documents

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Quick Turn Around Deliverables

I can deliver our workshop session right now...

Ok, maybe after spell check!

What makes it easy and fast to deliver after the session?• The group did all the work already!• Live captures• My templates• My prep time• This is like fill in the blanks (clarity important during task)• Team work to clean up the deliverables (crossing finish line together)

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Typical Client Feedback- Intense!- Enjoyable- Fun- Unearthed and resolved real issues- Took critical decisions- Solid foundation- Reap rewards over the life of the project (and beyond)- Others would not have produced value so fast!- Impressive!- Glad you warned me about the valley of death curve!- You made me behave – but I still had fun- WOW!!!!

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Taking this back to your team

- Could be an all IA team or a mixed team (roles of AE, PM, TL, CL, etc.)- Building on existing skills and interests- Developing new skills and interests- Synthesis and making new tools according to your needs- Selling it internally- Selling it as an offer- Value Centered Design and Process- Based on evidence-based management - Is an effective foundation for long term relationship, trusted advisors

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Taking this back to your team – Where is the magic?

Attendees

Live capture

Flexibility + Fun

Accordion (Diverge/Converge)

Planning + Prep

Research first

Evidence for decisions

Participate + Listen

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Questions + Feedback

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Fines!Save the Children: $7

Your facilitator donated $18 on your behalf.

Our group donated a total of $25 to Save the Children, China Earthquake survivors fund.

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FeedbackWhere we did great• Great structure• Group exercises were good• Fun• Liked techniques (Design the Box,

etc.)• Liked tips on facilitation

Where we can improve• Case study, examples• Being next to the night club• Have personas on the wall• More tips

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Thank you!For coming, participating, and being a fun group

acceleratorworkshop_upa2008_after

Technology

agile workshop approach

early workshop

logistics workshop prep

workshopable activities

workshop stakeholder

facilitation practice

user research

discussion facilitation