Lean requirements workshop
Collaboration over documentation is the objective—people with domain expertise talking to people with product delivery expertise. As long as those two parties are aligned and validating assumptions against customer feedback, then we’re good. Use this section to understand the building blocks and the outcomes, as well as the activities, to facilitate an effective workshop.
We call our methodology of building alignment and understanding Lean Requirements. The general exercises and tools to execute Lean Requirements are identified below:
| Exercise | Output | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Vision setting | Vision document | A single-page document that outlines key outcomes of the product and serves as a North Star for decision-making throughout delivery. |
| Service mapping | Service map Opportunities | Used to map out an existing client service and identify various touchpoints and areas of opportunity across departments, roles, etc. Also, useful to visualize how the service will transform with an introduction of a new digital product. |
| System roles | List of roles | The roles that the product needs to support. For example, customers, power users, administrators, resellers. |
| User journeys | Journey maps | Journey maps are useful for complex, tightly coupled workflows that may surface in the service-mapping exercise. For example, a loan being underwritten and going through approval may touch four different departments inside a company. |
| Story mapping | Story map Initial version of backlog | Identifying the epics and stories that support the desired functionality in the product. Story map eventually evolves into backlog. |
| Tech deep dive | Architecture document Technology decisions Standards | Devbridge and client evaluate current technology ecosystem, establish target architecture, select technologies for the product, and agree on engineering best practices to be used in the product build. |
| Entity map | Entity map Refactored story map | The team reviews initial story map, identifies major entities and relationships, refactors story map based on entities. |
| Stakeholder identification | Roles and responsibilities | The team determines the key roles of the product team—the sponsor, the stakeholders, the SMEs. Expectations for participation are set. |
| Prioritization | Release roadmap | The team reviews the story map and determines what the release strategy and cadence will look like (MVP, MMP, etc.). |
| Risks and success | Risks and assumptions document Vision document update | The team discusses desired outcomes, assumptions made, as well as identified risks. |
| Workshop retro | N/A | Workshop retrospective captures what went well and what could have been improved. |
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Workshops validate investment