Prepare our team
Success rewards due diligence over sheer brilliance. When important people with important roles book travel and dedicate a couple of focused days with members of our team, go above and beyond to prepare—the more prepared the team is for the workshop, the lower the risk that something is going to blindside you in the working session. In preparation for a workshop, ask the following questions:
- What should we communicate with the client before the workshop so that expectations meet reality when they go through the exercise?
- What does our team need to do to come into the session armed?
The first thing to consider is whether or not people in the organization are familiar with the industry vertical, and if we have people who have experience working on similar products. In addition to selecting the product manager, designer, and engineering representation, consider inviting one or several Devbridge practice leads who can offer their expertise (i.e., product or design) to support the workshop.
Even for greenfield projects, there’s likely a preferred technology stack for the client.
For example, the organization may run the majority of their server-side on Java or .NET. Ask these questions ahead of the workshop so that the right engineering team members can fly in and support the technical analysis.
Define the roles for team members in the workshop. Determine who leads, who orchestrates exercises, who performs crowd control for stakeholders, who manages logistics, who takes notes, and so on. Review all visiting client stakeholders—their roles, responsibilities, job histories on LinkedIn, and any past activities or posted opinions.
