Facilitation Techniques for Requirements Development

Learn how to effectively help stakeholders define their needs and develop them into quantifiable requirements through facilitation.

Public Classroom

Course Overview

As business analysts, we spend a significant amount of time facilitating requirements; yet many of us lack formal training in this vital skill. A successful facilitation session results in requirements that you can begin to analyse and work with. This course focuses on teaching the facilitation skills necessary to elicit and analyse project requirements. Learn how to effectively help stakeholders define their needs and form these needs into quantifiable requirements through facilitation. Learn how to prepare for and conduct both face-to-face and remote group sessions and get experience of facilitator techniques such as brainstorming and focus groups. Participants will also learn how to manage conflict in a session, motivate group participation, build consensus, manage conflict, maintain session focus and evaluate results.

Course Topics

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1. What is Facilitation?
   1. Facilitation techniques and practices
   2. The facilitation process
2. What is Business Analysis?
3. Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK)
   1. BABOK knowledge areas
   2. The business analysis process
4. Facilitating in Business Analysis
   1. The role of the business analysis facilitator
   2. The responsibilities of the business analysis facilitator
5. Facilitation Session Preparation
6. Considerations for Remote Sessions
   1. Environmental
   2. Preparation
   3. During the session
   4. Wrapping up
7. Facilitation in Business Analysis is Iterative
   1. Vision/enterprise analysis
      • Brainstorming
      • Brainwriting/Crawford Slip
   2. Definition/requirement elicitation
      • Focus group
      • Joint Application Design (JAD)
   3. Analysis/requirements analysis and documentation
      • Gap analysis
      • Root-cause analysis
      • Force-field analysis
   4. Decision/solution assessment and validation
      • Multi-voting
      • Criteria-based grid
      • Impact/effort grid
8. Verification of the Facilitation Session Plan
9. Facilitation Practices
   1. Generating participation
   2. Neutrality
   3. Active listening
   4. Questioning
   5. Paraphrasing
   6. Using flip charts
   7. Maintain focus
   8. Intervention
   9. Feedback
   10. Summarising
   11. Synthesising ideas
10. Executing a Facilitation Session
    1. Prior to the session
    2. Starting the session
    3. Conducting the session
    4. Ending the session
11. Facilitation Conflict Techniques
    1. Argument vs. debate
    2. How to intervene
    3. Choices in resolving issues
    4. Working toward consensus
12. BA Facilitation Opportunities