Module 2 of 2 · 40 minutes
Workshops, data and landing the change
By the end of this module you will be able to
- Run a requirements workshop that produces decisions
- Use data to test what people tell you
- Write findings people act on rather than file
- Support the change landing, which is where analysis actually pays off
Work through it
1 interactive for this module, built on the WAJD Teach engine. Nothing moves until you ask it to, and every one has a written version if you would rather read it.
Amara My workshops sprawl. Two hours, lots of talk, nothing decided.
Nadia Then start with whether it should have been a workshop at all. A workshop is for what needs several people in a room: conflicts, cross team process, priorities. Gathering information one person holds is an interview wearing a room booking.
Amara And when it genuinely needs the room?
Nadia Structure beats charisma, every time. State the decision the session exists to produce, at the start, on the wall. Timebox the sections. Park what does not belong, visibly. And end by reading back what was decided, who owns each action, and by when.
Amara The read back feels bureaucratic.
Nadia It is ninety seconds, and it is the difference between a decision and a memory. Three weeks later, the read back is the only version anybody agrees on.
Amara I have a senior person everybody waits for.
Nadia Collect views on sticky notes before anybody speaks. Positions then exist before the senior one does, and you will be astonished what people write down that they would never have said after the director spoke.
Amara And the person who takes everything into the weeds?
Nadia The parking lot, used kindly and relentlessly. That is important and it is not this decision, it goes on the wall, and it does go on the wall, because a parking lot that loses things stops working in one meeting.
Amara You said data tests what people tell me.
Nadia Interviews tell you what people believe happens. Data tells you what happens. The gap between them is usually your finding.
Amara Example.
Nadia The team tells you exceptions are rare. The data says a third of cases take the exception path. The map says approval takes a day; the timestamps say nine. Everybody blames the old system; the queue is actually in front of one person who checks everything by hand.
Amara Do I need proper tooling for that?
Nadia Counts, dates and durations in a spreadsheet answer most analysis questions ever asked. What did people actually do, how often, how long, where did it wait.
Amara Can I trust the data?
Nadia Check its honesty first. Mandatory fields get filled with rubbish to pass validation. And a date that is always a Friday is a batch job, not a fact about the world.
Amara How do I report so it gets acted on?
Nadia Three findings, each one a sentence somebody can act on, with what it costs today and what changes if fixed. Evidence attached, method in an appendix for the one person who wants it. A forty page document is where analysis goes to be filed.
Amara And then I move to the next project.
Nadia And then the change fails, and the analysis failed with it, whatever the document said. Stay for the landing.
Amara What does staying look like?
Nadia The people whose workaround you removed built it for a reason. Involve them in what replaces it, or they will rebuild it in a new spreadsheet within a month. And watch the first weeks in the data you already have.
Amara Looking for what?
Nadia The workaround reappearing in the numbers. If the exception path was a third of cases and the new process pretends it is rare, you will see it in the data before anybody says a word to you.
The written material
Workshops that produce decisions
A workshop is for the things that need several people in a room: resolving conflicts, mapping a process across teams, agreeing priorities. It is not for gathering information one person holds, which is an interview wearing a room booking.
Structure beats charisma. State the decision the session exists to produce, at the start, on the wall. Timebox each section. Park what does not belong, visibly, so people trust it is not lost. And end by reading back what was decided, who owns each action, and by when.
Manage the two people who break workshops: the senior voice everybody waits for, and the detail hound who takes every discussion to the bottom. For the first, collect views on sticky notes before anybody speaks, so positions exist before the senior one does. For the second, the parking lot, used kindly and relentlessly.
Data is how you test what people tell you
Interviews tell you what people believe happens. Data tells you what happens. The gaps between the two are the findings.
The team says exceptions are rare; the data says a third of cases take the exception path. The process map says approval takes a day; the timestamps say nine. Everybody says the old system is the bottleneck; the queue is actually in front of one person who checks everything by hand.
You do not need sophisticated tooling. Counts, dates and durations from the existing system, in a spreadsheet, answer most analysis questions. What did people actually do, how often, how long did it take, where did it wait.
And check the data's own honesty before trusting it: fields that are mandatory get filled with rubbish to pass validation, and a date that is always a Friday is a batch job, not a fact about the world.
Findings that get acted on, and the landing
A finding is a sentence somebody can act on, with the evidence attached. Not a forty page document, which is where analysis goes to be filed.
Lead with the three things that matter, each with what it costs today and what changes if fixed. Put the method and the detail in an appendix for the one person who wants it.
Then stay for the landing, because the change failing is the analysis failing, whatever the document said. The people whose workaround you are removing built it for a reason: involve them in what replaces it or they will rebuild it in a new spreadsheet within a month.
Watch the first weeks in the data you already have: if the exception path was a third of cases and the new process assumes it is rare, you will see the workaround reappearing in the numbers before anybody tells you.
Knowledge check
The knowledge check and your certificate need a free account, so that your progress and results can be saved as evidence.
The learning itself stays free and open. You are reading all of it right now without an account.