In the new-normal era, in just several months when managers of traditional businesses got locked in front of screens, the urgent need for conducting strategic remote meetings occurred. Discussion on whether to digitize the process, outsource it, or find a proper partner is on a daily agenda. There are a plethora of online discovery workshops offered today which help you to find the right direction in a digital ecosystem and develop a valid digital solution to ensure business continuity.
However, to ensure that the discovery session you’re looking to participate in is not a waste of time and money, here are four things you should look for in the offer:
A well-prepared agenda and workflow
This can come in the form of the list of information you need to prepare for ‘day one’ or a list of areas that you will discuss each day of the remote workshop. The offer should specify what you need to prepare before the workshop, which will help in keeping both sides ready. Here are some questions you can ask the workshop organizer:
- Is there any pre-workshop homework?
- Do we need to conduct any market research beforehand?
- Should we export any data from our software before coming in?
Number of participants
To make sure the workshop is effective, it’s best to limit the number of participants from both sides, i.e. the client and the consultants, to the most essential individuals. A professional workshop will require that a Business Process Owner or a Product Owner, and any key company stakeholders participate.
The workshop organizers should have a team of specialists in every field. While they don’t have to participate in the entire workshop, it’s important for them to be available if needed, to ensure cost optimization and tailoring to customer needs. Depending on the scope of the workshops, it can be a backend developer, frontend developer, business analyst, or a designer (so, anyone who matches the type of product development services you’re looking for).
Meetup rules
Punctuality is crucial, irrespective of the business setting. No one wants the workshop schedule to be affected just because some attendees are running late. To prevent this from happening, you can include basic meeting rules that all individuals must follow, such as:
- On-time meeting arrival
- No phone calls during meetings
- Turning on the webcam
- Avoiding distractions, etc.
This is to make sure that the workshop runs as smoothly as possible and that client makes the most of it.
Customized approach
Each company is different. For this reason, when the workshop provider sends you the agenda, make sure that it aligns with your company.
Your top concern should be if it covers all areas of your business. The consultants you choose for the workshop should also be willing to improvise and make amends if the workshops go off-script. Most importantly, they should expect the unexpected and be prepared to handle such situations as things don’t always go as planned.
The bottom line here is that you should know what exactly to expect from the finalized workshops. Namely, you should be provided with a list of deliverables, i.e., a tangible plan, that will let you determine if the development is worth the investment.
Summary
In today’s competitive landscape, developing a product that adds value to its users can be a big challenge. Therefore, it’s highly recommended to reach out to companies offering product development services, who have experience with dozens of similar solutions. While this means they’ve had their fair share of wrong decisions and mistakes, it also means that they can help keep you from following in their footsteps. Taking advantage of their expertise will not only save you a lot of stress, but it will cut your development costs and time to market, which often constitutes a decisive factor to business success.
Are you looking for software experts to give you a helping hand with your startup plans? Do you want to verify your hypotheses and evaluate them against the market before you invest your time and resources in product development services? You should look for a combination of such business analysis consultants who will bring a deep understanding of what stands behind market success to help you choose the best-fit solution for your project.
