I've recently been reading the book "Gamestorming" by Dave Gray and find that its collaborative techniques are applicable to project management meetings. I took a leap of faith and ran my last project initiation meeting with this agenda:
1. Project vision - using the "Cover Story" game
2. Project deliverables - using the "Design the box" game
3. Stakeholders - using the "Stakeholder analysis" game
4. Project plan - using a collaborative game based on the TED talk "How to Draw Toast" - https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_got_a_...ast?language=en 5. Project risks - using the "Pre-Mortem" game
It was quite an involved session with lots of whiteboard work and post it notes but at the end everybody seemed to be aligned and we had some great artefacts which served to guide us through the project.
Does anybody else have experience with using collaborative methods in project planning? I'd be happy to share the agenda we used and the facilitator notes if anybody fancies trying it out. Just let me know. Saving Changes...
Collaboration is an ideal approach for project planning, but it's rare to see that occur.
True collaboration implies emergence - the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Many of the planning sessions I've witnessed look more like a round robin where each SME contributes their knowledge for their jurisdiction but there's almost no planning which couldn't have occurred without all team members actively collaborating.
I'd be very interested to see the agenda and notes. I'm always looking for new ways to get a team on the same plan. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Interesting. And thanks for the insight into that book. Hadn't heard of it until now.
I suppose it comes down to how we define collaboration. In my meetings, though I am facilitating, I set an expectation of shared responsibility and direction, leaning on others for their expertise and experience, whereas we all work together toward a common goal.
Did you find that what you learned from the book and applied to the scenarios you mentioned, add true value-add to the outcome of those sessions? In other words, would they not have been as successful? Was there enough reward for the extra effort, not solely from your perspective, but from the participants as well?
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1 reply by James Holroyd
Dec 18, 2018 8:32 AM
James Holroyd
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It's true that there is more effort required at the outset to think about the meeting activities and find collaborative opportunities, but I found that the payback was really worth it.
Firstly the project team was active in co-creating the project vision, the project plan, the stakeholder map as well as the risk log. Actually having them part of those processes helped to achieve alignment and ownership from the start. This paid dividends later on as I was less focused on selling the project to the stakeholders and could focus on actually managing the delivery. Also when we hit the inevitable issues with the project plan the work streams already had a good understanding of the dependencies and constraints having co-created the plan. I'd also mention that the output of the "Design the Box" activity was a valuable project artefact which served as a North Star throughout the project.
Interesting. And thanks for the insight into that book. Hadn't heard of it until now.
I suppose it comes down to how we define collaboration. In my meetings, though I am facilitating, I set an expectation of shared responsibility and direction, leaning on others for their expertise and experience, whereas we all work together toward a common goal.
Did you find that what you learned from the book and applied to the scenarios you mentioned, add true value-add to the outcome of those sessions? In other words, would they not have been as successful? Was there enough reward for the extra effort, not solely from your perspective, but from the participants as well?
It's true that there is more effort required at the outset to think about the meeting activities and find collaborative opportunities, but I found that the payback was really worth it.
Firstly the project team was active in co-creating the project vision, the project plan, the stakeholder map as well as the risk log. Actually having them part of those processes helped to achieve alignment and ownership from the start. This paid dividends later on as I was less focused on selling the project to the stakeholders and could focus on actually managing the delivery. Also when we hit the inevitable issues with the project plan the work streams already had a good understanding of the dependencies and constraints having co-created the plan. I'd also mention that the output of the "Design the Box" activity was a valuable project artefact which served as a North Star throughout the project. Saving Changes...
Frank ValdiviaDirector of Analytics| Heifer InternationalShoreview, Mn, United States
In the area of international development, it is typical that a planning workshop is carried out including stakeholders and project designers. It usually takes up to one week with the clear goals of delivering Goals, milestones, target groups, main activities and a draft high level budget Saving Changes...
