Facilitator: Kate Rutter
Company: Adaptive Path
Session Title: Picturing Success: Mapping Needs and Goals at Project Kick-off
Session #: 106
Date: Monday, February 23, 2009
Time: 10:30am - Noon
Room: Valley
Latest update : 2/28 8:50pm
Hi, all. Thanks to everyone that attended the session. I learned a lot from you all, and the energy and enthusiasm you brought to the room was wonderful. It was great to work with you!
Session deck and handouts are available in the Session Materials section. The materials we generated together are available in the Session Notes section. Please jump in and share your thoughts, impressions, how this workshop can be improved, notes, photos...bring it on!
- Kate
Workshop Description
Companies constantly launch new initiatives and projects. Starting a project off on the right foot can mean the difference between success and failure. Projects are made of people, yet all too often we start a project without a clear understanding of the goals, motivations and success metrics for the people involved: stakeholders, sponsors and participants. Even when we have this information, it tends to erode as the tactical work of the project evolves. At Adaptive Path, we've been successful creating visual artifacts that capture this information during kick-off. The visual serves as a guidepost, a rallying cry and a centering tool that consistently reminds us of the purpose, vision and human inputs critical to project success.
We'll begin with a discussion of the type of information it's important to have prior to hunkering in the trenches on a project: stakeholder input, participant goals and motivations, organizational success factors, risks and opportunities. Then we'll break into small groups and explore ways to visually express this information.
Our objective is to create a variety of visual artifacts that can act as touchstones and guideposts throughout a project. Our tools will be elements of graphic recording, sketching, information sorting and visual thinking. At the end of the session, we'll have co-created a body of work representing a range of ways to capture, compose and retain key information that will center a project and guide it to success.
Who is this for?
People who consistently lead, manage or participate in project work. This is ideal for project and product managers, consultants and others who work on more than one project per year.
What is the goal of the workshop?
To collaboratively create visual templates that capture and reinforce the factors that will make a project successful.
Why is this valuable?
Project success factors become murky and erode as a project moves forward, because:
- Success factor's aren't explicitly captured at the start of a project
- Focus on the big picture erodes as detailed/tactical project work proceeds
- Organizations and people's objectives and opinions shift as time passes
- Success factors are not summarized anywhere in clearly articulated themes and statements.
How can this change?
- We can capture success factors, motivations and objectives at the start of the project
- We can document them visually in an artifact that is used for the duration of the project
What will we do in the VizThink workshop?
- We'll brainstorm what's important to capture for project success
- We'll use a scenario to practice making project information visual
- We'll create posters of visual artifacts to capture the info visually
How will the group engage in the workshop?
- Groups will work together to create visual artifacts for project goals
- There will be sample models to get people thinking and drawing.
- For groups that want a bit more guidance, we'll use a technique called "mashup cards."
- Update! There were problems printing the latest version of the mashup cards, so we'll be using a smaller, more limited set as an emergency backup. I've adapted the activity to work with what we have.
After the workshop, the models were be captured digitally and shared (below) with the group and the larger VizThink community.
Session Materials
Additional Information/Links/Materials
Do you have a tool, resource, etc. to share? Please post whatcha got...
Session Notes
The following session materials are on their way, ETA Sun 3/1 in the evening:
