Proper project work planning, communication, and technical aspects are very important for achieving the final success. However, equally crucial, if not the most important, is the stage before the start of this work and the actions to be taken then. Often before the start of the project, certain elements need to be developed, discussions between the team and the client should be held, preliminary estimates should be analyzed, and confronted with the expected deadlines. The time spent at the eCommerce workshops analyzing the key elements in terms of the project helps in a major way to reduce the chance of occurrence of any problems further down the line, during the project. It is therefore a great project tool and a crucial part, the importance of which should definitely be valued and used effectively by all of the project sides.
Workshop as a way to plan the project environment and establish the project rules
Why are workshops so important then? There are plenty of reasons for that. First of all, before starting the project, all parties must know precisely what the main goal of the project is, and during the workshops there is a place and time to dive deep into that.
In a wide-ranging discussion, the workshops provide a space to discuss the main assumptions and expectations on the client's side. If there is a complexity of the project functionalities available, which was prepared beforehand, the workshop allows all the participants to go through its elements carefully and discuss each element in a very detailed way. The time spent on such analysis pays off later, due to the fact that by discussing the elements of such complexity together, one can, for example, avoid overlooking some important issues that arise during such conversation. If such elements are identified, the team, together with the client, can modify or expand such functionalities and fill in the missing elements. This is of great value because it then does not happen at the project stage, but rather before the project begins, allowing additional guidance to be taken into account when planning the work over a wider range of time.
The workshop also allows to establish the key elements and functionalities that will make up the project. This is important because it is necessary to confront initial complexity of the functionalities with various variables from the client's side, even if only such as the expected completion date of the project. If deadlines and budgets allow only a portion of the project to be completed in a given period, it is worthwhile to, for example, decide on the composition of the MVP, an acronym that stands for minimal viable product.
The composition of the MVP includes the key functionalities to launch the product in its minimum necessary version. This solution is useful when a client decides to make a version of the product that allows one to bring in revenue while improving the UX/UI or adding more functionalities later on. This makes it possible to receive feedback from the market as to what the end customer needs—what works and what doesn't work effectively, and thus makes it possible to plan the next stages of implementations more effectively, while taking into account the focus on the most important aspects that will bring a definite effect.
The workshop also provides the space to discuss how to communicate during the project. Effective communication is vital during a project, both for the client and the team, as it allows for quick responses to questions, effective verification of inaccuracies, and dynamic problem-solving. Communication can be conducted via emails or by using tools such as Slack, for example, but it's also a good idea to establish the types of meetings that will be required during the project. Poor understanding and lack of responsiveness on both or one side during a project can make it very difficult to complete it successfully, so this element should not be overlooked or insufficiently addressed. The workshop, therefore, is a vital part of the project planning, since it allows the team and the client to discuss the rules of communication, something that, when omitted, will very likely impact negatively the progress of the work later on. Projects which do not conduct workshops in order to discuss such matters suffer during further phases, it is really important to precisely describe the flow at the very beginning.
Defining the way of conducting the project itself is also something which happens during the workshop and the time dedicated for it holds great value. There are many project management methodologies, and the decision on which one will be appropriate for the successful implementation of the project rests with the PM, who should then explain the principles to all involved and how to implement them properly. The workshops enable both the client and the team to discuss what challenges they will face in the project and allow them to specify the appropriate way for everyone to conduct the project. A popular solution is the Scrum methodology, where the work is divided into sprints; during the project, Sprint Planning or Sprint Review meetings are necessary, ultimately involving the team and the client (on a daily basis, daily meetings usually involve only the development team and the PM). There are other ways to conduct the project, and the workshop is an effective way to pick the best one, since it allows participants to analyze all of the requirements in a more precise way. Working on the project without a workshop often results in difficulties in the further stages.
It is also important to define the roles that everyone will have to hold in the project. Both the PM and the project team, the client, and other participants should know perfectly well what responsibilities each of them will have during the whole process. Communication and methodology are not effective if it is not known what each participant will be responsible for, and potentially how much time will be required from each party. Every contribution is important, and the workshop allows assigning the contribution of each party in the most efficient way possible.
https://bitbag.io/blog/the-challenge-of-ecommerce-project-management
Workshop as a tool to effectively prepare the roadmap scheme
In the case of a large scope of tasks, in order to be able to meet the conditions related to deadlines, the workshop is definitely essential in determining in what time frames we assume the delivery of specific stages of the project. There is often the initial assumption to deliver a finished project that is fully ready to be implemented for clients within a specific deadline; so dividing the overall work, if only tentatively, into phases can be very useful at the workshop stage, the time dedicated for that is highly beneficial.
The workshop allows both the client and the team to create a roadmap which has a lot of value for both parties. For the client, it allows one to look at the project holistically and understand the team's assumption on the distribution of work over a specific period of time; for the team, on the other hand, it is also a valuable information, because it helps to avoid chaos at the project stage; knowing what stages of the project will be implemented in specific time frames. Dedicating the time to prepare such a scheme during the workshop is a great investment into lowering the level of difficulties later on.
By tracking the progress of the project and comparing the current stage with the roadmap created at the workshop, one can draw valuable conclusions about whether everything is aligned with the original plan. This allows one to eliminate problems that a potential discrepancy might suggest, and it sometimes allows the client to modify decisions in terms of the expected project delivery date to allow for its finish in the deadline which was planned during the workshop. Thus, depending on the current project, it may result in expanding the scope of the project backlog or narrowing it to be able to deliver the project overall within the specified timeframe.
In the case of very frequent changes regarding the project backlog, it is recommended to keep the roadmap updated for these changes. The originally created roadmap at the workshop stage can become outdated very quickly if the scope of tasks expands or if the project scope changes drastically during the project. Thus, while it is a tool meant to facilitate project work, referencing an outdated roadmap can harm project communication and understanding of deadlines. However, all actions established during the workshops should ensure that this tool is used properly.
In conclusion, a roadmap can be a very effective tool and it is recommended to create one in any selected form during the workshop, chosen according to the nature of the project and whether the project has a clear deadline and a clear scope of tasks to be completed within a certain value of time. It is a very important part of the workshop and explains why it should be conducted; it prevents all parties from encountering unexpected problems later on.
Workshop as a way to mitigate risks
When working on a project, various risks may arise for specific stages of the project, which may affect the work assumptions. The workshop also serves to identify such risks at the pre-work stage in the first place, if possible, and then develop a solution to avoid them before they start, develop measures to eliminate them during the project or reduce their impact.
If a roadmap was created at the workshop stage, it can be used to analyze the various phases of the work and try to delineate potential problems we may encounter. The point here is not to look for potential difficulties by force, but to analyze the places where there is the greatest chance of their occurrence and already during the workshop work out solutions to avoid them. Analysis from this angle can enable the client and the team to move more smoothly through potential difficulties, which will ultimately affect all aspects of the project as well as its final outcome. The workshop creates a great environment for such discussions due to the fact that it is possible to break down the elements of the project into smaller factors and talk about them in depth, which ultimately brings great benefits in terms of saving time at the work stage.
Workshop as a space to dive deeper into technical aspects
Workshop is therefore a must-have in order to establish a project scheme and plan the scope of work within a certain time frame. It is also the best place for extended discussions on the technologies to be used at the stage of work on the project. If the client or one of the participants on the client’s side attending the workshop is a technical person, then such a meeting can also act as a technical consultation to decide on specific technological options regarding the project and discuss pros and cons of deciding on one of them.
Often in the case of the complexity of the project functionalities, there is an opportunity to use a specific off-the-shelf technological solution to reach the best, fastest, and most effective solution in order to achieve the goal. Workshops where there is space to focus on a more advanced discussion from a technical angle allow not only to talk about such options, but also at least to present several options on some example, in-depth analysis of what can facilitate the choice of a simpler way to complete the shuffle found in the complexity of the functionalities, thanks to the presentation of such a comparison.
In the case of BitBag, which has a great deal of experience in Sylius technology, the workshop more than once allowed the analysis of ready-made Sylius solutions that can be implemented in the project with little effort, saving the customer time and resources. It is the workshops that often create the analysis space that makes this possible.
Thus, the workshop also allows for in-depth analysis from a technological perspective and to expand the client and team's knowledge of the project. This is a very valuable time for all parties; it allows one to use the available tools more efficiently and perfectly match the available options to the specified requirements.
https://bitbag.io/blog/tasks-prioritization-in-the-ecommerce-project
Conclusion
Pre-project workshops bring great value. The time and space allow one to fully prepare a project to start and avoid unexpected difficulties. They are as crucial as the project work itself, therefore they shouldn’t be omitted. From planning the very model of cooperation at the project stage, to defining the roles of each party, defining the roadmap, choosing the appropriate technological solutions for building the product - workshops are essential and much needed to refine all these aspects.
More information about our eCommerce workshops, you will find on the website - Vision-To-Plan: eCommerce Workshop
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