For executing IT room migration projects successfully, the migration framework should be followed with all activities and providing the outputs. Ensure that the relevant activities are selected and used by the team and make sure that all key resources are familiar with it.

The IT room migration workshop

What’s a IT room migration workshop? It’s a series of meetings where the project manager and the lead team members (business analyst, designer, test manager, SME’s, etc.) get to an agreement on the approach towards delivering the program.

The workshop is the keystone of method deployment, and requires preparation, education, leadership and follow-on mentoring. The workshop is undertaken during solution design to position the proposal and Statement of Work (SOW) utilizing the method. Workshops are undertaken at major project checkpoints to accomplish a re-orientation.

A workshop helps in determining the key requirements activities, templates and outputs. The workshop essentially acts as a discussion venue to determine the optimal activities for the project. Various methods can be used for these workshops. Most of them prescribe how to collect and specify requirements and in some cases how to manage them also. These workshops also help in putting in place effective project change management processes. Workshop is used to tailor and adopt the project management and technical methods for the product or service and determine the optimal activities needed. Post workshop, stakeholders are identified and various elicitation techniques are used for determining the requirements. Techniques can vary according to the group of stakeholders. A consolidated business requirements document is created for client review.

A workshop is used to bring the project and the method together. It’s usually facilitated by the project manager. The length and content are adapted to the needs of the project:

• They are discussed and agreed beforehand.
• Typical length 2-4 days, it may be spread over more than one workshop.

Conducting a workshop could be suggested in the following order:

• Schedule a workshop.
• Create work products list.
• Create/Refine resource request.
• Complete project definition document.
• Create preliminary project plan.
• Obtain agreement of initial project definition agreement.
• Review milestones/deliverables identified in the project definition.

The objectives during the workshop are:

• Get a good understanding of the project.
• Tailor the method to project estimation, selecting techniques, tasks and tools.
• Define team organization and roles.
• Assess risks.
• Assess team skills.

At the end of the workshop it should provide the results of:

• A tailored method.
• Preliminary project plan.
• Risk assessment.
• Resource plan for the team.
• Log of method exclusions and extensions.
• Identified project work products and deliverables.

But remember, for each project the workshop is never standard!

Tasks

1. Conduct the workshop.
2. Identify re-usable assets.
3. Document and communicate the workshop output.
4. Verify workshop output as input to the overall project definition.

Hints and tips

• Use a structured process for this but retain flexibility. Methods are an aid to consistent execution but all jobs are different.
• As well as ‘adopting’ the method both the method and the job will require ‘adaption’ too. Be flexible, not dogmatic.
• The Workshop Book: How to design and lead successful workshops of Pamela Hamilton is providing clear insights and guidelines to follow for completing a successful workshop.

Activity output

• Workshop materials
• RACI