What's the purpose?

Requirements workshops are a powerful and enjoyable way for organizations and departments to collaborate and define more effective ways of working together:

• avoids the problem of lack of consultation in departmentalized organizations
  
• faster and more effective than writing and then not reading large draft specifications
• encourages full participation by all parties to a project
• allows users to see the options at the outset, assisted by the rest of the team

By opening dialog in the first few minutes, everyone involved can contribute, and a shared goal emerges quickly.

What's the outcome?

Usually there are several outcomes, and some interesting by-products:

• a brief, understandable, and clear specification, often in the form of jointly created diagrams
  
• consensus about the goals
• a shared enthusiasm for the project that all have helped to define
• a shared language and set of unambiguous terms that do not clash with existing terms in the organization

A typical workshop

1. ice breaker
2. introductions
3. goal setting
4. whiteboard based domain/problem analysis
   
5. sketch a solution
6. testing the proposed solution
7. conclusion

4, 5, and 6 are the most concrete part of the workshop, provided the right creative atmosphere is generated by the preparation stages.

After the meeting

1. formal summary of the Workshop results
2. develop glossary
3. outline solution in more detail
4. plan next steps