The data around the increased quality and reduced costs of using JAD-like workshops are impressive. In a use-case modeling workshop, business participants were able to test their use case model and structural business rules using 55 scenarios in less than 90 minutes. In two hours, workshop participants generated 119 business events, classified them and then removed those not in scope. In three hours, a team validated a medium-complexity data model and made decisions about the scope of the data about which business performance metrics would be based. In 3.5 hours, a complete set of relationship maps were built by workshop participants which enabled them to identify, in detail, current business process and problem areas.
Planning is all.
A facilitated workshop must be well-designed and planned in order to be successful, and it requires a process. For example, a workshop contract, sometimes in the form of an agenda, will delineate decision rules and products. In other cases, an orientation is conducted to ensure agreement on the workshop process and understanding of the products and pre-work. Attention to all these dimensions is paramount. Customers are involved from the start of the workshop-planning process, beginning with identifying the workshop goals.