Discovery workshops work. They are a fantastic way to bring a team together before you start on a project or campaign and create a unique space at atmosphere to hear from all members of the team and get everyone on the same page. If your team is about to start on a new project, you should consider running a discovery workshop to get it off the launch pad quickly and smoothly. Read on to learn six reasons why you should run a discovery workshop before your next big project.
1 They Bring Everyone Together to Collaborate
A discovery workshop offers the opportunity to bring everyone involved in the project together in one space. Yes, collaboration platforms online are great, but they can’t stand in for bringing everyone together in person before the project begins in earnest. Depending on your team size, you can bring everyone together or representatives from each team, meaning different teams and departments can talk earnestly about what they can and can’t do, and understand the abilities and challenges of other teams.
2 Identifies Potential Problems Early
To build on the point above, having everyone in one room collaborating and making decisions as a team, means that you can eliminate those miscommunications that happen when the teams are apart. A UI team may not understand the marketing team, and the marketing team may not understand what is and isn’t possible on a design level. When you open the dialogue in real-time people can discuss potential problems they can foresee and find solutions that suit everyone.
3 Speeds Up the Decision-Making Process
A discovery workshop gives everyone a dedicated time to make all the big decisions that require multiple people’s input. Everyone in the room is 100% focused on figuring out everything that needs to go into this project, or in some cases, what needs to be changed about the project or campaign.
4 Creates a Focused Space Away From Distractions
Discovery workshops provide teams with a dedicated focus space. They are required to carve out a certain amount of time in their schedules to talk about and collaborate on this one project.
5 Creates a Clear Vision
Discovery workshops make sure everyone is on the same page. The vision of the final outcome of the project or campaign is clear and is the exact same thing for everyone, something that can become unclear when teams are scattered or even working remotely. A discovery workshop gets all the best ideas out in front of everyone and ensures everyone’s vision aligns.
6 It Creates Stronger Relationships and Understanding
Inter-departmental relationships aren’t a big problem if you are a start-up or small company, but as your organization grows your teams will naturally segregate, meaning that those in sales won’t know those in IT, and so on. In large companies, your marketing team may not even know your sales team. A discovery workshop brings the necessary people together and helps them connect. It brings understanding to people about their colleague’s roles which will help your company run more smoothly.