Workshop plan

Purpose. A workshop that produces decisions and mapped process, not a transcript of opinions.

Overview

Field	Detail
Workshop title
Objective	One measurable outcome — e.g. "a mapped release process with handoffs and cycle times"
Date and time
Location / platform
Facilitator
Note-taker

Participants

Name	Role	Organisation	Why they are here

Cross-functional by design. Include the people who perform the work, not only the people who manage it.

Pre-work

Item	Owner	Due
Pre-workshop survey issued
Existing process documentation requested
Current architecture diagram circulated
Room, board and materials confirmed

Agenda

Time	Activity	Description	Lead
10 min	Introduction	Welcome, objectives, shape of the session
20 min	Current state	Environment, tooling, process, constraints
30 min	Key areas	Deep dive: infrastructure, architecture, security, compliance
30 min	Working session	Identify pain points and propose improvements
20 min	Actions and next steps	Summarise, assign owners and dates
10 min	Q&A and close	Open floor, follow-up commitments

Facilitation guide

Opening

• State the objective in one sentence and write it where everyone can see it.
• Confirm the agenda and the time boundaries.
• Set the rule: no blame, describe the system.

Current state

• Ask for the last real example, not the general process.
• Map the steps on the wall as they are described.
• Note the handoffs — the team boundary is where delay lives.
• Ask for time estimates and mark them as estimates.

Key areas

Prompts by area:

Area	Prompts
Infrastructure	How is it provisioned? Who can change it? How long does a change take?
Architecture	What are the components? Where are the dependencies? What breaks first?
Security	Where are the controls? Which ones obstruct work? How is evidence produced?
Compliance	What must be provable, to whom, how often?
Operations	What alarms exist? What does on-call actually do at 3 a.m.?

Working session

• Use a structured format — dot voting, impact/effort, or silent idea generation followed by grouping.
• Capture every pain point verbatim, then cluster.
• For each cluster, ask: what would have to change, and who owns it?

Close

• Read back the decisions and actions.
• Confirm owners and dates in the room.
• State what happens next and when the summary will arrive.

Captured during the session

Pain points

#	Pain point (verbatim)	Area	Impact	Affected roles
1

Current-state process

Step	Owner	System	Duration	Handoff to

Decisions

#	Decision	Rationale	Owner
1

Actions

#	Action	Owner	Due
1

Post-workshop

Task	Owner	Due
Summary report circulated		Within 2 working days
Action tracker created
Feedback survey issued
Follow-up meeting scheduled

Materials

• Whiteboard or shared digital board
• Sticky notes and markers, or the digital equivalent
• Printed current-state architecture
• Attendance sheet
• The workshop deck