As we move through the discussion on Day 2 and looking at the project scope, constraints will be identified.  Be sure to provide your client and consulting team with examples of what might be a constraint.  A constraint is something that limits your degree of freedom.  Limited development resources might be a constraint.  Constraints might be economic, political, functional, technical and even environmental.  Be sure to document the constraints and work with the project team to ensure they are identified.

Second to constraints would be assumptions.  You make assumptions regarding many aspects of the project.  Assumptions represent opinions that have not or cannot be readily or easily proven; yet they are expected to be true.  An assumption that is often made in organizations is that the executive team is on board and giving total support to the project.  Sometimes an assumption is made that the organization has a specific requirement, only to find out in the fit/gap that the system cannot support the requirement.

So far we have covered many discussion topics in Day 2 and it is important to facilitate interaction and participation by the team.  The one week workshop packs a great deal into the first week that not only sets the stage for the project but also ensures the success of the project.  Think about the deliverables that will be produced as a result of the workshop.

More projects fail because of poor change management than probably any other factor.  People do not like change and it is important to develop a change management and communication plan.  Identify that person in your group who loves to lead the charge on change.  Then develop a group discussion on how this project will impact the organization.  Draw an organizational chart on the board and circle the stakeholders.  Look at how the project will impact end users, customers, managers, executives.  How will that change be communicated to each of those groups.

Identify the leader who will begin to develop the change plan.  How will the team be structured to complete this deliverable.  A draft should be completed by the end of the week and a group will need to work on the content and strategy for that deliverable.  You can facilitate discussion in the large group and then assign a small group to work on the deliverable.  Or you can have several groups assigned to change and communication items for the plan.  Don’t hesitate to assign homework so this is completed and ready for presentation by the end of the week.

What are some of the creative ways to communicate to the organization?  Do you want to develop a web page? a newsletter, tweet program, blog, regular program for sending emails?  Will the communication look different for each group?  Let the group help stimulate this discussion and get a feel for the culture of the organization and how it communicates.  My experience in organizations demonstrates how communication differs, a small organization may communicate only by email, others may have formal presentations and still others may have comprehensive web sites.  Stimulate the group to come up with all the venues that they think will work for their organization and then assign a small group to incorporate the ideas into the plan.

One more step in the starting week of implementation/upgrade planning.