When running group sessions,
you can use structured or unstructured approaches.
You might also use a combination.
In a structured group session,
each participant has a very clearly defined role.
These roles may be things like leader, moderator,
manager, user, developer, and so on and so forth.
By having a representation of key roles who are involved in the product,
you may learn synergies within the group.
Generally, you'll focus on the high level requirements at this point.
These high level requirements touch on
the overall ideas and the desires of everyone who's involved?
For lower level requirements,
use the structured breakout groups or focus groups for that.
You may also tie in some techniques such as JAD or QFD.
JAD stands for Joint Application Development
and QFD stands for Quality Function Deployment.
In JAD, or joint application design,
this is a process used in the life cycle area of
dynamic system developments to collect
business requirements while also developing new information systems for a company.
In QFD, the quality of requirements is a measure of
the customer satisfaction based on the product or a service.
QFD is a structured method that uses seven management and
planning tools to identify and prioritize customer's expectations.
You're trying to identify and prioritize quickly and effectively.
These two techniques are explained more in the readings provided.
In unstructured group sessions,
you're mostly doing brainstorming to determine requirements.
Participants in these sessions have less clearly defined roles.
The big goal is idea generation.
Get as many ideas out there as possible from
each participant without any kind of censorship or criticism.
Following the brainstorm, evaluate the ideas of all of
the participants in the discussion.
A very important point is that you keep criteria in mind.
What criteria are you looking for to get out of this meeting?
Did you agree on this criteria with your customers?
They should know what you're going for too.
For example, are you focusing on security,
value of the product,
cost, feasibility, or something else?
Focus on, Well, hey,
what do you want? Is not enough.
In unstructured groups, you need goals and criteria to really move forwards.
Given the criteria, work with the group to prioritize the ideas.
There are techniques for requirement and idea prioritization
are discussed in the risk analysis and prioritization course.