Run

WHAT YOU’RE IN FOR...

This is where you run all the activities defined in the agenda and planned in your schedule.

Remember:

• The Agenda defines the activities to conduct (and is the core of the Inception),

• The Schedule helps with the logistics.

FACILITATOR OR CONTRIBUTOR?

As a facilitator, we need to make sure we facilitate delivery of the expected outcomes, react to change as needed, and ‘herd the cats’. As a contributor, we collaborate towards the achievement of these outcomes.

The Facilitator, Contributors’ and Principles Cheat Sheets provide further detail on how to take part in an Inception. You’ll find them in the Cheat Sheet section.

Pro tips

Do not let yourselves be rushed into running the inception, prepare well, and include the core inception team into planning the inception.

Do not run the inception with half the team, or an overly inexperienced or ill-prepared team.

Frequently check the temperature with your client. Not many clients will have done this before. Ensure they understand what’s going on and why. Demonstrate progress and show a clear narrative of how one activity leads to another, and ultimately works to the inception goals.

Be strong: you are the specialists and know how this is done best. But appreciate that clients can get uneasy if they don’t know what’s going on.

Regularly check in with your team to ensure they are happy, aligned and on track.

Do not run too fast. You don’t have to answer all questions in an inception. You need broad brush-strokes. Where you cannot answer an important area, treat it as a risk or dependency. Flag it as something to answer later or extend inception.

Refuse to provide recommendations and judgements too early. Such statements can easily become ‘truth’ and are hard to change later.

Do not commit to definitive outcomes or low-level requirements specification and planning. Remember, we are working in an agile way, and these details will emerge later.