A best practice Prepare phase involves executing key delivery focused sessions. You will have created an agenda during the Discover phase; now it is time to execute the agenda.

Every project is different but there are some core sessions which should always be run to before you start Directly Capture Objectives (DCO) workshops:

• Project kick-off, including a Sales to Delivery transition on day 1 of Prepare
• Vision Alignment
• Ideation to define the user experience (Design Sprint)
• Technical Architecture (and dependencies)

There are some leadership & scrum sessions that can be run in parallel with DCO:

• Test Strategy
• Managing Change
• Establish Governance
• Definition or Ready / Done

Review our methods and tools to learn more about each of the key sessions.

Involvement varies from project to project, but the consistent success factor is ensuring that you have the right people engaged. End-user and business representation is critical, from start to finish. If team members have a deep understanding of what the business wants and needs, the project is more likely to deliver better outcomes.

Prepare is also the opportunity to start the Scrum ceremonies, with daily stand-ups and a retrospective at the end of Prepare.

What happens next? Design.

The related content links below provide methods and tools to help you.