Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs

6. Principles: Ground Rules for the Workshop

“Planned participation promotes productivity.”—Lynda Baker

Principles, which I also refer to as ground rules in this chapter, are guidelines for group participation. Ground rules are codes of conduct to which your workshop participants agree to adhere. Groups need interaction precepts to maintain socially acceptable behavior (norms) that promote workshop goals: delivering the predefined work products in the allotted time.

Ground rules serve as a process guide for the facilitator and the participants. They serve as a tool for detecting and correcting unhealthy group interactions and evolving toward ...