MENU Process Documentation Best Practice #4
#4 Conduct Workshops, Not Interviews
The classic consultant’s approach to process documentation was to interview the manager and all the process participants separately and then have the consultant compile the results into a new “future state” process. This approach should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
If you have a process that is executed by only one person then the process documentation session, by definition, must be an interview. However, if there is more than one stakeholder then it is always best to get all or most of them in the same room and conduct a process documentation workshop.
A workshop lets colleagues hear from each other. It unearths variations, exceptions and best practices that were never shared. We love it when a process performer tells a teammate, “You do it that way? Wow, I never thought of that.” Having your brainpower in the room will help you not only document the “as is” process but the “one true process” going forward.
It also helps with buy-in. The output is “our” new standard. It’s not what the consultant (internal or external) decided. It’s not what your colleague preferred. It is the outcome of our shared experiences and mutual contributions.
One you have the right people in the room, you can conduct the business process documentation workshop.
If you were effective with Best Practice #3 (Prepare to Hit the Ground Running), then the macro steps of the process in question (the blue boxes in figure at right) 
will be agreed upon before your workshop begins. The high level “what” is set. You can then drill down to determine the “who” and “how.” The top-down flowchart is an excellent, easy-to-understand tool for capturing this process knowledge.
Your workshop facilitator must, of course, have solid BPM skills. More importantly, she or he must be skilled at asking questions that drive positive participation and draw out the “special sauce” that makes your processes unique. That could include subtle differences in customer needs, workarounds that were never shared, key interdepartmental relationships, “life hacks” that simply operations, etc. The goal is not just to document essential activities; it is to standardize your best practices.
Orion conducts workshops either virtually or in person. For virtual workshops via Zoom or MS Teams, it is best to limit the length to two hours. For an in-person workshop try to get a three- or four-hour commitment from participants – even if you end up working on more than one process. Once you get on a roll in a workshop setting, it is easy to continue for a half-day. If your timeline for the project is tight, you may choose to schedule longer sessions. However, Orion always stresses the importance of producing a great product with minimum impact on day-to-day operations. If these workshops become a burden, quality will suffer as will employee buy-in.
How much workshop time is required to document the process? Depending upon how many elements you selected during Best Practice #1 (Make Sure Your Process Documentation Format Is Driven by Business Goals), a medium complexity process may require 3 to 6 hours from your team members, including workshop participation and off-line work product review. Orion has worked on very simple processes that only required 1-2 hours to generate simple outputs. Other clients with more complex processes and comprehensive documentation packets needed longer workshops.
In general, avoid building the finished products during the workshops. Focus primarily on capturing knowledge and wisdom. You can do the editing and chart creation off-line. The workshop approach will enable you to document and standardize new best practices that interviews alone cannot deliver.