The problem
A national accountancy franchise network runs around 100 franchises on a franchise-management system that's 20 years old. A replacement was well under way, but no formal requirements had been gathered, so the development team was building on assumptions.
What I did
- One-to-one interviews with the leadership team and the IT, BI, development, education and marketing leads.
- A 2-day requirements workshop, using voting to agree priorities across the business rather than going with the loudest voice.
- A one-page summary for the CEO, plus a full report of the processes, outcomes and priorities.
The result
- A single, agreed list of priorities, with lead status management voted the top priority, ready for mock-ups at the July franchisee conference.
- The development team building to agreed requirements instead of guesses.
Next: Building a data team inside an accountancy firm, and turning 4-day jobs into 27 minutes