Types of Workshops Facilitated by Business Analysts

Business analysts wear many hats, and one of the most important is facilitating workshops.
Workshops are where collaboration happens, ideas take shape, and projects get real direction. Whether you're working in Agile or a more traditional environment, here are some of the most common workshops that BAs lead (or co-facilitate).

Planning Workshop
Typically held at the beginning of a project, this session establishes the overall direction. It’s where teams define the project scope, goals, stakeholders, priorities, and timelines.
In Agile settings, planning doesn’t just happen once; it also takes place at the start of each iteration, focusing on release and sprint planning.

Discovery Workshop
These events occur early in the project and focus on exploring the business problem, understanding the goals, and identifying potential solutions.
BAs lead discussions, interview stakeholders, uncover business goals, assess risks, and shape a shared project vision.

Requirements Workshop
This is the bread and butter of a business analyst’s role. The goal? To elicit, analyze, and document detailed requirements. Common techniques include brainstorming, use case analysis, process walkthroughs, value stream mapping, and prototyping, followed by structuring all that input into clear documentation.

Joint Application Development (JAD)
A more collaborative type of requirements session that brings together business stakeholders and technical experts.
Here, teams define functional/non-functional requirements, build prototypes, develop use cases, and make key design decisions together.

Review Workshop
Once deliverables or documents are ready (or even mid-way), these sessions help ensure everything aligns with stakeholder expectations. Participants review requirements, designs, or other outputs to catch gaps, errors, or needed changes before things move too far along.

User Story Mapping
Popular in Agile, this workshop helps visualize how user stories connect to the bigger picture.
The BA or Product Owner facilitates organizing stories into logical flows, discussing dependencies, and planning releases with the full user experience in mind.

Backlog Refinement (Grooming) Workshop
An ongoing Agile activity where the team reviews items in the backlog to prepare for upcoming iterations.
Here, the BA helps clarify stories, refine acceptance criteria, estimate effort, split large items, and prioritize what’s ready for the next planning session.

For details on conducting an effective Requirements Workshop**, check out the following video tutorial here:** https://youtu.be/s25hs8YazTo

Best,

The Business Analysis Doctor