Setup

Grab a list of common interview questions from somewhere like Coursera.

Game 15 minutes ⏱

1. Interviewer: Cold call a random person and ask them an interview question. Choose an ordinary question.

2. Interviewee: You must give a terrible answer to this question (keep it clean, please!). Then cold call another person to be the interviewer.

3. Interviewer: Give absolutely straight-faced feedback. If you laugh, you’re out and must nominate another player to complete your feedback and return the game to step 1.

At CYF we expect you to demo your work to the class. You must have many opportunities to practice how to clearly and simply explain your work to others. This is really important skill as a business analyst.

⏰ Timekeeper

The timekeeper will keep the groups on track.

Split randomly into groups of no more than 4 people. Mix up your teams. Each person will have 10 minutes to demo the work they did on the previous prep to the group. After the demo, the group will ask questions or give feedback for 5 minutes. Then the next person will demo their work.

🧑🏼‍🎓 Trainees

1. Demo 10 minutes ⏱

You will demo the work you did for this sprint as if you were presenting it to Brighsparks stakeholders.

You will have 10 minutes to explain run the stakeholders through your findings and logic behind it.

2. Feedback 5 minutes ⏱

After the demo, the group will give you feedback for up to 5 minutes. Someone from the group might act as one of the main stakeholders and ask questions.

💡 Tips:

• Practice the format of demos before class.
• Keep it simple. Don’t try to show everything you did. Just show enough so it makes sense and shows progress.
• Keep it short. 10 minutes is enough.
• Explain what you did and why.
• Show the artifacts you created
• Ask for feedback.

Rubric

These are some criteria we will be using to assess your demo. You must meet 5 of the 6 criteria, and if you skip one we recommend you skip asking a question. This is not an ordered list - you can complete these criteria in any order.

Clearly introduce the topic to the stakeholders (aka the group).

Someone watching should be able to approve the next steps.

The topic must not be "I will tell you about my hard work". It must be about how you, as a Business analyst, evaluated and used the knowledge you acquired.

Explain what was done

Someone watching should be able to state what you have done in one sentence.

Explain the reasoning behind a choice.

Someone watching should be able to explain why you did at least one thing a particular way (and why it was a better choice than alternatives).

Show relevant artifacts (e.g. business mapping, data mapping, user story).

Someone watching should be able to identify at least one artifact of your work. Slides don't count as an artifact.

Stick to your time limit.

You should know how long you have for your demo, and stick to that time. You will be given a warning when you're running low on time.

Get buy in.

The stakeholders should leave your presentation satisfied with the outcome and direction.

A quick break so we can all concentrate on the next piece of work.

At CYF we expect you to demo your work to the class. You must have many opportunities to practice how to clearly and simply explain your work to others. This is really important skill as a business analyst.

⏰ Timekeeper

The timekeeper will keep the groups on track.

Split randomly into groups of no more than 4 people. Mix up your teams. Each person will have 10 minutes to demo the work they did on the previous prep to the group. After the demo, the group will ask questions or give feedback for 5 minutes. Then the next person will demo their work.

🧑🏼‍🎓 Trainees

1. Demo 10 minutes ⏱

You will demo the work you did for this sprint as if you were presenting it to Brighsparks stakeholders.

You will have 10 minutes to explain run the stakeholders through your findings and logic behind it.

2. Feedback 5 minutes ⏱

After the demo, the group will give you feedback for up to 5 minutes. Someone from the group might act as one of the main stakeholders and ask questions.

💡 Tips:

• Practice the format of demos before class.
• Keep it simple. Don’t try to show everything you did. Just show enough so it makes sense and shows progress.
• Keep it short. 10 minutes is enough.
• Explain what you did and why.
• Show the artifacts you created
• Ask for feedback.

Rubric

These are some criteria we will be using to assess your demo. You must meet 5 of the 6 criteria, and if you skip one we recommend you skip asking a question. This is not an ordered list - you can complete these criteria in any order.

Clearly introduce the topic to the stakeholders (aka the group).

Someone watching should be able to approve the next steps.

The topic must not be "I will tell you about my hard work". It must be about how you, as a Business analyst, evaluated and used the knowledge you acquired.

Explain what was done

Someone watching should be able to state what you have done in one sentence.

Explain the reasoning behind a choice.

Someone watching should be able to explain why you did at least one thing a particular way (and why it was a better choice than alternatives).

Show relevant artifacts (e.g. business mapping, data mapping, user story).

Someone watching should be able to identify at least one artifact of your work. Slides don't count as an artifact.

Stick to your time limit.

You should know how long you have for your demo, and stick to that time. You will be given a warning when you're running low on time.

Get buy in.

The stakeholders should leave your presentation satisfied with the outcome and direction.

Every Saturday we cook and eat together. We share our food and our stories. We learn about each other and the world. We build community.

This is everyone’s responsibility, so help with what is needed to make this happen, for example, organising the food, setting up the table, washing up, tidying up, etc. You can do something different every week. You don’t need to be constantly responsible for the same task.

Trainees

This is time for you to get help with whatever you need help with.

If you didn’t understand something in the prep, ask about it.

If you were struggling with a backlog exercise, get help with it.

If you weren’t quite sure of something in a workshop, discuss it.

If you don’t have any problems, keep working through the backlog until you need help.

It can be useful to get into groups with others facing the same problem, or working on the same backlog item.

Volunteers

Don’t be scared to approach people and ask what they’re working on - see if you can help them out, or stretch their understanding.

If lots of people have the same problems, maybe you can put together a demonstration or a workshop to help them understand.

If absolutely no one needs help, consider reviewing some PRs using the process and guidelines in the #cyf-code-review-volunteer-team Slack channel canvas.

Breaks

No one can work solidly forever! Make sure to take breaks when you need.

Finished everything?

If you have finished everything in the backlog you can use this time to practice some other skills which will be useful in your future careers. We have some suggestions below:

Please feel comfortable and welcome to pray at this time if this is part of your religion.

If you are breastfeeding and would like a private space, please let us know.

Trainees

This is time for you to get help with whatever you need help with.

If you didn’t understand something in the prep, ask about it.

If you were struggling with a backlog exercise, get help with it.

If you weren’t quite sure of something in a workshop, discuss it.

If you don’t have any problems, keep working through the backlog until you need help.

It can be useful to get into groups with others facing the same problem, or working on the same backlog item.

Volunteers

Don’t be scared to approach people and ask what they’re working on - see if you can help them out, or stretch their understanding.

If lots of people have the same problems, maybe you can put together a demonstration or a workshop to help them understand.

If absolutely no one needs help, consider reviewing some PRs using the process and guidelines in the #cyf-code-review-volunteer-team Slack channel canvas.

Breaks

No one can work solidly forever! Make sure to take breaks when you need.

Finished everything?

If you have finished everything in the backlog you can use this time to practice some other skills which will be useful in your future careers. We have some suggestions below:

You are done for the day.

Make sure to have assigned the community roles for the next week, if you haven’t already.

Take a moment to reflect on what you have learned and achieved.

Stand in a circle and share:

• 📛 your name
• 💪🏽 one thing you achieved today
• 👷🏾 the task you are going to work on next
• 🛟 one thing you need help with

Give yourselves a round of applause. Now you have earned your rest. Usually people go for a cup of tea or a pint after class. You are welcome to join and wind down together.