Our clients often find themselves in a position of uncertainty in getting started with simulation. What problem(s) to simulate? Which are appropriate? How to make it just the right scope and scale? What kind of data do we need?
These are all legitimate questions, and the success of the simulation project depends on careful selection at this stage.
I liken it to a bridge being built on two sides of a river. On the one side you have scientists with an amazing array of tools for answering very complex questions. On the other side you have business people with a whole range of problems to tackle and many smart people ready to contribute. The whiteboard session is a way to complete the bridge between them.
The whiteboard session is, quite literally, a focused amount of time facilitated by one of our people, where the results are drawn on a whiteboard as we discuss the issues at hand. It is typically:
Less than a day in length – usually ½ day
Involves no more than 6 to 10 individuals on the client side (subject matter experts with ideas to contribute)
Conducted at the client’s location
Has 1 to 2 facilitators from our side
A typical agenda for the sessions:
Introductions and Welcome 15 min
Setting Context (with past model examples) 1 hr
Discussion 1 hr
Break (client breaks while facilitators assemble notes) 1 hr
Readout from facilitators 30 min
Action items 15 min
In the discussion phase, we ask provocative questions of the group – to stimulate conversation about the topics. The group answers the questions, then more questions arise from that response. This back-and-forth, while seemingly random, is actually a carefully crafted set of conversations which lead ultimately to a systematic portrayal on paper. Our facilitators have decades of experience in leading these sessions and can easily separate out the valuable parts of the discussion.
At the conclusion, usually 2-3 days post-session, the client gets one or more graphic depictions of the problem at hand, using clear and simple information-based principles1. This is often a very valuable thing – scoping the problem and wrapping it in proper terminology has heretofore been the key missing ingredient inhibiting work on the problem. A common reaction is “Wow…it is very interesting to see our problem depicted from a point of view that is outside the company.”
Whiteboard sessions require some preparation, but not substantial, especially on the client side. Most of the preparation is for the facilitators – requiring some basic information about the firm, its industry, and some of the candidate problems that have been discussed before.
Our fees for conducting the whiteboard sessions are held as low as possible to give our clients a “try it out” option before proceeding with a full scale simulation modeling project. We typically charge about half of our normal daily rate, plus travel expenses for the facilitators. We often charge nothing for prep and post time.
The client may choose to continue the project with us, or may choose a different group or even perhaps work on the problem with internal resources. While we love to work on very complex business problems – the more the better—we also acknowledge that some clients would prefer this route.
If you believe that simulation and analytics could be helpful in solving the problems you are facing, but are just unsure of how (or where) to get started, we highly recommend the small investment of a whiteboard session.
Figure 1: Illustrative sample of output from a whiteboard session (Decision Tree).
Figure 2: Illustrative sample of output from a whiteboard session (System Dynamics)
Click here to view sample outputs from a whiteboard session held in early 2008 for a national distributor of home appliance parts.
