In this section, we're going to look at a requirement session exercise. So you are the BA that has just been assigned to a new project, you know that your company is going to create a website for someone that sells training materials and coaching products online. That's basically all you know, you weren't given a project overview, you were just kind of thrown into it and said, Hey, we need a VA for this project, you need to get some background first. So make sure you understand their business and what they do today before you start discussing requirements for changes or additions. So your first requirement session should always be about, Hey, what are you doing now? Right, its current state is your first requirement session.
So let's get a conversation. The ba can start for the initial requirements discussion, question that the VA would ask. Tell me about your business. I know that you Sell training materials and coaching products. But tell me what those products are about. So this means response might be something like, I have three different coaching packages that I sell.
One is a one time coaching session. One is a monthly package. So the person is basically paying for four sessions per month. And when they do this, they get some extra perks like email support between sessions. I also have a custom training package. Tell me more about the custom training package.
How many sessions is that? This means response would be it's a set of six training sessions on areas each customer needs to focus on. So I want to point out here that when this me said, I also have a custom training package, that was kind of a ding ding that went off in the head to say, Hey, tell me more about that. Because that's vague, right? A custom training package means it could be anything. So you now want them to give you a little bit more detail around what does that mean?
Next time. Ba might ask how do you know which areas the customer needs to focus on? This means response would be, I have an assessment call with them to discuss their background goals and the areas they need to improve on in their skill set. How do you end up having this call with that? I have a link to my website, calendar application, and people can schedule assessment calls with me. Is your website The only place you have this one?
No, it's also in my newsletter on LinkedIn and on Facebook. The VA would then ask what training materials do you sell? And the response would be I have three training products essential skills of the it analyst a core skills of the it analysts class and a communication skills training manual. Okay, let's talk for a minute about how you sell your training products today. How are you currently selling those training materials when I talk to someone that's interested in buying my training materials, so I either ship the materials to them or I will email it I assume you collect payment prior to shipping or emailing, how are you doing that? I have a PayPal account that people make payments to.
So now what you would continuing asking questions until you understood the current business functions, your next step would be moving into the conversation around current challenges and what they want to add or change. So that's where you start discussing the new requirements. So typically, depending on how much time you have, that may not happen, or most likely won't happen until the next session, right? You usually are going to try to get down the current state in the first session, and then have a nother session on the requirements, what their challenges are today, what they're looking for in the future, so that you're not trying to lump it all into one session. Unless you have enough time, right? If you've got a day blocked off with the person then great do that.
But if you have a one hour session, you're not going to get to all that in an hour. If you try to, you're going to cut corners and you're not going to ask all the questions that you should. So don't try to cram it all into one session if you have too much for that