Plan how to confirm Blueprint Readiness
Across the preceding modules, the U+ Travel team developed the Tour Booking Blueprint from the business problem, agreed outcome, and initial Blueprint. Business stakeholders, the Solution Designer, and the Solution Builder examined and refined design decisions as additional information became available.
The team now transitions from the design phase of the Blueprint Delivered™ methodology into the Prepare phase where the focus shifts to planning how Blueprint Readiness will be confirmed. The Solution Designer reviews the Blueprint to understand which parts of the design are already well understood, where assumptions or questions remain, and where further examination would add the most value.
Practical business scenarios and relevant subject matter knowledge then provide the basis for defining a focused Validation activity.
This topic develops the practices required to plan a purposeful Validation activity that can confirm and strengthen the Blueprint as a high-fidelity representation of the agreed outcome.
Review the Blueprint and identify where further examination would add value
At this point, the Blueprint reflects the stakeholder input, decisions, rationale, assumptions, and open questions developed throughout the preceding modules. Together, these explain what the business intends and why the Blueprint has taken its current form.
As the team prepares for Validation, the goal is not to examine every part of the Blueprint in the same way. Some decisions have already been discussed extensively and are well understood. Other areas may benefit from closer examination because they contain important assumptions, influence significant decisions, or could affect multiple parts of the Blueprint. The Solution Designer reviews the Blueprint as a whole to determine where Validation is most likely to strengthen Blueprint Readiness.
Use the following considerations to identify the areas where further examination would most strengthen Blueprint Readiness:
|
Consideration |
Where further examination may add value |
|---|---|
|
Significance within the agreed increment |
The area influences a consequential part of the work, a significant stakeholder decision, or the ability of the team to deliver a coherent result within the agreed increment. |
|
Current level of confidence |
The area has received limited stakeholder review or would benefit from closer examination. |
|
Assumptions |
The Blueprint relies on assumptions, interpretations, or expected conditions that would benefit from detailed examination. |
|
Impact across the Blueprint
|
The area influences several parts of the Blueprint and a change or clarification could affect Workflow, participation, access, data, integrations, or other connected decisions. |
|
Alternative paths |
The routine journey is understood, while an important variation, exception, or alternate path would benefit from closer examination. |
|
New information or priorities
|
New business information, constraints, priorities, or delivery considerations may affect an earlier agreement or design decision. |
Areas that satisfy several of these considerations often provide the strongest focus for Validation because further examination is more likely to strengthen the agreed increment and Blueprint Readiness.
Tip: Prioritize areas where greater understanding would most strengthen the agreed increment. Consider the basis of current confidence, the assumptions involved, and the effect that clarification or change could have across the Blueprint.
Select practical business scenarios
Having identified where further examination would add value, the Solution Designer selects practical business scenarios that help the team examine those areas in context. The team follows a recognizable scenario from start to result, bringing the relevant decisions, relationships, dependencies, assumptions, and variations into view as they become important.
A question raised in one area may depend on decisions represented elsewhere in the Blueprint. For example:
- A Workflow path may rely on data whose source, purpose, or availability remains open.
- A Persona may have an appropriate responsibility and require further clarity about the access or Channel needed to fulfill it.
- An integration may identify the intended external capability and require further information about the data exchanged and how the Case uses the result.
- For each scenario, review the parts of the Blueprint that shape how the work progresses, including the Case and Workflow, participant responsibilities, access, data, integrations, assumptions, and open questions.
This approach helps the team establish how the Blueprint supports the scenario and where a decision, relationship, or dependency would benefit from further examination. Select a scenario that helps the team examine the area of the Blueprint where Validation adds the most value. The following examples show what each type of scenario can help confirm:
|
Area to examine |
What it can help confirm |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
The intended business outcome and how work progresses toward it |
The Blueprint clearly describes the work, decisions, responsibilities, information, and outcomes required to achieve the intended business result and support how work normally progresses. |
A customer requests, confirms, prepares for, and completes a tour successfully. |
|
Exceptions and alternative paths |
Important variations, exceptions, and alternate outcomes are represented clearly, and the required differences in work, decisions, information, responsibilities, or outcomes are understood. |
A confirmed tour can no longer proceed because of weather conditions and the customer must reschedule, select an alternative tour, or cancel. |
|
How the design works together |
The Blueprint provides a clear and connected explanation of how the solution achieves the intended outcome, including the work, decisions, responsibilities, data, integrations, and relationships that support it. |
A booking requires guardian consent, weather validation, specialist equipment, and a qualified Tour Operator, requiring the team to follow the scenario across Workflow, Personas, access, data, integrations, Decisions, and Case relationships. |
|
Assumptions, dependencies, and open questions |
Important assumptions, dependencies, constraints, and unresolved questions are either clarified or recorded clearly enough to support continued Validation and Authoring. |
Tour viability depends on weather information from an external service and the team needs to confirm what information is exchanged, how current it must be, and what happens when the information is unavailable. |
In practice, one scenario often helps the team examine several aspects of the Blueprint at the same time.
- Select scenarios that provide meaningful coverage of the current Validation focus.
- Prioritize scenarios that help stakeholders confirm the design, clarify assumptions and dependencies, and establish that the Blueprint contains the information needed to support Authoring.
- Record any implementation-dependent questions that require continued Validation during Authoring.
Tip: Define enough circumstance, choice, responsibility, and expected result for participants to apply their knowledge to the scenario.
Involve people with relevant knowledge
The selected scenarios help the Solution Designer determine whose knowledge is needed. Involve people who can explain the intended business direction, describe how the work operates, clarify a relevant constraint or dependency, or resolve a decision within their responsibility.
A business owner may clarify the intended result. An operator may explain the required coordination and meaningful variations. The Solution Builder may identify technical questions that continue into Authoring.
When identifying participants, focus on the knowledge each person brings to the scenario and the decisions, assumptions, relationships, or dependencies they can help the team examine. Consider:
- Who understands the scenario?
- Who performs, receives, or owns the relevant work?
- Who can clarify the dependency or decision?
- What should each person help the team examine?
Tip: Identify the decisions, assumptions, dependencies, and open questions you want to examine before selecting participants. Involve only the people needed to confirm the current Validation focus. A smaller group with the right knowledge is usually more effective than a larger group with limited involvement in the scenario.
Define the Validation objective
The Solution Designer brings together the selected scenario, the areas of the Blueprint requiring closer examination, and the participant knowledge needed into a clear Validation objective.
For U+ Travel, the Validation objective is:
Examine how the Tour Booking Blueprint supports the customer and operations team when a confirmed tour can no longer proceed. Confirm what the Blueprint already supports and examine the choices, data, responsibilities, Workflow progression, communications, and related decisions required to support each outcome. Involve participants who can confirm the intended business response, explain how the booking is managed, clarify any dependencies, and identify questions that continue into Authoring.
This Validation focus gives the activity clear direction by identifying:
- The scenario being examined
- The areas of the Blueprint requiring closer examination
- The participant knowledge needed
- The questions that may continue into Authoring
Together, these elements establish what the team will validate, why it matters, and whose knowledge is needed. The team can now use the practical business scenario to validate and strengthen the Blueprint.
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