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workshop-facilitation

deanpeters/product-manager-skills

Facilitate structured workshop sessions with consistent pacing, progress tracking, and adaptive decision-making.

What is workshop-facilitation?

A canonical facilitation pattern for interactive skills that guides users through workshops one step at a time with clear progress labels, entry mode selection, and decision-point recommendations. Use this when you need to run a guided session with predictable interruption handling and flexible response parsing.

  • Ask single targeted questions per turn with plain-language framing and example response formats
  • Offer entry modes (Guided, Context dump, Best guess) to match user preference and skip redundant questions
  • Display progress labels (e.g., Context Q3/8, Scoring Q2/5) so users know how much remains
  • Provide numbered quick-select options for regular questions and enumerated recommendations only at decision points
  • Accept flexible response formats (1, #1, 1 and 3, 1,3, or custom text) and synthesize multi-select choices
  • Handle interruptions by answering meta questions directly, restating status, and resuming the flow

How to install workshop-facilitation

npx skills add https://github.com/deanpeters/product-manager-skills --skill workshop-facilitation
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How to use workshop-facilitation

  1. 1.Start by announcing estimated time and question count, then offer entry mode selection (Guided, Context dump, or Best guess)
  2. 2.Ask one plain-language question per turn and wait for the user's answer before proceeding
  3. 3.Show progress labels each turn (e.g., Context Q2/8) so the user knows position in the flow
  4. 4.Provide numbered quick-select options for regular questions; use enumerated recommendations only at decision points
  5. 5.Accept flexible response formats (1, 1 and 3, custom text) and synthesize multi-select choices
  6. 6.Answer meta questions directly (e.g., how many questions left?), restate status, then resume the pending question
  7. 7.End with a clear summary of decisions made and, if best-guess mode was used, an Assumptions to Validate list

Use cases

Good for
  • Run a structured positioning workshop with your product team using the facilitation protocol
  • Facilitate a discovery sprint kickoff with clear questions, options, and progress tracking
  • Guide a team through a maturity assessment or prioritization exercise with adaptive recommendations
  • Conduct a context-gathering session that skips already-known information via context dump mode
  • Execute a best-guess mode session to infer missing details and surface assumptions for validation
Who it's for
  • Product managers running interactive workshops or guided sessions
  • Facilitators conducting discovery sprints, positioning workshops, or team assessments
  • Teams needing structured, predictable facilitation with progress visibility
  • Anyone building interactive skills that require consistent pacing and decision support

workshop-facilitation FAQ

When should I use numbered recommendations vs. quick-select options?

Use quick-select numbered options for regular context or scoring questions to speed input. Use enumerated recommendations only at decision points—after context synthesis, after maturity assessment, or during priority/action-plan selection.

How do I handle multi-select responses?

Accept formats like 1,3 or 1 and 3, then synthesize the choices. For example, if a user selects options 1 and 3, confirm: 'Great. We'll run Context Design first, with Team-AI Facilitation in parallel.'

What should I do if the user interrupts with a meta question?

Answer the meta question directly (e.g., 'You have 5 questions left'), restate the current progress and pending question, then resume the flow.

How does best-guess mode differ from guided mode?

Best-guess mode infers missing details and labels assumptions, allowing faster progress. Guided mode asks every question. Context dump mode lets users paste known information upfront to skip redundant questions.

What are the most common facilitation mistakes to avoid?

Asking multiple questions in one turn, offering recommendations after every answer, hiding progress, using shorthand without plain-language explanations, and ignoring the user's chosen direction or custom responses.

Full instructions (SKILL.md)

Source of truth, from deanpeters/product-manager-skills.


name: workshop-facilitation description: Facilitate workshop sessions in a one-step, multi-turn flow. Use when an interactive skill needs consistent pacing, options, and progress tracking. intent: >- Provide the canonical facilitation pattern for interactive skills: one step at a time, with clear progress, adaptive recommendations at decision points, and predictable interruption handling. type: interactive theme: workshops-facilitation best_for:

  • "Adding structured facilitation to any PM workshop or guided session"
  • "Running interactive sessions with numbered recommendations and progress tracking"
  • "Ensuring your workshops stay on track and end with actionable choices" scenarios:
  • "I want to run a structured positioning workshop with my product team — set up the facilitation protocol"
  • "Help me facilitate a discovery sprint kickoff with clear questions, options, and progress labels" estimated_time: "varies by workshop"

Purpose

Provide the canonical facilitation pattern for interactive skills: one step at a time, with clear progress, adaptive recommendations at decision points, and predictable interruption handling.

Key Concepts

  • One-step-at-a-time: Ask a single targeted question per turn.
  • Session heads-up + entry mode: Start by setting expectations and offering Guided, Context dump, or Best guess mode.
  • Progress visibility: Show user-facing progress labels like Context Qx/8 and Scoring Qx/5.
  • Decision-point recommendations: Use enumerated options only when a choice is needed, not after every answer.
  • Quick-select response options: For regular context/scoring questions, provide concise numbered answer options plus Other (specify) when useful.
  • Flexible selection parsing: Accept #1, 1, 1 and 3, 1,3, or custom text, then synthesize multi-select choices.
  • Context-aware progression: Build on previous answers and avoid re-asking resolved questions.
  • Interruption-safe flow: Answer meta questions directly (for example, "how many left?"), restate status, then resume.
  • Fast path: If the user requests a single-shot output, skip multi-turn facilitation and deliver a condensed result.

Application

  1. Start with a brief heads-up on estimated time and number of questions.
  2. Ask the user to choose an entry mode:
    • 1 Guided mode (one question at a time)
    • 2 Context dump (paste known context; skip redundancies)
    • 3 Best guess mode (infer missing details and label assumptions)
  3. Run one question per turn and wait for an answer before continuing.
  4. Keep questions plain-language; include a short example response format when helpful.
  5. Show progress each turn:
    • Context Qx/8 during context collection
    • Scoring Qx/5 during assessment/scoring
  6. Ask follow-up clarifications only when they materially improve recommendation quality.
  7. For regular context/scoring questions, offer quick-select numbered response options when practical:
    • Keep options concise and mutually exclusive when possible.
    • Include Other (specify) if likely answers are open-ended.
    • Accept multi-select responses like 1,3 or 1 and 3.
  8. Provide numbered recommendations only at decision points:
    • after context synthesis,
    • after maturity/profile synthesis,
    • during priority/action-plan selection.
  9. Accept numeric or custom choices, synthesize multi-select choices, and continue.
  10. If interrupted by a meta question, answer directly, then restate progress and pending question.
  11. If the user says stop/pause, halt immediately and wait for explicit resume.
  12. End with a clear summary, decisions made, and (if best guess mode was used) an Assumptions to Validate list.

Examples

Opening: "Quick heads-up: this should take about 7-10 minutes and around 10 questions. How do you want to start?

  1. Guided mode
  2. Context dump
  3. Best guess mode"

User: "2"

Facilitator: "Paste what you already know. I’ll skip answered areas and ask only what’s missing."

Decision point after synthesis:

  1. Prioritize Context Design (Recommended)
  2. Prioritize Agent Orchestration
  3. Prioritize Team-AI Facilitation

User: "1 and 3"

Facilitator: "Great. We’ll run Context Design first, with Team-AI Facilitation in parallel."

Common Pitfalls

  • Asking multiple questions in the same turn.
  • Offering recommendations after every answer (creates interaction drag).
  • Using shorthand labels without plain-language questions.
  • Hiding progress, so users don't know how much remains.
  • Ignoring the user's chosen option or custom direction.
  • Failing to label assumptions when running in best-guess mode.

References

  • Use as the source of truth for interactive facilitation behavior.
  • Apply alongside workshop skills in skills/*-workshop/SKILL.md and advisor-style interactive skills.