Whiteboard-based Facilitation

Whiteboards are a powerful facilitation tool that drives active participation from the audience and captures ideas/feedback visually in real-time. They allow for a more natural flow of conversation, unlike slideshows which present static, prepared content. The whiteboard becomes a shared artifact that provides immediate value to participants, creates a shared understanding between all parties, and builds trust between participats. This page provides whiteboard templates that can be immediately applied to regular SA practices.

Why Use a Whiteboard?

Whiteboards are a powerful facilitation tool that drives active participation from the audience and captures ideas/feedback visually in real-time. They allow for a more natural flow of conversation, unlike slideshows which present static, prepared content. The whiteboard becomes a shared artifact that provides immediate value to participants, creates a shared understanding between all parties, and builds trust between participants. This page provides whiteboard templates that can be immediately applied to regular SA practices.

Primary Objectives

  1. Whiteboarding should facilitate better the discovery of:
    1. Customer’s initiatives and challenges
    2. Customer’s toolchain
    3. Customer’s current state and workflows
    4. Customer’s pain points and bottlenecks
    5. Key teams/personas involved

Available Templates

The library of whiteboard templates are in the SA Whiteboard and Pitch Catalog FigJam Team. For access, open an Access Request and ensure you are added to the Solutions Architecture team.

  1. End to End GitLab Value
  2. End to End Gitlab People and Process
  3. Premium to Ultimate Discusion
  4. Current State Discovery
  5. Example Value Stream
  6. Value Stream Workshop
  7. Day-in-the-Life of a Developer
  8. Post-POV Retrospective
Last modified March 20, 2025: Resolve "Capture whiteboarding practice in SA Handbook" (96e6035e)
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