Executive Workshop · Step 9 of 9 · Date

Lock the Two-Day Value Stream Conference Date

Spend five focused minutes with calendars open. A Yes or Conditional Yes becomes real only when the two-day window, preparation checkpoint, and ownership are visible.

Duration
5 minutes
Entry condition
Yes or Conditional Yes from Your Choice
Date window
At least one month and at most one quarter ahead
Output
Primary date, backup date, sponsor, and preparation checkpoint

The Five-Minute Date Fix

Open calendars. Choose the two days. Lock the first preparation move.

This final exercise protects the workshop from ending with good intentions and no calendar consequence.

  1. 1

    Date · ½ minute

    Open Every Calendar

    Move immediately from intention to visible availability. Everyone in the room and online opens the same planning horizon.

    Everyone Physical and Virtual Participants

    No one delegates the calendar check to a follow-up message.

    Window One Month to One Quarter

    Display the realistic preparation range before proposing dates.

    Rule Two Consecutive Working Days

    Protect the reference format rather than assembling fragments.

    Do not end with “we will coordinate calendars later.” Open them now.
    Speaker Notes
    Facilitator intent

    Create immediate calendar evidence and prevent the workshop decision from dissolving into asynchronous coordination.

    How to facilitate

    • Announce the five-minute timebox and ask everyone to open their calendar before discussing dates.
    • Share one visible planning horizon for onsite and remote participants.

    Listen and watch for

    • Senior participants expecting an assistant or absent colleague to solve availability later.
    • The group proposing dates outside the agreed preparation window.

    Avoid

    • Reopening the Value Stream Conference business case.
    • Starting with one person's preferred date before the common window is visible.
  2. 2

    Date · ¾ minute

    Protect a Realistic Preparation Window

    The conference needs enough runway for interviews, evidence, decision candidates, participation design, agenda preparation, and trusted artifacts—but not enough distance to lose momentum.

    Earliest At Least One Month Ahead

    Use the lower bound only when sponsorship, scope, and preparation capacity already exist.

    Latest No More Than One Quarter Ahead

    Keep the decision close enough to the problems and energy created today.

    Constraint Decision-Capable Attendance

    The date must work for the people whose authority and knowledge are essential.

    Decision prompt Which dates preserve both preparation quality and decision-capable participation?
    Speaker Notes
    Facilitator intent

    Use the one-month-to-one-quarter window as a readiness guardrail rather than an arbitrary scheduling rule.

    How to facilitate

    • State the earliest and latest acceptable dates before inviting proposals.
    • Name any known blackout periods, release events, or governance windows once.

    Listen and watch for

    • A fast date that leaves no preparation capacity.
    • A distant date chosen only because it is administratively easy.

    Avoid

    • Treating the window as a universal standard outside this workshop decision.
    • Optimizing only for senior calendars while losing required delivery or artifact knowledge.
  3. 3

    Date · 2¼ minutes

    Select a Primary Two-Day Date—and a Backup

    Scan the window, eliminate impossible options quickly, and converge on the earliest credible date with a viable backup.

    Scan Name Two or Three Candidates

    Use visible availability instead of a long round of preferences.

    Primary Choose the Best Credible Window

    Select the two-day period that balances preparation and attendance.

    Backup Protect One Alternative

    Keep a second two-day option when one critical calendar is not yet final.

    Action Place Calendar Holds Now

    Create the evidence that the choice is real before leaving the page.

    A candidate date becomes useful when it is held in calendars—not when it is written on a workshop board.
    Speaker Notes
    Facilitator intent

    Convert the collective Yes into a concrete, protected two-day window without allowing preference negotiation to consume the close.

    How to facilitate

    • Ask for candidate windows, eliminate hard conflicts, then select primary and backup dates.
    • Have one named person place the calendar holds while the group watches.

    Listen and watch for

    • The discussion drifting into venue, travel, or detailed agenda design.
    • A primary date that excludes one indispensable decision role.

    Avoid

    • Polling every preference after viable windows are visible.
    • Leaving the backup date completely undefined when availability is uncertain.
  4. 4

    Date · 1 minute

    Name the People Who Make the Date Real

    A calendar hold without ownership is still only an aspiration. Name the sponsor and preparation lead while the decision context is present.

    Sponsor Protect Purpose and Authority

    Own the organizational case, attendance expectations, and escalations.

    Preparation Lead Build the Decision System

    Coordinate interviews, evidence, decision backlog, contributors, and agenda readiness.

    Coordinator Close Calendar and Logistics Gaps

    Confirm holds, location or virtual access, and the backup-date decision.

    Decision prompt Who owns the conference case, and who owns preparation from the next working day?
    Speaker Notes
    Facilitator intent

    Prevent the selected date from becoming ownerless administrative work.

    How to facilitate

    • Name one sponsor and one preparation lead, not a vague steering group.
    • Confirm that both people accept the role before moving on.

    Listen and watch for

    • A sponsor title without actual access to decision authority.
    • Preparation being assigned to someone with no capacity.

    Avoid

    • Designing the complete preparation organization inside this five-minute close.
    • Using shared ownership language that leaves the first action ambiguous.
  5. 5

    Date · ½ minute

    Book the First Preparation Checkpoint Before Leaving

    The final observable action is a short preparation checkpoint that turns the date into a working plan.

    When Within the Next Working Week

    Keep momentum and validate whether the selected date is feasible.

    Who Sponsor + Preparation Lead

    Add the smallest group needed to confirm scope and the preparation path.

    Output Scope, Owners, and First Evidence Plan

    Confirm what will happen before the next checkpoint.

    The workshop ends with calendar evidence, named ownership, and a first checkpoint—not a promise to coordinate later.
    Speaker Notes
    Facilitator intent

    Close the workshop with a visible bridge from decision to preparation.

    How to facilitate

    • Create the checkpoint invitation before ending the five-minute timer.
    • Read back the primary date, backup date, sponsor, preparation lead, and checkpoint.

    Listen and watch for

    • A calendar hold with no immediate preparation action.
    • Conditions from Your Choice that are not visible next to the date.

    Avoid

    • Extending the workshop into a preparation-planning meeting.
    • Closing before the invitations or owners are visible.

Route the actual decision

Book the consequence that matches Your Choice

The date close remains honest when it treats Yes, Not Yet, and No differently.

Yes / Conditional Yes Book the Conference Window

Hold the primary and backup dates, preserve visible conditions, and confirm sponsor and preparation lead.

Not Yet Book the Next Decision Checkpoint

Do not manufacture a conference date. Schedule the evidence-based revisit and name its owner.

No Book the Alternate Action Path

Confirm where the Flow Problems go next, who owns that path, and when progress will be reviewed.

Expected result

A visible two-day calendar commitment—or an equally explicit Not Yet or No consequence—with named ownership and a first checkpoint.

The five minutes are complete when …

  • The primary two-day Value Stream Conference date is held.
  • A backup two-day date is held where availability remains uncertain.
  • The sponsor and preparation lead are named and have accepted ownership.
  • The first preparation checkpoint is in the calendar.
  • Not Yet or No outcomes have an explicit evidence or alternate-action path.
  1. N

    Transition to the next step

    The Executive Workshop is complete. Continue with the decision, date, and ownership visible.