Learning to Love Compliance

OK, I’m going to let you into a secret here. I genuinely like compliance projects. You know the ones, those projects that people think are really boring because they relate to a change in regulation or legislation? The ones that it’s really hard to get people excited about? The ones that few BAs volunteer for? Yep, those ones!

Framed differently, there’s often a real opportunity to shape and scope things in a way that isn’t always the case with other (seemingly more exciting) projects. These projects can be career-enhancing, provide more autonomy and really don’t have to be boring. Or, at the very least, they don’t have to be as boring as they first appear! Let me explain…

Pain Reliever or Vitamin

I remember reading somewhere that one question that some Silicon Valley venture capitalists will ask startups when they are pitching for funding is:

“Is your product a pain reliever or a vitamin?”

You might think it is better to be a vitamin. Yet, apparently, the answer that investors are looking for is ‘pain killer’. Sure, we might take vitamins some days, but it’s easy to forget. But if you’re in pain, you will soon remember to reach for the pain reliever. So, solving a pain point will likely get people to reach into their wallet.

Think about a change in regulation or legislation. Most people who are part of the core business know they need to comply, but if we’re brutally honest, they probably aren’t that interested. A change in (say) data protection legislation is just a distraction to them. They probably don’t care how it’s solved, as long as it doesn’t disrupt them too much, and as long as it doesn’t cost too much.  In fact, they might even be worried that the legal & compliance team are going to be ‘heavy handed’ and create all sorts of bureaucracy for them.

This is an area where BAs can act as a real pain reliever. By working with the relevant business areas and the legal and compliance team, by working with stakeholders to understand enough about the business operations, the solution landscape and the legislation or regulation we can co-create innovative solutions. We can find a balance that works for the different stakeholders, and rather than just achieving compliance, might actually improve things for them too. Imagine that, a compliance project actually leading to improvements!  It is totally possible.

Crucially, we take away a distraction for them. We get far more autonomy and leeway to shape things precisely because they just want the pain to go away.

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Understanding The Problem

One of the things I love about compliance problems is the fact that business people usually haven’t pre-determined a solution. Other projects often come with an assumed solution attached (e.g. “Oh, we’re going to implement XYZ system, so we need you to write a couple of user stories”, leading to us having to work backwards to understand the problem).  Usually the brief is really broad (e.g. “Comply with the new Data Protection Act).

This leaves the BA with a significant amount of autonomy and latitude. There will be many ways of solving that problem, and defining the problem space is usually really fun and makes a huge difference to the success. The biggest challenge is people will often think that the impact is small, when actually it is actually far wider ranging. It’s therefore necessary to bring stakeholders along on the journey.

Although every compliance project is different, I typically find starting by identifying and having an understanding of the legislation or regulation is key. Of course, the BA does not need to be a legal expert, but we need to know enough to ask sensible questions and challenge. In many jurisdictions, legislation is written in (fairly) plain language, and you can even start to imagine some of the business rules/impacts that might be implied by it as you read it.

However, an important next step is to work with the relevant business and compliance stakeholders to determine the company’s interpretation of the legislation or regulation.  Rarely are these things completely prescriptive. You’ll find words like “appropriate” and “from time to time” and other phrases that show the intent without prescribing solutions. Particularly with new regulations this can be tricky, as there’s no existing convention or regulator judgements to base things on. Ultimately this is often a balancing act, and an area where good facilitation is key.

Ultimately, all of this leads us to a position where we can judge the impact on existing processes, applications, data and more. This is where the requirements or stories get written, but they will trace neatly back to an interpretation of a piece of the legislation or regulation. In many ways scoping can be easier on regulatory projects… a requirement either maps to a piece of the regulation or it doesn’t! (OK, it’s never quite that binary, but it is close).

Fringe Benefits

There’s still the challenge of selling regulatory projects to stakeholders. If we can’t get them excited about them, then there’s a chance their attention will wane and they won’t give us the input we need.

This is where our pain reliever/vitamin analogy comes in useful again. In fact, a good compliance project can be both.  A (hypothetical) project to comply with new data protection legislation might ensure we avoid million dollar fines (pain killer) while also providing us the opportunity to cleanse our existing data, so reports are more accurate (pain killer) and we have more flexibility on how we capture future data (vitamin).  This is just an example, but I am sure you get the gist.

So, have I changed your view of compliance projects? Either way, connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know. I’d love to hear your views!