Author: Angela Wick

Business Analysts Lead from the Center

Written by Angela Wick on August 13, 2013. Posted in Articles.

If I asked you to draw a picture of “leadership” what image would appear?

One image you might conjure is an org chart—the typical two dimensional, somewhat triangle-shaped hierarchy. “Leadership” is somewhere near the top.

Many BAs buy into this pyramid leadership scheme. BAs assume they are not leaders because they are near the bottom of the org chart or somewhere off to the side in a special “we-aren’t-sure-where-this-person-fits” box.

But all BAs, regardless of their level of experience, are perfectly positioned to be leaders—not leaders from the top—leaders from the center.

What does it mean to lead from the center?

Most BAs don’t operate at the top of an org chart, they operate as a hub. They sit in the center of multiple resources and pass information back and forth across the spokes.

A BA’s spokes tend to reach many teams and many levels of leadership. BAs often have a unique perspective because they see a 3D cross-section of their organization—they see the “how” and “why” that people looking down from the top of the org chart cannot see.

How do you demonstrate leadership from the center? The spokes are the key! The spokes connect BAs to their resources. They represent shared information and support the relationships between BAs and their stakeholders.

To be an effective hub, a.k.a. an effective leader, BAs need to know how to engage their stakeholders—how to get and keep their attention.

Do you have strong engagement with your stakeholders? How can you tell if your stakeholders are engaged? How can you improve stakeholder engagement?

Symptoms of Weak Stakeholder Engagement

Weak stakeholder engagement stalls your career, minimizes trust, wastes money, and hinders projects and processes. Here are a few symptoms:

Strongly conflicting requirements between stakeholders.
Stakeholders are silent, roll their eyes, sigh or multi-task during meetings.
Stakeholders do not contribute to the project. They don’t return phone calls, do not reply to emails, do not review project documents, do not provide resources, etc.
Stakeholders show up late for meetings, leave meetings early or skip meetings.
Disparate groups do not understand other stakeholders needs and benefits from the project.
Progress is slow.
Discussions loop in circles.
Decisions are difficult to obtain.

Signs of Strong Stakeholder Engagement

Strong stakeholder engagement builds trust and maximizes the value of a project or process. Here are a few signs of strong engagement:

Stakeholders have a shared vision and can communicate the vision to their team/s.
Stakeholders understand their connection to each other.
Stakeholders trust each other and the BA.
Stakeholders enthusiastically participate in meetings.
Stakeholders make themselves and their resources available to the BA as needed.
Questions, discussion and meaningful debates.
Proactive, 2-way communication

4 Ways to Improve Stakeholder Engagement and Build BA Leadership Skills

Analyze your stakeholders. Try to determine what motivates your stakeholder. What is their definition of success? Think about the project/process/problem and ask WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) from each stakeholder’s perspective. Truly empathize with each stakeholder to understand what they will gain or want they want to gain.
Observe you stakeholders. Take the time to observe stakeholder behavior and interactions. Observe how they react to you. Do they share information with you openly? Do they seem bored or annoyed? When you talk about specific projects or processes do they seem excited or do they frown and roll their eyes? Also, observe how stakeholders interact with each other. Who comes into meetings together? Who eats lunch together? Which stakeholders seem to annoy each other or question each other?
Boost your facilitation skills. Facilitation skills are critical for leadership and relationship building. Your meetings should be interactive, visual and physical so that all stakeholders contribute in a meaningful way. You should be able to engage SMEs and executives to generate creative ideas to solve complex problems.
Boost your communication skills. Be prepared to discuss your project/process/problem with people from all parts of the org chart. What level of detail does your SME want? Your manger? Your CIO? Do you communicate visually? Can you spontaneously illustrate a process, an idea or an issue on white board during a meeting?

All BAs are Leaders

From the beginner BA to the director of the BACoE, BAs bring people and ideas together. They align organizations and pave the way for value-driven change. They bring a 3rd dimension to the org chart with their unique perspective across organizations and leadership levels.

Maximize your influence and leadership potential by building strong relationships with your stakeholders. Connect with them. Understand their priorities and motivations.

Be the hub. Mind your spokes.

How do you demonstrate leadership in your organization? How do you keep stakeholders engaged?

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Can a Business Analyst Learn How to be Curious?

Written by Angela Wick on July 16, 2013. Posted in Articles.

Last month, I wrote about the top ten BA skills for 2013. Several people commented on the article, but one comment caught my attention: “Curiosity seems to be the oddball on this list. I would say this is a characteristic, more than a skill. It is hard to teach curiosity, whereas the others seem teachable.”

This really got me thinking (yes, curious about curiosity!):

Can curiosity be taught?
Is curiosity a competency that can be developed?
Aren’t all people born with curiosity?
Is curiosity hard to teach?
Do we need to teach it or is it already within us from birth and we just need to connect to it or find it?
What do curious BAs look like?

So, let’s explore curiosity. Please read and ponder. Then, add to the discussion by leaving your comments below.

What is curiosity?

If we go to Webster, curiosity is defined as “a desire to know” with synonyms of inquisitiveness or nosiness. Even more interesting are the antonyms (opposites) of curiosity: apathy or indifference.

A host of wise people agree that curiosity is important: Some consider it a virtue, some hint that it peaks in childhood and gets lost over the course of our flawed education system, and others consider curiosity the key to creativity and innovation.

Here are a few quotes that highlight the meaning and importance of curiosity:

“Curiosity is more important than knowledge.” -Albert Einstein

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers” -Voltaire

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. ”-Albert Einstein

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.”-Arnold Edinborough

“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. ” -Walt Disney

“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” -Zora Neale Hurston

“The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.” – Anatole France

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” -Leo Burnett

Why is curiosity important to the BA role?

As I said in last month’s article, curiosity has always been a critical skill for BAs.

BAs need to use probing questions to help stakeholders learn about and define the vision of the future state.
As teams move toward the future state, BAs need to be curious about change. They need to hold on to the original vision and ask questions about the impact of changes.
BAs need to be curious when things seem ambiguous. We never have 100% certainty or clarity in our work. BAs need to be curious and ask probing questions to uncover risks and assumptions so that all stakeholders understand areas of ambiguity in their projects/processes.

How do BAs demonstrate curiosity?

If the opposite of curiosity is apathy, then BAs without curiosity would simply scribe. They would take information as given. They would not seek. They would not question. They would not explore. They would not learn. They would require lots of direction. Without that direction, they would fail.

So, what does a curious BA look like, what do they do differently?

They ask probing, open-ended questions that make people stop and think.
They explore a stated requirement vs. accepting it as-is from the stakeholder.
They investigate the options and alternatives instead of accepting the first solution given.
They are open to the possibility that “change” could be good. They ponder, research and communicate the risk and value of change—even if time is short and deadlines are tight.

Can you teach someone how to be curious?

Yes! You can teach “a desire to know”. You can develop curiosity just like any other skill.

If you think about athletic skills, like a tennis serve or a golf swing—it is true that some people have natural talent, but, with practice, even mediocre athletes can achieve greatness.

Like athletes, BAs can practice too. BAs can use the following techniques to inspire, cultivate and/or practice curiosity.

Six Techniques to Develop Curiosity

Practice empathy with users and sponsor-level stakeholders. Empathy might be described as emotional curiosity. If you take time to observe and understand the thoughts and motivations of your team members, you will learn which questions to ask. Put yourself in their shoes. Be curious from their perspective.
Keep up to date on industry happenings and think about how they could impact the project. Would the impact be positive or negative? What would change? How could your organization capitalize on the industry happening?
Determine options and alternatives, even when the solution seems obvious.
Create a list of “pondering” questions and use at least one each time you meet with a stakeholder. My favorite pondering questions: How do you think it evolved to this? What would happen if? Why is this important to you? What does success look like?
Use the 5 Whys technique. Ask a “why” question. Determine the answer. Then, use that answer to develop a new “why” question. Continue this pattern (usually at least five times) until you discover the root cause of the problem.
Use the SCAMPER technique. This question-asking technique will hone your curiosity and inspire innovation. Begin with a challenge or problem you would like to solve. Then ask how you could substitute, combine, adapt, magnify, put to other uses, eliminate, or rearrange. Google a few examples to help you get started.

What do you think? Is curiosity innate? Do all people have it? Can it be taught? Please leave your comments below.

Be curious my friends!

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

The Top 10 Business Analysis Skills for 2013

Written by Angela Wick on June 18, 2013. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on The Top 10 Business Analysis Skills for 2013

A year ago I wrote the blog The Top 10 Business Analysis Skills for 2012. In 2013 here are my updates!

For the remainder of 2013, I’m going to switch out the word “broker” (BA as a broker of information from stakeholders) for the word “agent”. Synonymous, yet a distinct shift towards being in the middle of not just information, but of information that keeps changing and shifting, making the relationships and dealing with complexity more important.

Some phrases come to mind this year for the role of BAs as agents:

Agent of change
Agent of innovation
Agent of value through ambiguity
Agent of value through complexity

The themes from 2012 remain the same in 2013:

Business Agility
Innovation
Collaboration with stakeholders to drive agility and innovation

We’ve learned a bit more about the BA skills needed to address these themes. Here’s my updated BA skill list for 2013:

Contextual Modeling
Engage your stakeholders with more meaningful dialog! Contextual Models of the domain of discussion, models that provide context vs. confusion. Staying at the right level of detail for the audience is critical here. Keeping at the right level of detail (or non-detail) will help engage and get the discussion rolling without cornering the dialog into details that may not be the most pertinent and critical to value. We are learning together with our stakeholders in the complexity and ambiguity of projects today, contextual visuals and models will help drive quick and engaged learning from everyone.
Communicating Details and Concepts 
What details are the ones that will make or break the solution? How do these details relate to the overall solution value? This is the mindset that is needed when communicating with our stakeholders. As BAs it is so challenging to go between the big picture and details constantly, yet such a critical skill. This requires a degree of system thinking to break down the whole into parts and then look at the parts for which add the most value overall. In 2013, increased focus must be on paying attention to the right details vs. all of the details.
Curiosity 
How curious are you as a BA? This has always been a critical skill for BAs. Curiosity in 2013 is all about probing questions to help stakeholders and ourselves learn about the vision of the future state. Further, it is about being flexible and curious to change and adapt as the details change to reach that vision. Staying curious in the face of change and ambiguity will be key to success in 2013 and beyond!
Negotiation 
I am using negotiation in a very specific context, that of planning BA work. Once BAs learn the tactical skills in planning BA work, next comes the negotiation with the team on the schedule. It seems like we are constantly being pinned down to a schedule that seems unreasonable to really get quality requirements and a quality solution. Using our tactical planning skills and then negotiation to a win/win to get the maximum value for the time allotted, negotiating quality and value vs. cramming in too much requirements scope for the time originally allowed. When done well, I’ve seen this work miracles with project teams.
Mentoring and Coaching
We have a skill shortage in many markets for BAs, especially at the entry level. With this, Sr. BAs will need to take on more coaching and mentoring roles to help develop the skill sets of the new BAs in the organization. What a great opportunity for Sr. BAs to delegate to new BAs while gaining more leadership skills in mentoring and coaching!
Communicating Risks
This one is the only one I am not changing a thing on in 2013!

Project Managers focus on risks to the project budget, schedule and scope. A BA needs to focus on risks to the business value of the solution and communicating the risk. BAs are in a prime position to see the details and big picture view; this includes seeing the risks to the project, delivering a solution that does not maximize business value. I find that BAs have an intuitive sense of this, but often struggle to communicate the risk in a way that gets leadership attention. In order to get leadership attention to the business value at risk, BAs will need to develop skills in communicating the true business impact of the risk. This means going beyond communicating in terms of the features and functionalities of the process or software, and going beyond that, there is not enough time for requirements to be done right. It means communicating the impact it will have on the business operation or strategy. For example, when the functionality of a point of sale application has a requirements conflict in the process of accepting payment from customers, the focus needs to turn to the impact of the conflict on the customer service representative’s ability to serve the customers and the customer experience vs. the technical details at risk of the requirement. In the heat of requirements and design details, we often let the details drive risk discussions and never get to the bottom line impacts that can really propel leaders to make the right decisions.
Leveraging Core Facilitation Skills in EVERY Meeting
Are you running your meetings or are meetings and stakeholders running your meetings? Many BAs get into tough situations in requirements meetings and feel that other agendas and personalities are driving their meetings astray. Remember to use critical techniques to facilitate meetings like a visual “parking lot”, and established goals and objectives for the meeting. Be open to others input, but ensure you have a plan to address the original goals and objectives and use that “parking lot” to manage the scope of the meeting. Be empowered to take control of your meetings!
Change Management
Being an Agent of Change Embracing the BA role as an agent of change will continue to show the value the organization the value the BA role brings to the organization. This year I am seeing more focus on the behavior changes needed for change to truly take place. Many of our projects are not only needed technology and process changes, but true behavior and attitude changes to drive value. As BAs we are in a key position to help identify and drive what behaviors and by who need to change to make the solution successful,
Getting to Why? 
In 2012 Asking Why was on the list, in 2013 I am chaining it to Getting to Why? The reason is that so many times we are asking the wrong person. Asking Why (in the ways described in 2012’s blog) is critical, but ensuring we have asked the right person and/or all the right people is more important as more complexity surrounds our projects. With multiple stakeholders impacted we need to know WHY from each of them to ensure value is delivered to all of them. Its amazing how many different answers you get from cross functional groups, and yet, so important to understanding the context and how to create value for each group.
Get Visual
Spontaneously!  In 2013 when innovation, agility, and collaboration are the trends, being able to spontaneously draw will lead to stakeholders to a deeper level of engagement. It will also stop them from checking their phones and tablets. They can only engage one sense at a time, but everyone will try 2. Lets make sure the 2 they are engaging are focused on the meeting and the goal of the meeting. If you draw they will not only listen, but visually engage as well.

No matter what type of BA, no matter which industry, these skills in 2013 will set your projects up for deeper collaboration innovation and agility.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

A Business Analyst’s Best Friends: The Business Manager

Written by Angela Wick on May 7, 2013. Posted in Articles.

BAs need information. The best BAs get information by building and maintaining strong relationships with all project team members. From the CIO to the front-line employees, BAs rely on many “friends”. BAs need to anticipate their friends’ needs and learn how to influence cooperation.

In January, I set the stage for a series describing the BA’s best friends. This month’s friend is the Business Manager.

How does the Business Manager benefit from a BA?

The Business Manager’s team suffers or soars based on the quality of the BA’s work. If the BA is effective, these are the top five benefits to the Business Manager.

BAs maximize the benefits of projects, which depending on the project, helps the Business Manager reduce costs, increase productivity, solve problems, etc.
BAs minimize issues by eliciting complete and accurate requirements.
BAs minimize implementation risks by support testing and training efforts.
BAs ensure the solution will meet the Business Manager’s need.
BAs see the big picture and anticipate issues and constraints outside of the Business Manager’s operation.

What makes a top-notch BA from the Business Manager’s perspective?

Business Managers see top-notch BAs as master observers and change agents.

Observers: Top-notch BAs understand the needs and goals of the Business Manager’s organization from a 360 degree perspective. These BAs understand the Business Manager’s pressure from above, politics between peers, and the issues within the team.

Change Agents: Top-notch BAs understand their role in the change management process. BAs help the Business Manager prepare the team for change by

successfully gathering input from all stakeholders
understanding and communicating all potential impacts (good and bad!)
maximizing the value of the change
ensuring a smooth transition

What frustrates a Business Manager about the BA role?

Have you heard any of these statements/questions from your Business Managers:

This document is way too technical for me.
I don’t have time to review all of these documents.
I already explained all of this, why do we have to go through it again?
My team is so busy. I don’t have any resources available to help you.
I told you how to fix the system. Why do we need document the current process?

All of these frustrations stem from your Business Manager’s need to maximize time. Long winded, jargon-filled, technical documents take too much time to decipher. Give the Business Manager pictures, a summary or have her team members sign-off on the details.

Also, be sure to help the Business Manager understand your process. Walk through your tasks with him. Help him understand why each step is important, what would happen if you skip a step, and which resources will increase the probability of a good outcome.

How to say no to a Business Manager?

Most disagreements with Business Managers relate to scope. BAs need to say “no” when requirements do not align with the vision and objectives of the project.

Here are four ways to say “no” and prevent scope creep:

Ask questions: The primary goal of our project is X, how does this fit in?
Facilitate a prioritization process. Help the Business Manager and her team prioritize requirements based on the primary need of the project. The “scope creepers” will tend to fall to the bottom of the priority list. If they don’t then you may need to reevaluate the project scope and timeline.
Frame the impact of the scope change in the language of the Business Manager: How would the change impact her team? How would the change impact profit, productivity, efficiency? How would the change impact the timeline of the project?
Give options and alternatives—ways to address the new requirement without adding to the scope of the project.

How to influence a Business Manager to get what you need?

BAs need access to information and the Business Manager is usually the gatekeeper. How do you get the Business Manager to open the door to the kingdom?

Set Expectations: Discuss resource needs. Provide a project timeline with estimates for “human” resources.
Respect Time: In many cases, Business Managers and their team members are overwhelmed by the thought of adding project work on top of their day-to-day operations. BAs build trust and influence by using time wisely: prepare for meetings, create agendas, be concise, know when to escalate, use facilitation skills that will elicit accurate and complete requirements quickly.
Give Context: Resolve issues with the Business Manager, by describing the impact from his perspective. Help him understand operational risks and impacts to morale, quality metrics, efficiency and productivity.

How to communicate the value of the BA role to the Business Manager?

Of all of the BAs best friends, the Business Manager has the best understanding of the BA role. Business managers:

See the BA as a liaison to other parts of the organization.
Move up the corporate ladder when great BAs help them maximize the value of business and technology changes.
Inspire innovation and collaboration when BAs help them identify options and alternatives.

What do you think?

BAs: How do get the most out of each meeting with your Business Manager?
Business Managers: How has a great BA helped you move up the corporate ladder?

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

A Business Analyst’s Best Friends: The CIO

Written by Angela Wick on April 9, 2013. Posted in Articles.

Successful BAs are the calm, center point of the project storm. They evaluate the people, roles, systems, and processes swirling around them. BAs find connections between the elements of the project storm. They make sure all of the moving pieces align.

In order to maintain this alignment, BAs rely on strong relationships with many friends. BAs need to anticipate their friends’ needs and learn how to influence cooperation.

In January, I set the stage for a series describing the BA’s best friends. This month’s friend is the CIO.

How does the CIO benefit from a BA?

Here’s a scary thought: The CIO knows who you are. Yes, even if you work at a Fortune 500 company, it is likely the CIO knows you by name or reputation.

Here’s an even scarier thought: The CIO has seen your deliverables! That big requirements document or that issue log or that PowerPoint presentation or that status report might make a journey all the way to the CIOs smart phone, laptop, or desk.

Based on those thoughts, the CIO realizes the following benefits from a great BA:

Easy to Understand Deliverables
- Use visuals: pictures, charts, diagrams
- Structure documents with summaries that introduce details
- Highlight or prioritize the most important concepts or issues
- Minimize jargon
Successful Projects
- Meet the needs of stakeholders with minimal issues or rework
Bridge to Partners
- Build trusting and cooperative relationships with stakeholders

What makes a top-notch BA from the CIO’s perspective?

From the CIO’s perspective, a top-notch BA maximizes the value of the project. What does this mean how do you do it?

For the sake of discussion lets define “value” as “a fair return”. Like anyone, CIOs want to get a fair return on their money. A CIO’s success hinges on the value he/she provides to the organization.

BAs partner with stakeholders to define “value” for each project. The “fair return” is the outcome of the project—does the solution meet the needs of the organization. A top-notch BA maximizes value by using tools and techniques that:

Increase revenue, decrease costs, minimize or maximize risk to the organization
Improve accuracy: requirements are correct and complete
Minimize rework: Inspire an enduring solution that meets the needs of the stakeholders
Minimize maintenance: Inspire a solution that minimizes ongoing support

What frustrates a CIO about the BA role?

Remember the “scarier” thought above: CIOs see your deliverables. Keep that in mind when you are creating requirements documents, issue logs, status reports, and presentations. CIOs don’t have time for details. They get frustrated by big, wordy, complex documents.

So, assume that your documents will travel. Do the hard work needed to simplify requirements. Everyone will benefit. Here are a few tips:

Use Appropriate Headings: Use headings that have business meaning and are understandable so that the reader (no matter what area or level) can predict what details are in that section of the document and decide effectively if they need and want to read the details.
Use Charts: When you need to include details, group them in a chart or diagram.
Use Pictures: Use a picture to supplement or replace text.
Create Decomposition and Summaries: Prepare an executive summary for large or complex documents. Focus on who, what, where, and when. Minimize how.
Use “white space”: Use white space on the document strategically to not overwhelm the reader with text or visuals that are too detailed.

How to say no to a CIO?

Do you know your CIO’s name? Have you met your CIO? Do you chat with your CIO daily? The relationship between a CIO and a BA varies based on the size and structure of an organization and the experience level of the BA.

In most cases, a BA would not be in a position to say “NO” directly to a CIO. Instead, a BA would supply information to the CIO via one of the CIO’s direct reports. Prepare the direct report by outlining the consequences of possible decisions.

For BAs that interact with the CIO directly, your best approach would be to challenge politely by asking questions.

Always remember the CIO might be making decisions based on information you do not have and he/she cannot share.

How to influence a CIO to get what you need?

Again, most BAs interact with CIOs through at least one layer of management.

All CIOs have goals and priorities for their organization. BAs can work within the layers of management to understand the CIO’s priorities. When BAs frame their needs in the context of the CIOs goals, BAs will have more influence.

What’s most important to the CIO? Here are a few possibilities:

Value to the organization: How will this bring value to our stakeholders?
Perception of IT: Will this bring a positive perception of IT to the organization?
Bottom Line: How will this affect my budget? How will this increase profits?
Service: How will this improve/hinder customer service?
Operations: How will this impact processes and procedures? How will this improve quality?
Morale: Will this lift morale?
Productivity: Will this decrease productivity?
Time to Market: How will this affect our delivery timelines?

How to communicate the value of the BA role to a CIO?

In many organizations, CIOs spend more of their budget keeping the lights on—maintaining, fixing, or enhancing existing systems. That only leaves less than desired for strategic projects that have the power to shift the direction of the organization, innovate, and bring fun exciting projects to the organization.

Most CIOs and their business partners, want to flip their percentages and funnel more of their technology dollars to strategic projects. Compared to maintenance projects, strategic projects provide more value to the organization—they are a vehicle for creativity and innovation. CEOs and CIOs compare dollars spent in IT on “keeping the lights on” vs. strategic initiatives, there is constant pressure in the industry and internally to move these numbers in the right direction to move the organization forward.

I have worked with organizations where missed or inaccurate requirements led to fixes for fixes that were ten layers deep! How many of your project originated as fixes to other projects? How many layers of fixes have you seen? We can as BAs change this and create more value to the organization by getting it right the first time!

I have seen BA talent reverse this trend and tip the scales in favor of strategic projects.

Tell your CIO that great BAs create free space for strategic projects! They get requirements right the first time—minimizing the need for fixes and enhancements.

What do you think?

BAs: Are you just keeping the lights on or are you creating free space for your CIO’s strategic projects?
CIOs: Are your BAs helping your organization move forward?

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.