Skip to main content

Author: Paul Crosby

8 Tips to Get Management’s Approval for (Almost) Anything

This article is sponsored by Bob the BA

If you ever feel like management ignores all of your ideas and never has time to listen to you, then you could be taking the wrong approach to influencing them.

You don’t have to have seniority or a high position within the company to get your boss to notice your ideas and get buy-in from upper management. You just have to know how to sell your plans.

Here are 8 steps you can take today to improve your sales pitch so management will approve your project and give you the resources you need. 

1. Craft a Better Elevator Pitch to Stay Top of Mind

Often, business analysts need to fight for their resources and constantly engage stakeholders with support. Even if you get approval once, you may have to sell other stakeholders or remind existing ones what your plans are.

“It’s a rare thing for a Business Analyst to actually have a project with stakeholders who can commit their full time to requirement elicitation and validation,” Duncan Cartledge writes at Dice Tech UK. Without Business Analysts constantly vying for resources for their projects, it’s easy for management to move time and money to a different project and forget about your pitch.

To solve this, Adriana Beal created a four-step process for breaking out your talking points in a way that can grab management’s attention and hold it until you get the resources you need. By following this process, you should be able to draft your pitch clearly and in a way that appeals to management.

  • Create a quick overview (or elevator pitch) about the project along with clearly stated needs, solution constraints and stakeholder requirements.
  • Summarize the research you performed to evaluate the project and your needs.
  • Provide a solution to overcome hurdles and to get the resources you need based on your research.
  • End with a proposed course of action.
  • The key to success with this model is flexibility. If they want you to move ahead, you can skip the summary and even solution section and go to the call to action without losing your focus.

2. Adjust Your Pitch to Address Upper Management’s Concerns

“It’s hard to get senior management to pay attention to new ideas — not because the leaders are arrogant or overwhelmed, but because they are disciplined,” Liz Wiseman writes.

The executive team is constantly pitched new ideas and solutions, and they need to evaluate which ones will have the biggest impact. While 10 ideas might be good, they probably only have the resources for one or two, and need to identify the best ones.

As you’re crafting your elevator pitch, your primary focus needs to be on ROI. While supplemental information is certainly helpful, tracking the incremental value to a business investment can be one of the top analytical motivators in your arsenal.

“If we look at the ROI formula, there are really only two components that a BA can impact: value achieved through a solution and the cost of the solution,” Laura Brandenburg writes. “As business analysts, we can impact both of these variables.”

Basing your plan around how one or both of these factors will be significantly improved can turn your passion project into a financial opportunity for any stakeholder.

3. Encourage Managers to Pick Apart Your Ideas

The only way your pitch is going to gain approval across the company is if it’s bulletproof. In this case, naysayers and people who reject your plans can actually be an asset in the information-gathering phase.

“Contrarians often seem to be throwing up roadblocks to the important work,” Kevin Daum writes. “But these problem people see things others don’t. Think of them as protecting you from your blind spots.”

Daum recommends learning more about why these stakeholders are against your project. Even if your project is postponed or rejected this time, understanding how key managers think can help you use their logic to win them over in the future.

Jennifer Garvey Berger agrees. She has found that people tend to ask questions with specific end goals in mind. Instead of talking objectively, employees will try to narrow the scope and promote their cause.

Berger instead encourages managers and employees alike to try to ask open-ended questions and to be objective when talking about ideas. If this is impossible when advocating for your cause, find a co-worker mediator who can ask both parties the right questions to get all of the information on the table.

4. Gain Buy-In From Team Members on Your Level

By picking apart your ideas to improve them, your co-workers can prepare you to address the above naysayers and counter their objections.

Oz Alon, CEO at Honeybook, actually turns to two unconventional business elements to increase flexibility within his company: risk and disagreement. While many managers strive to reduce risk and prevent disagreements, he finds those two elements actually work together to move a company forward.

By encouraging employees to take risks, new ideas are constantly brought to the table. When employees disagree about the best solution, both sides are forced to defend their ideas and look for better implementation plans.

This can be applied whether you’re an entry-level analyst hoping to get noticed or a director eyeing the C-suite. Douglas A. Ready points to the success of Alan Mulally, who utilized lateral teamwork and turned around both Boeing and the Ford Motor Company, as an example.

Mulally broke down a culture of political infighting by pulling managers into a weekly meeting to assess problem and opportunities.
“At every meeting, managers were asked: what have we learned by airing concerns, making course corrections, and especially, fixing problems together?” Ready writes.


Advertisement

This communal focus on learning and making tough calls made the managers more engaged in the decision-making process and in each other’s departmental objectives.

5. Incorporate Feedback Across the Company

Before you’re ready to make your pitch, make sure your plan will work at the lower levels of the company, where people will have to adapt to the changes on the front lines.

H. James Dallas has seen countless initiatives fail because a room full of executives only listened to each other instead of actually asking what the front-line employees wanted or needed to succeed. By listening to lower-level employees, companies are more likely to create a funnel for new ideas to improve the company and the customer experience.

Simply asking the opinions of lower-level employees can actually increase morale and buy-in for your plan.

“When employees are asked for their feedback and ideas, they take more ownership in the problem,” writes Amy Morin, author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. “They’re more devoted to the cause, and they’re more motivated to help.”

She explains that many leaders worry they appear weak or incompetent when they ask employees for their assistance in a crisis. However, the opposite is true. Not only does this open up the pool of ideas — increasing the odds of landing on the right solution — but it also builds loyalty and team cohesion for your plan.

6. Strategically Plan When You Make Your Pitch

Once you completely have your pitch crafted, it’s time to strategically plan how you will approach management for maximum impact.

“It might seem most important to deliver your pitch as soon as possible, but your boss likely has a pretty packed schedule,” Brad Jones writes. “If they’re not adequately prepared to listen to your idea, it will fall flat.”

Caroline Dowd Higgins agrees. By trying to tie in your pitch to another meeting or during a busy time, your ideas aren’t likely to have the impact you expect. The best case scenario is that you’re ignored or asked to present on a later date. In the worst case scenario, you’re flat out rejected.

The scope of this advice isn’t limited to the company’s daily schedule. Pitching at the end of the year or after your budgets are already approved can decrease your chances of getting approval. By keeping an eye on company performance and your fiscal calendar, you can plan the best time for management to say “yes.”

7. Evaluate How Much Your Audience Knows About the Project

As you start to make your case across the company, evaluate how much jargon and technical knowledge is required to fully understand the project. You may have to tailor your pitch in a way that educates stakeholders and employees while persuading them. This is referred to as persuasive management.

“Persuasive management is most effective when used in situations where you know far more about the subject matter than the team you’re leading,” Simon Griffin writes at Cpl Jobs. “As you are an expert in a complex field, there would be little benefit in seeking the input of those who are not. But team members are still able to perform individual tasks or execute certain parts of the plan.”

This leadership concept applies when talking to upper management. As an analyst or mid-tier employee, you’re deeper in the weeds than most leaders. While they might have an idea about the technology, you know what’s best for it. This is why you end up taking on the role of educator as well as advocate for additional resources.

Lolly Daskal admits that it can be frustrating when you know more than your boss. Many corporate structures have management operating on a high level, and leaders aren’t aware of problems until their employees present them. She recommends working with your boss as much as you can and be respectful when communicating issues. You may face an uphill education battle, but those lessons could pay off in the long run.

8. Learn How to Persuade Instead of Demand

Co-worker and employee buy-in will also help when it’s time to execute your approved ideas. By the time management signs off on a plan, you will have a top-notch team already familiar with your goals ready to offer their help.

“You should be cultivating the kind of attitudes that people find attractive and lead them to want to follow you,” Mike Clayton writes. “While people respect calm detachment and a realistic assessment of the situation, they are drawn to optimism.”

Conversely, if you lack the ability to persuade your co-workers on your ideas, you could face backlash when your manager starts implementing it.

“No one likes to be ordered around, compelled or told what to do,” the team at Business Analyst Learnings writes. “You are more likely to win stakeholders to your side if you lead them to believe in your vision instead of relying on their bosses or those more powerful than them to dictate to them. If power changes hands and the tables turn, it could very well spell the death of your initiative.”

Co-worker buy-in also helps through periods of change, as the team will work to push your initiative even if management is pausing or cutting certain plans.

There are dozens of factors working against your pitch, from co-workers who also need resources to corporate timing and budgets. However, by following this process, you can work to reduce barriers while motivating more people to lobby for your ideas.

5 Common Pitfalls in Current State Analysis

Understanding the current state is arguably the biggest step for a Business Analyst or Product Owner on a new project to take.

Projects, processes, and systems have a rich history that is typically complex. The larger the organization, the more complexity that is in play. User perceptions, stakeholder expectations, the political landscape and many other factors help or hinder the ability of the Business Analyst to acquire an understanding of the current state.

1. We’re Wasting Time – Skip Current State Analysis Entirely

Understanding the current state is a major step in many projects. In today’s fast-paced environments, it is quite common to skip current state analysis completely or simply brushing over it with the justification of starting the project faster and current state analysis is a time waster or not needed. Fully avoiding current state analysis can lead to some interesting results in the project not solving the core problems and merely adding functionality on top of a weak foundation.

It’s hard to figure out where you are going unless you know where you are starting.

It is quite common in the Agile world that the Product Owner or Business Analyst has a complete understanding of the systems, processes, and environments of an organization. Most organizations have a wide variety of systems and processes that span many different teams within the organization. Taking the time to allow the Product Owner or Business Analyst to perform a current state analysis is essential to keeping a sprint moving forward quickly. Lack of current state analysis becomes immediately apparent during the user acceptance of a product at the end of the sprint. The lack of understanding of the current state causes the business solution not to work or address current business issues.

Organizational Readiness or Organizational Change Management are at a disadvantage. Not being able to acknowledge and articulate the need or “Why are we changing?” questions lead teams within organizations to not accept the change quickly. Acknowledgment of current issues and concerns is a good step in starting the Organizational Change Management and Communication strategy for the project. Without current state analysis, it is difficult for the Business Analyst or Project Owner to put together the Organizational Change Management and Communication Plan needed to propel the business solution forward quickly into the organization (think in terms of business solution adoption).

2. Uncontrolled Venting of Current State Issues

Like the roof on your house, we all need to vent. Venting can be a negative experience, or it can be turned into something positive. Holding feedback sessions with stakeholders, business partners, and customers can give you valuable feedback on the current state. Collecting this information will allow the Product Owner or Business Analyst the ability to see patterns or common themes of issues. Holding on of these meetings is tough. It’s human nature to jump to conclusions and offer solutions. The purpose of this type of meeting is to vent or explain what is currently happening. It’s not about pointing fingers, blame-storming, or finding fault. Set these expectations right at the start of the feedback meeting. Be sure all attendees understand the purpose of the meeting and that it is not for finding solutions.

Facilitation of these types of meetings is difficult. Individuals can feel attacked or blamed in these meetings, so it is important to create a safe environment to collect the current state issues safely. A good technique is to create a board where individuals can write their current issues on post-it notes and past them on the board. Let everyone know it’s okay to duplicate issues or concerns. This event is a listening meeting. Once the list of current issues is obtained, send it out to the group for them to review it. Others may chime in after the meeting with issues.

A distinct problem with a listening meeting or feedback meeting is over complaining and not being able to move past all the complaining or a single issue. The Post-It note technique above will help, but as a facilitator of this meeting, you will need to be on the lookout for an entire group of individuals being unable to move forward to other issues. To move forward through this roadblock, acknowledge the issue has been captured and that future analysis on the issue may be required. Follow up with users to recognize the issue both verbally and in writing. Set their expectations around when a deeper dive will be performed on the issue.

3. It’s Documented This Way, But Nobody Does It That Way

It is quite common for the Business Analyst or Product Owner to encounter the documentation divide when trying to undercover the current state. The divide occurs when the documentation doesn’t reflect the reality of how the users are interacting with the current state. It is not to say that reviewing the documentation is altogether wrong. Observation of stakeholders, sponsors, and users as they interact with a system or process provides in-depth insight into the current state. By observing respectfully and not telling the individual being observed they are doing it wrong, it is possible to see the solution in the real world. Real world systems or processes follow their documentation perfectly as organizations and their environments change rapidly.
Poorly documented systems are on the flip side of this pitfall. Tribal knowledge in utilizing the system rules the day. Observation is a good technique to address this pitfall however in situations where little or no documentation is provided for a system or process, the expectations and understanding of the user, stakeholder or customer can vary significantly. A context diagram or high-level diagram of the current state solution is highly recommended in this situation to ensure the user, stakeholder and customer all view the system or processes purpose in the same way. A lack of common understanding of the current state within the organization will make future efforts to improve it tough.

4. Upstream and Downstream – Not Understanding Integrations

Most systems integrate with other systems in an organization’s environment. Sometimes they integrate directly as in data is passed from one system to another in an automated way or indirectly by having a user manually take data output from one system, manually adjust it on an Excel spreadsheet and import it into another solution.

It is important that the Business Analyst or Product Owner understand the integration points that are direct and indirect so that future changes to the system don’t break current systems that are feeding or are supplied by the current state.

Direct and automated data feeds are typically the easiest to uncover. Middleware, file transport or come another method will have a support system in place and an operations team or individual. The Business Analyst and Product Owner should be able to use the context diagram technique or data flow technique to uncover data inputs and outputs. System architecture or development teams usually have this information on hand for disaster recovery and day to day support.

Indirect integrations are tricky to uncover because they are done manually by one or two individuals without documentation or awareness from others that utilize the system. Often the pitfall is thinking that the integration is automatic only to discover it is performed manually by a user. Other indirect integrations are performed on the down low as a way of moving data to different systems. Interface diagrams and process flows can uncover some of these indirect integrations. Reviewing the reporting or files that are created as output from a system is also helpful in locating indirect integrations. Creating an inventory of all reports and data feeds is a good technique to figure out where data is flowing out of the system.

5. We Don’t Have Issues – You Just Need More Training

Denial of issues occurs quite frequently. The issue becomes the elephant in the room that no one will talk about or look at for fear of the difficulty in solving the issue.

These types of elephant issues are typically created by a lack of funding to resolve them, a refusal to address the issues because they are too costly, or a desire not to look bad. Denial can hold back a Business Analysts or Product Owners understanding of the current state significantly, and it is difficult to break denial quickly.

Acknowledgment of the issue or the elephant in the room is the first step to trying to understand the issue. Clearly stating the elephant issue exists is quite effective even when the politics of your organization would prefer you not say anything about it. Knowing the size and dimensions of the elephant issue will ensure the future business solution will be designed in a way not to repeat the mistakes of the past or to recreate the elephant.

We have all encountered the “If you just read the instructions there wouldn’t be any problems” statement. It’s typically followed by, “We just need to train users more.”

Both of these pitfalls can be addressed by taking the existing documentation, going to observe end users, and noting where in the documentation the user is not following the documentation. Gently ask users non-confrontationally why they are doing it differently. “I am curious as to why you did it that way” approach is best.

Asking the question, “Why didn’t you do it the way the document said?” can be more confrontational and produce an adverse effect. Business Analysts and Product Owners will need to thoughtfully observe and challenge to gain deeper insight into the rationale for deviating from the documented process.

Many Pitfalls

There are many pitfalls in establishing an understanding of the current state. These are the top 5 pitfalls typically encountered, but they can vary widely on a project to project basis. As tempting as it may be, skipping current state analysis produces issues later when designing and proposing a business solution. Even in cases where a solid understanding of the current state can be assumed, Business Analysts and Product Owners assumptions should always be verified. What’s your current state?

Parachutes and User Experiences in Business Solutions

Experience Week started in 1996 as a way of involving people in experiencing air-related activities.

Primarily we are talking about jumping out of a plane with a parachute. Most of a Business Analyst’s air-related experiences revolve around breathing in stuffy conference rooms or perhaps the occasional embarrassing hiccup. Parachutes are no longer required for National Experience Week (April 10 – 14th, 2017). National Experience Week evolved into more than just jumping out of a plane to have an air-related activity, but having an experience of a life time whether it is climbing a mountain or having a spa day. Today the National Experience Week has over 1,300 experiences from creating art, relaxing massage, white water rafting, and many more daring activities in their registry.

In Business Analysis, we create experiences for users by facilitating a clear vision, eliciting requirements, designing and managing organizational change to deliver exceptional value to our users. User Experience (UX) covers this in greater detail, but the focus of this article is on topics to consider in designing the business solution experience. When you think of a business solution experience, what comes to your mind?

User Needs

Business Analysis 101 is understanding the need versus the want for stakeholders and project sponsors for the business solution. It is essential in building business solution experiences to understand business needs thoroughly. It can be very easy to lose sight of:

  • What problems does the business solution solve?
  • What problems are NOT solved?
  • What capabilities are provided in the business solution?
  • What capabilities are being provided, but NOT expected in the business solution?

Interfaces and Tangible Interactions

The customer or user interfaces with your business solution in some form whether it is a screen, report, email, text, alarm bell or other notification techniques. At each point of interaction with the business solution, a response whether positive or negative is being drawn by the user when interacting with the interface. A loud alarm bell may be an excellent way to alert a team of a major system failure, but it can also be very annoying to have an alarm blaring unexpectedly. Even if the system predicts outages perfectly, users may never interact with it because of their response to the interface. User experience (UX) dives into this in more detail, but at a high level some questions to ask are:

  • How does the user or customer react to the interface?
  • Does the interface add or remove the value of the underlying system?
  • Do the interface and the solution process align?
  • If the interface is being used by a particular persona or role, does the interface for a logical progression that persona or role would follow in their typical business day?

Accessibility

The ability of the interface or system to be used by a broad audience is important in many organization and consumer products. The business solution’s ability to be used by blind, deaf, low-vision or color blind people is an important topic when looking at a business solution. Being aware of different accessibility needs will enhance the user experience for those with these concerns. Accessibility is too long and complicated for this article, but there are a few things to consider:

  • Can the interface be used by low-vision, bi-focal, or blind users? Almost 90% of adults over the age of 50 require reading glasses or bi-focal lenses. Is the font too small?
  • Can the interface be used by hard or hearing or deaf users? If an alarm sounds, the expectation can be to respond to noise, but that is difficult for hard of hearing or deaf users.
  • Are colors used in the interface that can be distinguished by the color blind? If the expectation is to act if something turns RED, how will you handle it when the user cannot see red?
  • If a screen reader for the blind or low-vision user is employed to read the screen, would it work effectively and meaningfully?
  • What are the accessibility standards for your organization?

Process

The process can kill a good business solution and user experience in seconds. If the process is complicated and cumbersome, users will not follow it and won’t engage with the business solution. Building business processes is an art from entirely in and of itself. To achieve a robust business solution, checking to ensure the process supports the interface – or in reverse, the interface supports the process – is a good step in traceability of the business needs. Carefully look at processes that are outside of your business solution but still impact it. Employee on-boarding is a great example. Business solutions that are required to be used by all employees will need to link into the new employee orientation and on-boarding processes to make sure the system will be usable by new hires in a timely fashion.

Integration

Integration typically is referred to in a system to system context. Your business solution will need to work within the framework of other systems in your organization. A user experience can be interrupted and quickly soured when hand offs from one system to another are not performed well, or the business solution does not play well with other systems. Validate that the business solution does not negatively impact upstream or downstream systems.

  • Are there processes, data points, interfaces, and other items that are inputted into your business solution?
  • Are their outputs from the business solution into another business solution that already exists?
  • Are projects underway to create a new business solution that could potentially be an input or output to your business solution?

User Motivation

User Motivation is a tough one to manage and uncover. Users can be positively or negatively motivated by their experience with a business solution. Mandatory compliance or the “do-it-or-else-you-are fired” approach is not always practical. Users who are not motivated to use a system will routinely work around it and interact with the business solution as minimal as possible. Giving a positive motivation to a user to interact and use the business solution ensures productive use of the business solution.

Organizational change management can create stronger user motivation in utilizing the business solution. Moving to a new business solution without organizational change management can create a negative motivation even when the system provides significant value to the user. Carefully planning and managing organization change management – especially communication around the business solution – can create a positive motivation. That is not to say some negative impressions by users will remain as not all users want to change. The objective is to ensure a favorable motivation by minimizing negative or unfavorable impressions. You cannot make everyone happy, but you can focus on making a majority less unhappy.

Why does the user want to continue to use your business solution? Think is terms of support, help desk, training, getting questions answered or quick response. These underlying items which often are ignored can disrupt the user experience. Lesson learned from experience is that it is not the fact the business solution failed, but rather how gracefully and positively the recovery from the failure was achieved.

Future Focused

No one can see the future. This crystal ball thing just doesn’t work. The user experience over time will degrade and fall apart over time without thinking of the future for the business solution. You will not have all the answers and solutions to potential future problems for the business solution. However, in thinking of the future for your business solution, you might be able to create ways in which is can be expanded or improved in the future. Another term for this would be the sustainability of the business solution.

Business Value

Another lesson learned was keeping the focus of the business value in focus initially on implementing the business solution. Delivery of a diminished monetary, time savings, or other benefits will negatively impact the business solution. This issue can be avoided by keeping the business value in focus during the design and implementation phases and carefully managing expectations. If the business case indicated a reduction in processing time by 30% then the business solution should be able to measure and ensure that is delivered but there are times when goals cannot be met for specific reasons. Traceability of requirements and design back to the business case is a good approach to ensuring expected business value is going to be met.

In conclusion, there are many factors which impact the user experience and these are just a handful of items to consider. What other factors would you add to this list? Are these factors important to your projects? Let’s discuss in the comments section.

113,804 Words in One Week

It has been a crazy week putting together our next editions for BA Times and PM Times.

You might have noticed we are publishing more stories and you would be correct! We are set to publish an incredible 113,804 words for May 2017. That is an incredible achievement by the writers that have submitted their work to BA Times and PM Times for publication.

We are reaching out to more great storytellers every month to give you an even broader list of great topics and bringing you new exciting voices from around the world. From Project Management in Africa to Business Analysis in Canada, our May 2017 edition is bursting with 42 new stories, a FREE brand new live webinar, and new whitepapers!

Next Month’s Exciting Feature Articles

In June, we will be featuring our featured articles will be on Agile Methodology – Real World Stories. We still have a few spaces open for featured articles. Submit your Agile article today!

For those of you planning a few months out, our July featured articles will be on the topic of Good leadership qualities and influencing without authority for business analysts and project managers.

Writers Awards & Recognition

We know that we would not exist without great writers and we would like to congratulate and thank our past and present writers who have submitted their great stories. To honor these great writers, we are starting our new badge program. Starting in May, we will be sending out badges via email to writers and will put badges in the writer’s biography on our site.

TCFirst Post Published Contributor

This is the badge of success! It shows the writer has successfully published an article on BA Times and PM Times that shares their story worldwide. It’s huge thanks from the team for a job well done!

RCRegular Contributor

Regular Contributor is the badge of commitment that shows the writer has successfully published 5 or more articles on BA Times and PM Times. It is our way of saying thanks for your incredible support!

TMCTop Monthly Contributor

This badge indicates readers clicked and read the article to make it the most read article for the entire month! It’s awarded to writers every month for BA Times and PM Times. Worthy to share on all our social media and would look awesome on any resume!

TRTop Rank – Best Article of the Year

This badge indicates the writer’s article was the most read article for the ENTIRE year. Wow! Adored by readers worldwide, it shows you are a great storyteller and your mastery of the subject. This badge is our top honor for BA Times and PM Times!

5 Resources to Help You Write Articles

There are many resources to help you write your story for BA Times and PM Times. They also make great resources when writing your next presentation or report. Take your writing up a level with these free online tools.

Portent Title Maker
Enter a subject into the Portent tool, and you will get a sample blog post title, complete with helpful and witty breakdowns of why the title might make for a good read.

Blog Topic Generator 
Close to Portent tool above, Blog Topic Generator gives you 5 snazzy titles as ideas for your next article. Enter in 3 nouns and voila!

Google Trends
Type in a topic and see how well it is trending as a search term in Google. Great tool to help determine if your article topic is trending.

Hemingway
Hemingway analyzes your text for readability, highlighting sentences that are a bit too complex or dense. Helps you write clear ideas that are readable.

Grammarly
This online tool is a great resource for writers. We have recommended it before as a better grammar checker then those found in desktop word processors like Microsoft Word. 100% Free.

Upcoming Conferences

The fall conference season is a busy one this year. BA Times and PM Times will be at the conference events below. These are great resources to get Business Analysis and Project Management training. Earn CDUs and PDUs to maintain your certification. We hope to see you soon at these events!

Washington DC (USA) Jun 19-21
Winnipeg (Canada) Sep 18-21
Boston (USA) Oct 16-19
Vancouver (Canada) Oct 30-Nov 2
Chicago (USA) Nov 13-16
Moncton (Canada) Nov 27-30
New York (USA) Dec 4-7

Tell Your Story,

Paul Crosby, Editor-in-Chief
BA Times and PM Times

Letter from the Editor

Since April always reminds me of spring and moving, I thought I would start out this month’s Letter from the Editor with a wonderful new service from the Postal Service.

News Release –Postal Service Announces Portable Postal Code

April 1, 2004 – Washington DC

You have lived and worked hard for a long time in your city. You made a big difference but now it’s time to move on to the next great challenge in your life but that means you must leave your favorite postal code behind. It’s awful to say goodbye to such a good friend. Now you need to memorize a whole new postal code. We feel your pain.

The Postal Service proudly announces the portable postal code. Keep that postal code you have worked hard to keep for so many years. Take that postal code with you. Forget about having to memorize a new one. Let the postal service make it easier for you when you move.

Never worry about that lost mail any longer when you move. With a portable postal code, you will always have the same postal code where ever you move. Sign up today to get this great benefit only from your postal service.

Wait – What Was That?

I was really into getting this new product until a moment later I realized this was an awesome April fool’s joke from the United States Postal service. Well done my postal friends – well played. You can check out the full story by clicking here.

Business Intelligence Gathering

Sometimes things that seem really amazing just don’t quite pan out. As Project Managers and Business Analysts we use data daily to help us and the organization which we serve to make better decisions. Business Intelligence is a demanding field that can bring great value to an organization and requires the expert knowledge from a Business Analyst and Project Manager with Business Intelligence experience.

This month we are featuring the latest articles on the topic of Business Intelligence and how it relates to the Business Analyst and Project Manager.

Lesser Known Holidays in April

I can’t make this stuff up folks. They really are holidays in April.

  • Walk Around Things Day on April 4th – I celebrated by walking around the conference room table as colleagues become more concerned about my mental stability.
  • Deep Dish Pizza Day on April 5th – This is a holiday I can seriously get into. Love the Chicago deep dish pizza. Pepperoni and sausage piled high on thick pizza crust. What is there not to love?
  • National Safety Pin Day April 10th – Why does this have a holiday?
  • April 17th is National Bat Day. My assumption is Batman got his own holiday. In celebration, I will be wearing a batman cape running around solving crimes using grammar.

I’m sure there are even more strange holidays out there for April. Something about a rabbit stealing eggs from chickens, coloring them pastel colors, and leaving them in baskets for children. Let me know if there is one you particularly admire and celebrate.

What’s Next?

Next month we are starting our featured article series on all things Agile. Seems like everyone is heading towards Agile these days and we are excited to take a look at how Agile has impacted Business Analysis and Project Management.

We have some great webinars in the works coming shortly. A lunch time or break in your day to watch a webinar is a great way to earn a few CDUs and PDUs to maintain your certification. Look for the announcements coming soon!

Tell Us Your Story!

Add published author to your resume, get CDUs and PDUs for recertification, and be world famous by submitting your article to BA Times and PM Times today! The featured articles may be on Agile but we are always looking for new and exciting content from professional colleagues like you. Tell us your story!

We have this handy writers guide to help you write the next great article:

Download the Writers Guide Today! 

  • 1
  • 2