Author: Tim Coventry

What a Business Analyst is not?

Written by Tim Coventry on June 15, 2017. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on What a Business Analyst is not?

Many articles have been written about what a business analyst is—articles that define a business analyst as…

someone who helps stakeholders make decisions, facilitates, communicates, acts as a bridge between business and IT, etc.But any person in an organization can do this! Many other professions help stakeholders with decision-making, such as management consultants and business coaches. Very little has been written about what makes a business analyst different from any other person in an organization, role, or profession.

To me, a business analyst is someone who performs business analysis through eliciting, analyzing, specifying, and managing needs, value & requirements at a level of competency. If you can’t perform all four of these areas competently to deliver the business need, you are not a business analyst.

Statistics show that many people call themselves a Business Analyst—a simple search in LinkedIn displays over 80,000 people in Australia with the phrase in their title, and over 1.7 million in the rest of the world using the title “business analyst.”

The BABOK® Guide also states that “a business analyst is any person who performs business analysis tasks described in the BABOK® Guide, no matter their job title or organizational role.” The BABOK® Guide does not make the distinction of business analyst quality, competency, and experience breadth of tasks and techniques; however, the IIBA® certification and competency model does require breadth across the six knowledge areas (KA).

Evidence in the field strongly suggests good business analysis is more likely to be achieved by a business analyst who is well trained, industry aligned, certified, practice-supported, and experienced in multiple approaches and end-to-end business analysis across the BABOK® Guide.

Unfortunately, many individuals in our profession don’t understand how to connect eliciting, analyzing, specifying, and managing needs, value & requirements. I often observe individuals with the title “business analyst” or another specialist role (process analyst, business architect, project manager, business rules analyst, data analyst, etc.) performing some of these activities but not tightly coupling them to perform a high standard of business analysis.

There are also good business analysts not promoting themselves and giving a voice to the power of performing excellent business analysis. The connection of eliciting, analyzing, specifying, and managing requirements is hard work, but when performed well provides great value to organizations, saves wastage, and reduces failure.

You can perform excellent business analysis if your title is not “business analyst,” but you must have the underlying competencies of eliciting, analyzing, specifying, and managing requirements. Remember that being able to apply a Band-Aid does not make you a nurse.

Many professions perform elicitation—for example, teachers, doctors, and lawyers. Engineers, physicists, and process analysts perform analysis, while technical writers and solution architects specify. However, Business Analysts manage needs, value & requirements, tracing to join things to make sense of them. To manage requirements well, you need to plan, elicit, and analyze continuously—often under pressure.

Business Analysis In A Disruptive World: A New Frontier For Business Analysis Professionals, a discussion paper from IIBA & BCS, states, “As an example, the Agile Principle: ‘Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project’ was interpreted as only developers and business stakeholders. Additionally, popular adaptive approaches don’t identify all key roles that are needed to successfully execute work in this way. As an example, SCRUM identifies two critical roles and everyone else is part of the development team. Misconceptions and misunderstanding led to organizations ignoring the need for business analysis expertise and assuming that developers and business stakeholders would jointly understand how to elicit requirements.”

Some Agile approaches assume team members will manage needs, value & requirements, even though many of those team members do not have the necessary skills, experiences, and competencies with requirements.

An expert business analyst requires a unique skillset that many senior executives have never experienced. Excellent business analysis is more likely to be achieved by a well-trained, certified, and practice supported business analyst. You need to know that you are engaging high-quality business analysts if you want a greater chance of project success.

Managing requirements occurs throughout any organization from strategy, operations, portfolios, programs, and projects, and a competent business analyst will improve requirement clarity, efficiency, and outcomes.

What is a business analyst?

Tracing is key to business analysis. If you can’t trace both forwards and backwards, then you can’t see moving parts and determine possible solutions for business issues or opportunities. In my opinion, this is the top skill that anyone performing business analysis needs.

A business analyst should be independent from managing or being accountable for the customer journey that the business analysis is being performed on. Giving well-analysed and synthesized options to stakeholders is better than making recommendations, as options give the ownership to the stakeholder.

Adrian Reed says “We need to focus on the benefits of business analysis rather than the tools or techniques. To draw a (deliberately) left-field analogy, if an airline said we maintain, fuel and fly aircraft, issue and validate tickets, specializing in transatlantic flights” that may well be accurate. But a far more compelling message is “We can fly you from Heathrow to JFK in 7 hours”.

I agree with Adrian we must explain the benefits of business analysis, but we must also add our point of different (POD) that sets us apart from any other profession. An excellent business analyst elicits, analyses specifies and manages needs, value & requirements effortlessly, somehow sorting the wood from the trees so that stakeholders can make informed business decisions.

In 2017, hopefully, all great business analysts stand up and perform excellent business analysis using the unique skill of managing needs, value & requirements to help organizations improve business performance!

Is Business Analysis the Foundation for Innovation?

Written by Tim Coventry on May 4, 2017. Posted in Articles.

Every organization performs business analysis and good business analysis is all about better business performance.

Together, technology and good business analysis is the key to superior results—and, in this century, it also means innovation.

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn, and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely, but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” Mark Twain

Innovation is “the process of translating an idea into a good or service that creates value for which customers will pay” (from businessdictionary.com). Invention is not innovation — invention is coming up with a great idea, while innovation is executing a great idea and getting it to spread.

When Elon Musk was asked by TED Talks why he was a natural innovator, he said, “A good framework for thinking is Physics where the first principle is the reasoning. Boil things down to fundamental truths and reason up from there rather than reasoning from analogy.”

I think innovation only comes from fully understanding the present state (as is), asking “why not” and testing, rather than asking why something would not work. Asking why is exactly what the six knowledge areas of the BABOK® Guide encourages and many business analysts (BAs) perform every day.

A typical process we would follow is Design Thinking, Lean and Agile from strategy, investment, delivery, and change. A shared understanding of current state is a must and is often a trap for young players as they jump to flash innovation. Ideas are easy to generate—we find no shortage of ideas within an organization. The key is to conduct enough research (which is often lacking as the “let’s jump into it” is the louder call) and do enough prototyping and building, prioritizing innovative ideas, then make the change to a future state both internally and externally.

Many BAs are great at facilitating innovation as the intellectual property retained, having a deep knowledge of business analysis, which in some cases is better than end users of how end-to-end services and products are delivered to customers.

I have been delivering through Agilely for over fifteen years. Many people who follow Agile approaches focus on software, sometimes throwing out words around software innovation. Again, this is a trap: Software can help innovation, but it must be started with good business thinking. Creating a new “funky” piece of software that is user-friendly is no good unless it is delivering services and/or products to customers.

Often Agile approaches are great for engaging stakeholders and satisfying their wishes, but better business performance is so much more. Customer experience (CX) is more important than user experience (UX).

Large business transformation occurs at the business layer, not at the software layer. Uber is the perfect example—using private vehicles to transport people is nothing new and neither is matching supply and demand, while mobile apps have been around since 1992 when I used an Apple Newton. Combining these concepts under a single scalable business model, with a well-designed UX mobile app, a transparent service-delivery rating system, and improved CX is new.

Remember: The acid test is not just companies that have great software, but those companies that have great customer experiences through their apps, and that are continually and consistently innovating to provide their customers better experiences through end-to-end products and services delivery.

Being a bank that is “the best at Agile” is not useful if the bank is not great at selling products and services to customers.

A business analyst who is well trained, experienced in the breadth of business analysis from strategic to detail, and who is industry aligned, certified, and practice-supported, is the best person to improve business performance through innovation.

By using an expert in business analysis, your innovation will be created for you to the highest of standards, and your risk of failure will be far lower. Proper business analysis engages and empowers stakeholders, enabling them to deliver value to customers in better ways.

It is all about helping more companies to think about the “why” before going ahead,

preventing a technology project or initiative providing little or no value to an organization.

An expert business analyst requires a unique skillset many senior executives have never experienced, so it is difficult for management to distinguish between average business analysis and good business analysis. Often, subject-matter experts or untrained individuals are used as business analysts to deliver suboptimal business analysis.

Good business analysis is the foundation for organizational

innovation
business agility
cost reduction
cyber security
risk control
technology efficiency.

The BABOK® Guide also states that “a business analyst is any person who performs business analysis tasks described in the BABOK® Guide, no matter their job title or organizational role.”

The BABOK® Guide does not make the distinction of business analyst quality, competency, and experience in the breadth of tasks and techniques; however, IIBA® certification does require breadth across the six knowledge areas (KA). Evidence in the field strongly suggests that good business analysis is more likely to be achieved by a well-trained, industry-aligned, certified, and practice-supported business analyst who is experienced in multiple approaches and end-to-end business analysis across the BABOK®.

As organizations look to become more innovative to survive and prosper with technology in overcrowded industries, employing skilled business analysts is critical. Businesses today are more competitive than ever, and good business analysis can deliver an advantage that gives businesses the differentiating edge they require to prosper.

Is innovation just good business analysis? If good business analysis is about better business performance and innovation is about improving business in an innovative and distributive manner, then good business analysis is the foundation of innovation. Business analysis is much broader than just innovation as it includes continuous improvement, delivery, and business as usual, but good innovation uses business analysis.

Why Does an Agile Approach Work?

Written by Tim Coventry on September 29, 2016. Posted in Articles.

I’ve been working with an Agile approach for decades, and I know it works.

Before we get into why Agile works, let’s go over what an Agile approach entails. Agile has been around for a while; however, many organisations are just starting to use this approach. Depending on who you talk to, it could mean many different things. However, there are a few well-described approaches these days, unlike when I started working in Agile environments in the late 1990s.

Scrum, Kanban, Large Scale Scrum (LeSS), DSDM, DAD, and SAFe are all suitable Agile approaches. Each approach has challenges but, used well they can provide enormous value to organizations.

Here’s the thing about an Agile approach.

Agile is a state of mind, a series of techniques, and an approach to software development. The ability of the business to adapt and change should set the iteration cycles.

Planning is vital with an Agile approach, and experience is the key to getting things sorted before the gun goes off for the sprints. Just enough analysis and tailored artifacts to deliver the business need is Agile thinking!

Think carefully about scaling so all teams are coordinated to deliver the strategy, remembering that Agile still focusses on business needs and strategy. High-performance teams are built on trust, communication, and a clearly articulated goal on how improvements to business performance are going to be achieved—you are not just building funky software.

Design and build a maturity roadmap so your organisation becomes more Agile over time.

An Agile approach to business analysis works for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, an Agile approach is more likely to break down projects and initiatives into smaller iterations – but so what? Well, this process should force you to define and divide your scope into smaller defined pieces, which will help you to find success in your project. Because you have good project or initiative design, you are more likely to be successful.

Further, Agile teams encourage people to collaborate and play nicely—which, again, is a winner.

Another side effect of an Agile approach is having more control of vendor interactions; some organizations engage vendors with a “silver bullet” mentality, asking the vendor to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities for them. Often they ask a systems integrator to elicit requirements, specify, design, and recommend a solution—and this often results in a conflict-of-interest arrangement.

Outsourcing critical business thinking is never a good idea—every organization must take control of good thinking!

Here’s an example of a good business analysis using an Agile approach.

The client, a large insurance organisation, briefed Business Analysts Pty Ltd (BAPL) to assist them in implementing a new system that would underpin their financial support functions. The existing financial support systems had reached end-of-life and were to be replaced with a new solution, Microsoft Dynamics.

The organization selected an Agile approach to delivery, but wanted to retain the function of business analysis to ensure quality requirements were achieved and adequate process modelling was carried out to provide context, scope, and to assist in change management and training.

With a depth of experience in Agile software delivery amassed over the last ten years, Business Analysts Pty Ltd worked with the development team and subject-matter experts to assist in eliciting the business need. Using BAPL’s knowledge of Agile and process-driven requirements, we were able to seamlessly integrate with the established project team and provide value from the outset.

BAPL played a key role in breaking down epics into manageable user stories without impacting the established velocity of the development team. Additionally, by extending the focus to business process, working with the subject-matter experts, and aligning the user stories to these processes, the development team were given greater context for the purpose of their task.

Some of the key successes:

• improved scope management and traceability of user stories to key business processes and business outcomes
• greater context to user stories, providing greater clarity of requirements and higher quality functionality
• improved change management and training
• greater alignment between the business and software.

Every organization performs business analysis and good business analysis is all about better business performance. Together, technology and good business analysis is the key to superior results.

Good business analysis is the foundation for organizational

• innovation
• business agility
• cost reduction
• cyber security
• risk control
• technology efficiency.

As organizations look to become more innovative to survive and prosper with technology in overcrowded industries, good business analysis is critical. Businesses today are more competitive than ever, and good business analysis through an Agile approach can give organizations the differentiating edge they require to prosper.

Is your organization ready for an Agile approach?

Why Good Business Analysis Is a CIO’s Best Friend

Written by Tim Coventry on August 24, 2016. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Why Good Business Analysis Is a CIO’s Best Friend

A CIO needs a trusted partner to facilitate joint ownership between business and IT to deliver business value, reduce risk, and remove project blockages.

Business analysis is about improving business performance. It is the foundation for innovation, business agility, cost reduction, cyber security, and risk control. Good business analysis allows you to deliver better products and/or services to your customers, often through leveraging digital technology.

Related Article: The Business Analyst’s Best Friend: The CIO

To deliver a successful strategy using technology, good business analysis is a must. By working with an expert in business analysis, your projects or initiatives will be created for you to the highest of standards, and you’ll also have a far lower risk of failure.

You’ll achieve peace of mind knowing your business will have:

greater engagement with IT
a very good result in alignment with your IT strategy
a better chance of making new changes stick
decisive project decision-making at a portfolio level
improvement of projects or initiatives and a lower chance of failure
change in support of improved technology
improved results
a higher return on investment.

Effective business analysis engages and empowers stakeholders, allowing them to find better ways to deliver value to customers.

A great business analyst can cost the same as an average one—so why would you settle for less?

Here’s the thing about business analysis

Business analysis is all about helping your company to think about the “why” before going ahead with a strategy, which will prevent technology initiatives from providing little or no value to your organisation.

Here’s an example of proper business analysis. A client sought a solution to manage their approval process and documents. These were associated with their major energy capital projects, having a value of up to $100 million.

We analysed the business process automation, mapped the future state processes, and explored the business and functional requirements through a series of stakeholder workshops. Using aspects of our method and customised templates was in line with the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABoK®).

Based on these documented processes and requirements, we developed an automated workflow solution.

The outcomes of the process automation solution were:

increased consistency of the approval process
an automated audit trail for the approvals
an increase in document tracking, resulting in a greater efficiency with approvals
a reliable mechanism for staff to determine the status of payment requests and payments
reduced time spent on approvals by eliminating manual approvals
reduced resource wastage on printing
reduced physical file storage.

In the final analysis, we found that minimised delays for approvals reduced the external contract resources required for approval processes. Within six months, the cost of developing the solution was paid for by the benefits of the automated workflow.

An expert business analysis requires a unique skill set that many senior executives have never experienced. However, you need to engage in a proper business analysis to provide a greater chance of project success.

As increasingly competitive organisations look to become more innovative to survive and prosper with technology, business analysis is critical.

If you want to stand out as a CIO from the rest, then you need good business analysis!

Why You Need Good Business Analysis: Better Business Performance

Written by Tim Coventry on July 7, 2016. Posted in Articles.

Every organization performs business analysis, and good business analysis is all about better business performance. Together, technology and good business analysis are the keys to superior results.

By using an expert in business analysis, your projects or actions will be created for you to the highest of standards bringing you a far lower risk of failure.

This gives a business peace of mind when they know they have;

A greater engagement of the business
A very good result in alignment with your plan
Better chance of making new changes
Decisive project decision-making
Improvement of projects or initiatives
Instigating change in support of improved technology
Improved business results
Higher return on investment

Proper business analysis engages and empowers stakeholders, allowing them to deliver value to customers in better ways.

Related Article: Good Business Analyst, Bad Business Analyst

Here’s the thing about business analysis. It’s all about helping more companies to think about the “why” before going ahead, thus preventing a technology project or initiative providing little or no value to an organization.

Here’s an example of a proper business analysis. We were engaged to analyze a cash handling business process after an audit report. This report raised concerns over staff counting cash. The goal was to improve the process to create increased security controls.

Results of our first executive stakeholder meeting

We proved through strategic questioning, most of the company’s customers were familiar with credit and loyalty credit cards. By understanding the requirements and the context of the organization we were able to provide a solution. Therefore, increasing the opportunities available.

Furthermore, it reduced the use of cash. Rebranding the internal customer card created an environment with better compliance reporting and customer patronage. The cash handling process was the issue, but the processes around it provided the solution.

Example #2

Another client requested us to assist with the use of a barcode scanner. This scanner would be for inward and outward goods at their warehouse.

To begin with, we completed an initial analysis of the stock handling process. As a result, we found using barcodes was going to require a large overhead to put into effect.

The reason for this:

Over 40% of outgoing stock was in the original packaging
10% of stock was individually prepared for dispatch

We found the Return on Investment (ROI) would be negative. For this reason, it was not a viable solution.

Our business analysis resulted in the client making the decision not to go any further. The business outcome was that we were able to provide high value to the client.

Example #3

Another client sought a solution to manage the approval process and documents. These were associated with their major energy capital projects, having a value of up to $100 million.

We performed the business process automation analysis. We also mapped the future state processes and explored the business and functional requirements through a series of stakeholder workshops using aspects of our method, and customized templates in line with the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®).

Based on these documented processes and requirements we developed an automated workflow solution.

The outcomes of the process automation solution were:

Increased consistency of the approval process
An automated audit trail for the approvals
An increase in the tracking of documents, resulting in a greater efficiency with approvals
A reliable mechanism for staff to determine the status of payment requests and payments
Reduced time by eliminating manual and resource wastage on printing and manual approvals
Reduced physical file storage

In the final analysis, the outcome of minimized approval delays reduced the external contract resources required for approval processes. Within six months, the cost of developing the solution was paid for by using the automated workflow.

An expert business analyst requires a unique skillset many senior executives have never experienced, so it is difficult for management to distinguish between average and good business analysis. Often subject matter experts or untrained individuals are used as business analysts to deliver suboptimal business analysis.

The BABOK® Guide states that “Business analysis is the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. Business analysis enables an enterprise to articulate needs and the rationale for change, and to design and describe solutions that can deliver value”.

The best way I explain what business analysis is to senior executives is that it is all about better business performance.

Good business analysis is the foundation for organisational:

innovation
business agility
cost reduction
cyber security
risk control, and
technology efficiency

The BABOK® Guide also states “A business analyst is any person who performs business analysis tasks described in the BABOK® Guide, no matter their job title or organizational role”.

The BABOK® Guide does not make the distinction of Business Analyst quality, competency and experience or breadth of tasks and techniques. Evidence in the field strongly suggests good business analysis is more likely to be achieved by a well-trained business analyst, experienced in the breadth of business analysis from strategic to detail, industry aligned, certified and practice supported.

As organizations look to become more innovative to survive and prosper with technology in overcrowded industries, this is critical. Businesses today are more competitive and good business analysis can deliver an advantage that gives business the differentiating edge they require to prosper.

In many forum discussions, a business analyst is described as a bridge between business and IT, a problem solver, a decision enabler, a requirements manager or engineer, process modeller, an agile team member, etc. However, if good business analysis is all about better business performance should we not describe a business analyst as a person with competencies, skills, and experience and aligned to industry standards that contributes to better business performance?