Tag: Business Analysis

Business Analysis: Art and Science Together

Written by Greg Kulander on February 26, 2013. Posted in Articles.

This is the last of a four-part series exploring whether ‘business analysis’ is art or science. This week we’ll talk about why business analysis is the synthesis of both art and science.

Over the past three articles we’ve asked “Is Business Analysis art or science?”

Cathy Brunsting talked about how the science of business analysis has developed in the past few years, with the advent of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), a professional organization dedicated to the profession. The Business Analysis profession now has a body of knowledge and certification, which helps to insure that its practitioners are meeting the standards of the profession. There are new ways to measure the competency level of an organization’s BAs. Plus, there are tools and templates available to aid practitioners in following repeatable processes.

Jeanna Balistreri, Char Ceci and Alan Smith talked about the art of business analysis by demonstrating how the profession requires creativity, communication and other soft skills in order to insure a successful project. They find that Business Analysis is about people and interacting effectively with a myriad of personalities. There is an art to the way that the BA applies available skills and tools that varies from project to project.

In the end, as Greg Kulander had already discovered in his business analysis career, there are elements of both art and science in the successful practice of business analysis. Both aspects are critical to the success practice of business analysis.

Without the science (which brings process, techniques, templates and measurability), the business analysis field would never have become a recognized profession that commands the respect of fellow professionals. Too often in the past Business Analysts (BAs) were perceived as little more that note takers or junior Project Managers because we could not articulate the science and discipline of our profession. There was little effective training and no repeatability in the process. Without science, every new BA would fumble around while gaining the experience and skills necessary to effectively practice the profession – much like Cathy and Greg did early in their careers.

The recognition of the profession from the IIBA organization as well as the CBAP and CCBA certification programs means that employers now recognize that there is science behind the profession which helps the industry increase the value of the BA role. BAs can be trained in the science of their profession and can demonstrate that they have the repeatable skills that are necessary to drive process. We now have empirical evidence to support higher salaries and better career paths for BAs with formal training and professional experience.

However, without the art to recognize that every project is different and that it takes creative skill to successfully navigate all the people, personalities, and pitfalls that all projects face, the science of our techniques and processes would be almost useless. It’s the art that prevents the BA from being ‘just a note taker,’ rigorously filling out our templates, with no real understanding of the problem that the business needs to solve.

By practicing the art of business analysis, the BA adds value to the team and to the process that goes well beyond the science of the profession. The BA becomes a bridge – the ‘hub of the wheel’ – enabling the business users and the IT team to work together collaboratively. The BA helps to insure that the team is developing a business solution that truly meets the business stakeholders needs and is feasible to be developed in a timely way by the IT organization. Practicing the art of business analysis elevates the BA to a leadership role, opening up better opportunities and career paths for the BA.

Science means that as BAs we have process, tools, and templates that bring the ‘state of knowing’ to our profession. Art allows us to use our ‘skills acquired by experience, study, or observation’ to choose the correct scientific tools and then apply our soft skills to insure that our projects are successful. In the end we find that business analysis truly is the synthesis of science and art.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

About the Authors:

Jeanna Balistreri is a Sr. Business Analyst at Geneca, a custom software development company. Jeanna has over 10 years of experience in various IT roles such as Project Management, Process Re-engineering and Business Analysis. Jeanna’s core competency is focused on bridging the gap between business and technology in order to help solve business problems through technology solutions. Currently, her focus at Geneca is centered on successfully delivering software through the Getting Predictable principles.

Cathy Brunsting is a Senior Business Analyst at custom software development firm, Geneca (www.geneca.com). She has over twenty-five years experience in all aspects of business analysis, systems development and project management, from project inception to customer acceptance. She is skilled in the analysis of business problems, as well as the design, implementation, testing, and on-going support of technical solutions. Her areas of expertise include Insurance, Interactive Solutions, e-Business Solutions, Financial Systems, Gaming and Lottery Systems, Telecommunications (Operator Console, Voice Recognition, and Call Processing), Order Entry/Subscription Services, and Database Design. Ms. Brunsting was also the founding President of the Chicagoland chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA).

Ms. Ceci has over fifteen years experience in all aspects of business analysis and project management. Her proven ability to streamline processes, rapidly define requirements, control scope, mitigate risks, and delegate tasks results in the implementation of powerful systems. She builds high-performing teams with local, virtual and off-shore resources. Known for her excellent cross organizational communication and problem solving skills consistently leads to exceed expectations. Ms. Ceci is a Senior Lead Business Analyst at the Chicago-based custom software development firm Geneca, and plays an instrumental role in the adoption and success of Geneca’s business analysis best practices.

Greg Kulander is currently a Senior Business Systems Analyst at custom software development firm, Geneca L.L.C., and is the Vice-President of Communications for the Chicagoland Chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis. He has been working primarily as a Business Analyst on software projects since 1999 for such companies as JP Morgan Chase, U.S. Bank and NAVTEQ (now Nokia Location Services). He has helped lead successful projects in government, healthcare and private sector e-commerce, and was a founding member of the U.S. Bank Business Analysis Center of Excellence. He has a Masters degree in Management Information Systems from Benedictine University, and Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. Greg thoroughly enjoys seeing a project go live and watching an organization reap the benefits of well-made software!

Alan is a Senior Business Analyst who works for custom software development firm, Geneca. Alan has 12 years of technology experience working with various Insurance systems, Financial Systems, Telecommunications and Digital Entertainment. Alan is experienced with project definition, business analysis, requirements facilitation and analysis, quality assurance and all phases of testing. Alan specializes in Agile methodology, including XP, Scrum and Lean. Alan holds a Masters Degree in Adult Therapy from Loyola University Chicago. Alan loves building strong client relationships, and showing his clients how their engaged input into the requirements process will make their projects successful.

The BA Practice Lead Handbook 3 – So You Want To Be a BA Practice Lead? OMG: What Have You Gotten Yourself Into?

Written by Kathleen B. Hass, PMP on February 5, 2013. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on The BA Practice Lead Handbook 3 – So You Want To Be a BA Practice Lead? OMG: What Have You Gotten Yourself Into?

In the previous articles, we discussed the reasons Business Analysis (BA) is emerging as a critical business process, and the value of Enterprise BAs. However, organizations are experiencing lots of challenges attempting to implement an effective BA Practice. In this article, we will examine some of the fundamental building blocks that will enable you to be successful in creating and sustaining a mature BA Practice.

Is Your Organization Ready?

For decades businesses that are dependent on complex projects for their success have been challenged to deliver. They primarily focused on requirements for IT solutions and managing (aka, limiting) changes to those requirements, (mostly thought of as scope creep). Finally, the relatively new discipline of Business Analysis changes the project focus from IT to the business. After all is said and done, it is about the business value brought about by new IT solutions, not about the technology.

While there are some world-class BA Practices in existence, far too many attempts to implement a Business Analysis Practice have been only marginally successful. Too often the improvements to BA have been driven exclusively from the bottom up. While support is needed from all levels of the organization, grassroots efforts tend to be project specific, and disappear gradually as project teams are disbanded.

BA Practice Implementation and Sustainability

To implement and institutionalize an enterprise-wide BA Practice, the business value that is promised from a mature BA Practice needs to be fully understood across the organization, and BA benefits need to be continually demonstrated through measurement and communication programs. Leadership and sponsorship of the effort should emanate from the top of the organization, and flow down to all levels. A holistic and methodical implementation approach and framework is essential for success and sustainability. Mature BA Practices have several components: a capable BA team, organizational support, executive leadership and sponsorship, and an implementation and sustainability framework.

Typically, a BA Practice is supported by a number of integrated elements that comprise a holistic framework. To deal with the significant amount of change required by all project stakeholders, the BA Practice implementation should be managed in phases. The value of the BA Practice needs to be demonstrated and communicated during every phase.

Initial Readiness Phase

Answers the question, “Is our organization ready?”

Business Case
Executive Sponsor
Steering Committee

Subsequent Implementation Phase

Answers the question, “How do we build the BA Practice?”

The BA Center of Excellence (BACOE)
Capable BA Team
BA Practice Standards

Ongoing Sustainability Phase

Answers the question, “How do we institutionalize and continue to improve BA practices?”

Maturity and Capability Assessments and Continuous Improvements
Measurement and Communication Programs

The BA Practice Framework

A brief description of the elements of the framework is provided below. Future articles will explore each element in detail.

The Business Case for a mature BA Practice

There are many elements that must be in place for you to declare your readiness to begin to implement a BA Practice. As we discussed in the previous article in this series, (Why Business Analysis? What’s in it for me?)

The most important tool in the Business Analysts’ arsenal is the Business Case. The life of every important change initiative begins and ends with a Business Case. Unless a change initiative (project) results in business benefits in terms of value to the customer and/or wealth to the bottom line, it is a failed venture – even if it is delivered on time and on budget. It is in the Business Case that the expected costs and business benefits are outlined. Without it, you are engaged in steering a rudderless vessel. Yet, in far too many projects, a Business Case does not exist. If it does exist, it is often unconvincing and used only to get funding for a project. The value of the Business Analyst is realized through execution and management of the Business Case….

Implementation of a new business process such as Business Analysis is a major change initiative. You will not get the organizational support you need unless you have a convincing Business Case. So, your first phase of the project is to engage a small but influential team of business and technical experts to work with you to build the Business Case for a Business Analysis Practice. It is imperative that you do not build the Business Case in isolation. Involving experts who are important leaders in the organization is critical. By involving experts, you will be building your team of high-level supporters.

You need to lead the group of experts to develop what is often referred to as a “Brilliant Business Case”. This is essentially an R&D, creative endeavor. The effort requires adequate time, a skilled facilitator (the BA Practice Lead), a strategic focus, and creative expert resources. The effort needs to be driven by you. The Business Case is owned by the BA Practice Lead; that is to say she authors and maintains the Business Case in collaboration with business and technology thought leaders. And subsequently, she must report against the cost and benefit projections contained in the Business Case. Be sure to capture the names and titles of the experts engaged to create the Business Case. This lends reliability and credibility to the proposal. If you would like to see a sample or rough draft of a Business Case to create an effective Business Analysis Practice, please send an email to [email protected].

The Executive Sponsor

Once you have developed the Business Case to implement a BA Practice, you should enlist an Executive Sponsor to guide the effort, to own the budget for the BA Practice, and to commit to the cost and benefit projections. Usually, the executive sponsor is a very senior-level executive, such as the CIO or CSO (Chief Strategy Officer).

The Executive Steering Committee

It is ideal to secure the approval of the experts who helped build the Business Case to serve on a BA Practice Steering Committee. The Steering Committee, facilitated by the BA Practice Lead and chaired by the Executive Sponsor, will provide political cover, decision support, budget, and legitimacy to the BA Practice initiative.

The BA Center of Excellence

The BA Practice needs a home, a department that is accountable and responsible for building and sustaining an effective BA Practice. This center should be small (too large is deadly), and is authorized to manage the BA team, the business case process, organizational BA standards and frameworks, methods, training, tools, templates, techniques and BA metrics and communication.

Capable BA Team

Today, BAs are mostly project focused, creating and managing requirement artifacts. However, to become a valuable corporate asset, BAs need to become strategically focused, concentrating on innovative solutions to complex business problems.

BA Practice Standards

In days gone by, we always followed the maxim, process first, then tools. The good news is that BA tools have grown up. Good BA standards are now embedded in integrated requirements management tools. So the tool helps educate BAs on the best practices, integrate and manage the requirements knowledge and artifacts, and helps forward engineer information into BA artifacts.

The bad news is most BAs still use desk top tools that are difficult to maintain and are disintegrated. As a result, the BA is burdened with creating, maintaining, integrating, and synchronizing all of the business strategies, goals, models, documents, matrices, use cases, user stories, test cases, etc. Adopt sophisticated tools to maintain reusable requirement artifacts, impose standards and enable education.

Maturity and Capability Assessments and Continuous Improvements

It is often said: we don’t need to do a maturity assessment, because we know our capabilities are immature. The problem is, just knowing your capabilities are immature is not actionable. Assessments provide useful information about strengths, and gaps that need immediate improvement to grow to the next level of maturity. Assessments shed light on exactly where you are, provide a step-by-step improvement roadmap, and facilitate continuous improvements based on proven maturity models.

Measurement and Communication Programs

Measurement and communication are key components of any change initiative. Make no mistake; implementing a mature BA Practice is no small endeavor. The effort is fraught with challenges. Targeted communications tailored to the needs of each stakeholder group is essential. The messages need to demonstrate the real business value brought about by improvement BA practices.

Putting it all Together

So what does this mean for the Business Analyst?

If you are trying to implement BA best practices, methodologies, frameworks, and enabling technologies on your project, good for you! Don’t get discouraged by realizing these may die on the vine when your project is completed. Collaborate with others outside of your project to expand your reach and build lasting momentum.

So what does this mean for the BA Practice Lead?

This article presents the case for a BA framework to implement an enterprise-wide mature BA Practice that is strategically focused. In the next article, we will focus on you, the BA Practice Lead: are you ready?

Don`t forget to leave your comments below.

Business Analysis Pathways

Written by Natasha Ramsey on February 5, 2013. Posted in Articles.

State of the Business Analysis Field

Many organizations are phasing out titles and work descriptions such as, “Business Analysis”, and “Requirements sessions” and replacing them with combined tasks under the Agile and Scrum project methodologies. Some are asking developers, architects, and business users to define the scope, requirements and functional requirements without the guidance of a person with the title, “Business Analyst” as they are confident that other team members such as developers and architects can fill both the technical and business-based roles, while others simply do not have the resources to staff both types of positions and are asking employees to do double duty. While this may be frustrating for some employees, namely Business Analysts, it’s good news for those with a development or programming background who are trying to break into the business side or those trying to leverage their knowledge into a field of business analysis to provide value to an organization other than through their coding genius. This may also be a good thing for Business Analysts who want to take on more responsibility or advance in their career.

Programmer to Business Analyst Path

Now that you know you are ready call upon your years of experience as a developer and know that you are more than capable of not only functioning but providing value to a project team with your skill set, your first task is to find the right team in which to fit. Why not just go out there and apply for a BA job at a company that’s hiring? Sure, you can do that; however, chances are you already know quite a few people in this field already and a referral with networking is always more profitable than a cold call. Tap the connections you already have. They may include your team’s Business Analysts (if they will be open to it and not see you as a threat to their positions), satisfied clients for whom you’ve toiled over code and obstacles to create the best possible product that they currently enjoy, online avenues such as LinkedIn, etc. and even your manager. Maybe there’s a potential staffing opportunity within your group or another team that your manager can recommend you for or find someone to help groom your business analysis habits.

Business Analyst to Project Manager, Strategic Analyst, and other Analysis Paths

Now, to the Business Analysts, Business Systems Analysts, Project Analysts, etc. who are left performing boring maintenance duties bestowed upon them since they were the subject matter experts on that once upon a time, cutting edge product/application that they were instrumental in dreaming up and creating, as well as to those who can churn out “As Is” and “To Be” process flows with the precision of a butcher who can divvy up the best petite filet from that prime rib.

This group not only includes the creative types who want to continue feeding the creative desire, they know that their input based on extensive organization knowledge will be helpful and welcomed in other aspects of an organization and are ready to join a team that would benefit from their years of expertise in analyzing how and where to trim the fat, how to improve upon manual processes through automation or through policy changes. Typically, these employees yearn to be a part of something bigger than them and they have proven experience (products, services and applications) that their vision for the end stage of a product or application, as well as their ability to effectively gauge advantages and disadvantages of a process or approach will enhance any project or management team tasked with the “intrapreneurship”, expansion of business, etc.

Why should a programmer be considered for a business analysis role?

Programmers with excellent communication skills know many of a company’s systems and can articulate the pros and cons to several business questions such as whether to build or buy a solution or product, as well as integration efforts needed with regard to Third Party tools. This pool of talent can also help allocate development resources based on their years of experience. After all, these are the same individuals who in the past, have fulfilled the request of many users for various applications and products and some have been the programmers who pulled at their hair and mad-typed their way well into midnight to force a fit when a vendor application or product did not seamlessly fit the organization’s architecture. Rely on their knowledge and background. Grow them in the analysis role and you will not only have a happier employee, but a well-rounded and valuable asset on your team.

Why should a Business Analyst be considered for a Project Management, Management Analyst, or any other Analyst role?

Let’s think about the core aspects of a Business Analyst or Business Systems Analyst role. A successful Business Analyst fosters mutually beneficial relationships between multiple facets of an organization, envisions applications and products in full use at the end stage of the process even when it’s just a twinkle in the business owner’s eyes. A successful analyst is astute when it comes to his/her customers’ needs, processes, obstacles and aspirations for a particular department/team. Additionally, this person is skilled in finding ways to minimize or eradicate wasteful processes and can often see the “big picture” of where an organization wants to, or needs to go. After all, they have racked up hordes of details on efficiency and process during the years of crafting “To Be” process flows, mapping out user needs and experiences through user stories, scenarios, and usability studies. This is a skill set that not only a project team with a specific set of deliverables can employ business offices such as a project management office, strategic planning or research and accountability offices will benefit as well. After all, who best to draw up that Cost Benefit Analysis, Gap Analysis or ROI when planning to take on, or expand business? Business leaders no longer need to rely solely on current team members who are thrown into the role of business owner, sometimes begrudgingly, when someone with proven experience as a successful analyst will excel in such a role.

At a senior level, a Business Analyst exudes confidence and calmness during chaotic processes as the analyst role requires patience and the ability to wade through the muck and mire to get to the root cause of an issue, system change, or process overhaul. So, if you are looking for the next big thinker or architect to pull together a team that will plan out your organization’s next big thing, or need that creative thinker who can energize and encourage work teams, don’t hesitate to take a look at, and consider that experienced Business Analyst!

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2013 Trends in Business Analysis and Project Management

Written by Elizabeth Larson on January 29, 2013. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on 2013 Trends in Business Analysis and Project Management

The close of one year tends to make one reflect on what has occurred in the past year and ponder the future. Here we ponder some trends in the Project Management and Business Analysis fields for 2013. This year we want to concentrate on trends for 2013 relating to an emphasis on competencies.

As people become skilled and certified, their base knowledge and abilities are in place. PM, BA, CSM, and BPM practitioners also need to apply their tangible skills to solving problems and helping our organizations achieve their objectives. For example, let’s say Jane knows how to model business processes and how to improve them. But, she may not always get time from stakeholders to understand their process, or establish trust with them to learn the root causes of process problems. She may also run into sharp disagreements about how a new process should be designed or conflicting priorities for what to improve first.

All of these common situations require various “competency” skills, which are often referred to as “soft skills.” We prefer the term “competencies” instead. The trend we’re seeing is that developing so-called “hard” skills isn’t enough. Organizations are now seeing the need to improve their workers’ behavioral-oriented competency skills at the same time.

So here are some competency trends that we see.

Project professionals need to provide advice, not pushback. Several years ago organizations told us that they wanted PMs and BAs to be able to push back when their stakeholders asked for new requirements. Some of these organizations are now seeing that pushing back is one way to avoid being an order-taker, but it is less effective than providing well-analyzed advice. Our prediction is that more organizations will want PMs and BAs to be trusted advisors (sometimes called trusted partners).
Organizations want scribes, not note-takers. Although highly valued in ancient societies, today’s scribes are not always held in high esteem. Many organizations view them as nothing more than note takers, and what’s worse, that’s exactly how many view themselves. The trend that we are starting to see is the recognition that effective scribing is important to the quality of the requirements as well as the project itself. To be an effective scribe, project professionals need to use competencies, such as critical thinking to separate the important from the trivial, the ability to absorb and synthesize a great deal of information and make sense of it, and the ability to present the results in a meaningful way. We are seeing more organizations requiring these skills, particularly of their BAs.
Organizations are beginning to recognize that agile projects require the ability to influence stakeholders.All roles on an Agile/scrum project, in particular the scrum master, the product owner, and the BA, need competencies related to being able to influence. We see some organizations beginning to recognize that each of these roles is distinct (e.g. rather than having the BA be either the product owner or one more member of the delivery team) and each needs to influence in different ways:
1. Scrum masters: need to influence a variety of organizational stakeholders, many of who will have more authority than they. Scrum masters need to remove project roadblocks, which requires influencing sponsors and other executives, financial analysts, vendors, etc.
2. Product owners need to influence other business stakeholders regarding the decisions they make as product owners. Whether prioritizing user stories or reviewing the product increment at the end of an iteration, product owners will need to be effective influencers. More organizations are starting to recognize that although product owners need to make business decisions about the product, they need to get buy-in from others affected by the product. Effective influencing is one of the best ways to achieve this buy-in.
3. Business analysts need to influence just about everyone on an agile project. We are seeing product owners starting to recognize and appreciate the BA’s advice on prioritizing requirements, including impacts, dependencies, risks, etc. Scrum masters are starting to appreciate the BA’s advice on the myriad of issues that relate to requirements, testers on testing the requirements, and vendors on implementing software, to name a few. Again we’re seeing the dawning of this recognition in some organizations.
Organizations are recognizing the cost of virtual teams
The communication overhead of working with offshore resources is getting acknowledged and accounted for more than in the past. Writing requirements for people onsite with whom there is the opportunity for face-to-face communication, as well as shared language and culture, is a leaner process than when writing requirements for people offsite. The cost savings of working with offsite/offshore resources has always been part of the equation for resourcing projects, but the cost overhead of working with offsite/offshore resources hasn’t always been as transparent. It can take many times longer to write requirements for offsite resources. Project professionals are becoming more diligent about identifying the costs incurred to deal with the time zone, language, and cultural differences.
Productivity and speed require the use of disparate and uncoordinated social media and collaboration tools
Until fairly recently, organizations wanted consistency. Consistency in their processes, consistency in their hardware, and consistency in the tools that were purchased to help productivity. The profusion of social media, collaboration, and communication tools continues. We are seeing that team members, particularly virtual, are making use of more and varied applications than ever and not always in a coordinated way. Do team members want a virtual bulletin board? Google it and myriad options come up – many free with few or no decisions required to install. It’s all very fluid. The integration of some of these things happens without even so much as a request. GoToMeeting just appears on a tab in GoogleTalk, for example. Nice. The continued pervasiveness of these apps in an increasingly distributed work environment is driving less standardized toolsets. You use what’s needed at the time, and if you need something you don’t have, click here. It’s free. It’s easy. Job done.
Consensus is giving way to “productive conflict.”
To the extent that the notion of consensus still implies (however erroneously) that everyone gets what they want, organizations are tiring of it. The idea of “productive conflict” holds more appeal. It’s not that organizations are losing interest in consensus, per se, but there is more emphasis on what comes out of the process than the process itself. And productive conflict may not run the risk of getting stuck, as so often happens when groups are trying to get consensus. Does this suggest that there may be some who aren’t in agreement? Maybe. But the trend we’re seeing is more organizations willing to pay that price in order to move forward.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Andrea Brockmeier, PMP is the Client Solutions Director for Project Management at Watermark Learning. She has 20+ years of experience in project management practice and training. She writes and teaches courses in project management, including PMP® certification, as well as influencing skills. She has long been involved with the PMI® chapter in Minnesota where she was a member of the certification team for over eight years. She has a master’s degree in cultural anthropology and is particularly interested in the impact of social media and new technologies on organizations and projects.

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM and Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP are Co-Principals of Watermark Learning, a project management and business analysis training company. They have over 30 years of industry experience each, and have helped thousands of PM and BA practitioners develop new skills. They have published numerous articles and papers and have co-written two books together on Requirements Management and CBAP Preparation. Both Rich and Elizabeth are CBAP and PMP certified through IIBA and PMI, and are contributors to the BABOK® Guide, Version 2.0 and the PMBOK® Guide – 4th edition.

A Business Analyst’s Best Friends: The Project Manager

Written by Angela Wick on January 22, 2013. Posted in Articles. 16 Comments on A Business Analyst’s Best Friends: The Project Manager

Successful BAs position themselves in the eye of the project storm. They are the calm, center point of a complex group of interrelated people, roles and processes. BAs are in a prime position to ensure—when the project storm settles—that all pieces are connected and aligned to maximize value to the organization. In order to do this, BAs rely on strong relationships with many friends.

Last month, I set the stage for a series that describes the BA’s best friends. Each month, using the following questions, I will explore the relationship between the BA and one of their key stakeholders.

How does this stakeholder benefit from the BA?
What makes a top-notch BA from their perspective?
What frustrates this stakeholder most regarding the role of the BA?
How to say “no” to this stakeholder?
How to influence this stakeholder to give you what you need?
How to communicate the value of the BA to this stakeholder?

Without further adieu, please allow me to introduce THE PROJECT MANAGER.

Obviously, the BA’s relationship with the project manager can vary based on the structure of the organization; the project size and structure, and the experience level of the BA or the PM.

Despite these variations, the key components of the BA/PM relationship are collaboration and communication. The BA and the PM must work closely together to manage solution scope, risks and stakeholders.

How does a PM benefit from a BA?

Scope, schedule and cost are the Project Manager’s primary concerns. PMs rely on BAs to provide timely information about anything that might impact scope, schedule and/or cost.

Because the BA is positioned at the center of an active and evolving project, they are the eyes and ears of the project manager. BAs see details that the PM may not—connections between people, processes, products and timelines.

The key word here is timely. BAs need to understand when to communicate potential scope, schedule and cost impacts to the project manager. In most cases, sooner is better than later. Proactive communication gives the BA and the PM time to plan an approach.

Obviously, collaboration and communication are two-way streets. The PM needs to communicate context and details with the BA. I often hear from PMs that their biggest fear of BAs is “scope creep.” Fearing that BAs will promise things to stakeholders that increase the scope of the project beyond what the PM has planned. There is a balance here that I hope each BA takes very seriously. The balance is value vs. scope boundaries. The BA role needs to collaborate with the PM and champion scope changes where the value of the solution is at risk, while ensuring that scope changes that do not add value are kept at bay.

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

The PM wants timely information from the BA. Top-notch BAs will do more than present a problem. They will present the issue and an approach, or a few potential approaches. Top-notch BAs keep the PM informed, ask for help when they need it, stay connected to other BAs and project teams to help PMs see impacts, build great relationships with stakeholders, build trust and ease users into changes.

Top-notch BAs have a broad vision. They can focus on the detailed requirements, but they understand how their piece of work fits into the larger project and organization at large.

Top-notch BAs offer strategy. They understand how pieces of the organization connect and how they align them to give the organization value.

Top-notch BAs use the PM’s time well. They come prepared to meetings with a list of questions and concerns and approaches. Be efficient with the PM’s time. If you don’t have a regularly scheduled team meeting with your PM, then set a recurring appointment with them so that you have time each week to touch base. Provide a simple, concise status update each week, indicating things that might impact schedule, scope and cost.

What frustrates a PM about the BA role?

Scope creep is arguably the biggest fear PMs have about BAs and their work. Successful PMs deliver projects on time and within budget. Scope creep is the biggest threat to project management success.

In many cases, project managers are pressured to give firm cost estimates and implementation dates before the scope of the project is clearly defined. This means PMs need to understand how the elicitation and requirements process is evolving. Are BAs uncovering issues that could impact timeline? Are new business needs being uncovered? Are risks avoidable without impacts to time and cost?

A great BA knows the scope and objectives of the project and gathers requirements that link back to them. Through the requirements process, the BA ensures that users asking for other requirements (not in scope) are managed effectively, and requirements gathering sessions are not reeling in “features” that are not in the scope of the project.

The BA understands when scope should be changed in order to ensure the success of the project and communicates these concerns to the project manager in a timely manner.

How to say no to a PM?

Sorry to answer a question with a question, but — why would a BA need to say no to a PM? Here are a few examples:

The PM sets an unreasonable deadline for the completion of the elicitation process.
The PM only budgeted half of the BA hours needed to effectively support the project.
The PM asks you to prioritize her project above the work you are doing on another project.
You discover a new feature that is required for the project to be successful but the PM says you need to move forward without the scope change.
You uncover a risk that needs to be addressed. Proper mitigation would delay the project and add significant cost. Your PM does not agree and directs you to move forward.

So how do you say no?

Well, we all want to be successful. One way to say no to a PM is to help them understand the situation in the context of their definition of success. For many project managers, a satisfied project sponsor is the definition of success. For other project managers delivering the project on time and within budget equals success. I have even worked on some project teams where success involved convincing the stakeholders to cancel a project.

Ask questions or provide information that helps the PM key in on how his ability to be successful might be affected; focus on the risk:

If my requirements elicitation or analysis time is cut, critical requirements will be missed that will delay user acceptance or cause issues at implementation that would be extremely costly to the project in terms of customer satisfaction, cost to fix issues and value ultimately delivered.
I need to focus on this project right now, but I will meet the deadlines we agreed on for your project.
The project sponsor will not be satisfied with our product if we move forward without this feature.

As I said before, timely communication is the key. Don’t wait to tell the PM two days before a deadline that you need more time. Don’t fully elaborate requirements for a new feature before you notify your PM. Communicate your version of no as soon as it makes sense.

How to influence a PM to get what you need?

As a BA, the primary things you need from the PM are support and information. BAs need to understand the expectations and priorities of the larger project team and the organization. The PM is a key resource for this information.

The PM also offers support and back-up for the BA, often in the capacity of protecting scope and timeline. PMs can help the BA get key stakeholders to participate and is an escalation point for helping the BA resolve issues that are impeding progress.

A BA needs to help the PM see consequences if the needed information of support is not provided. The consequences should be in terms of scope, cost and schedule. That is the language of the project manager.

In order to clearly define the scope, I need to get some quality time with this key stakeholder.
In order to meet my deadline, I need your help to escalate this issue.
If we don’t find a way to mitigate this risk, the product delivery will be delayed by three months.

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

Ask them what success looks like for each project and then tell them how you can help them be successful.
• Build trust with stakeholders
• Keep open communication on schedule, risks and issues
• Help manage scope

Your Thoughts?

BAs: How do you build trust and promote collaboration with PMs?
PMs: What are the characteristics and skills that the best BAs bring to a project team?

This article is the second in a 13-part series about BAs and their best friends. Next month’s friend: The QA Lead

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