Tag: Communication

Champion of Change – The Business Analyst

Written by Greta Blash on January 4, 2011. Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on Champion of Change – The Business Analyst

Six months after implementation of a new software application, complaints were heard, such as “The software doesn’t work” or “It’s too cumbersome.” After several weeks of post-implementation analysis I determined that the problem was not with the system but rather the resistance by the users to the changes required by the new system. This resistance had become so strong that a replacement of the new application was already being considered.

Upon completion of a project, the organization will have to cope with the inevitable changes that will affect the business. This is a classic example of where the business analyst has to be a “Champion of Change” and mitigate the impact of new systems on workers at all levels in the organization. Project success doesn’t just mean delivering on time and on budget — but includes genuine acceptance by the people in the organization who will benefit or, in some cases, be impacted negatively by the new implementation. This aspect of the project is often lightly touched upon or brushed aside as the BA views these changes as merely part of project communications (“Just tell the employees what needs to be done in the future”), or training (“Just send them to a training session”). In reality, acceptance of change can either make or break a project effort and needs to be addressed throughout the project.

The implementation of the application will always result in some change to the organization’s structure, processes, systems and/or jobs. Whenever change of any type happens within the organization it requires extensive planning and hard work to ensure the change is implemented in a manner that will be embraced by all. This change applies to all individuals, or stakeholders, who will be impacted by the results of the project. They are the ones that Mark Twain’s quote would apply to best, “I’m all for progress. It is change I don’t like.”

The business analyst utilizes a set of tools and techniques to elicit and manage the business requirements. These are usually focused on understanding the requirements necessary for the software and technical aspects of the application and can challenge a business analyst’s “hard skills.” On the other hand, the “soft skills” of a business analyst need to stay focused on the stakeholders and workers impacted by the change that is inevitable. This includes providing support and empathy in addressing resistance while helping mitigate the eventual impact of the final solution to the organization.

Stages of Change

When business change is inevitable, the business analyst needs to be aware of and identify:

Specific organizations and jobs that will be impacted
Individual business persons from those organizations who will most likely accept the changes as well as those who will resist the changes
Potential discussions that can be facilitated to address the changes that will occur, giving individuals the opportunity to share their concerns, provide feedback and ask questions
Concerns that need to be addressed in order to potentially move stakeholders from a non-supportive to a supportive position

Understanding the various stages that a person goes through when presented with change will also help determine the appropriate way to proceed.

Denial of change
Response of anger and resistance
Acceptance and adaption to the change
Commitment to the new way

During this time it is critical to continually monitor the resistance, as well as the acceptance to the new environment, as various stakeholders progress through these stages at different rates.

Communication

A communication plan will need to be targeted for each of the different audiences impacted by the change to ensure that the most effective communications methods are being utilized. The BA needs to identify the right message, at the right time, the right format and the right “authorized” sender to carry the message to the organization.

These types of communications are often best conveyed by someone in the organization, other than the BA. By working with management and project sponsors, a strong and active coalition of senior “leaders” can be gathered to craft the key messages, or “sound bites” that must be communicated. Just as in political debates, often impressions are made based on a few words, and therefore these words need to be very carefully chosen.

The initial emphasis should focus to making the case of “why” the change is needed, even before the specific details of the solution are complete. This is very similar to the development of a marketing plan for a “product”, without which no new product would be expected to be successful when “rolled out”.

These messages need to be incorporated into the development of a training plan that will include not only the normal operational training aspects but also the “selling” of the benefits or reason behind the change. This may require not only formal training, but also potential mentoring and coaching to effectively enable the change throughout the organization.

Final Thoughts

To truly become a champion of change, the business analyst should consider the following suggestions:

Seek support from management and then support them.
Choose your battles wisely with the people, management or supervisors.
Be patient with the rate of acceptance; some take longer to see the light.
Be tolerant of mistakes; they happen.
Practice good stress management; you’ll need it
Have a sense of humor; you have to laugh sometimes.
Embrace the future and don’t get “bogged down” by the past.
Recognize and reward the accomplishments of those who were instrumental in enabling the change – Yes, it’s time to party

Most of all, remember the purpose of a project is to provide a benefit or improvement for the organization, and with that, something must change. If there was no need for change, there would be no need for business analysts!!!

Steve Blash is an experienced IT professional consultant providing business and technology leadership, mentoring and vision. His areas of experience include business process improvement, business analysis, business intelligence, data analytics, project and IT management.

It’s the Communication Stupid

Written by Kupe Kupersmith on January 4, 2011. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on It’s the Communication Stupid

I was reading a book that talked about how the phrase “It’s the economy stupid” was born. This phrase was created and used by the 1992 Bill Clinton presidential campaign when he was running for U.S. President. According to the story, James Carville wrote three things on a white board to help the campaign get focus. One of the items on this internal list was “The economy, stupid”. He wanted the campaign to stress how Bill Clinton’s opponent, George H. W. Bush, did a poor job with the economy during his first term in office. This is a very simple and clear direction for the campaign. It helped them make decisions on how to answer questions from reporters and when creating and delivering campaign speeches. This phrase was a big reason Bill Clinton went on to win the election.

I have a phrase for business analysis that will help you focus and help you make decisions during a project. “It’s the Communication Stupid”. I urge all of you to post this sign on your desk. Post it in a place where you see it every day. Maybe move it around so you not only see it, you read it every morning. Keep the sign until the concept is a part of who you are as a Business Analyst. When your actions start to follow the meaning of the sign, it is time to pass the sign to another BA in need.

In my unscientific research, I found a large theme among top analysts is they constantly ask themselves “will this help communicate the business need and/or solution requirements?” That is the backbone on how they plan their work and how they make decision related to their work during a project. You probably have heard people say, “BAs need to do just enough requirements” or something like,” only use a technique if it adds value to the project”. What is just enough and valuable? Communication is the value. If the message is communicated then that is enough requirements.

I feel I communicated the message I wanted to get across. So, no need to add more words!!!

Happy New Year,

Kupe

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Interrogating the Business Analyst Process to Discover Your own Value

Written by Laura Brandenburg on September 14, 2010. Posted in Articles.

One of the ways we can unknowingly hold our careers back is failing to understand and communicate our value effectively. Many of the business analysts I work with in their job search and career development initially lack an appreciation for how they contribute to the organization’s bottom line.

There are two common challenges that I see:

Failure to understand how business analyst activities tie to clear business objectives.
Failure to fully appreciate the value of the contributions they make as individuals.

In an earlier Business Analyst Times article, “Think “I” Instead of “We” When Talking about Your BA Career,.” I’ve already touched on point #2 above. Today I’d like to discuss how an intrinsic focus on business analysis activities unframed in a business value context can be career-limiting.

In an often-quoted article from CIO.com the value of the business analyst was cast in relief:

“For two decades, the CIO has been viewed as the ultimate broker between the business and technology functions. But while that may be an accurate perception in the executive boardroom, down in the trenches, business analysts have been the ones tasked with developing business cases for IT application development, in the process smoothing relations among competing parties and moving projects along.”¹

This statement speaks to a business-focused value of the business analyst. From an executive perspective, business analysts are valued because they help contribute to successful projects that have a solid business case. They are in the trenches ensuring that IT investments create value for the business.

However, oftentimes we see and hear business analysts talking about their value in terms intrinsic to the BA process. They focus on what we do as business analysts over and above why we do it. For every what, there is a why. And one of the best things we can do for our careers is to interrogate our own process with the same rigor with which we might challenge the process our stakeholders use to complete their work.

For example, one of the guidelines for writing textual requirements from the BABOK® Guide is “using consistent technology”. This is a worthwhile attribute and we all know that any decent business analyst will use terms consistently throughout their requirements specifications. But “using consistent terminology” is an answer to “what we do” or “how we do it”. It does not answer “why do we do things this way.” Let’s interrogate our own process to discover the why:

Interrogator: How does “using consistent terminology” create value for our organization?

Business Analyst: It reduces confusion about requirements.

Interrogator: Why does that matter?

Business Analyst: Well, if stakeholders are confused about requirements, we might spend extra time validating the requirements.

Interrogator: Why does that matter?

Business Analyst: Stakeholder time costs money.

Interrogator: Why does that matter?

Business Analyst: It means that creating the requirements for the project costs more than it should. If we use consistent terminology in our requirements, then we should be able to complete our requirements cycles faster. Oh, and it also means that we’re less likely to build the wrong thing and have to waste development resources reworking the system.

Interrogator: Nice!

Executive Level Summary: Business analysts help reduce the costs of project implementations by bringing clarity to the requirements. One way they do this is by using consistent terminology in their requirements.

Any activity we do can be diagnosed in this way. But sometimes the answers are not quite so flattering. Let’s interrogate the infamous “software requirements specification.”

Interrogator: How does “creating a software requirements specification” create value for our organization?

Business Analyst: This document tells us everything we need to know about building the system. Sometimes its 50 or 60 pages long. We’re really detailed.

Interrogator: Why is that important?

Business Analyst: Well, if we don’t document everything, we’ll miss something.

Interrogator: I can see that how it’s important not to miss something. How does the document ensure we don’t miss something?

Business Analyst: Well, we conduct a walk-through with everyone that needs to know what’s in the document and everyone that will be building what’s in the document. That way we know it’s complete.

Interrogator: Why does the walk-through ensure that nothing is missed?

Business Analyst: [Blank stare]

Now, your answers might be different. Maybe your software requirements specifications are required for regulatory reasons or you’ve found a solution to organize a walk-through of a long document that ensures completeness (I haven’t).

The point is not so much to pick apart a process that receives an almost constant beating. The point is to challenge you to evaluate your process with the same rigor your interrogator might do. What if this interrogator was your CFO or an external consultant who had promised you boss to find ways to reduce the costs of building software? Would you be able to justify the activity is worth your effort and the effort of your stakeholders? And, even if you could, are there other approaches to the same problem that would work just as well or better?

My challenge to you is to begin your week by looking at your calendar and to do list and asking yourself “why” for each significant item on the list. If you don’t know the answer, start researching it with your peers and your manager. Focusing on “why” is one of the most impactful career habits you can develop, both in becoming a promotable business analyst or in framing up your applications for your next job. We do it in our projects, why not also do it for our careers?.

1 “Why Business Analysts are so Important for IT and CIOs” CIO Magazine.

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Laura Brandenburg is a business analyst mentor and author of the free “3 Career Habits for Successful Business Analysts“, a primer to becoming a promotable business analyst. She hosts Bridging the Gap, a blog helping business analysts become leaders and advance their careers. She has 10 years of experience leading technology projects and has helped build business analyst practices at four organizations. If you’d like to learn more about discovering and increasing your value, including an ROI framework for business analyst activities, additional career habits that help you increase your ROI, and techniques for communicating your value to stakeholders and managers, check out Laura’s upcoming BATimes webinar.

We Don’t Need BAs!

Written by Kupe Kupersmith on May 25, 2010. Posted in Articles.

Since you are reading this post I assume you are most likely a business analyst, want to be a BA, or have BAs working for you. At the end of this post I think you’ll all agree that we do not need BAs. I think it is also safe to say there is nothing positive about a BA.

Let me first define what I mean by “BA”. I do not mean a Business Analyst. I am referring to a Bad Attitude. I am a firm believer that we need business analysis, but we do not need business analysts with bad attitudes. Our profession is still young, and bad attitudes will seriously impede our ability to positively impact organizations around the world.

I recently went to a store to make a purchase. When I was next in line the cashier said, “Can I help the next person?” Her words were fine, but the tone was terrible. Her body language and lack of enthusiasm said “I don’t really want to help the next person in line, but that is what I get paid to say.” I knew this was going to be a bad experience, but I tried to approach it with an open mind. Unfortunately it only got worse. Here is an example of how I was treated. I had two items to pay for so I handed the cashier both. I quickly learned she was not happy about that move. She yelled, “One thing at a time!” I really like the store, but I had a really bad experience because of one person’s bad attitude.

In situations like this I normally don’t complain. I will just never spend my money at that establishment in the future. There are too many options out there. I don’t feel like trying to give feedback and help resolve the issue when I can just go down the street to the competition.

As a business analyst do you have a bad attitude? Let’s find out with this short quiz.

Answer the three questions below by choosing the answer that you most closely can relate.

When you are eliciting requirements for a specific process and your stakeholder starts talking about another process do you respond by saying something like:
a. “One thing at a time!”
or
b. “This is a great conversation, but we have time scheduled to discuss that process tomorrow. Can this wait until then or should do we need to explore this process before continuing?”
When your project manager asks for your status do you respond by saying something like:
a. “I’m working on it. I would be done if you didn’t keep asking me my status.”
or
b. “Things are looking good. I have a few more meetings this week. I’ll give you an update Friday.”
When your QA Analyst asks about a requirement for the third time do you respond by saying something like:
a. “I already explained this to you twice; I doubt a third time will help.”
or
b. “Let me see if I can explain this better…”

If you answered “B” to all of these most likely you have a positive attitude and are viewed as a team player and contributor. If you answered “A” to any of the above you may have a bad attitude. Think about why you answered “A” and you may want to make some adjustments.

Similar to my response at the store, the people you work with may not give you critical feedback about the impact of your attitude. They may choose to not work with you and decide to work with another BA without a BA (bad attitude).

Positively yours,

Kupe

Can You Hear Me Now? Make Sure Your Communication Isn’t Breaking Up

Written by Stacey Hanke on February 16, 2010. Posted in Articles.

Communicating meaningfully with your people is the real name of the game. It’s not just getting attention, but getting through is what really matters. To achieve success when you communicate requires that you be aware of what others see and hear and how they respond to you, whether it be face-to-face, over the phone, during a sales call or presentation, conference call, meeting or via technology.

It’s not just what you say but how you say it that matters If you aren’t making a conscious effort to manage your tone of voice, the way you stand, and the words you use, you risk delivering your message ineffectively and leaving your listener with the wrong impression. The resulting misunderstanding will not help your cause.

You can learn how to communicate effectively no matter where you are. Even your technology-driven communication will improve if you first focus on improving the most important method first — face-to-face communication.

We’re not talking tailoring a perfect email or internalizing the shorthand texting alphabet. Eliminate the static that plagues your face-to-face communication and everything else you do will improve dramatically as well.

Here are some of techniques that should help you become a more effective communicator:

Increase Your Awareness. We don’t know what we don’t know. We have this mystery of not knowing what others see and hear when we communicate: over the phone or face-to-face. If you don’t know how you and your message are perceived, you will never make improvements for greater results. Pay attention to your listener. Watch and listen for their reactions and responses. Learn how what you say affects people.
Pause More Often! A mistake most of us make is saying more than our listeners want and need to hear. Slow down your speech! Deliberately introduce more PAUSES. What perception do you create when you hear a speaker speaking quickly? PAUSE Or when they clutter their sentences with non-words such as; um, uh, you know, like, but and so on. PAUSE If you want to show you can think on your feet and allow your listeners to understand your message, replace your non-words with a PAUSE. Less is more.
Connect or Contact. Who are you talking to? Look and listen for the clues they get what you are saying. With eye connection you gain trust and connect with your listeners. If you talk you must listen more and really hear what the other person is saying. Without the meaningful connection, your listener will lose interest, question your message and have doubts about you.
Confident Entrance. Do you walk into a room like you belong there? Within seven seconds others determine if you’re confident or uncertain. Your posture will communicate how you’re feeling without your saying a word. It’s the easiest way to immediately convey confidence, yet the quickest way to lose confidence if not done effectively. Stand straight! Recognize your listeners individually by connecting with their eyes. Look people in the eye. Recognize them individually with your face and smile.
Use Technology Power Wisely. Face-to-face communication should not be a lost art. Ask yourself what communication medium to use to best influence action? Choose the most personal form of communication that allows for the most meaningful communication for the situation. Don’t rely on technology, especially with complex or deeply personal communications of importance.
Gesture to Create a Positive Visual Impression. When your gestures and speech convey the same information, they’re easier to understand. Confident speakers use their gestures to add emphasis to their words. Avoid fidgeting with your rings, fingers, pen, etc. by expanding your arms from your sides, make the gesture consistent with your message and then bring your arms back to your sides.
Speak to be Heard! Your voice is your greatest asset. Do you sound like you mean what you’re saying? The sound of your voice shapes the attitude of your listeners even more than the words you speak. If you want to be perceived as confident, use the 1 – 10 scale. When speaking to a group of 15 or more, you must be at a 7 – 8 on the volume scale. From here, you adjust your volume based on the group and room size. Don’t whisper or talk too low for whatever occasion. Adjust your volume for maximum effect.
Use Fear as Your Motivator. Allow your fear of presenting to propel you forward. Channel your fear into your work. Doubt is good as it raises your awareness so you pay more attention and focus your mind on what is right before you. Fear is the greatest motivator you have. Realize that whatever you focus on becomes more real to you. You therefore can channel and use your capabilities better and do your best to help the people you can help the most.
Speak Less and Listen More! Pay more attention to your audience. Listening reveals what’s important to your listeners. Talk directly to them and look them in the eyes when you do. You are the message. Stop talking to your visual aids; PowerPoint, notes, handouts, etc. Instead, allow your listeners to communicate directly to you so that you confirm that they understand your message.
Make Discipline Your New Habit. You need to want it badly enough to begin today making face-to-face communication your priority. Practice doesn’t only make things perfect – practice makes things permanent. Even if all you can do is practice in real time, on the job, on the firing line, ask for constructive feedback on a specific behavior before and after your conversations and presentations.

Even tiny little changes and improvements in how you communicate can be crucial and extremely beneficial. That’s because, in most cases, the incremental changes people make can result in instantaneous and dramatic improvements in behavior, communication, performance, customer service, relationships, branding, and profits. They can see it right away and the outcomes of the changes they make are tangibly documented based on what happens.

If it works, do it again. If it doesn’t stop and do something better. That’s the essence of continuous improvement.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below

Stacey Hanke is owner of 1st Impression Consulting, Inc. She is a sought after speaker, on the topic of Communication Skills. She is the co-author of Yes You Can! Everything You Need From A-Z To Influence Others To Take Action and Featured author of the book, Conversations On Success, on which she partnered with Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Jack Canfield and Fish Philosophy author John Christensen. Stacey has delivered over 500 presentations for business leaders in the financial industry to the healthcare industry to government and everyone in between. Her vast client list includes companies like Coca-Cola, Kohl’s, United States Army, Navy and Air Force, AT&T,( just added a few clients here) Leo Burnett and the FDA. Her articles regularly appear in national media publications like Smart Money, Chief Learning Officer, Business Week, Investor’s Business Daily and many more. She is also the 2009 Recipient of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Alumni Award, member of the National Speakers Association. Stacey was one of six speakers selected to present at the 2008 NSA Convention in the category “Top Six Under Forty” and has served as member of the small business panel for USA Today.