Tag: Development

Strategy Spotlight: Be Teaming with Success: Using Assessments and Profiling to Understand Yourself and Others

Written by Richard Lannon on September 13, 2016. Posted in Articles.

I have received a number of emails regarding a statement I made in one of my previous blogs.

In that particular post, I mentioned the importance of understanding yourself and others through profiling. The exact quote, “you should profile yourself and the people around you” (See article Master These 7 Skills to Become an Excellent Interviewer). So let me explain the importance of profiling and give you some options.

A project manager and/or business analyst is a leader who must engage people in order to get stuff done. This reality exists whether through identifying business problems or opportunities, evaluating solution alternatives, or planning and implementing projects. Nothing happens unless you can engage people appropriately. Profiling helps.

Three Profiling Rules and Profile Types to Endure

There are a few rules about profiling that you need to internalize. First, it is not about you so leave your ego at the door. Second, it is all about the other person’s communication needs. Third, you need to adapt to the communication needs of the other person.

Generally, there are three kinds of profiles to consider; intelligence quotient (IQ), emotional quotient (EQ) and culture quotient (CQ). EQ has to do with emotional intelligence and is now considered more important than IQ in achieving success in our lives (business, career, and life). Success is dependent on our ability to read people and act appropriately.

Four Attributes of Emotional Quotients (EQ)

Self-Awareness: You are aware of your thoughts and emotions and the impact they have on your behavior. What you think is what you feel, what you feel is how you act and how you act is the results you get (think, feel, act, results).

Self-Management: Can be defined as your ability to manage your feelings and behaviors. It includes your ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

Social Awareness: This is where you engage in understanding other people. In essence your ability to read the situation around you, pick up on social cues and adjust accordingly. It is all about people and group dynamics.

Relationship Management: Emphasis is placed on your ability to develop and maintain good relationships. This could be short-term (for projects), to influence and motivate others, to interact for the purpose of understanding a problem, to manage conflicts, etc. I like to think of this as your ability to get on and get along in life.

Six Tools of the Assessment Trade (there are more)

There are many tools that can be used to develop your understanding of yourself and others. I believe that throughout your career it is important to use several tools in order to develop a self-profile that goes beyond just the standard EQ assessment. It’s important to look at your career and work fit, your career anchors, and of course the standard emotional intelligence profiling options. Here is a list of options to help you build your ability to understand yourself and others so you can improve your professional effectiveness.

DISC Profile: This is a behavioral model that examines individual behaviors in their environment, their styles, and behavioral preferences. Four areas looked at include; Dominance (control, power, and assertiveness), Influence (social situations and communication), Steadiness (patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness), and Conscientiousness (structure and organization). This is a powerful tool for profiling, building teams and relationships.

Self-Management Pro: This one is used to predict management and leadership potential so that organizations can develop their professionals. The tool has been proven effective in predicting performance and retention. I like the way it looks at your profile and style in terms of process and structure, learning, orientation, self-direction and lifestyle management.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): A personality inventory that measures people in four key areas; how you relate to others (either by extraversion or introversion), how a person takes in information (sensing or intuition), how a person makes decisions (thinking or feeling) and how a person orders their life (judging or perceiving).

Career Anchors: We are all anchored in something. This tool will help you understand your career anchors and other people’s career anchors. Everyone is not anchored in the same things. You and the person you are working with will fall into one of eight categories (autonomy/independence, security/stability, technical/functional, general management, entrepreneurial creativity, service, pure challenge, and lifestyle). Knowing a person’s career anchors tells you a lot about their natural motivation.

Career Fitters: My new favorite profile as I filled this one a few weeks ago and I was surprised how accurate it was. This profile looks at your personality in the workplace and then provides you insight into career options based on your work personality style. It is great for working with teams and individuals to understand fit or even working with other people and their fit to what they are doing. Send me an email if you would like a link.

Coaching Skills Inventory: The coaching skills inventory generates an overall coaching-effectiveness profile. It teaches you how you do in meetings from the opening, communicating, gaining agreement and closing. Don’t let the title fool you as it is not just about coaching. It can be used to improve your meeting performance. Something I found incredibly valuable in identifying my weaknesses and then developing my meeting skills. This is a huge bonus.

Final Thoughts:

The importance of understanding yourself and others continues to grow. I think it has become imperative that the professional step up and take the time to learn how to profile and adapt in order to increase their success. A combination of emotional quotients and career profiling provides valuable insight into the world around you. These profiles are becoming increasingly relevant to organizations and people development, and the ability to solve business problems because they provide a way to understand and assess behaviors, styles, beliefs, values, attitudes and interpersonal skills. All of which impact your ability to do your job.

Over the course of my career I have done a lot of interviews, small group meetings and workshops where understanding the people around me was critical to the initiative success. Sometimes we would profile on-the-fly and other times we would do formal profiling using a combination of tools, one-on-one debriefs and Group to Business Impact Sessions. Something I still do for clients today.

Why a Business Analysis Certification Is Worth your Time

Written by Barbara Carkenord on August 3, 2016. Posted in Articles.

Early in my career I didn’t understand the value of credentials. I thought that if I did good work, I would get promoted and that passing some silly exam didn’t prove anything.

Over the years my opinion has changed completely. I now understand the discipline required to earn a certification and the value that comes with knowing an industry standard way of operating. I’ve just finished writing a study guide for PMI®’s business analysis certification, the PMI-PBA®. In 2012 I wrote a similar study guide for IIBA®’s CBAP® and CCBA® certifications. After spending over 1000 hours writing about these certifications, I thought I’d share my conclusions.

I have changed my thinking about certifications gradually over the last ten years. Part of the reason is the overwhelming scientific evidence about how human beings learn.

I have been working in learning and development organizations for 25 years. I have been frustrated by how many students attend a class but don’t retain the information or put their new skills to use. I have continually improved the way I present information to students, realizing that learning doesn’t happen in a couple of days. It takes reinforcement over time. It requires the learner to be forced to recall and demonstrate the new skills.

It is now indisputable that testing is one of the best ways to make sure that humans learn new materials. It turns out that our brains learn best by being forced to recall things that we have learned. The more we recall, practice, reinforce learning, the more likely we will retain it, and these skills will become second nature to us.

In addition to the neuroscience, which proves that testing is a strong learning tool, I have experienced the preparation and study activities necessary to pass a certification exam. In the past 10 years, I have taken four certification exams! Each one required a different level of study based on my work experience. In each case, I started out thinking that I knew everything I needed to know about the topic but each time I was humbled by how much more knowledge and skills were available to me. I was exposed to new ways of thinking, new techniques, and most importantly, I reinforced the things I had already learned and learned them at a deeper level.

Preparing for a difficult exam requires a commitment to achieve, a plan for accomplishing your goal, a willingness to take a risk, and diligence in sticking to the milestones you set. It requires you step outside your comfort zone and push yourself in a new direction. All of these requirements are characteristics of successful business analysts. We love to learn new things, solve complex problems, and conquer tough challenges. Passing a tough exam builds your confidence in taking on new challenges. Earning a certification demonstrates your competence and enriches your personal value.

Taking the exam is a small part of the certification process. A strong certification program requires you to learn the breadth and depth of a body of work which few people would learn in their day to day work. Learning about things you have not yet experienced prepares you for more challenging assignments. Forcing yourself to recall key ideas and concepts, cements them into your neurons. In addition, a certifying organization requires you to keep the learning alive while adding new knowledge through continuing education requirements.

The business analysis certification programs offered by IIBA and PMI continue to rely more and more on situational questions rather than just asking about terms and definitions. These scenarios allow you to demonstrate that you make good decisions and choose the appropriate analysis techniques for each situation.

In addition to the benefits of learning and reinforcing your skills, earning a certification shows the world that you can commit to a tough goal and achieve it. It gives you confidence in your knowledge and strengthens your ability to work effectively. Maintaining certification forces you to keep up with current trends and give back to the profession. You become a mentor to others who desire to earn the certification, and you become a leader in your profession.

As a profession, it is in all of our best interests to have strong certifications. None of us would ever consider seeing a doctor or lawyer who wasn’t certified or licensed. In many professions, these tests are considered entry level requirements. A lawyer is not allowed to practice law in America without first passing the state bar exam. A nurse cannot see patients until he has received his license. If we want business analysis work to be valued and rewarded, we need to hold ourselves to a very high standard. A certification program provides the basis for that standard.

When you started reading this article you may have hoped that I would tell you which business analysis certification to earn. That is up to you. I am interested increasing awareness of the value of business analysis work and support any rigorous certification program which will advance our profession. Choosing the best program for you is another learning challenge which I encourage you to undertake!

Your Next Business Analyst Will Be a Robot

Written by Kupe Kupersmith on July 27, 2016. Posted in Articles.

The advancement in artificial intelligence is mind blowing. So much so that teaching robots problem-solving skills is kicking into high gear.

I recently went to a science museum with my family, and one of the exhibits showed that robots are learning problem-solving skills. If you know about and/or believe in Singularity, this is no surprise. You can learn more about singularity here. For a quick reference, I want to share this definition. “The technological singularity is the hypothesis that accelerating progress in technologies will cause a runaway effect wherein artificial intelligence will exceed human intellectual capacity and control, thus radically changing or even ending civilization in an event called the singularity.” In Time magazine about 5 years ago, there was an article that predicted singularity would hit in 2045.

Related Article: Stop Calling Yourself the Bridge

When I read the sign at the museum stating robots are learning problem-solving skills it made me think about the impact to the business analysis profession. Problem-solving is what business analysis professionals do. They are problem solvers. Which led me to think the next generation BA will be a robot. I know most people reading this article will most likely be retired by 2045, so you don’t have to worry about your business analysis role. You may have to worry about how this impacts retirement, but you’ll have to talk to your financial advisor about that one. This took me down a path thinking about how technology is disrupting the BA profession. I landed on the thought that if robots can be BAs in 30 years, then humans half way around the world can be your next BA hire right now. Technology may not be sophisticated enough for a robot to take your job, but it is sophisticated enough to give companies the ability to hire a BA anywhere in the world.

Before I get into what you can do what this means to you and what you can do about it, I want to blow away some myths about having remote BAs.

Distance: I keep hearing people say in the US that the BA role won’t be moved offshore. Well, too late, it already is. The companies I work with have BAs everywhere. I predict the number will grow. And I am not just talking about India or China. Why can’t your next BA peer be from the UK, New Zealand, or Ukraine? Why can’t the next BA on your team be from Los Angeles even though your company is in Des Moines?
Time Zones: How can you possibly have a BA work in New Zealand if the business stakeholders are in the US? The time difference is too great, right? Not too worry. My father worked nights for as long as I can remember. People will work non-9 to 5 jobs if it suits their lifestyle.
Language Barriers: Language barriers will become less and less of an issue every year. When I was in primary school, we started learning a second language in middle school. Now my kids are learning Spanish when they are 5. Younger generations are being brought up in a global world and are being prepared.

Now that I took care of that, you can look at this new reality in two ways. You can see it as a challenge and the fact that you will be vying for a job not only from people in your city but from around the world. Or, you can look at it as an opportunity. No matter where you are, you can apply for jobs around the world. Regardless of the way you look at it, there are things you can do to prove your value to any company.

I have written about valuable skills or characteristics before so I won’t repeat those here. If you have not read my blog post, The Four Chords of Great Business Analysts, please check it out.

For other characteristics to focus on, take a look at an article my buddy Hans Eckman shared from Fast Company, 4 Habits of Employees You Shouldn’t Wait to Promote. Get in the habit.

Oh, but there’s more. Robots may be able to be better problem solvers in the near future. Though, being a good problem solver does not help if you first don’t know what problem you are trying to solve. What good is it if you solve a problem that no one cares about? You need to start or continue to be laser focused on ensuring there is clarity and shared understanding of the problem or opportunity your team is working towards.

Next, you need to focus on remote communication and collaboration. Get really good at this. A recent survey by Meeting Professionals International shows that virtual meetings are expected to grow at twice the rate as live meetings. This is everything from large company meetings to one on one meetings. A large part of your role is to facilitate decisions. The people you are helping make decisions are not always sitting next to you.

Let’s face it; the barriers are broken. Technology has caught up to people’s desire to connect with others around the world. Organizations have options. I can easily connect with friends and colleagues in the UK, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, and so on. Organizations no longer need to hire someone that lives a commutable distance from an office. There are 2 key things you should focus on as it relates to remote communication and collaboration. One, you have to learn how to connect on a personal level with people in a remote world. This takes some work. In an office, you do this without even thinking. You see someone getting a drink, and small talk ensues. You see them at lunch, on the way to a meeting, or walking into the office and you can connect with little effort. You usually don’t have to make time to connect with them. In a virtual world, you need to schedule it. Work in time during your day to call someone, text someone, chat with someone just to say hello.

Next, you need to improve your virtual etiquette. When you are face to face with someone, you can eat and drink. When you do this on the phone, the noises that are heard on the other end of the phone are not pleasant. If you are eating while you are on a phone call, it’s like someone having their ear to your mouth as you are chewing. It’s rude and sounds gross! If you are a “slurper” when you drink, don’t drink while on the phone. And have you ever filled up a water glass from a water cooler or refrigerator while on the phone? Have someone try it and tell me what that sounds like. I’d rather you eat on the phone!

Technology will continue to change how you live and work. Will robots be the next generation BAs? Maybe. Until then, work on adding value to your organization regardless of where you live or where your team is located.

Virtually yours,

Kupe

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?

7 Habits of Highly Effective BA People

Written by Yaaqub (Yamo) Mohamed on June 28, 2016. Posted in Articles.

When I was 17, I stumbled upon the fascinating world of audiobooks. The first audiobook that I ever heard was the life changing “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“, read by the author himself. The riveting real-life examples, practical advice, and the passion in delivery made this book have a huge impact in my life.

In this post I would like to summarize the seven habits, and provide a parallel of how business analysts can adapt them to be more effective with 2 key BA lessons per habit. These habits have a universal appeal, and could be observed as a common theme with highly effective people.

Let us see what BA lessons we can derive out of them.

1) Be Proactive

In Summary: I still remember the depth of meaning in this simple statement that I felt when Dr. Covey explained what it means to be proactive as human beings. Owning up to the responsibility for our own lives and the actions we take is the essence of this habit. When you dissect the word “responsibility”, it splits to mean “the ability” to choose a “response”. Being proactive means that you exercise this ability consciously without being reactive to changing stimuli and situations.

2 BA Lessons:

Be proactive with your career – decide where you want to go this year, and for the next few years in terms of career growth. Make growth happen, don’t expect it to happen on its own.
Be proactive with your work – for any business analysis work, planning, and monitoring are key aspects and often ignored. There should be a definite meaning in the BABOK having the “Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring” as the biggest knowledge area. Explore this area, learn more and implement it in your work.

The Flip Side: If you are not proactive, you will be reactive. A victim of the forces and circumstances surrounding you. Decide to act, and not be acted upon.

2) Begin with The End in Mind

In Summary: Mental visualization is extremely important. Covey says that all things are created twice: first, the mental conceptualization and visualization and a second physical, actual creation. Becoming your own creator means to plan and visualize what you’re going to do and what you’re setting out to accomplish and then go out and creating it. As a part of this habit, Covey adds: “The personal mission statement gives us a changeless core from which we can deal with external change.”

2 BA Lessons:

Set professional goals and milestones – if you are planning on a CBAP or PBA certification or completion of a course, set them as goals. Track your progress by marking milestones on a calendar.
Visualize success in your current project – conceive and believe that you will make your current project or endeavor successful. Visualize it.

The Flip Side: Lack of goals and milestones causes lesser focus and can lead to doing less than ordinary work.

3) Put First Things First

In Summary: With your power of independent will, you can create the ending you want to have. Part of that comes with effective time management, starting with matters of importance. Then tasks should be completed based on urgency after you deal with all the important matters. If you deal with crises, pressing problems and deadline-driven projects first, your life will be a lot easier. The essence of time management is to organize and execute around priorities.

2 BA Lessons:

Prioritize the sequence of analysis work – when analyzing needs of the stakeholders and assessing solution options, prioritize the resolution of core issues and needs first. One of my favorite mantras has been “an hour of effectively prioritized business analysis now, will save two hours of project management later.”
Read and apply “getting things done” – I would highly recommend you read “getting things done” by David Allen to start understanding the core principles of productivity.

The Flip Side: Not having priority causes you to do easy things first and may jeopardize the time that you would have available for more important things.

4) Think Win-Win

In Summary: If you believe in a better way to accomplish goals that is mutually beneficial to all sides, that is a win-win situation. “All parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan,” Covey wrote. “One person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.” If you have integrity and maturity, there’s no reason win-win situations can’t happen all the time.

2 BA Lessons:

Always think of win-win for the business and the IT – ask yourself, how can you make a given situation a win/win for your team and the business? Even if doing a small thing can change the way business or your team feels about a decision or an outcome, you have achieved win/win.
Build effective relationships with your stakeholders – to understand win-win properly it is imperative that you know the real expectations and attitudes of various stakeholders.

The Flip Side: You will fall into a win-lose, lose-win, or a lose-lose situation, which is not the best outcome.

5) Seek First to Understand, Then To Be Understood

In Summary: If you’re a good listener and you take the time to understand a concept, it will help you convey your opinions, plans and goals to others. It starts with communication and strong listening skills, followed by diagnosing the situation and then communicating your solution to others.

2 BA Lessons:

Practice listening skills – leave some silence when needed. Listen with an intent to paraphrase, act like a news reporter where every detail from the person you are listening to, matter.
Diagnose before you prescribe – do the ground work for any situation that you encounter. Explore the various facets of a fact or truth and then arrive at a conclusion. Sometimes it’s best to park your ego.

The Flip Side: Missing out on the true intentions and ideas from others (by not giving them a chance to be understood first), can cause apprehension within the team.

6) Synergize

In Summary: Synergistic communication, according to Covey, is “opening your mind and heart to new possibilities, new alternatives, new options” This applies to the classroom, the business world and wherever you could apply openness and communication. It’s all about building cooperation and trust.

2 BA Lessons:

Focus on building strong relationships with your team and stakeholders. Build trust, deliver what you promise – build cycles of promising and delivering on your promise.
Buy lunch or coffee for a team member or a key stakeholder – if you haven’t done that yet; do it.

The Flip Side: You cannot succeed as a business analyst without adequate cooperation and trust.

7) Sharpen The Saw

In Summary: Sometimes you’re working so hard on the other six habits that you forget about re-energizing and renewing yourself to sharpen yourself for the tasks in front of you. Some sharpening techniques include exercise and nutrition, reading, planning and writing, service and empathy and commitment, study and meditation.

2 BA Lessons:

Sharpen your hard skills – learn more about a technique that you already know by applying it to a different fictional scenario or problem.
Sharpen your soft skills – join a Toastmasters club, read books and attend workshops that will help you become a better writer, speaker, and listener. Listen to the podcasts, read blogs, etc. to learn real tips on how to improve your hard and soft skills.

The Flip Side: If you don’t sharpen your skills and keep yourself rejuvenated you won’t be in an optimal state of performance.

Have you read “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People?”

Which is your favourite habit? Do you have any additional BA lessons to add?

Please use the comment space below to add your comments and thoughts.