Tag: Project Management

Estimating the Business Analysis Phase of a Project. Is it Even Possible?

Written by Elizabeth Larson on July 7, 2009. Posted in Articles.

Years ago I worked on a large effort to reengineer a distribution center for a major retailer. We provided an estimate for both the business analysis work and for the entire project, which would involve the organization’s first use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), new business processes, many software changes, and the purchase of new barcode scanners. The business analysis effort took far longer than we anticipated, and at the end of it we refined our estimate for the total project. When we reported the new estimate to the president of the company, he literally pounded his fist on the table and asked, “How did we get to this point? Why didn’t we know sooner? You’ve already spent all this time on the project and what do we have to show for it? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!”

I have always thought of business analysis as the most ambiguous and the most fun of the project phases (by phase I mean phase, increment, or iteration). However, for many years it was my least favorite phase to estimate. I felt like I was guessing, simply pulling numbers out of the air. No wonder we were so far off.

Estimating the business analysis phase(s) is not easy. It is not hard, but it takes a willingness to think about exactly what work will be produced, and many business analysts do not have the patience. So for those of you who do not have the “stomach” to spend the required time to estimate business analysis, here are some tips.

Break the effort into manageable pieces. We can estimate a whole lot better when our business analysis phase(s) are small.
As we progressively elaborate our requirements, we can progressively elaborate our estimates. We go from Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) to budgetary (deliverables identified) to definitive (requirements defined to a low level of detail).
It is helpful to use a variety of estimating techniques. When we’re first asked how long business analysis will take, we really cannot be precise. We use analogous estimating, or experience with a previous project. If we have good history, we might be able to use parametric estimates. For example, if we know that it takes two hours to model a business process and we have five processes to model, it will take ten hours to model business processes. Providing detail on each of these techniques is beyond the scope of this blog, however.
I have found it helpful to brainstorm with the people who are actually going to do the work. They usually have a more realistic idea of what needs to be done and how long it will take. I also like yellow sticky notes, since they can be easily added, taken away, and moved.
But here’s the real key to estimating business analysis. Identify all the deliverables (work products, artifacts) you will produce during the business analysis effort. It is essential to first identify the approach you’re going to take, whether plan-or change-driven (Waterfall/Agile). It is also helpful to use the BABOK knowledge areas to identify which work products will be completed. During the course of an Elicitation event, for example, we might send out an agenda (one work product), update our traceability matrix (another deliverable), create an “as-is” process model (another deliverable), and update our list of issues (yet another deliverable). Next we think of the tasks needed to complete each work product, and finally how many hours the task will take.

Of course the real, real key is having the courage to communicate bad news. Which brings me back to the president pounding his fist. What I should have done was reported the plan vs. actual of the business analysis effort regularly, rather than surprising him after months of work.

What a lesson learned!

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CEO and Co-Principal of Watermark Learning (www.watermarklearning.com) has over 25 years of experience in business, project management, requirements analysis, business analysis and leadership. She has presented workshops, seminars, and presentations since 1996 to thousands of participants on three different continents. Elizabeth’s speaking history includes, PMI North American, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific Global Congresses, various chapters of PMI, and ProjectWorld and Business Analyst World. Elizabeth was the lead contributor to the PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition in the new Collect Requirements Section 5.1 and to the BABOK® Guide – 2.0 Chapter on Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring. Elizabeth has co-authored the CBAP Certification Study Guide and the Practitioner’s Guide to Requirements Planning, as well as industry articles that have been published worldwide. She can be reached at [email protected]

Avoiding Conflict between the PM and BA. Part 1

Written by Elizabeth Larson on May 12, 2009. Posted in Articles.

At a recent conference I sat next to a project manager who observed, “My organization hired a new consulting company to do business analysis work. They’ve completely taken over. Now they do a lot of the work that I used to do, such as meeting with the sponsor to uncover the business problems, determining what we’re going to do on the project…I can’t believe it! I feel like I’m being treated like a second-class citizen!”

While this complaint pointed out some organizational issues, it also got me thinking about the role of the PM and the BA in the early stages of a project. The two bodies of knowledge, the BABOK® Guide 2.0 and PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition, each allude to work being done at the beginning of the project , so it is not surprising that conflict between these two roles can arise.

It’s easy for me to say that spelling out roles and responsibilities helps avoid this conflict. Using a responsibility assignment matrix, such as a RACI, is helpful, but it may not be enough. Looking back it seems to me that as both a BA and a PM, I never spent a lot of time dwelling on this issue. When I was a BA I didn’t have a project manager, so in a sense I was able to avoid conflict. When I became a PM, I was extremely fortunate to work with strong BAs who took the initiative to define their own roles. Below I have listed what worked for us and why. Next month I’ll delve more into the pitfalls and some examples of less successful projects.

We worked on a project which had both business and technical complexity. We were introducing many new business processes as well as new technology. The project affected many business units within the organization, and the risk was high. Below are a few of the factors that I believe contributed to a smooth relationship between the BA and me (PM), and ultimately to a very successful project:

We each worked with our strengths. As a PM, mine was focusing on delivering the product (new software) when we had promised it, within the approved budget, and with frequent communication with the sponsor. As a BA, hers was an incredible ability to understand the real business need-why the project was being undertaken, what was happening currently, and what we needed to recommend to the sponsor, which was different from what the sponsor had requested. Without her, I would have accepted the solution originally requested by the sponsor, a solution which would not have solved their business problem.
We kept the good of the organization in front of us at all times. There simply was no grab for territory, because it wasn’t about us. It was about delivering a product that worked–on time and within budget. One of the team members observed that she felt like we were giving birth. The good news was, though, that we didn’t have to suffer through teenage years!
I was focused on the date and budget, so my natural tendency was to want to do the project quickly rather than correctly. Fortunately I had the good sense to listen to the BA and slow down when I needed to, which was usually at her insistence. Was this easy for me? Not at all! Am I glad I did? You betcha!
I completely trusted the BA. But the whole topic of trust is the topic for different blog on another day.

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CEO and Co-Principal of Watermark Learning (www.watermarklearning.com) has over 25 years of experience in business, project management, requirements analysis, business analysis and leadership. She has presented workshops, seminars, and presentations since 1996 to thousands of participants on three different continents. Elizabeth’s speaking history includes, PMI North American, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific Global Congresses, various chapters of PMI, and ProjectWorld and Business Analyst World. Elizabeth was the lead contributor to the PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition in the new Collect Requirements Section 5.1 and to the BABOK® Guide – 2.0 Chapter on Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring. Elizabeth has co-authored the CBAP Certification Study Guide and the Practitioner’s Guide to Requirements Planning, as well as industry articles that have been published worldwide. She can be reached at [email protected]

Harness the Power of the PM/BA Partnership

Written by Cynthia Low on February 17, 2009. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Harness the Power of the PM/BA Partnership

Projects play an essential role in the growth and survival of organizations today. It is through projects that we create value in the form of improved business processes and new products and services in response to changes in the business environment. Since data and information are the lifeblood of virtually all business practices, projects with significant IT components are often the key mechanism used to turn an organization’s vision and strategy into reality. Executives have their eye on the project portfolio to ensure that they: (1) invest in the right mix of projects, (2) optimize their resources, (3) develop expert capabilities to deliver flawlessly, and ultimately, (4) capture the expected added value to the business. In the 21^stcentury we are bombarded with constant change brought about by the Internet, the global economy and the prevalent use of technology. As a result, there appears to be a never-ending demand for new business solutions supported by IT products and services. Executives across the spectrum are adopting the practices of superior project management and business analysis to increase the value projects bring to their organizations.

The Project Performance Partnership

In the spirit of high-performing teams, project managers align themselves with professional business analysts, expert technologists, and business visionaries to understand business problems or new opportunities, and determine the most appropriate, cost-effective, fastest time to market, and innovative solutions. As this core team forms, a project performance partnership emerges that rivals the world’s great teams, (e.g., tiger teams, special operations teams, professional sports teams, parametric teams). At the center of the team is the dynamic twosome: the project manager and the business analyst. The project manager keeps an eye on the management of the project, ensuring the project delivers on time, on budget and with the full scope of the requirements met. While the business analyst focuses on management of the business need, business requirements, and expected business benefits. The wise project manager welcomes this teaming trend, understanding that inadequate information relating to business needs leads to poor estimates, and makes time and cost management virtually impossible.

Business analysis and project management have become central business management competencies of the 21^st century. These competencies are essential because requirements play a vital role in engineering business solutions, and projects are essential to organizational success. In addition, organizations are realizing that the reasons projects fail are almost always tied to poor requirements and ineffective project management. (The Standish Group International, 1994-2006). The table below depicts the resolution of 30,000 applications projects in large, medium, and small cross-industry U.S. companies tested by the Standish Group from 1994 to 2006.¹³

Year	Successful Projects	Failed Projects	Challenged Projects
2006	35%	19%	46%
2004	29%	18%	53%
2000	28%	23%	49%
1998	26%	28%	44%
1996	27%	40%	33%
1994	16%	31%	53%

Source: The Standish Group Project Resolution History, CHAOS Research Reports (1994–2006)

Clearly there has been a steady improvement in project performance since 1994. According to the Standish reports, the reasons for the overall improvement include: smaller projects (the average cost of a project had been downsized more than half by 2001); better skilled project managers; and better methods and tools to manage changes. The Standish Group continues to recommend minimizing project scope, reducing project resources, and downsizing timelines to improve project success. The Standish Group also predicts that the number of critical projects wills double each year; therefore, we must continue to work vigilantly to improve project performance, paying particular attention to the elements it calls the Recipe for Project Success: The CHAOS Ten, which are listed here grouped by category. Notice that many of these elements relate to business analysis and the remaining are about better project management.

Recipe for Project Success: The CHAOS Ten

Project Management	Business Analysis
Executive support Experienced project managers Standard infrastructure Formal methodology Reliable estimates Small milestones, proper planning, and competent staff	User involvement Clear business objectives Minimized scope Firm basic requirements

It is the project manager who owns the Business Solution Life Cycle, and the business analyst who owns the Systems Requirements Life Cycle, from understanding the business need to ensuring that the delivered solution meets the need and adds value to the bottom line. (See Figure 1, below) For complex 21^stcentury projects, the business analyst has a critical role throughout the Business Solution Development Life Cycle, not simply during the requirements phase. Business requirements analysis differs from traditional information systems analysis because of its focus, which is exclusively on adding value to the business. In particular, project managers rely on business analysts to assist in providing more detailed project objectives; business needs analysis; clear, structured, useable requirements; trade-off analysis; requirement feasibility and risk analysis; and cost-benefit analysis. Poor requirements definition emerges without this key liaison between business and IT departments, resulting in a disconnect between what IT builds and what the business needs.

Figure 1 – Business Solutions Life Cycle Mapped to the Systems Requirement Life Cycle

Combining Disciplines Leads To Success

For organizations to achieve strategies through projects, a strong partnership between the project manager and the business analyst is essential. Indeed, when this partnership exists, and they both embrace the contributions of expert technologists and business visionaries, collaboration, innovation and far superior project performance is realized. For an in-depth discussion of the project manager and business analyst partnership, it is helpful to frame the dialogue in the context of a generic project cycle. Refer to Figure 1 once again, the Business Solution Life Cycle Mapped to the Systems Requirements Life Cycle, to provide context as we examine the nature of the partnership. The diagram shows a sequential development approach, from strategic planning to the business requirements to the delivery of a complete business solution. This is a simplistic model that guides the development process through its typical phases.

Strategic Planning and Enterprise Analysis

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is the first phase in the Business Solution Life Cycle. During this phase the current state of an enterprise is examined and the desired future state is determined and described by a set of broad goals. The goals are then converted to measurable objectives designed to achieve the strategy.

Project managers and business analysts may not contribute directly to strategic planning activities since it is the responsibility of the senior leadership team. However, senior business analysts and project managers may be asked to conduct market research, benchmark studies or competitive analysis surveys to inform the executive team as input to the strategic planning process. In some organizations, senior business analysts and project managers help plan and facilitate strategic planning sessions. Nevertheless, business analysts and project managers should have a full understanding of the strategic direction of the enterprise to determine how new initiatives fit into the long term strategy and/or mission of the organization, and to help build and manage the business case and other relevant information regarding business opportunities.

Enterprise Analysis

The enterprise analysis phase of the Business Solution Life Cycle consists of the collection of activities for depicting the current and future views of the business to determine the gap in organizational capabilities needed to achieve the business strategies. Enterprise analysis activities then determine new business opportunities to close the gaps.

Enterprise analysis activities begin after the executive team of the organization develops strategic plans and goals. The core activities center on: (1) identifying new business opportunities or solutions to business problems, (2) conducting studies, gathering information and determining the solution approach, (3) developing a business case or project proposal document to recommend a new project to the leadership team for their decision whether to select, prioritize and fund a new project. If the new change initiative is selected, a new project is formed and requirements elicitation and project planning commence.

Deliverables

The business analyst and project manager collaborate with selected business and technology experts to produce the deliverables of the enterprise analysis activities.

Deliverables	Description
Business Architecture	The business architecture is the set of artifacts that comprise the documentation about the business.
Feasibility, Benchmark, Competitive Studies	Conducting formal or informal studies prior to proposing a new project helps to discover very important information about the business opportunity.
New Business Opportunities	As an outgrowth of strategic planning, the business analyst and project manager review the results of feasibility, benchmark and competitive analysis studies, and the target business architecture to identify potential solution alternatives to achieve strategic goals.
Business Case	A business case should be developed for all significant change initiatives and capital projects.
Initial Risk Assessment	Once the business case is developed, the project manager and business analyst facilitate a risk management session using the same set of experts.

PM/BA Collaboration Opportunities

The project manager and business analyst have numerous opportunities for collaboration to complete the enterprise analysis activities, including:

Conducting feasibility, benchmark and competitive studies
Creating the business case, scope statements, preliminary time and cost estimates
Conducting risk assessment and risk response planning
Establishing project priorities
Managing stakeholders
Getting the right people involved and excited about the potential project
Partnering with senior IT architecture team to create the solution’s “vision”

Requirements and Design

During the requirements and early design phases the business need is discovered, analyzed, documented and validated and the solution concept begins to come into view.

Requirements Elicitation

Requirements are always unclear at the beginning of a project. It is through the process of progressive elaboration that requirements evolve into maturity. Requirements elicitation involves conducting initial requirements gathering sessions with customers, users, and stakeholders to begin the specification process. Requirements gathering techniques include: discovery sessions and workshops, interviews, surveys, prototyping, review of existing system and business documents, and note taking and feedback loops to customers, users, and stakeholders.

Requirements Analysis

Requirements are first stated in simple terms, and are then analyzed and decomposed for clarity. Requirements analysis is the process of structuring requirements information into various categories, evaluating requirements for selected qualities, representing requirements in different forms, deriving detailed requirements from high-level requirements, and negotiating priorities. Requirements analysis also includes the activities to determine required function and performance characteristics, the context of implementation, stakeholder constraints, measures of effectiveness, and validation criteria. Through the analysis process, requirements are decomposed and captured in a combination of textual and graphical formats. Analysis activities include:

Studying requirements feasibility to determine if the requirement is viable technically, operationally, and economically
Trading off requirements to determine the most feasible requirement alternatives
Assessing requirements feasibility by analyzingrequirement risks and constraints and modifying requirements to mitigate identified risks. The goal is to reduce requirement risks through early validation prototyping techniques
Modeling requirements to restate and clarify them. Modeling is accomplished at the appropriate usage, process, or detailed structural level
Deriving additional requirements as more is learned about the business need
Prioritizing requirements to reflect the fact that not all requirements are of equal value to the business. Prioritization may be delineated in terms of critical, high, average, and low priority. Prioritization is essential to determine the level of effort, budget, and time required to provide the highest priority functionality first. Then, perhaps, lower priority needs can be addressed in a later release of the system.

Requirements Specification

Requirement specifications are elaborated from and linked to the structured requirements, providing a repository of requirements with a completed attribute set. Through this process of progressive elaboration, the requirements team often detects areas that are not defined in sufficient detail, which, unless addressed, can lead to uncontrolled changes to requirements. Specification activities involve identifying all the precise attributes of each requirement. The system specification document or database is an output of the requirements analysis process.

Requirements Documentation

Requirements documentation must be clear and concise since it is used by virtually everyone in the project. Transforming graphical requirements into textual form can make them more understandable to non-technical members of the team. Documentation activities involve translating the collective requirements into written requirements specifications and models in terms that are understood by all stakeholders.

Requirements Validation

Requirements validation is the process of evaluating requirement documents, models, and attributes to determine whether they satisfy the business needs and are complete enough that the project team can commence work on solution design and construction. The set of requirements is compared to the original initiating documents (business case, project charter, statement of work) to ensure completeness. Beyond establishing completeness, validation activities include evaluating requirements to ensure that design risks associated with the requirements are minimized before further investment is made in solution development.

Deliverables

The business analyst and project manager collaborate with selected business and technology experts to produce the requirement deliverables:

Deliverables	Description
Stakeholder analysis and communication needs	Interviews are conducted with individuals and small groups to find out what business functions must be supported by the new solution.
Elicitation Workshops	Requirements workshops are an efficient way to gather information about the business need from a diverse group of stakeholders.
Surveys	Surveys can provide a valuable tool to collect a large amount of information from an array of stakeholders efficiently and quickly.
Document Reviews	The business analyst and project manager review all existing documentation about the business system, including policies, rules, procedures, regulations, process descriptions.
Test Plan	Typically a document that describes the scope, approach, resources and timing of test activities.
Business Requirements Documentation and Validation	Structured, validated, archived and accessible requirements are the functional and performance needs for the new solution, captured in: documents, tables and matrices, models, graphics, prototypes
Requirements Management Plan	A document that describes how changes to requirements will be allocated, traced and managed.

PM/BA Collaboration Opportunities

The project manager and business analyst have numerous opportunities for collaboration during requirements activities, including:

Conducting requirements elicitation workshops
Determining the number of iterations of requirements elicitation, specification, and validation
Determining the appropriate life cycle choice (e.g., waterfall, Agile, Spiral)
Developing the project management plan
Conducting trade off analysis for the requirements and solution trade-offs
Balancing the competing demands
Validating requirements
Prototyping
Updating the business case
Planning and facilitating the control gate review, signoff on requirements, and go/no decisions

Solution Construction and Test

During the solution construction and testing, the business analyst and project manager collaborate to ensure changes to requirements are identified, specified, analyzed for impacts to the project (cost, schedule, business value add), and dispositioned appropriately. The goal for both the business analyst and the project manager is to reduce the cost of changes, and welcome changes that add business value. Requirements management activities include: allocating requirements to solution components, tracing requirements throughout system design and development, and managing changes to requirements.

Deliverables

The business analyst and project manager collaborate with selected business and technology experts to produce the deliverables of the solution construction and test activities.

Deliverables	Description
Solution Verification and Validation	Validating requirements to provide evidence that the designed solution satisfies the requirements through user involvement in testing, demonstration, and inspection techniques. The final validation step is the user acceptance testing. Verifying requirements to provide evidence that the designed solution satisfies the requirements specification through test, inspection, demonstration, and/or analysis.
Business Policies, Procedures, Rules, Education	For new business solutions, there are almost always changes to business rules, policies, and procedures.
Testing	Including integration, system, and user acceptance testing.

PM/BA Collaboration Opportunities

The project manager and business analyst have numerous opportunities for collaboration during solution construction and testing phases including:

Developing the test plan and test approach
Validating activities to ensure the solution meets the business requirements (customer reviews, product demonstrations)
Reviewing test results and dispositioning identified defects
Conducting defect root cause analysis and determining the appropriate corrective action
Managing issues
Managing stakeholders
Facilitating the go/no go decision to deliver

Solution Delivery

Planning for the organizational change management that is brought about by the delivery of a new business solution is often partially or even completely overlooked by project teams that are focused mainly on the IT application system. While the technical members of the project team plan and support the implementation of the new application system into the IT environment, the business analyst and project manager are working with the business unit management to bring about the benefits expected from the new business solution by:

Assessing the organizational readiness for change, and planning and supporting a cultural change program;
Assessing the current state of the knowledge and skills resident within the business, determining the knowledge and skills needed to optimize the new business solution, and planning for and supporting the training, retooling and staff acquisition for skill gaps;
Assessing the current state of the organizational structure within the business domain, determining the organizational structure needed to optimize the new business solution, and planning for and supporting the organizational restructuring;
Developing and implement a robust communication campaign to support the organizational change initiative; and
Determining, enlisting and supporting managements’ role in the championing the change.

Deliverables

The business analyst and project manager collaborate with selected business and technology experts to produce the deliverables of the solution deployment activities.

Deliverables	Description
Deployment plans	Developing and communicating the plans to implement the new business solution.
Business policies, rules, procedures	Implementation of business policies, procedures, rules, etc.
Education and training	Training of business customers, stakeholders and users to accept and operate the new business solution efficiently.
Post-implementation support	The business analyst and project manager provide support to the business customers, stakeholders and users to help them learn how to operate the new business solution efficiently, and to resolve any issues that arise.
Lessons learned	The business analyst and project manager conduct lessons learned sessions with the project team, the business customers, stakeholders and users, and the technical team to determine what went well, and what needs improvement for future projects.

PM/BA Collaboration Opportunities

The project manager and business analyst have numerous opportunities for collaboration during solution deployment activities including:

Developing, communicating, and getting approval for the deployment plan
Approach (deploy to all business units or use a phased in)
- Which business units are affected?
- When will the business units be implemented?
- When will training be delivered?
- When will post-implementation support by the core project team end?
Making the decision to move to O&M
Conducting lessons learned sessions

Operations and Maintenance

The business analyst and project manager contribution to the success of the project does not end when the business solution is delivered and operational. There are key responsibilities during Operations and Maintenance (O&M) that must be filled. O&M is the phase in which the system is operated and maintained for the benefit of the business. Maintenance services are provided to prevent and correct defects in the business solution.

Deliverables

The business analyst and project manager collaborate with selected business and technology experts to produce the deliverables of the O&M phase.

Deliverables	Description
Solution benefits measurement	The actual business benefits that are realized are captured, analyzed and communicated.
Identification, prioritization, and planning for solution enhancements	Maintenance and enhancements projects are: identified, prioritized by business value, planned, executed
Decision to deactivate	At some point, the solution will need to be replaced. The decision to do so often involves the enterprise analysis activities described above.

PM/BA Collaboration Opportunities

The project manager and business analyst have numerous opportunities for collaboration during O&M including:

Prioritization of enhancements
Root cause analysis of performance and value attainment issues

Final Words

Gaps in technology, techniques, and tools are not the fundamental reasons why projects fail. Rather, project failure most often stems from a lack of leadership and poor choices made by people. Undeniably, the business analyst and project manager are evolving into strategic project leaders of the future. The key issues are no longer centered on control and management, but rather collaboration, consensus, and leadership. Team leaders develop specialized skills that are used to build high-performing teams. When building software-intensive systems, well managed teams undoubtedly accomplish more work in less time than do poorly managed teams (Bechtold, 1999).

References

Bechtold, R. (1999). Essentials of software project management. Vienna, VA: Management Concepts.
Hadden, R. (2003). Leading culture change in your software organization. Vienna, VA: Management Concepts.
Mooz, H., Forsberg, K., & Cotterman, H. (2003). Communicating project management: The integrated vocabulary of project management and systems engineering. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
The Standish Group International, Inc., “2007 First Quarter Research Report,” The Standish Group International, Inc. (2006–2007).
The Standish Group International, Inc., “Extreme CHOAS,” The Standish Group International, Inc. (2001), Online at http://www.smallfootprint.com/Portals/0/Standish%20Group%20-%20Extreme%20Chaos%202001.pdf (accessed January 2008).
Stevens, R., Brook, P., Jackson, K., & Arnold, S. (1998). Systems engineering: Coping with complexity. Indianapolis, IN: Pearson Education, Prentice Hall PTR.

Kathleen B. Hass, PMP

is Senior Practice Consultant for Project Management and Business Analysis, and Director at Large and Chapter Governance Committee chair for the International Institute of Business Analysis (http://www.theiiba.org/). She is the author of Managing Complex Projects: A New Model (Management Concepts, October 2008). Since 1973, Management Concepts, headquartered in Vienna, VA, has been a global provider of training, consulting and publications in leadership and management development. Management Concepts is a Gold International Sponsor and an IIBA Endorsed Education Provider For more information, visit http://www.managementconcepts.com/ or call 703 790-9595.

A Note of Thanks

Written by Jonathan Malkin on February 10, 2009. Posted in Articles.

I attended training with a new client last week. The trainer and I work together to educate the client, begin gathering requirements and help relate the material more directly to the client’s business needs.

As our session ended Friday the project sponsors pulled me aside to offer their thanks. That got me to thinking, “I did my part and so did a lot of other people.”

I’d like to offer my thanks to just some of the people who make my job possible at Plateau Systems:

Product Management and Product Engineering for making a great product.
Members of the Public Sector practice for coaching and guiding me.
My manager Scott Hardy for assigning me to challenging projects most suited to my skills.
Brett Lewis for developing the Solution Design Document I use to guide decisions in client meetings.
Andrea Malone in HR for handling benefits issues so I can focus on my job.
All the Business Analysts at Plateau ready to respond to email at a moment’s notice. Sometimes I don’t know how I’d solve problems otherwise.
All the trainers at Plateau who trained me and train my clients.
The Plateau Technical Services Organization for creating the virtual environment running our enterprise application. It allows me to run the Plateau application on my laptop where I test out scenarios for clients on the spot.

There are many others inside and outside Plateau Systems, including mentors, friends, and family that have helped my professional development. I could not possibly mention them all.

To all of you A BIG THANK YOU!!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Malkin

Jonathan Malkin is a Business Analyst at Plateau Systems. Jonathan provides configuration, integration, documentation, and deployment support services for a leader in Talent Management Systems. Jonathan’s areas of support include 21 CFR Part 11 Validation, SF-182’s, EHRI compliance and customizations to COTS software for which he has won multiple awards. His experience includes work in the federal government, telecommunications, mortgage and banking, and custom software development industries. Plateau Systems is a leading global provider of adaptable, unified web-based talent management software, content and services to onboard, develop, manage and reward talent.

Jonathan may be reached by email at [email protected] or by visiting his LinkedIn page at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jmalkin.

Will PMI Agree that BA Must Precede Projects?

Written by Marcos Ferrer on August 15, 2008. Posted in Articles.

Behold the world’s shortest BA column (well, for me so far, anyway):

We have been discussing the great challenges to BA that I listed a few months ago.

Last month I dumped my own idea – that of having professional recognition for BAs at the level of accountants and attorneys. Not having it or having it – either way it is a great challenge for the profession (for now, we hide, not knowing what to do).

This month, I make the following points about PMI and IIBA cooperation, the second great challenge:

Many PMPs, upon first meeting a CBAP (myself) say: “I wish they would turn you guys loose before management just dumps some of the “projects” (actual word was not projects) they dump on us!”

Point well taken – it is a lot easier to make project estimates and plans when decent scoping and some due diligence (requirements and stakeholder investigation) is done up front.

When things do change, they are likely to be less radical, or if radical, they tend to pay of way better for the trouble taken to discover them (always remember that every project is a “team PhD” research effort, and change can be good when learning leads the way).

It is not fair to dump on PMPs. It IS dumping when a list of what Ivar Jacobsen calls “requirements assertions” gets laid on a project manager with a budget and a deadline. I get to say this because usually the PM dumps it on me (the BA), so I know, I know.

I acknowledge that this approach does not violate the rule of “you can tell me how fast, you can tell me how much, or you can tell me how good – pick any two”.

It doesn’t, because management only tells how long and how much – they typically DON’T tell how good, they just pretend they did, so they can complain and blame when they don’t get what they “wanted”.

Finally – how the HECK does anyone do earned value, when they aren’t even sure what anything is worth?

I call on PMPs to acknowledge this pre-project “analysis” gap, and to support BAs in the important task of filling it.

Don’t go crazy – not every project is worth a business case, and doesn’t that say something right there?

Let me know if you agree.