Tag: Skills

5 High-Impact Questions Every BA Should Be Using!

Written by Angela Wick on November 14, 2016. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on 5 High-Impact Questions Every BA Should Be Using!

Success or failure often hinges on the questions we ask throughout the project lifecycle.

It sounds a bit dramatic, but I’ve witnessed it many times—a single, thought-provoking question that changed the trajectory of a conversation, opened a floodgate of new ideas, or magically simplified a complex problem.

Great business analysts fill their toolbox with high-impact questions! BAs use these questions strategically. They figure out the right way to ask the question and the right way to gather the answers. They also consider the best time, place and audience for each question.

High-impact questions:

are difficult to answer
create moments of silence
inspire responses like, “Hmmmm, let me think about that…”
stir up emotions and politics
spark analysis
encourage stakeholders to provide context, solve problems, make good decisions
generate deep, meaningful, interactive discussions that spawn high-value systems, processes and products

5 Excellent High-Impact Questions

Tell me about your pain points and challenges with the system/process/product.

Yes, I know this is not in the form of a question, but this phrasing indicates your interest in details and deep discussion instead of a short, off-the-cuff list. Starting from a place of pain gives people a chance to get their frustrations on the table right away. It inspires storytelling that gives context to stakeholder concerns and creates a shared understanding of each stakeholder’s priorities.

If this system, product, process worked as good as it could, what would that look like?

This question approaches pain points and challenges from a positive angle and promotes problem-solving. Stakeholders will reveal their solution priorities and their definition of success. Use this question to brainstorm enhancements, features, or to diffuse disagreements about priorities, needs or decisions.

What are the top 3 things you would change?

This question can be used in multiple ways throughout the project lifecycle. You can use it in discussions about systems, features, products or processes, or you can use it to focus on internal processes and issues. This question works in the initial stages of the project when you are defining needs, and is equally useful during a retrospective or “lessons learned” discussion. It also works well evaluating how a current or newly implemented solution is working regardless of if changes are being asked for.

Asking users to limit their change list to 3 items, forces stakeholders to prioritize and focus on what’s most important. Be sure to spend time diving into the why for each item. When stakeholders reveal their top 3 things and explain why, you will begin to understand their values, priorities and pain points. You’ll also begin to see how each stakeholder is connected.

What things would you make sure not to change?

This question works well when you need your team to focus on the positive. It reveals what each stakeholder appreciates about the current process, system or product. You begin to understand stakeholder values and priorities. You discover stakeholder fears and define innovation boundaries. Digging into the why of each “please don’t change this” item, will uncover stories (requirements in context) of what’s working well and might spark ideas for enhancements or new products/processes/systems. You might also find conflict here…things in this list might also be in the top three that others want to change, which generates good discussion.

If the project or enhancement does not happen, what impact would that have for you?

This question, when discussed in a group setting, pulls each stakeholder out of their silo. They begin to discover gaps in their understanding of the big picture. As the stakeholders reveal their needs. Some may discover they do not need to actively participate in the project. Others may discover they underestimated their impact. This question often generates meaningful examples and scenarios that stick in people’s minds much longer than words in a giant requirements document.

Benefits of High-Impact Questions

High-impact questions provide multiple benefits that tip the project balance to success. Here are just a few:

Silence: High-impact questions allow the stakeholder or group to think, go back in their mind, come back and be with a space in their mind to really process thoughts and come to conclusions. Silence helps us get better requirements that are better thought out. It reduces the risk of changing requirements by giving stakeholders time to dive below the surface requirements earlier in the project.

Trust: High-impact questions build strong relationships with stakeholders and users. Deeper dialog makes them feel connected and understood, which creates trust and boosts morale.

Ownership: High-impact questions help our stakeholders own their involvement in the solution. Rather than cast blame or incite conflict, high-impact questions help stakeholders communicate and articulate the real problem they want to solve.

Be Strategic

To maximize the benefits of high-impact questions, use them strategically. Consider the following:

Why are you using the question? What do you hope it reveals? How will it help your team boost end-user value?
Who should be answering the question? All stakeholders or just a subset? Users or management?
How will you ask the question and how will you gather the answers? One on one, small group, large group? Do you need to allow opportunities for introverts by using surveys or individual brainstorming on sticky notes, then sharing with the large group?
Can you use the questions to help stakeholders focus on the end user’s perspective rather than the team’s perspective?
If you are in a group when you ask these questions, take the time to observe body language. Who is agreeing with the speaker, who is disagreeing, who looks angry or frustrated? What does body language reveal about your stakeholders’ needs, values and priorities?

High-impact questions encourage teams to talk early and often—minimizing the risk of identifying expensive, show-stopping issues late the project. Use them strategically to help your team build the right solutions, faster! Test one of these questions in your next elicitation session and let me know what happens, or share your favorite high-impact questions below.

Strategy Spotlight: 7 Common Challenges faced by You, the Facilitator

Written by Richard Lannon on November 14, 2016. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Strategy Spotlight: 7 Common Challenges faced by You, the Facilitator

We all make meeting facilitation mistakes. I know I have made a few. Sometimes you can recover and other times you cannot.

I know that when I make a mistake in a facilitation session, I feel really bad for days. It impacts me personally. There are several reasons why; first, I pride myself on helping organizations discuss issues and come up with solutions; second, I believe my job is to make my sponsor and the people around me look good; third, I prepare like crazy and like to have everything vetted and completed at least a week in advance.

But sometimes things happen and you just don’t deliver. I hate it when this happens.

I have been thinking lately about the mistakes we make that derail a facilitation session. Here’s what I came up with.

Advanced Preparation

Sometimes I think I spend way too much time preparing for a session. Over the years I have learned that anything that takes you out of your schedule for a day (8 hours) usually takes 40 to 60 hours to prepare. That is why it is so important to have good preparation time and be prepared at least a week before the session starts. Usually, when doing advance preparation, I like to survey a cross-section of the attendees, interview several attendees, get clear on the agenda prior to preparing anything and then only prepare what really needs to be delivered.

Ensure You Have the Right Topics

This goes back to advance preparation. When I reflect back on my best sessions, it was a team effort. Usually at least 2 client representatives, and maybe another subject matter expert, who are fully engaged in the process to ensure we have the right business problem to solve and approach the topic and issues appropriately.

One thing I have learned from experience, if my gut doesn’t feel right about something, then we are going in the wrong direction. When that happens, speak up and have the tough conversation with your preparation team.

Thinking Any Discussion is a Good Idea

Having a discussion for discussion sake does not make any sense. Facilitation is about getting people to participate in the information gathering process, and training is about imparting information to people. These are related but different.

Recently I ran into a situation where I was using the insight of someone else to prepare for a session and ended up in doing a bit of a training session, not a facilitation session. My point for this group was they needed to have a format planning structure in place that focused their organization. But that is not what they needed. Fortunately, between the break I switched gears and in the second half I turned things around. But I was only able to do that because I had prepared backup materials.

It was good to have the first discussion but great that we had the second discussion.

Know the People in the Room and at the Session

I pride myself on knowing the participants before going into a session, especially when there are multiple stakeholder groups present. This is about people and group dynamics. Again this is a preparation thing. But given the opportunity, I meet as many of the participants as possible who have thoughts on what we are seeking to achieve. My preference is to profile the stakeholders ahead of time to get an idea of their working-selves, to make connections and relationships in advance so I have people to call on to help me out and to get a big picture on how the group interacts. I find that when I miss getting a good group profile I am not as sharp and I have to work harder and earn the trust of the people in the room. This is also true if I am out-of-practice.

Connecting with People at the Beginning of the Session

Related to the last point but a bit different. I know name tags, introductions, and an icebreaker game goes a long way to connect with people. Other times it is about grabbing them and engaging them early on, so there is a connection between you and the group you are working with. That’s why I show up early, meet and greet people, chat about common interests and do my best to find out something about the team. Sometimes I am surprised by how energized people are, sometimes how disconnected they are and other times how civil people are.

Recently I had a program to facilitate and was seeking an opener that would allow me to connect with the participants. I sent my sponsor some ideas, but the suggestions got killed. When I asked my sponsor a recommended opener, they did not provide the best advice. So I made the mistake of just diving in when I should have stepped back and simply asked an unusual question and got everyone to give an unusual answer. Now would this have worked for this group, maybe or maybe not?

My point, always start by connecting with people.

Making Sure you have a Feedback Loop

As hard as this might be, I believe it is of paramount importance. Having a debrief session or discussion is the only way you can make improvements or correct any errors you have made or that took place during the session. It is great to do debriefing sessions when everything is wonderful, but when you have missed the mark, that is when debriefing is hard.

I believe in structure and engagement. So you need to request feedback about a meeting as a whole and about the facilitation specifically. Hopefully, if things did not go well, it was not completely on your shoulders. But I don’t think that is a reality.

As difficult as it is, one thing I have learned, when things don’t go totally to plan there are usually other factors at play that maybe were misunderstood, not communicated, or misguided.

For example, I once did a half-day session with 40 people. The objective was to discuss ways to improve the organization. No one told me that just before we started, the CEO announced that they were cutting 1/3 of all positions. No one in the session said anything; I didn’t know and I left feeling like I failed. It was only three days later that I found out what had happened. From the ‘get-go’ I was the scapegoat. I found out during a feedback session.

Invest in Yourself as a Facilitator

Facilitation is part science and part art. You need to train and practice. I know for me, when things go wrong I go back to my training and see what I could do differently. When things go right, I go back to my training to see what I could do differently. Good facilitators make it look easy. Investing in yourself as a facilitator can really make a difference, even if you are training, coaching and mentoring others. So find a place to work on your facilitation skills and practice.

Final Thoughts

I am sure I could cover a lot more items for this topic. But I guess this is my confession; after a long career with a ton of experience, there are times I make mistakes.

There are many things that can go right or go wrong when it comes to facilitation. The sessions that worked well often meant that we had the preparation time, sponsor and stakeholder engagement, good direction and clarity on goals, objectives, and outcomes way before the session work began. But that does not mean that every session goes as planned. I have been in many sessions where we got derailed because suddenly the CEO didn’t get it, but the management team did, the Enterprise VP provided poorly defined business problem and driver statements, or the program manager requested a training approach, approved materials only to discover that all these people really needed was a conversation, someone to listen to them, ask questions and create a list of possible solutions and outcomes.

Here’s the thing, success rests on the facilitator’s shoulders no matter what happens. Like Paul Simon said in the song Something So Right, “When something goes wrong, I’m the first to admit it, I’m the first to admit it, but the last one to know.”

I think facilitation is like those words. As a facilitator, it is great when everything goes right, but it’s tough when things go wrong. But you need to be the first to admit it, even if you are the last one to know.

Do your best,
Invest in the success of others,
Make your journey count.
Richard

Are You a Great Business Analyst? Here’s How to Tell!

Written by David Shaffer on June 23, 2016. Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on Are You a Great Business Analyst? Here’s How to Tell!

I’m sure many of you think that you are a really great business analyst. You read BA Times, attend BA conferences and write great requirements. But how can you tell if you truly are a great BA?

Recent articles by Kupe Kupersmith and Brad Egeland have outlined many characteristics of a highly performing BA. I’d like to take a slightly different approach and provide you with some questions that you can ask yourself to help determine if you truly are a great BA.

Do you actually know who all of your customers are?

I define “customers” as anyone who utilizes your work to get their job done. Notice I said “work” and not “requirements.” A great BA delivers much more than a set of written requirements. If all you do is write requirements you can stop reading. You are not a great BA. If you are still with me, then take a minute to write down whom you think your customers are for the projects you are currently working on. I’ll wait…

Related Article: The Great Facilitator

Great BAs understand that they serve a diverse group of customers. If you wrote down developers, testers, business SMEs, project manager, product owner/product manager, internal customers who use or support the system, external customers who use and pay for the system and executive management then you are on your way to being a great BA! To succeed, you must consider everyone who will be impacted by the solution your team is working on. Forgetting or neglecting a customer will lead to missed expectations and significantly increase the risk of creating a solution that is not well accepted. Since the pressure to develop the solution is always high, it’s easy to focus heavily on writing perfectly detailed requirements for the developers and testers to understand.

Great BAs remember that we deliver more than just written requirements to developers and testers. We need to explain the business problem to be solved and the vision of the solution. We also need to understand the scope of the project and help the team limit scope creep.

BAs serve various customers whom all have different priorities and agendas within a project. Great BAs can identify each of these customers and understand their priorities. Developers and testers are most concerned with the details of the requirements. They need to know exactly what to develop and what to test which is why they tend to wordsmith the requirements. Product managers/owners are concerned that the end product satisfies the primary business needs of the paying customer. Project managers want to know how many more stories we have left to develop. When will we be done? Internal customers are concerned with how easy the solution will be to support. Executive management doesn’t care about the nitty gritty details of the requirements. They care about overall costs, timelines and whether the project will bring in new revenue or not. Of course, your external customers who pay for the solution want their problem solved.

Great BAs realize that they must do more than just write clear requirements for developers and testers. They must consistently communicate the vision, scope and reason why we are completing the project to everyone who has an interest in the solution.

Do you know exactly what problem you are solving for your customers?

The best solutions explicitly solve a well-defined problem. Ask yourself if all of your customers can describe the problem your team is trying to solve. If the answer is no, then you need to communicate the problem clearly to everyone.

Great BAs clearly define the business problem being solved and communicate it early and often. Everyone needs to be reminded why we are creating the solution. Software development takes time. During that time, it is very easy to forget why we are creating the solution in the first place. This leads to shortcuts, scope creep, and missed expectations. A great BA ensures this never happens. Make it a habit to start your meetings with a quick recap or reminder of the problem we have been tasked to solve.

Do you have empathy for your customers?

Do you really understand the pain they are experiencing due to the problem your team must solve?

Paying customers or people at the ground level who use or support your product every day typically are not consistently involved in a software development project. If a BA truly has empathy for the customers who will be using the completed solution, then the probability of success will skyrocket!

Great BAs take the time to observe and experience the pain of the problem that needs to be solved. Empathy allows a BA to focus on the customer experience within the solution. Deadlines, resource constraints, and scope considerations can contribute to shortcuts that negatively impact the customer experience. Having empathy gives the customers a voice in the development process via the BA.

Do people enjoy coming to your meetings? Are your meetings always fun and productive?

That’s right; I used the words ”fun” and “meeting” in the same sentence!

Great BAs always have an agenda and goals for a meeting clearly communicated.

Great BAs always prepare for their meetings by preparing visuals or determining what facilitation technique is appropriate. You should be using innovative facilitation techniques such as collaborative games to increase the interactivity within your meetings. Do all of your meetings consist of having people sit around a conference table while multitasking on their laptops? If so then they are not fully engaged and participating in your meeting. Don’t be afraid to get people out of their chairs to join you at the whiteboard for a collaborative session.

The BA is uniquely positioned to interact with every customer associated with a new solution. It is this unique position that allows a truly great BA to ensure the project is a smashing success. Great BAs communicate frequently to each role on the team and are able to remind everyone why we are completing the project in the first place.

Congratulations to those of you who can claim they affirmatively answer these questions for every project! You truly are a great BA!

Strategy Spotlight: 5 Questions Business Analysts Should Have in Their Question Inventory

Written by Richard Lannon on May 24, 2016. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Strategy Spotlight: 5 Questions Business Analysts Should Have in Their Question Inventory

Use them to create linkage and connect with people

I think it is great when people ask me questions. Often it means I get to ask questions back to gain clarity and insight into the real issue. There are many great questions you can ask, and every professional should collect and create an inventory of questions. As part of your question inventory you should have some standard questions. These are the ones you ask every time you are engaged, either in a new initiative or as part of your regular activities.

Recently while facilitating a strategic business analysis and planning workshop for the Business Analyst World Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, I provided the participants these key questions every business analyst and project manager should ask and get answered.

What 3 to 5 things are on the strategic agenda for the organization and why are they important?

A strategic agenda item is a high-level plan of action item designed to achieve a vision. For a number of reasons, this is one of my favorite questions to ask. Generally, most people do not know. Even senior management team sometimes has difficulty answering this question. Your job is to find out what those three to five strategic agenda items are and use them to keep focused. The strategic agenda items should be SMART and should be found on a strategy map. Usually, they have to do with growth and bottom-line revenue, process improvements, productivity enhancements, human capital investment, and/or elements of diversification. There are many possibilities.

What strategic initiatives are we focused on and what two or more strategic agenda items are they linked to?

These are two important questions. Strategic initiatives should represent the most significant line of business or cross line of business projects that are planned to improve performance in some way. These items often define your work. The questions help you dig deeper into what needs to be done to realize the strategic agenda, and create a linkage from the strategic to the tactical, bridging the gap. Examples of strategic initiatives include focused growth through geographic expansion, enable efficiency and scalability through support systems development and program delivery, investment in continuous learning and development, and/or realize voice of the customer brand strength. They can be a bit vague, but when connected with two or three strategic agenda items the strategic initiatives start to make sense. These items have business champions and are further defined into high-level elements of work.

What is your greatest barrier when it comes to having _______________? What would be a perfect solution to those barriers?

These are another two questions I ask a lot. The first question is just matter of filling in the blank for what it is you are investing. For example, what is your greatest barrier when it comes to having strategic analysis and planning, a success plan or a workflow system that works for you? Just change the ending to suit your questioning needs. Then, at the right moment, ask the second question, what would be a perfect solution to those barriers? People will open up and tell you what is on their minds. These two questions can be asked one on one, in a workshop brainstorming session or even in a survey. They provide great insight into the challenges, opportunities, and possible solutions.

What are you thinking about when you wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning?

I set this question up as a scenario-based question. I give the interviewee a bit of a story to set the stage and then ask the question. It is best asked at a one on one discovery meeting where you have up to 90 minutes to chat with the interviewee regarding their response. Often I get to dig deeper into the real issues. I think people are surprised when I go into the first discovery meeting with them and after our pleasantries, I only ask one scenario based question. That is, asking a question that gets them to talk about their thoughts in the early morning hours. Here’s the thing, everybody has a story to tell, and my purpose at an initial discovery meeting is to have a meaningful conversation. I frame it this way because everyone wants to have a meaningful conversation and tell you what they are thinking. The closer you can make your questions connect with the person you are speaking with the better the information is that you will generate.

Asking great questions is part art and science, especially when doing business analysis and project management work. Part of asking great questions is knowing what to ask and your attitude towards asking questions. I believe people are waiting to be asked the right question so they can give you the insight you need to help solve their business problem and/or leverage an opportunity. The key is to ensure you make the link from the strategic to the tactical and then understand the key barriers and the perfect or preferred solution. If you can find a way to connect with what is on a person’s mind in a personal way, you will get a far better response.

Remember,

Be your best, invest in the success of others, and make your journey count.

Richard

Fill Your Business Analyst Toolbox

Written by Janet Walker on April 26, 2016. Posted in Articles.

Every good mechanic has a toolbox, and that toolbox literally gives the mechanic the confidence and capability to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Here’s an example. The mechanic gets a call during business hours, sometimes on weekends, from a customer requesting a need or want. What is the first thing the mechanic does? The mechanic asks questions about what’s broken, what isn’t working as expected, or what the customer wants and why. The mechanic needs to get to the bottom of the challenge before offering a solution. This diligence is, in fact, the most important tool the mechanic has – the skill to dive deeply and fully understand what is needed.

Related Article: Business Analyst Experience: Pay it Forward

The next thing the mechanic might do is ask to see what is wrong. The mechanic pulls the offending auto into the shop, or if the request is for something new, the mechanic might see how the manual process is being completed today.
Observation is the mechanic’s second most important tool. Not everyone has the skill to look around at all the moving pieces, check things out, put it up on a hoist, and look at what connects to what.

After the mechanic fully understands what the customer wants or thinks they need, sees what the customer is doing today or can’t do anymore, the mechanic is now ready to begin. The mechanic rummages through those stored items in the toolbox that can resolve, highlight, measure, clarify, explain, visualize, assist, poke holes, slice, or make things run smoothly. The toolbox might start out kind of light, but as the mechanic becomes more experienced, the toolbox get heavier and more valuable with the tools needed to get the job done.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Now, the business analyst gets the call – “I need, I want, I can’t, I wish.” You pull out the first tool from your toolbox. OK, virtual toolbox. This is the beginning of the deep dive.

You want to know everything about the situation, and can’t stop or move on until you have all the details and know exactly what your client is so concerned or excited about. This particular tool doesn’t ever wear out though. Notice that? It actually gets stronger and more accurate the more it is used. Business analysts are lucky this way.

Next, you need to see the challenge or your client in action. Your second tool helps you here as you’re confident about taking things apart, holding them up to standards, checking out metrics, and evaluating performance. You understand any systems that are impacted or needed, can copy down to lower testing environments, and your sign-ons are still active. You have the investigative tools that you need.

Ready to make a difference? Let’s pull out some other tools of the business analyst trade.

Most business analysts need to know how to use the desktop applications in their toolbox, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio. Being able to use these tools comes in handy when it’s time to document notes and findings. This is the toolbox tray where you find your test plans, and the names and numbers of every Subject Matter Expert (SME) you will ever need. That process flow you just figured out is here for anyone who asks, and when you have to explain how you are going to fix something, that PowerPoint you had the skill to do is going to get you through.

Can we have too many computer skills in our BA toolbox? I think not, so we’ll discuss a wide variety of computer skills in another article; they will fit into your toolbox nicely.

Another set of tools you want in your toolbox (and kept sharpened) are those that let you schedule, call meetings, and get everyone on the same page. Sure, the whole BA package (BA 360!) is far more than being a requirements gatherer and meeting caller, but being able to get the right people together, show them your plans, and organize the conversation in a room is critical.

Here are some ideas regarding meetings:

1. Whether the meeting requires a conference room or call-in number, you don’t want to fumble around when you can finally get the right people in the room or on a call. Have the call-in number saved where you can find it quickly; and make yourself comfortable with Meeting Planner, Reservation Maker, or plain old Outlook for meeting requests.

2. I mentioned getting the right people in the room. Being able to figure this out is a key skill to have, and from my experience, it can be a challenge. I still get half way through a meeting and wish I had invited someone. (I even get half way through a meeting and wish I hadn’t invited someone.) Now that you have mad meeting-scheduling skills in your toolbox (right?), you can spend time thinking about who the players are for your task or analysis.

a. What process is downstream and will be impacted?
b. What upstream process has expectations?
c. Who asked for the change or new functionality?

I personally don’t like the “mass-meeting,” but if you are up to herding these cats, go for it. I prefer a room of SMEs. They don’t want their time wasted, and neither do I. Plus, they have all the information you need.

3. Another skill I believe needs to be included in our BA toolbox is whiteboarding. Don’t underestimate the skill it takes to draw straight lines and print legibly! Once you see a BA show amazing whiteboarding skills, you may never want to write on a wall or poster board again due to pure embarrassment. Seriously, try holding a marker over your head, writing the alphabet, and drawing tic tac toe boards. The attendees may not say it out loud, but everyone appreciates whiteboard talents.

There a lot more tools to talk about and we can do that another day, but now, are you ready to list what you have in your BA toolbox? You’ll be surprised at how much you know!

Find some tools missing? Sign up for an in-house training, ask the business analyst sitting next to you to teach you, or, of course, there is the Internet.

Nothing missing? Then now is the time to refresh your old skills using new technology, or challenge yourself and take on a task that requires you to dust off those old skills.

Even virtual tools can get rusty.