Tag: Success

Do You Consider “Opportunity Cost” In Your Analysis?

Written by Adrian Reed on March 16, 2023. Posted in Articles.

I’m a fan of live music, and I particularly enjoy music festivals. If you’ve never been to a music festival, you’re missing out. They usually involve multiple days of listening to music, dancing and having fun. There’s often multiple stages so one challenge is deciding which bands to listen to.

I was reminded of this fact last summer when I bumped into a friend of mine (who is also a BA) at a music festival. It turned out that we’d both created (and printed) spreadsheets showing who was playing when at what time. My spreadsheet even used color coding with green being bands we planned to see, and yellow being ‘backups’ (in case the first choice was too full, or there was some other reason we couldn’t get there). Well, everyone loves a spreadsheet, don’t they?

Comparison and Opportunity Cost

Spreadsheets aside, this illustrates a point that is important in projects and product development initiatives too. Typically every action or decision has an opportunity cost associated with it. Taking one course of action means that it isn’t possible to pursue others (as time and budget is focused on the course of action that’s been chosen).

At a music festival, the opportunity cost is fairly easy to calculate. If I see Band A on the main stage at 8pm, I can’t see Band B on another stage at the same time. I also can’t go to the bar (probably for the best), nor can I grab an overpriced hotdog. The act of deciding on an action means that other options are no longer open to me.

The same is true when it comes to deciding which projects to progress, which features to focus on, or which requirements to prioritize. When writing an options paper, it’s usual to consider the impact of ‘doing nothing’, but in some cases it may be worth extending the thinking even further and considering what else could be done with the time and money.

When prioritizing requirements, there are always trade-offs. It’s desirable to deliver the features first that will enable the most benefit to be realized. This is certainly true, and this is something that I’m sure we all aspire to… but in reality aren’t things often a bit more complicated than that? There’s often resource contention (multiple development and testing teams, often with limited resources), organizational level challenges (code freezes, budget changes) and a whole load of other opportunities and threats outside of the immediate orbit of the project.

Sometimes It Makes Sense To Do The Second Best Thing

There might be cases when it actually makes sense to do the second most beneficial thing. Imagine there’s a high priority set of requirements. Everyone agrees those will yield the most benefit. However, the technical experts that need to work on them are also needed to work on some essential maintenance. Although systems maintenance and the art of ‘keeping the lights on’ is never as glamorous as delivering new features, it’s still super important.

Within the project, the logical decision is to go for the highest priority requirements. But, there’s an opportunity cost for the organization. If that action is taken, the maintenance is delayed. That might be a very bad idea, depending on the nature of the maintenance.

The key point here is that progressing the second best thing for the project might actually be the best thing for the organization overall.

Know Which Decision Options Are “Perishable”

Some options available to us “perish” if they aren’t taken. If you’re at an airport and delay deciding whether to get on the plane for too long, your option to board that plane will eventually disappear (as it’ll have taken off without you). The same is true at a music festival, if Band A clashes with Band B, then you have a straight choice to make. Choosing Band A means you don’t see Band B at that festival.

These are different from prioritization decisions where you can do both things sequentially. Delaying requirement A so the team can do some urgent maintenance probably doesn’t mean that requirement A will never be delivered… it’ll just be delayed. There will be an impact on the timing of benefits realization, but it’s not a binary “yes or no” decision. It’s important these types of prioritization decisions are separated from those where there really is one chance, and one chance only.

BAs as Facilitators of Decision Making

All of this leads to an interesting conclusion: An important and often overlooked element of the BA role is to facilitate decision making. Whether that’s over prioritization of projects, feature requests, requirements or something else, we are on hand to analyze the different perspectives and ensure an informed decision is made.

Ensuring that we do this consciously, taking into account multiple factors (while keeping ‘opportunity cost’ in mind) is crucial. It’s one of the many areas where BAs add value!

Best of BATimes: A Checklist For Business Analysis Planning

Written by Edmund Metera on September 8, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Use the Universal Business Analysis Planning Checklist as You Plan Your Business Analysis Approach.

Every project is a unique, temporary endeavor.

The business process management, regulatory compliance and digital transformation projects that business analysts may play a role in all come with different goals, scopes, teams, timelines, budgets dependencies and risks. Though many projects follow similar methodologies they are all tailored for project scope constraints and to take advantage of available resources, opportunities and lessons learned from prior work.

Each business analyst also comes with a unique set of skills and experiences. Almost all business analysts have great communications skills and at least some experience-based business domain knowledge. That’s why they became business analysts in the first place. Every business analyst has uniquely acquired knowledge of business analysis techniques and business domains through personal study, practice and experience. Many have also been trained in elicitation, requirements management, modeling, measurement, analysis and documentation techniques. An ever-growing number have received professional certifications, such as the IIBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) or the PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA).

What is Business Analysis Planning?

The most skilled business analysts are not only competent in many business analysis techniques but also consciously tailor their business analysis approach for each project that they engage in. They have learned to consider key project dynamics along with their own competencies and to tailor their planned business activities and deliverables to suit each project’s unique dynamics. Regardless of your own level of business analysis experience, maturity, and whether you are formally trained, certified or not, you can still consciously assess each project’s dynamics and tailor your forthcoming business analysis work to get the most productivity and value out of your business analysis efforts in each project.

The most significant project dynamics include:

The methodology, or sequence of stages or major milestones, and the business analysis products or outcomes that are expected by the end of each stage/milestone (and before starting the next).
The budget and schedule, not only to meet them, but to take advantage of contingency or schedule slack opportunities, to increase the value, quality or to learn.
The key project stakeholders and relationships that are new and changed and forming, to take a proactive role in fostering and building relationships with and among that team.
The types and combinations of elicitation techniques that will be best suited for producing or validating business analysis deliverables.
The business domain knowledge and experiences of the diverse key project stakeholders, including your own unique set of business analysis competencies.

The Universal Business Analysis Planning Checklist

You can be more effective in planning your business analysis approach if you follow a consistent, clear agenda that considers the common project dynamics.

The Universal Business Analysis Approach Planning Checklist covers the most common project dynamics. You can use this as an agenda to elicit and discover a comprehensive view of a project’s key dynamics, its opportunities and use what you discover to adapt/tailor your business analysis approach.

As an exercise, think of a project that you have recently worked on, you are currently working on, or will soon be working on. Answer questions in the following checklist for yourself.

Project Life Cycle

What are the planned stages of this project?
What stage are we currently in?
What is the business analysis deliverable (or set of deliverables) that I am responsible for producing in this stage?
What is the intended use of my business analysis deliverable(s) and who will use it?

Schedule And Effort Budget

How much effort can I spend and by what target date am I expected to produce my business analysis deliverable(s)?
Is that about what I also estimate it will take?
Is either my effort or date estimate higher than the effort budget or target date? If so, how might I adapt my effort, scope, activities or configuration of my deliverable(s)?

Project Stakeholders And Relationships

- What are the key roles is on the project team and who is in them?
  - Does this project have an executive sponsor, project owner or product owner, project manager, specialists and business subject matter experts?
  - What are the names and titles the persons in these project roles?
- Are significantly new relationships being are created in this project?
  - Who’s new to each other on this team?
  - Are there local and who’s remote team members?
- What are peoples’ responsibilities?
  - Who is responsible for producing, accepting or needs to be consulted or informed of each of the project’s key deliverables, particularly the business analysis deliverable(s)?

Elicitation Techniques

Which elicitation techniques are available to me use?
- Documentation Reviews – What documentation or prior work products are available to review?
- Interviews and Workshops – Who can I interview or include in a workshop, and what questions would I need to ask?
- Observations – Where and what kinds of observations may be needed and how could I arrange for them?
- System reviews – What system(s) are available to review and for what information?
- Surveys – Who could I engage in a survey and using what types of questions?
What are my own business analysis competencies?
- Considering this project’s stakeholders and relationships, the elicitation techniques available to me, and my own core competencies, which elicitation techniques are best suited gather and validate my business analysis information?

Organizational Assets

What specialized tools for elicitation, documentation and modeling are available to me?
- Collaboration tools, facilities, survey tools?
- Diagramming or modeling software?
What prior business analysis work (e.g., documents, models) that I can draw from?
Does my organization offer training in the subject business domain?

Competencies And Knowledge

Who on the project team has what expert business domain knowledge?
What is my own business domain knowledge?
What are my strongest core business analysis competencies?
Where can you take advantage the team’s diversity of knowledge and competencies?
Who are the best stakeholders in this project to engage in elicitation of content or validation of business analysis deliverables and what is or are the best elicitation techniques to use?

On reflection, are you able to answer these questions for yourself? When you go into your project workplace, who will you include in this conversation?

Conclusion:

Business analysis planning is a recognized business analysis activity. The IIBA Body of Knowledge (BoK) includes the Plan Business Analysis Approach activity within its Business Analysis Planning and Management process. The BoK also lays out the scope of what should be covered by a Business Analysis Approach as “The set of processes, templates, and activities that will be used to perform business analysis in a specific context.”

The time and formality that you apply to business analysis planning is up to you. At the financial institution where I work as a project and program manager, our business analysts typically tailor and document a business analysis plan for each new project to which they are assigned.

I think of business analysis planning as a form of insurance. Spend a little time upfront to assure that the bulk of the rest of your business analysis efforts will be as well spent and effective as possible. Expect the benefits of tailoring a business analysis plan for every project to be that:

It will help you to align your own core business analysis competencies to each project, and
You and the project will gain the most value from your business analysis efforts.

That’s a value-adding proposition.

You are welcome to contribute comments about project dynamics that impact business analysis plans or about the checklist presented through the Contact Us page at www.ProcessModelingAdvisor.com.

Constructive Conflict Is Better Than False Agreement

Written by Adrian Reed on July 21, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Over a decade ago, I was in a workshop with a range of different stakeholders.

Everything seemed to be going well, and people seemed to be agreeing and we were even running ahead of the meeting schedule. Around halfway through the meeting a particular issue was being discussed, a conclusion was going to be drawn and a stakeholder interjected strongly and firmly with two powerful words. They simply said:

“I disagree”

I remember being taken aback by the bluntness. I live in the UK and our communication style is somewhat indirect most of the time. It’s far more normal to say “Hmmm, interesting idea, or what about…?” which is code for “That’s a crazy idea”. Or often the temptation might be to revert to the ultimate British stereotype and apologize “Sorry to be a pain here, but I’m not sure I entirely agree”. I’m sure British culture is not the only one that has such indirect nuance.

The reason I remember this meeting so vividly, even more than a decade ago is that those two words initially made people visibly uncomfortable. Someone was breaking the consensus; they were “creating conflict”. Yet that wasn’t the intention, and of course they didn’t just say that, the stakeholder went on to explain the source of their disagreement, and what they proposed instead. Thirty seconds later (once the stakeholder had explained themselves) any feeling of discomfort gently dispersed. What’s more, other attendees of the meeting started to question things, interject and show disagreement. One stakeholder questioning a decision had the apparent result in creating perceived permission for others to do so. And you know what? I am convinced that the output of that meeting was better as a result.

Don’t Let Conflict Fester

Many of us have been taught to consider conflict as bad and consensus as good. I suppose that is true in an ideal case, but if you’re working on any kind of large scale change how realistic is it that every stakeholder is really going to be ‘on the same page’ and in total agreement? If a government implements a new type of tax and requires businesses to submit more information, there’s unlikely to be a standing ovation from business owners. Yet that doesn’t mean that their input isn’t valuable—I would go as far as saying it’s essential!

Our fixation with consensus can lead to a situation where we achieve illusory agreement, a veneer of satisfaction. Dissenting voices get marginalized, as they’ll never agree (so why spend too much time asking them?). We carefully facilitate meetings so that there aren’t big disruptive arguments, as we’re desperate to hit all of the aggressive (sorry ‘ambitious’) project deadlines. Yet this dangerous glossy veneer is very quickly broken when people start to interact with the product or service that we deliver. All we’ve done is defer the conflict to an even less convenient time, often a time when there’s so much political capital riding on the ‘solution’ that’s been designed that there’s no appetite to change it.

Cultivating Constructive Disagreement

As business analysts, we can help avoid these situations. We have the opportunity to create space for constructive and respectful conflict, and we should certainly avoid us or others sidelining people just because they have contradictory views. In our analysis activities we should encourage constructive and respectful disagreement.

Taking an example, when setting up a workshop we have the perfect opportunity for creating the opportunity for a robust and respectful discussion. We can lay down an appropriate set of ground rules that allow for differences of opinions to surface. I’ve found myself opening workshops saying things such as:

“This is a controversial topic, and there are bound to be some differences of opinion. That’s to be expected. With that in mind please do speak up at any time and add your view, but please do be prepared to elaborate on it. Keep in mind I’ll be facilitating fiercely but fairly—and there might be times when I need to ‘park’ your item for later discussion. It absolutely won’t be lost, we will come back to it, but please don’t be offended if I need to do that.”

When we facilitate, we can actively prompt, asking questions such as:

“We seem to have complete agreement here; are there any contradictory thoughts. What have we missed?”

Ensuring that stakeholders have the ‘air time’, and ensuring that the most bombastic attendees don’t steal the limelight is crucial. Using a range of tools and techniques in the workshop to consider not only what we want but also what could go wrong can be useful too. Even just asking a question such as “That seemed too simple, might we have missed something?” can help.

Most of all, cultural nuances aside, we shouldn’t be afraid of the concise clarity of an expression such as “I disagree”. When someone says it they provide us with a gift, an opportunity to better understand them.

Best of BATimes: Deal Breaking Soft Skills – The Essential BA List

Written by Usman Haq on July 7, 2022. Posted in Articles.

If you don’t have the right soft skills, you will struggle as a BA. Business domain knowledge and hard skills can be taught.

But finding a BA with the right set of soft skills can be a deal breaker for employers. And no, it’s not just the ability to read, write and converse. So which soft skills do you need?

Heads up

In this post I will be going over the soft skills which are essential for a BA.

Communication

Being a good listener, showing that you are patient and empathetic. Actually listening to the DEV team when they say a feature can’t be achieved. And being transparent with the business when explaining the same.
The ability to explain difficult (and sometimes simple) concepts/ideas/justifications (anything really) at all levels.

For example, walking through a business process with your DEV team. Clarifying business terms and ideas which they not be familiar with. Translating that into how the system works and explaining the value provided to the business.

Being able to articulate answers to questions clearly and clarify points on the spot. For example, not confusing the business with technical terms. Explaining concepts in a way that they will understand. Even if you don’t know the answer (rather than making something up) say that you will find out and get back to them later (and actually do that).

(Difficult) Stakeholder Management

Managing your emotions. Not all stakeholders play nice. You will always (always!) have one or more difficult stakeholders. You need to understand their motivations and why they are being difficult. The key is to maintain your professionalism and not let your emotions get the better of you.
Influencing. This also includes influencing without formal authority, persuasion and negotiating. Your reputation helps significantly here. If you are known to get things done and do what’s best for the company/client, your stakeholders will be more inclined to see things your way.

Managing Expectations

Showing you are in control. The business/stakeholders/your boss needs to know you have a handle on things. The worst thing you can do is pretend that everything is ok but in reality, it’s all falling apart. You must be clear about your workload and ability to deliver on time. If things are slipping, make sure you have evidence why. For example, maybe the business is not cooperating during requirement’s session. Possibly the vendor has screwed up somewhere. Maybe you have too much on your plate and you need to offload some work.

Diplomacy

The ability to understand office politics. For example, knowing who can get things done for and who always plays hardball.
Conflict resolution. Ideally conflict mitigation. Knowing when a situation can get out of hand and how to resolve it quickly.
Knowing what to say and to who. You will probably know certain people in your organization who you will want to avoid unless you really (really!) need to speak to them.
Having the ability to speak the truth and gain trust but also not “putting your foot in it”.
Learning how to tell people in power that they are wrong without them feeling like they are!
Not oversharing information to the wrong people and opening cans of worms which can impact you later.

Analytical Thinking

Being naturally good at working out problems. Being able to dig deep to find out the the root cause of an issue. (link to root cause)
Reading people/understanding people. The ability to sense when stakeholders are reserved and giving them the power to speak up and be heard.
When a stakeholder asks for something, being able to understand what they really want but are struggling to convey. Working out when people are masking the truth or too scared to speak up.

Adaptability

Handling pressure and stress. For example, working towards deadlines which might change at the last minute. And having to drop things and work on something else more urgent.
Dealing with WTF situations. For example, being dropped into a major production issue which is affecting the company’s revenue and the stakeholders are looking to you to get them out of it.

Relationship Building

More than just chit chat. You need to build effective working relationships by being known for:
- Getting things done
- Doing what you say you will do
- Going the extra mile when needed
Being able to call in favors based on trust
Knowing who to ask when you need answers to difficult questions
Know who to ask (if they don’t know) to find out who else might have the answer to your questions

Leadership On Demand

Leading a group of BAs (e.g. in your managers absence), leading workshops and coaching junior staff

In this post I went over the soft skills which are essential for a BA. Effective soft skills are often taken for granted. I was guilty of this myself early in my career. Over time I have worked hard to develop my soft skills (and still continue to do so). Are there any surprises in my list? Anything you would like to add?

What are the Expected Business Analytics professionals demand in 2019?

Written by Vikas Arora on October 18, 2018. Posted in Articles.

It is believed that Business Analysis will shape the future of the business world in many noteworthy ways.

In the manufacturing industry itself, almost half of all the business organizations have revealed that analysis will be at the centre of the advanced manufacturing plants. Experts will rely upon these intelligent business insights to cut working expenses, enhance resource utilization, and increase the agility and unwavering quality of their activities. Business Analysis plays an important role in execution knowledge, constant logistics administration and production quality assessment. Cybersecurity is perhaps the most hot-shot topic of discussion in the contemporary business world. This is one other avenue for business analytics to prevail. At EMC World in 2015 in Las Vegas, EMC CEO David Goulden had said that analytics-driven business intelligence is the fate of cybersecurity.

“The security industry is changing dramatically. If you look to the past, firewall and antivirus technologies came up as the main solution” he had said. Today we will talk about the future of this profile by the year 2019.

Expected Business Analytics professional demand 2019

Changing infrastructural landscapes and increased number of business challenges constrain organizations today to search for systems that guarantee higher business returns and lessen operational costs at the same time. Organizations may have huge bundles of information in each and every territory of research, exhibiting, bargains, creating client administrations etc. They have to institutionalize information stockpiling and security plans, to adjust their operational structure to industry prerequisites. The future of Business Analytics looks brilliant as a vocation and a subject for good research. Business Analytics is a niche space which requires trained professionals. Big Data, Business analytics, statistics, probability, administration, and IT Outsourcing has developed inconceivably in a previous couple of decades. With the easy availability of youthful and capable talented assets, the eventual fate of business analysis looks encouraging for now.

Let us take a look at the data given here –

BA Profile	Number of Estimated Job Postings by 2020	Expected Salary
Data-Driven Decision Makers	922,428	$ 91,467
Functional Analyst	901,743	$ 69,162
DataSystems Developer	641,635	$ 78,553
Business Analyst	143,926	$ 105,909
Analytics Manager	44,894	$ 160,125

If you take a good look you can see that the various profiles that fall under the radar of Business Analysis are likely to do good in the coming years.

Here are some further facts that will make things clearer for you with respect to the scope of this profile

By 2020, the number of job profile for all US business analysts will increase from the present 364,000 openings to 2,720,000 as indicated by IBM.
Business Analytics experts with MapReduce aptitudes are earning roughly around $115,907 a year overall, making this the most sought-after expertise as indicated by a recent survey.
“The fastest developing profiles are that of entry-level Business Analysts and Advanced Business Analysts, which are anticipated to see a demand surge by 28% by the year 2020. “ JanBask Training
The usual patterns have suggested that the job openings for employment regarding all the profiles of Business Analysis stay open for a normal period of 45 days, which is a five day longer period than the market average.
It usually takes 53 days by and large to fill the position of an Analytics Manager in Professional Services, making this position as one of the most difficult positions to fill up.

Take a look at the few profiles that you can land in the coming years within the domain of Big Data Analysis-

Analytics Manager
BI Solutions Architect
BI Specialist
Big Data Engineer
Business Analytics Specialist
Business Intelligence (BI) Engineer
Data Engineer
Data Visualization Developer
Machine Learning Engineer
Machine Learning Scientist
Statistician

Career Ladder that should persist by the year 2019

If you are already working as a BA professional then you can surely expect your career to move ahead in the following manner-

When you have spent quite a while working in the field of business analysis, you will achieve several defining moments for your career. Following three to five years, you can be expected to jump to the profiles like Project Manager, Domain Specific BA such as IT Business Analyst, Stats Business Analyst etc. After five years of experience, you become a Senior Business Analyst The more experience you have as a business analyst the better things would come down your way. Following eight to ten years in different business analysis positions, you can progress to becoming the Chief Technology Officer or work as a Business expert.

This is the current trend and is likely to stand good for the coming years too. This is what you can expect your business analytics career to grow into.

Conclusion

Starting your career in Business Analysis can be a defining moment of your life. It is obvious that you would be very anxious while making this decision. We can only say that surety about anything is impossible in this world of dwindling and fragile market economies. We can only make predictions based on the current patterns and trust me the current patterns look good for your future as a Business Analyst.

It is believed that Business Analysis will shape the future of the business world in many noteworthy ways. In the manufacturing industry itself, almost half of all the business organizations have revealed that analysis will be at the centre of the advanced manufacturing plants. Experts will rely upon these intelligent business insights to cut working expenses, enhance resource utilization, and increase the agility and unwavering quality of their activities. Business Analysis plays an important role in execution knowledge, constant logistics administration and production quality assessment. Cybersecurity is perhaps the most hot-shot topic of discussion in the contemporary business world. This is one other avenue for business analytics to prevail. At EMC World in 2015 in Las Vegas, EMC CEO David Goulden had said that analytics-driven business intelligence is the fate of cybersecurity. “The security industry is changing dramatically. If you look to the past, firewall and antivirus technologies came up as the main solution” he had said. Today we will talk about the future of this profile by the year 2019.

Expected Business Analytics professional demand 2019

Let us take a look at the data given here –
BA Profile Number of Estimated Job Postings by 2020 Expected Salary
Data-Driven Decision Makers 922,428 $ 91,467
Functional Analyst 901,743 $ 69,162
Data Systems Developer 641,635 $ 78,553
Business Analyst 143,926 $ 105,909
Analytics Manager 44,894 $ 160,125

If you take a good look you can see that the various profiles that fall under the radar of Business Analysis are likely to do good in the coming years.

Here are some further facts that will make things clearer for you with respect to the scope of this profile

➢ By 2020, the number of job profile for all US business analysts will increase from the present 364,000 openings to 2,720,000 as indicated by IBM.
➢ Business Analytics experts with MapReduce aptitudes are earning roughly around $115,907 a year overall, making this the most sought-after expertise as indicated by a recent survey.
➢ “The fastest developing profiles are that of entry-level Business Analysts and Advanced Business Analysts, which are anticipated to see a demand surge by 28% by the year 2020. “ JanBask Training
➢ The usual patterns have suggested that the job openings for employment regarding all the profiles of Business Analysis stay open for a normal period of 45 days, which is a five day longer period than the market average.
➢ It usually takes 53 days by and large to fill the position of an Analytics Manager in Professional Services, making this position as one of the most difficult positions to fill up.

Take a look at the few profiles that you can land in the coming years within the domain of Big Data Analysis-

➢ Analytics Manager
➢ BI Solutions Architect
➢ BI Specialist
➢ Big Data Engineer
➢ Business Analytics Specialist
➢ Business Intelligence (BI) Engineer
➢ Data Engineer
➢ Data Visualization Developer
➢ Machine Learning Engineer
➢ Machine Learning Scientist
➢ Statistician

Career Ladder that should persist by the year 2019
If you are already working as a BA professional then you can surely expect your career to move ahead in the following manner-

This is the current trend and is likely to stand good for the coming years too. This is what you can expect your business analytics career to grow into.

Conclusion