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Tag: Team

Who is in, and Who is Out

Imagine attending a meeting, and all the participants but you, are contributing ideas to a discussion. You are clueless. Maybe you missed a conversation, or you did not read an email? There could be numerous reasons why you could not contribute during the meeting. One instance could be that you were not included in an email chain or not invited to a meeting.

Leaving recipients off unintentionally (or intentionally) from any form of communication can lead to confusion and misunderstanding between the team members. A little bit of proactive questioning can help avoid hits and misses. Ask these questions first:

  1. Who should and should not be on a meeting invitation?
  2. Who should and should not be on an email chain?

The obvious answer is: It depends

Next, ask these additional questions to finalize the list of recipients. Evaluate the responses before hitting the send button:

  1. What is the email or meeting topic?
  2. Would skipping a team member in an email or meeting lead to miscommunication?
  3. Will including all the team members make a few of them feel that the meeting was irrelevant to them?

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You can answer the above questions by leveraging these options:

  • RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) matrix: RACI matrix can be a great source of stakeholder information for global projects.

For example: List the Responsible parties under the To list or Required Attendees. List the Informed parties under the Cc list or Optional Attendees.

  • Working Agreement: No RACI matrix? An Agile team working agreement can come to the rescue. Define who are the core team members. Refer to this list when sending out any email communications or meeting invites.

Tip: Core team can be cross-functional with stakeholders across the organization.

  • Email distribution list: Say the team size is small (4 to 6 members) and there is no RACI matrix or working agreement, then create a distribution list that includes the email IDs of all the team members. It is less effort and error-proof when selecting a list instead of individual email IDs for sending any form of communication.
  • Instant messaging group chats: Most instant messaging tools allow the setup of groups. Create one for your team and post a message in the team chat. Plus, there are options for the recipients to acknowledge the chat message (emojis such as like, happy, celebrate, and such).

In conclusion, despite the ideas mentioned above, there are chances that someone is still left off an email chain or a meeting. Be a team player, reach out, and get them caught up. The crucial element is that the entire team is on the same page.

“We need to be on the same page and not play the blame game” – Nate Heying.

Developing a “Sense of Purpose” for a Business Analysis Initiative

Βusiness analysts can contribute in delivering the sense of purpose and worth concerning a business analysis initiative. This sense of purpose will contribute to the better effectiveness of the work that is performed between the BA team and the different stakeholders. As the business analysts are continuously communicating with different stakeholders and deal directly with their needs, they are the best source to contribute to the capturing and the diffusion of a common purpose that may also serve as a success criterion for the initiative.

The capacity to effectively lead a business analysis initiative is directly related to the pursuit of a worthy purpose. The purpose may be the most powerful link to join people and processes in a common effort. General/ Organizational purpose can be transformed and decomposed into more specific and detailed initiative purposes. The degree to which we pursue an ennobling purpose is the degree to which we attract others.

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Purpose attracts and therefore serves as a unifying force. There is unity of effort and energy to the degree of shared purpose. Our level of satisfaction and our level of energy is directly related not only to our understanding of our own purpose but also to whether the organization and specific project to which we contribute, share that same purpose.

Below you can find four considerations for effectively managing the sense of purpose as a business analyst:

  1. Big Picture

Being able to see the things holistically and the long-term value and effects of any task can help you embrace a worthy purpose that will give you energy and motivation but also distribute this sense of purpose to the other stakeholders

  1. Respond to “Why”

In order to successfully spread a sense of purpose, you need to instill a sense of worthy purpose. It is to answer the why question, why should work overtime for this project? Why should I sacrifice? Why should I dedicate my time to achieving high-quality deliverables? The answer has to be something that is worthy, something that is ennobling.

  1. Focus on the Perception

You may feel you have communicated effectively the purpose to the other stakeholders but do the others perceive the purpose as something worthy and important? Perception is reality. What people think they hear is the truth according to them.  So, we have to think through our communications in a very deliberate manner, in a planned manner, thinking through how it’s going to be received on the other end and making sure that people are receiving the message that we want them to receive.

  1. Align with the Organization Purpose

The organization’s purpose and the core values of your organization should be aligned with the project-specific purpose. Projects or initiative specific purpose may be derived and be a more detailed and case-specific purpose of your general organization purpose.

Effective execution of business analysis tasks requires convincing key stakeholders (both internal and external) that your analysis and your conclusions are valid so that you can transition from your analysis to implementation. As such, you must be able to summarize your findings in a message that makes a persuasive argument that aligns with the sense of purpose. An argument that mirrors progress towards the realization of this purpose. Therefore, defusing a sense of purpose and then communicating results towards achieving this purpose is an integral part of your effort in any business analysis task you are engaged with. One that is worthy of careful consideration.

How to elude the congruent mishap?

It is summer! Time to get home improvement projects done. I came across a social media post that caught my attention. One of my neighbors shared pictures of their recently painted cabinets. The posting included before and after images plus the contractor name (XYZ Company). Impressed, I reached out to the same contractor and requested a painting estimate. In the interim, I reached out to my neighbor to check if I could look at the painted cabinets in person.

Me: The backsplash looks great!
Neighbor: Thanks! XYZ Company did a splendid job!
Me (Surprised): The contractor mentioned to me that they do not do a backsplash.
And the conversation kept continuing. More discrepancies popped up between services communicated to both of us. Nevertheless, we kept discussing the details like the colors, rates, and such.

Light bulb moment:
Me: Is the XYZ Company located in suburb A?
Neighbor: Oh no, they are in suburb B.
There you go! We were talking about two different contractors that have the same name (XYZ Company)!

Bringing this together in the business analysis world:

There are numerous instances when one term may have different meanings. The meaning of these terms can vary depending on the project/stakeholder/organization. Here are a few steps we can take as a business analyst (BA) to avoid going down a rabbit hole in a conversation:

1. Never make assumptions: At the start of a meeting, confirm the facts gathered are accurate. Take this a step further to define the terms or acronyms within the project context.
Example: Part and Product might mean the same for a project. A Part might be a component; A Product might be a finished product in another instance.

2. Ask the right questions: You hear a term come up multiple times in meetings. You know what this term means. Do not stop there! Ask questions. Use your BA skills to draw out contextual details during conversations. Build a complete picture of this term and its significance.
Example: Is this a term that is popular in your organization? Is this a term used in discussions relevant to a specific system? Is this a term used in day-to-day conversations?
In my scenario above, if only I had asked more questions at the beginning. If only I had confirmed the name of the contractor plus the address! It would have saved some time for both of us.

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3. Check-in: Introduce checkpoints to ensure all the team members are on the same page.
Example: Say you see a demonstration of new functionality for a system. A new term has emerged during the meeting. Add this to a dictionary with a definition (definition does not have to be perfect!). Encourage the stakeholders to validate this dictionary at regular intervals. Reviewing these terms towards the end of the project is too late.

4. Highlight it: When sharing meeting notes, include a section for terms and definitions. Add another section for acronyms and their abbreviations. Color code any new terms/words. Highlight updated definitions. Create a list of slang phrases used within the team.
Example: Who knew GOAT did not mean an animal but “Greatest of all time”? Same term but different meaning.

Conclusion:
Have you encountered a situation where the communication was relating to 1-2-3? But the team understood it as 3-2-1? What steps did you take to clear the confusion and get everyone on the same page?

Paraphrasing a quote based on my experience stated above:
XYZ Company was like two sites in the same business, but with different services. So different, yet so similar in their offering