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As If – Four Steps For Getting and Using Feedback

Written by Kupe Kupersmith on . Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on As If – Four Steps For Getting and Using Feedback

Join us in New York October 13-15 at Project Summit *Business Analyst World where Kupe is a keynote speaker.  Spaces still available!  Don’t miss your chance to see this amazing presentation – Register Today!

As if you thought it was impossible to associate the complexity of business analysis with the simplicity of Clueless, I’ve done it!

No matter who you are, what you know or what you can do for your company, knowing how to request and manage feedback is one of the most important skills you will need in order to continue to grow and improve. Using this “AS IF” technique, I’ll guide you through the four steps for requesting, receiving, implementing and following up on feedback.

I’m going to talk about a four part system that will help you get the feedback you need.

  1. Ask for feedback
  2. Say “thank you.”
  3. Implement the feedback
  4. Feedback on the Feedback

The first step is asking for feedback. Nine out of ten people don’t give you the feedback you need in order to improve, so you have to ask them: what you did well, what you didn’t do so well, and where you can improve. It’s not natural for people just to throw out advice that you need, so make sure you ask. Start with people you trust, people you know, people that have your best interest at heart.

Step two is just say “thank you.” Don’t get all defensive. Feedback is a personal attack…or it feels like that. So it’s gonna hurt. But don’t come up with excuse after excuse of why you did something. Just say “thank you.” Then go off in the corner, if you have to, and start to cry. (But don’t do it in front of the person that gave you the feedback.) You know the old saying, “no pain, no gain.” Feedback is a little painful but you need it to really move forward and improve.

Okay. So now that you’ve recovered from the pain, the third step in the process is implementing the feedback. Sit back and really think about what you can do with the advice that person gave you. How are you going to implement this? What are you going to do differently? How are you going to change your behaviors? How are you going to improve?

The fourth step is to give feedback on the feedback. Go back to the person and say “Thank you again for that feedback! Here’s what I’m doing: I’m going to do one, two, and three differently going forward…”

By getting your feedback on the feedback, the person realizes that not only did you take the time to listen to them, you took time to think about how you’re going to implement and actually change. And the next time you go to that person they’re more apt to give you the feedback you need.

Now there’s a caveat with number three. What if you sit back and think about it, take that advice, and try to figure out how you’re going to implement it, and it doesn’t feel right?

You know yourself the best, so it’s okay not to implement the feedback. You can decide, “You know what? That’s not who I am, and that’s not where I want to go.”

Now you still need to give feedback on the feedback. Go back to the person and say, “I listened to you. I thought about it, but it’s not right for me. The advice you gave doesn’t fit with where I want to go.”

So it’s okay not to implement the feedback. Just give feedback on it. The reason you still do step four, feedback on the feedback, is that you don’t want people to see you in a similar situation doing the same thing after they took the time to give you advice. You didn’t do anything with it, so why would they give you any advice in the future? Does that make sense?

Okay so here’s a little example from my real world.

I do a lot of keynote presentations, and I’m always asking people to give me feedback. Somebody told me once, “Kupe, you say ‘gotta,’ ‘gonna’ and other kind of slang words here and there, and you really have to take that out of your speech.”

I said “Thank you,” and I thought about it, and I realized that in my approach to speaking, I want to be me. I want to be flexible up there…transparent. I want to be who I am. If I had to think about every single word I said, then I would get more robotic and it wouldn’t be me. So I decided not to implement that feedback.

I went back to the person and said “Hey, I’ve gotta tell you something,”

(And hopefully by now you got the joke…I gotta tell you something). “I’m not gonna implement your feedback, and here’s why…”

Does that make sense? That way the next time they saw me speak, and they heard me say “gotta” and “gonna,” they wouldn’t be upset. They would get it.

So I hope this is helpful. Please share with all your friends and your team, and start to improve. You’re awesome, and here’s to your improvement!

Now, it’s your turn – ask a co-worker, your boss or a friend (yes, this can be used in your personal life too) something about a recent project, task or situation to start implementing your own feedback system today. From there, keep asking questions and don’t forget to close the circle and give feedback on the feedback! For a few more tips on some subtle aspects of feedback that are important to keep in mind, take a look at our Instructor and Agile Practice Lead, Kent’s, new The Power of Feedback blog post.

Speaking of feedback…we know your inbox is full and we don’t want to create content just to have something to send you. Let us know what we can provide to help you the most: 3 Quick Questions. Thank you.

And be sure to let me know your thoughts on feedback below!

All the best,

– Kupe

*reprinted with permission from the author

Recertification Woes

Written by Shirley Sartin on . Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Recertification Woes

Having obtained IIBA’s Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP ®) designation in 2006 (first group tested) I have had to recertify every 3 years which means I am recertifying for the third time.

This requires a review of efforts that have kept me involved in and learning about my profession for the past 3 years. It also includes identifying relevant work experiences, training, and volunteering by giving back to the Business Analysis industry. To retain my designation I must document at least 60 Continuing Development Units (CDUs) in those areas.

Today I began the recertification journey in earnest – even though after the last painful recertification efforts I promised myself that I would track relevant experiences as I acquired them. Sadly I did not keep that promise. To make matters worse I was notified 90 days before my recertification anniversary date and yet I did not begin recertification efforts at that time. Now I must undertake herculean efforts to meet the deadline in about a month while also working as a Business Analyst and conducting non-Business Analysis volunteer activities. Woe is the life of a serial procrastinator.

Related Article: Business Analyst – Born or Made?

I reviewed the 6 categories for reporting the requisite 60 CDUs and considered those areas for which I can provide supporting documentation. Unfortunately I was unable to attend a conference (Category 2A or 2D worth 30 CDUs), I did not write that book for which I had been considering (Category 3E worth 30 CDUs), and for certain I attended 0 (zero) formal academic education courses in Business Analysis (Category 1 worth 30 max CDUs). With my IIBA volunteering days in the past (Category 5 maximum 30 CDUs) and no local IIBA chapter where I could attend meetings (Category 2C maximum 30 CDUs) I realized I was going to hit a deficit for required number of CDUs using only Category 6 Professional Experiences (maximum 25 CDUs) and Category 4 Self-Directed Learning (maximum 15 CDUs). That is only 40 of the minimum 60 CDUs! I began stressing out but then I recalled the internal 1 week training for agile requirements I attended this past summer. Yay! Category 2 is saving the day because I will be able to claim up to 30 CDUs in that category.

I have other professional designations for which I must recertify every 2 or 3 years and I have trained myself to retain documentation for self-directed learning efforts. However, it is going to be painful documenting related work experience and describing the activities as they relate to the BABOK®. For every 1,000 hours documented I will receive only 5 CDUs.

That means for the maximum 25 CDUs I must identify over 5,000 hours work experience as it relates to the BABOK®! The work was tough enough the first go-round and now I will be reliving those experiences by analyzing and documenting the tasks during every available moment for the next few weeks.

I have already made myself another promise not to procrastinate for the 4th recertification efforts. I am going to develop a strategy to earn a balanced number of CDUs across several of the 6 categories in the next 3 years with a plan for when and how I will earn them and also to document the CDUs by completing the spreadsheet provided by IIBA as I earn each CDU. I will not wait until the last minute again! My advice to CBAP®s and CCBA®s? Don’t do as I did…do as I am planning to do. Best of luck to you all!

I Am Not David Blaine

Written by Elizabeth McKellar on . Posted in Articles.

“Hello. I am not David Blaine. Nor am I Penn and Teller or Miss Cleo. I am a Business Analyst, and I am here to ask questions and get to better understanding of your business and needs. I am not here to read your minds or predict your requirement changes 72 months from now.”

Do you ever feel the need to start conversations off like this with your business partners? I feel that way all the time. And I certainly do not think I am alone in that feeling.

Like anyone else, business partners tend to be completely caught-up in their own world. They know their business like, well, the back of their hand. Skipping steps, information or needs that should be a factor in future design or program functionality happens and it is not done on purpose by any means. This is just a side effect of knowing an area so well and forgetting that outsiders do not have the same tribal knowledge. Remember, often times, Business Analysts are brought in to work on a singular project and business owners often have multiple projects going on at once. What might be majority of a Business Analyst work may be a tiny part of the business partner’s day. This is true of any industry and any methodology. Being Agile or Waterfall or Kanban is not a free pass on experiencing these pains.

Is there a way to avoid this situation? The short and true answer is NO; requirements will be missed and you will not find out every possible detail of their job that you should probably be aware of. Unless you are in fact a magician with telepathic powers. If that is the case, then please set-up a conference and teach us all your skills! So how can Business Analyst work to combat this inevitable situation? Among the many different tips or tricks, below are the three most common.

Job Shadowing

One way to overcome this is to job shadow your business partners. Not just speaking with the SME (Subject Matter Expert). Sit down with the actual business end user of the software or program. Who uses the application every day? Who would notice a change the most? Sitting down with the SME’s is critical and should never, ever be overlooked. But often times, our conversations tend to stop with the SME’s and leadership. Take a few hours at the beginning of the project and get into the weeds and get the perspective and opinions of the end users. I ask to be trained like a new person joining the team that you want doing the job on their own in the next 48 hours. Ask ‘why’ and ‘how come’ often and keep strategy and future state in-mind. Ask them thought provoking questions that they might not have ever thought about. Go back to them throughout the project and get their opinions. Show them mock-ups and story boards. An awesome side effect of doing this is you can end up with a person or a team that will be more than willing to help QA work later. And – BONUS – you get some nitty-gritty information that SME’s and leadership might have overlooked.

Write it Down

Sometimes, business partners need help remembering what they said was a ‘must have.’ This can be especially true if you use the Waterfall methodology. They may remember a conversation having Outcome A when you remember it having Outcome B. How can this be avoided? Take. Good. Notes. Do not rely solely on your memory or the memory of those around you. Write it all down. Things to consider in your notes:

  • The meeting or discussion date
  • The attendees and contributors
  • The topic at hand
  • Key pieces of information and decisions made
  • Who is following-up on what and when are the follow-up’s due back to the group

This does not mean you have to write down everything that was said. Remember, you need to be listening and participating more than writing. After you have cleaned-up your notes a bit, email them to the group. That way they can help correct any confusion and they have a record of the discussion and decision too. This will be a win in your corner when business changes their mind or contradict themselves down the road when discussing requirements and acceptance criteria. In a way, having all the information written out, shared with the group and saved allows you to be a pseudo Miss Cleo. I mean, you are predicting that they will forget what they said six weeks ago.

Ask..and Ask Again

More often than not, we are put on a project that covers a business area we are not familiar with. This is especially true if you are a consultant going into a new client every six to nine months. The great thing about this model of work is that you learn a lot about many different areas. Your breath of skill gets wider and that can lead to more opportunity for long term growth in your career. At the same time, it can leave you feeling a bit frustrated. It is important to keep in mind that you are learning another group’s work (or multiple groups work) and having to understand a job they have taken years to master. Always ask the questions until you truly understand. Never assume something works one way or is there for a certain reason. Do not be afraid to admit to your business partners ‘I do not understand. Can you please explain it to me again?’ They will be willing and, if they seem irritated, just reassure them that the better you understand this in the beginning, the better their technical solution will be. You cannot write requirements, acceptance criteria, project charters or anything else unless you have a firm understanding of the business and their needs.

You are not a mind reader that can zap information out of your business partner’s head. You can, however, anticipate certain behaviors. You can anticipate business SME’s and leadership having a ton on their plate and juggling multiple projects. You can anticipate they will not think of everything that needs to go into a project’s requirements and that they will change their minds on requirements, especially if the project is over an extended period of time. Last but not least, you can anticipate you not understanding everything in the business. Do not go out and by a crystal ball. Instead, take the time to implement certain behavior in your own routine that will help you and the project. Talk to more than just the SME; get to know the the end users. Get their opinions and input. This will make them feel more connected to the project and what you are changing. It will also help you find out details that leadership might overlook. Write down your discussions and key information. We cannot expect to keep everything in our brains and expect others to remember conversations in the same way. Be sure to send your notes to the group so that they have the same information you have. And never be afraid to ask the questions to your business as often as you need. The end result will be a better project or product because you have more details to work with. No project or product change is flawless; but following these three simple steps and remembering that you are not a mind reader will go a long way.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

How to Ask the Right Questions Part 1: The Paradox of the Right Question and how to ask it

Written by Steve Blais on . Posted in Articles. 27 Comments on How to Ask the Right Questions Part 1: The Paradox of the Right Question and how to ask it

In my travels one of the more common questions from new and experienced business analysts is “how do I ask the Right Questions?” There seems to be a belief that expert business analysts have a knack for choosing just the Right Question that will produce the answers that will solve the problem. So I thought I’d write a short piece about asking the Right Question, primarily to remove the anxiety and concern business analysts seem to have about asking the right question. I discussed the concept with a couple of business analysts and during the conversation I realized that the problem was not in knowing what to ask, but rather in how to ask it. My short piece blossomed into a four-part article, first discussing the paradox of trying to determine the Right Question to ask, and tips on asking the right question. The second part addresses what questions to ask to make sure you ask the Right Question. The third part focuses on how to ask the Right Question to get the right answer. And the fourth part deals with avoiding asking the wrong questions, or more specifically asking the Right Questions in the wrong way.

The Right Question. It conjures up a image of the business analyst spends time preparing a list of questions, and agonizing over each one to determine whether this one question is the Right Question for this particular stakeholder at this time in this specific situation.

With that kind of pressure on the business analyst to be sure to ask the Right Question, no wonder one of the business analyst’s more frequent questions is “how do I ask the Right Questions?” The issue is never “how do I ask questions?” but always about the “Right Question“. So let us talk about the Right Question and how to track it down and ask it.

Why is it so important to ask the Right Question?

First of all we need to understand that questions are the mainstay of the business analysts’ process. The business analyst lives on information. The more information the better. The business analyst needs information in order to analyze. The analysis of the information is what produces the problem, the solution, the requirements, and the results. And information is acquired by asking questions: first, of yourself, and then of others.

So what is a right question? As with many things in life. One of the better ways of determining how to excel in a particular area of expertise is to see how those we consider to be experts do it. I have mentioned Sherlock Holmes in the past as a model for business analysts in terms of critical thinking and analysis, but Sherlock Holmes was also a consummate interviewer. He not only gathered information with his magnifying glass, microscope, and keen eye, he also questioned witnesses and his clients, not to mention the perpetrators. A classic plot pattern that apparently started with Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes apprehending the culprit and then asking the wrongdoer to explain the details of the crime. This begins an description occupying a good portion of the book or story explaining all the details of Mormon revenge (A Study in Scarlet), stolen treasure (The Sign of Four) and so forth.

Perhaps a more current and non-fictional model for asking questions might be better for us to understand what the Right Question is. David Frost and Barbara Walters are examples of people paid lots of money to ask the Right Question. There are also print journalists of note who break stories by apparently knowing the Right Questions to ask.

So why is there such a focus on asking the Right Question? Perhaps because the literature seems to indicate that there are Right Questions out there floating around and the business analyst simply has to grab one and ask it. For example, the lead sentence in an article written in 2011 by Wilco Charité titled “Asking the Right Questions: Process Discovery” says, “If you are an internal Business Analyst or consultant asking the right questions in a Discovery project is a critical skill.” [1]

And there are further exhortations from various people of note: Actress, activist, and author Vanessa Redgrave says, “Ask the right questions if you’re going to find the right answers.” Entrepreneur Robert Half says, “Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers.” And anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss suggests: “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”

Perhaps the belief that there is a Right Question comes from the many lawyer shows in which Perry Mason or Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston in Law & Order) always seem to ask the question which causes the person on the witness stand to break down and confess the murder or say some incriminating statement that turns the case around. Or the detectives like Miss Marple, or Hercule Poirot, or Columbo, who seemed to be able to ask the Right Questions that produces an rendering of the crime and catches the perpetrator.

And how does the concept of the Right Question affect the business analyst?

Even when a business analyst feels as though they have done a particularly effective job of elicitation, and have all the information that defines the problem and / or solution, there are “surprises” that crop up after the elicitation phase is theoretically done. And that is when the business analyst commiserates with other business analysts saying, “They didn’t tell me about that! If only I had asked the Right Question!” Business analysts need to get information and it seems that sometimes only the Right Question will get that information.

What is the Right Question?

So with all this concern about asking the Right Question, perhaps we should determine what a Right Question is.

Trying to figure out the Right Question to ask is a paradox. You cannot know if you’ve asked the right question until you have received an answer. If the answer to a question gives you the information that you are looking for then you have asked the Right Question. But you only know that it was the Right Question after the information gathering session is over and you have analyzed the results. And if you ask many questions to get the information you are seeking, how do you know which one is the Right Question?

So, what is a Right Question? The Right Question is the question that gives us the Right Answer. We may never really know what the Right Question is. Only the Right Answer is important.

For example, in perhaps the greatest interview of the 20th century, David Frost got former president, Richard Nixon to say, “I let down my friends. I let down the country. I look down our system of government and the dreams of all those young people that want to get into government, but now think it too corrupt. I let the American people down and I have to carry that burden with me the rest of my life.” This answer has been quoted and referred to many times and is the climax of the stage play and movie “Frost / Nixon”. But does anyone remember the question that preceded. Does anyone remember the right question? What remember is the right answer. And, in fact, that answer was the result of dozens of questions over several sessions, all asking for the same answer, which was finally given in response to just one question.

The bottom line: we can never really know we have asked the Right Question until after we have all the answers and analyze them to see if we now know what we need to know; we have the Right Answer. But, then, of course, you have to know what the Right Answer is before you ask the Right Question. And that might be the problem.

How do you ask the Right Question? Ask more questions

“Asking more questions reduces the need to have all the answers.”
Donald Peterson, former CEO of Ford Motor Company

The real answer to asking the right questions is simple: keep asking. When you ask enough questions, in and among all the questions you ask are the right ones. As long as you listen well and keep the focus on the problem or the solution, it does not matter which questions are Right. In the end, the Right Questions are those that get you relevant information. [2]

The only true way of asking the Right Question is to keep asking questions and asking more questions. The more questions you ask the greater the chances that you will get the answers that you are looking for: especially the Right Answer.

In addition to eventually asking the Right Question, asking more questions has the advantage of increasing the amount of information we as business analysts have to analyze, increasing our chances that we have found the Right Answer.

Consider our models, David Frost and Barbara Walters who always seem to ask the Right Question . What we see is not the full interview, but an edited version. The editors put the show together for entertainment, cutting out the questions that were not so Right, and adroitly placing the commercials right after a particular Right Question so that it will have the most memorable effect. To get the one hour dramatic interview with Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Richard Nixon, Michael Jackson or Jane Fonda, Frost and Walters had to prepare thousands of questions and probably ask hundreds. Many questions were pedestrian and many probably got answers that are not pertinent, or at least not entertaining or informative.

And those Pulitzer Prize winning journalists have reams of notes from hundreds of interviews consisting of hundreds of questions to produce a single news or magazine or article. A major part of a journalist’s work is the editing of the information gained from interviews and other information gathering into a cohesive whole

Business analysts do have a form of editing: it’s called analysis. The analysis is done after the information is collected, not before. We don’t analyze what we are going to ask so that we produce the Right Question; we just ask as many questions as we can and get as much information as we can so that we can determine the Right Answer afterwards. While there are techniques to getting more information, determining the Right Answer relies almost solely on the ability to analyze. More on this later.

How do I ask more questions? Redevelop Intellectual Curiosity

One personal characteristic that will help you ask the Right Questions is intellectual curiosity. When you can inculcate a desire to know everything about everything, questions, especially Right Questions, come more easily.

Business analysts possessing intellectual curiosity have voracious appetites for learning. They do not shy away from new or unfamiliar concepts but rather try to incorporate those concepts into their understanding. They tend to be very good listeners who absorb information like sponges.

Life coach, Dr. John D. Skare, Ed. D, defines intellectual curiosity as “a term used to describe one’s desire to invest time and energy into learning more about a person, place, thing or concept””

Are you really interested in the person or persons you are questioning and the information they possess or are you more interested in completing the requirements document? This intellectual curiosity is what drives us to ask more questions. Just as a child is curious about the whole world and his or her part in it, we can be curious about the whole business and our initiative’s part in it.

Developing intellectual curiosity is not difficult. We all are born with intellectual curiosity As children we truly want to know what the world is about, and what our place in the world is. We ask questions and more questions. Children, especially two-year olds, do not have to learn the “5 Whys”. They ask Why automatically without thinking. Over the years as we grow up we are taught not to ask questions. Research shows that young children have hundreds of questions every day, but by the eighth grade those same children ask only two questions a day on the average. Why?

“In school, we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question.”
Richard Saul Wurman, original creator of the TED Conferences

Maybe it’s because the adults we are asking don’t know the answers and tell us to stop asking, or maybe we just get frustrated and stop asking. Perhaps it’s because we are conditioned by that age through school to have more answers and to ask less questions. [3]

As adults, especially in business, there is also another reason: we cannot afford to appear stupid by asking questions. People believe that they got their position or place at work because of what they know, their experience, and asking questions will belie that assumed knowledge. The belief is; if you are a “knowledge worker” and therefore paid for your knowledge, asking questions shows a lack of that knowledge and places your job, and perhaps career in jeopardy. And this includes business analysts. Despite the exhortation, “there are no stupid questions.”, Most people appear to believe more ardently that there are Stupid Questions, then that there are Right Questions.. After all, I don’t hear anyone asking how to ask stupid questions, and I doubt anyone that article titled “how to ask stupid questions.”

So what to do to recapture the attitude of intellectual curiosity? Think like a child? Well, yes. Listen naively as though you have never heard the information before, even if it is the eighth straight interview or information gathering session on the same subject. Assess the information you are receiving critically and think about what question you might ask. For example,

  • Are there any words that might be ambiguous?
  • Am I making any assumptions?
  • Is the responder making assumptions?
  • Can I get more details about what they are describing?
  • Can what they are describing be construed generally?
  • Is the information relevant to the question (if not why not? And how do I get relevant information)?
  • Why is the responder answering the question in this particular way? (e.g. giving closed ended answers to open ended questions)
  • What else don’t I understand about this answer or this situation?
  • Why are they not able to answer a particular question? Who can answer it?
  • Are they answering because they assume I expect an answer and not because they really know?
  • Do they want to answer my questions now, or at all?
  • And so forth

Is that all there is to asking the Right Questions?

To ask the Right Questions, you have to know what to ask, who has the information to answer the question, when the question is indeed answered, how to ask the question so that you get the information needed, how to analyze the information to produce the needed answer, where to place the answer among all the other information you have received, and when to go back to ask the question again.

Distilling it down: there are three basic skills to asking the Right Questions.

  • Know what to ask the Right Question
  • Know how to ask the Question the Right way
  • Know how to analysis to determine the Right Answer

Since I’ve run about out of word space for this part of the article, I will end here. The next parts will address

  • How to ask the Right Question by knowing what to ask
  • How to ask the Right Question by knowing how to ask it
  • How to avoid asking the wrong questions

Look for them in upcoming Business analyst Times issues.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

[1] ModernAnalyst.com, March 14, 2011
[2] Blais, Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success, John Wiley, 2011
[3] Coleman, Ken, One Question, Howard Books, 2013. Not only does this book describe the reason why we don’t ask questions and the importance of asking them (in the introduction) but it also contains examples of interview where Right Questions are asked. Remember however, the book and interviews are edited.

Failure to Manage our Time is a Modern Ailment

Written by Michelle Symonds on . Posted in Articles.

Feeling like there are not enough hours in the day can be a major constraint for most business analysts. But what is the answer? Delegate more? Sleep less? Become more efficient? There are plenty of answers that crop up but successfully managing your time when there are so many pulls on that time takes steely determination. How many of us are strong enough to switch off our phones and ignore our emails, even for just a couple of hours a day? And yet that simple exercise could help us reduce the time pressures we are under.

So instead of letting a lack of time overwhelm you, try some of the following tactics to help you become a more organised, more efficient and less stressed business analyst:

1. Focus on the Priorities

A list of tasks or a project schedule without any meaningful priorities attached to each activity and any dependencies between tasks recorded is of little use to anyone. After all what happens when further tasks need to be added; they clearly can’t just be tacked on at the end of the list, especially if there are inter-dependencies.

You may think you do have a prioritised task list, but projects are constantly changing, so your priorities will have to as well. Business analysis and project management are inextricably tied up with change management so changes need to be embraced, whilst at the same time controlled so accept that priorities will change. 

Review the priorities regularly (the most appropriate time period will depend on the size and complexity of the project you are currently working on) and be prepared to drop one task in favour of another. However, take the time to really determine what the priorities are; the person shouting the loudest does not necessarily have the most important requirements.

2. Delegate

This is fairly obvious but many of us are still bad at delegation, but don’t try and do everything yourself; others in the project team may actually relish the opportunity to take on responsibility for running a meeting or preparing documentation – after all, it is all good experience that will help them develop their own careers. Concentrate on what you are good at not the minutiae of administration. If you are lucky enough to have a Project Management Office (PMO) then make use of them, that’s what they are there for.

3. Time Box

Allocate time limits for everything from meetings to producing specifications and reviewing documentation and any of the other regular activities you engage in. Meetings, in particular can eat into your time and often with little gain compared to the time expended. By limiting every meeting to an hour or two (or whatever is appropriate for the topic to be discussed) you will ensure everyone present focuses on that topic and does not use the meeting as an opportunity to bring up their latest gripe.

For short, regular meetings, such as status updates, hold a “stand-up” meeting in a room without any chairs. You will be surprised at how quickly and efficiently everyone will discuss what they need to when they can’t sit down (and did you know that standing up is actually good for your health!).

4. Put it in Black & White

Daily or weekly To-Do lists and notes of ideas and inspiration can help clarify your thoughts and objectives so you focus your efforts on what really matters. You can jot things down in a notebook or use a spreadsheet or one of the many apps available for your phone, whatever method you prefer. Treat your notes as an aide-memoir – they are not meant to be a detailed task list or a detailed solution to a problem. And there is something very satisfying about crossing things off a list once they are done.

5. Technology-free Time

I remember a time when everyone thought technology was going to give us lots of spare time, and it does in many situations, but there are other ways in which it eats into our time. Reading emails that we are copied into when really we are not required to join in the discussion, reading the daily newsletters and updates that populate our inboxes; being active on social media networks.

Start to regain some of that time by unsubscribing from all but the essential email lists you are on – with the time you will save you can schedule time to catch up with your favourite sites without all the unnecessary emails clogging up your inbox.

Once you have cleaned up what you receive, set aside a specific time each day or week to ignore your emails – don’t be shocked, in fact, you may be surprised how even “important” emails resolve themselves if you don’t respond, after all what would happen if you were on holiday or in hospital, someone would have to sort out any problems. And if you are worried that you will lose some authority by not instantly responding to emails then your career is built on flimsy foundations anyway.

And as for social media, there are extremely useful tools out there just make sure the benefits you gain from their use outweigh the time invested. And, again, schedule time in your day when you use it rather than constantly checking for updates or constantly posting updates. A well-thought out post/share once a day is just as valuable as constant activity that says little of value.

6. Sit Back and Think

Instead of lurching from task to task or crisis to crisis take a step back from the “doing” and try some thinking – think about what is really important for the success of your current project and your long-term career. Taking the time to think through a problem, rather than rushing into activity, so that it looks like you are resolving the problem, can actually help you to deliver a better solution. Often too little time is spent thinking or planning because this is not perceived as “real” work when, in fact, it is the thinking time that will produce the best results.

These are just some strategies that business analysts can try in order to regain some time and some order in their lives. In the meantime I am going to try and take my own advice…

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