Continuing on my
last post regarding the amazing discussions taking place at Building Business Capability
(BBC) Conference 2013, sponsored by the International
Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), business analysts and other professionals
continued to garner insights from discussions around change – incremental
versus transformational. Do you
know the expected type of change demanded of the organization before you begin an engagement? What are their expectations around
timeframes, costs and impact?
Small scopes might imply incremental change, leaving harder challenges
for later as showing any progress would be more meaningful than exists today. Larger scopes coming from the top down
around new visions and transformations refer to transformational changes that
are more permanent. These will
take more time and cost, but go back to the objectives – what is the overall
goal of the engagement and get the owners to understand that their objectives
and expectations are going to need to match up to the time and resources
required to get them there. An
interesting thought for those who love to capture processes – if the new
process is so different from the current, only spend limited time documenting
the current one as it will have little matter once the new process is in
place. Utilize your resources
carefully such that they spend their time on the most valued activities on the
critical path to success.
Back to innovation, a great thought
was shared that smart leadership should only create the container, the space
for the activities to occur.
Limited boundaries keep things focused, but then allow all creativity to
exist within that space HOW they go
about implementing the process. As
long as objectives are met (the box you’ve given) the details should be trivial
on the execution. Knowledge
workers will look to simplify their own lives and streamline operations into
efficiency without being scripted by those unfamiliar with the process. One can destroy innovation if they put
too much pressure on the process versus delighting the customer, internal or
external in the end solution.
And finally, consider your own role
as a BA and what leadership skills you are sharing with your teams. To help differentiate between a project
manager and BA, often a whole debate in itself, consider how you present the
value of your role outside the
project. Rather than focusing on
scope, highlight how determining which projects should be undertaken is
inherently more valuable to the organization. Move from software to systems and how individual pieces and
projects work together to support the overall business objectives. The shift should be from requirements
focus to becoming a visionary, innovator, strategist and leader. These roles are so needed and ask any
PM – I bet you often they have little time nor authority to consider the
solution being put into place and are so driven by deadlines and narrow
objectives that having a BA around to see before and after the project would be
greatly welcomed! A great thought
I heard was make sure that a project isn’t just being done to satisfy a debate
between two competing technologies.
Ask if the technology itself is even needed – that will solve the debate
quickly! But too often this occurs
where two options are considered without holding true business value in the
forefront, regardless of technology solution.
I love the closing thoughts that to
improve your own BA skills, elicit requirements from those you work with on
what they require from you. We
spend so much time on requirements definition we often forget ourselves. Ask your stakeholders and use some of
that input as guidelines or benchmarks and then seek opportunities to improve
these skills. Better execution of
the old models is not enough, but encourage yourself to innovation and reinvent
your approaches! Know your own
strengths and surround yourself with others with different strengths so that
you become more diverse. Remember,
trust, an important part of relationships, is a two-way streak. Ask yourself if you are worthy of the
other person’s trust. And a final
note – people follow people who get things done. Keep your word and use your energy and many others will
follow willing to help!
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