Excellence in Process

I read a great article in a white paper by IAG Consulting that looked at requirements quality.  I love the idea that the process you use to gather the requirements is more important the the requirements you write.  They premise this on the idea that if you have a solid process to elicit the information, then you will end up with excellent information.  A great point back to the proverbial saying "garbage in, garbage out."

This is such a simple but important thought out to the world - considering your effort (quantity) and your level of attention (quality).  You can certainly apply this to requirements, but you could also apply to almost any activity in any profession!! (Creating scope documents and test plans for my fellow PMs and BAs certainly comes to mind!).

In our fast paced world we so quickly jump into requirements gathering with the excitement to hurry up and write down requirements as fast as we can.  We then spend plenty time going back and revising, editing, re-organizing, adding, editing, deleting and so on until we almost want to start on a clean slate!

What if BEFORE you jump into anything, you write out a quick plan on what you plan to do.  It does not have to be long, just a few minutes, but consider your stakeholders, where the information is today, what do you already know and what do you need to find out.

Consider going grocery shopping.  You have the approach to walk every aisle.  This often ends up with way more in your cart than you planned and often probably a lot longer (and more expensive) than you planned the trip.  You can try run in and just look in certain areas for a few items, finding yourself backtracking and forgetting a few items.  Or, as I often do, I create a grocery list throughout the week.  I then plan to go by the grocery store I'm familiar with at a time later in the week when I know it is not as crowded.  I then go in, get my items (and only my items) and am back out on my way home ready to cook dinner.

This same thought process, while small in comparison, can lead to much stronger quality requirements and project plans.  But too often we simply dive into the activity versus taking a moment and asking ourselves "How are we going to do this?"  Try explaining your process to a younger child - I love hearing their feedback as they will quickly point out any errors in logic!

Delivering Value

How are you delivering VALUE in all you do?

VALUE - an interesting word that is often talked about but completely missed in daily activities.  This only perpetuates the statistics that projects fail to meet objectives or campaigns fail to meet their targets - they fail to deliver the value expected.

Do you consider how you are delivering value in all you do?  If every person on a team constantly looked at how they are delivering value, would the team then end up delivering significant value?

Being part of a volunteer organization where every single activity is done out of one's own selflessness, I found it amazing the energy and effort put into providing value for the members.  People who all have full time jobs in addition to their volunteer must absolutely prioritize all that they do.  For the service organization, the challenge was put out to ask if every thing they do delivers value, especially board members.  You are serving others and if you are not serving their value needs, then your efforts are not delivering the value intended.

Consider every task that is brought up in your work or volunteer organizations and ask "Does this deliver value to our [customer/stakeholder]?"  If you have a hard time answering this, you may reconsider the task itself.  People in offices often talk about how busy they are.  I see it too, personally, that the amount of information moving around seems to create a buzz of activity.  However, I find myself asking if what I'm doing is adding value.  I found a few simple responses to help me get through my day more efficiently by considering "Am I Delivering Value if I do this task?"

• If I answer "no" then I simply delete it and move on.  
• If I think the answer is "no" then I delete it and move on.
• If I answer "yes" then I prioritize it and do it as soon as possible.
• If I think the answer is "yes" then I skip for now and come back after I do the prioritized "Yes" items

"But wait!! Delete?  No one deletes ANYTHING around here!!"  To this answer - if it is important, someone will bring it up again - guaranteed!  And remember what's important to you may not be important to others so you can skip the tasks, but the owner/affected stakeholder may find value and will continue to pursue it.  Often if they ask a second time that have more information that provides you the background to turn it into a "Yes" value answer.

What's interesting on the "think the answer is.." options - they are often all No's as either it's clear that you can not articulate the value or you do not have enough information at this time to answer Yes and until then you do not understand the value.

Tricks to try and would love to hear other ideas and thoughts!!!

Innovative Business Analysis Techniques

I was fortunate enough to be part of an amazing community and share some of my experience at Building Business Capability 2014 this past week and gathered so much feedback and ideas how to continue to innovate in my current role.

A number of people requested the handout from the session, which was also the basis of my overall presentation.  Below is the content of that I would love others to add additional comments to and continue to build on the discussion.

“Driving Business Innovation” – different approaches to performing BA techniques with success!

“Insanity – doing the exact same thing over again and expecting a different result.” ~Albert Einstein

If looking for different results – what are you doing differently?

Meetings

Ø  Think of how you start your meetings – if you want excitement and energy out of them, try starting with a game!

Ø 
Or even have a meeting standing up – you’ll have to keep the length short and to the point if you have to stand the whole time!

Requirements

Ø  Ask everyone to “draw a pig.”  Give everyone a few minutes and then compare the different versions that were drawn!  Then analyze with the info here.

o   REMEMBER: Everyone has a unique view in this world and what one person envisions may not be what another does, so remember your perspectives of your stakeholders.

Ø  You could do this differently by giving everyone a piece of foil with the word “dinosaur” written on one side.  Hand them out and tell people that everyone has a word on their foil – don’t show it – but everyone has to create that ‘thing’ out of the piece of foil.  You’ll get plenty of differently shaped ‘dinosaurs’!

o   Again – you gave everyone the exact same requirement and look at the ways it was interpreted!

9.1 Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria

Ø  Write one criteria per large white board or easel and place in high area of traffic with markers handy.  Repeat for each of your criteria’s.  Encourage everyone to comment on the criteria over the course of 1-2 weeks and then review the feedback.

9.3 Brainstorming

Ø 
Divide groups into 5 people, sitting or standing in a circle.  Assign a sixth person to be the scribe, sitting just outside the circle.  Put the topic of discussion in a Red Solo cup that one person will then read to the team as their ‘challenge.’   Rules are as follows:

o   The person with the cup says one idea and passes to the right.

o   Only the person with the cup may say an idea.

o   Only one idea can be said at a time.

o   You may not “pass” the cup without saying an idea.

Try to encourage teams of 5 to get around the ‘circle’ 10 times in 2 minutes.  The format and pressure on time:

v  Keeps everyone equal – no person’s idea carries more weight than another

v  Focus on generating quantity of ideas - not focused on analyzing; not worried about being “right”

v  Forces everyone to participate - no one monopolizes the conversation or can ‘hide’ in the background

9.11 Focus Groups

Ø 
Consider the “outliers” when trying to learn more about a topic

o   We often focus on “average” – but if you want to explore new markets, ask those who are not currently in the market and WHY!  Get to know the “super users” and what and WHY they can’t live without it!

9.14 Interviews

Ø  Ask the right QUESTIONS

o  
Consider a group interview: get people from all different aspects of a process (marketing, call center, help desk, technician, etc.) – one person at a time sits in front of group and shares their ‘experience’.  Encourage them to “tell me more” about it and ask “Why” and then get the other participants to help you ask more questions to learn more about WHY they do things the way they do.   Inconsistencies will quickly be brought to light and clarified by participants when they challenge each other’s process (vice the BA having to go back and forth between stakeholders on their own)

Ø  Focused on LISTENING – get someone else to scribe (they don’t talk, just write!)

o   Take notes with a sharpie and post-its – only one thought per post-it (short!); then after interviews go through post-its and layout in related groups to see themes and map out processes

9.18 Observation

Ø  Record sessions – images speak a thousand words to get body language, relationships, culture, etc. – especially when you’re the one facilitating

o  
ASK Permission!  Or at least inform participants what you’re doing and why (tell them where you plan to share this!)

9.19 Organization Modeling

Ø  Comic Strip – have people draw out their roles and responsibilities

o   Even better – get different departments to draw their view about other roles, not themselves

9.22 Prototyping

Ø  Build something FAST and CHEAP for FEEDBACK from those affected – what do they like? What would they change? Get them to interact with – put it in a visible place for a week to see what resonates with users

o   And build AGAIN!  Keep iterating until everyone is comfortable with solution, THEN capture requirements

9.25 Root Cause Analysis

Ø 

Ask Why 5 times – write question and then place answer below.  If the answer is not hierarchical, save for later and go back to asking why to decompose to single element for the root of the problem

9.26 Scenarios and Use Cases

Ø  Charades! Get users to act out how they do things today and what it would be like if they could change it!

o   Removes non-value added activities from process descriptions

Requirements Prioritization

Ø  Write each requirement on a post-it and lay out on table.  Give each stakeholder the equal number of POKER CHIPS.  They then “bet” on their requirements – you will quickly see the priority items!

o   All stakeholders’ votes are now equal, no extra chips and eliminates the ‘nice to haves’ from discussion

So how do I do this?  You TRY it!  Even if it doesn’t work as planned, look how much you learned!! You at least know what your project/requirements are NOT.  Ask your SPONSOR to SUPPORT!  Getting their support to try an often faster approach (i.e., less employee time spent in meetings) that build buy-in to the project (more committed stakeholders) is worth the time to try a DIFFERENT APPROACH for DIFFERENT RESULTS!

The WHAT and the WHY and then the HOW

This last week I had the extraordinary privilege to speak at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Honolulu Chapter Professional Development Day (PDD)2014.

In speaking to a group of Project Managers about How to Effectively Work with a Business Analyst, a great question came up about how you deal with a PM and BA working together who's lines for roles and responsibilities begin to blur.  Considering real world examples and how to address this, the answer that was so positively received was - "What, Why, and How".
 

Whenever a PM and BA are having a conversation, a great thing to consider whenever roles and responsibilities begin to blur is that the PM should consider the WHAT and the BA to consider the WHY.  Those are the swim lanes to stand in.  What - the project, the schedule, the scope, the budget - these are all PM responsibilities.  They have a specific answer and the PM ensures they move to completion.  WHY -  why is the project good for the business, why the requirement should be included, why the test cases are required - this is where the BA lives.

I took it a step further from personal experience that the BA (and also PM) needs to especially recognize when they delve into the HOW realm.  The moment they start determining HOW something should be done, you're getting into Design.  This is the swim lane for your SMEs, architects and designers.  It keeps the roles and responsibilities clear.  It's also extremely helpful when developing business requirements as you know you've gone far enough when you start to explain HOW the feature is supposed to look, act and feel.

Finding Inspiration in Speech

I took a moment the other day to attend the Bankcorp Toastmasters meeting on my lunch hour.  I was fortunate enough to be a member during my employment at Bank of Hawaii and felt excited and almost a little nervous to attend.

Nervous you say?  Things always change and think that there's a little uncertainty that always questions whether the good things are still there, those aspects you enjoyed, made you excited to be part of something bigger than your own self.

An hour later, with many smiles shared and even a few good laughs, I slowly made my way back to work with a hightened sense of energy pulsing through me. What I couldn't help feeling as I left the building on the beautiful afternoon was summed up in one word:

My hour was spent surrounded by a group of individuals who remain motivated to build something bigger and better out of not only themselves but also each other.  The passion they conducted their roles with overflowed to each and every audience member.  They share personal insights that speaks to the volume of trust within the small room.

And on top of that, their topics included ways of building the membership, the club, the business and even their own personal and family lives.  It's amazing how small activities that force you to reflect, challenge and push yourself to explore new horizons actually fosters this grass roots effort to boost the entire organization to a higher platform!

Often in my speeches I refer to an element of PASSION - everyone has some, the trick is to understand your passion and find an outlet where you can share it.  When you speak from the heart, you share your passion with others in a way that connects emotionally, not just mentally.  From here you have built the foundation for a great relationship with those other people.  Imagine if you infuse this into your daily activities, particularly the work place.  The BA that is passionate about helping others, understanding issues and overcoming obstacles, can be so positively energetic that business owners clamor for the BA's assistance.

How are you sharing your passion and building positive connections with others?

Spheres of Control, Influence and Control

Working on a team that includes Business Analysts, Project Managers and Software Developers, the sphere of responsibility can quickly grow out of control.  Like any team or organization, prioritization always represents a challenge and a great manager made an interesting thought when some discussion was being made:

"Consider your sphere of control, your sphere of influence and sphere of concern."

I loved this visual concept when thinking about priorities.   I found it a great way to reset myself. 

Think about the things you CAN do (whether you should or not is another thing to think about later) - these are things in your control.  If you can't change how the other team will react, what their priorities are, etc., then stop trying to control it.  Control what you can and prioritize that accordingly.  Then those things you're worrying about - consider what you can influence.  And then only focus on those items.  If you think you have no effect on the outcome, then save your time.  And then concern - what do you need to know so that you can best plan your actions for the future.  These thoughts are great when considering which meetings to attend.  Setup a meeting when you need action - control what you can and influence others to attend and contribute so that you can move on with your deliverables.  When responding to a meeting invite as what your level is for that meeting - control, influence, concern. 

And this can go both ways, especially when considering organizational structures.  A manager that chooses to attend a meeting may positively or negatively influence those attending. 

Everyone is given 24 hours in a day - it is up to you how you spend it, so prioritization gets to be a key component in your daily actions.  So remember what you can control, influence and are concerned about and see if this approach helps you streamline your day for more attention to higher priorities (like surfing! :) ).

What are your thoughts?

Some Good Questions Every BA's Should Ask

Business Analysts (BA's) live in a world of requirements.  And while  never the 'owner' of a project, they often bear the burden of requirements responsibility.

Two interesting things I got to see in the fascinating world of business analysis this last week made me think about how exactly I would recommend approaching these scenarios (one shared here, the second in the next post).

Business analysts assist in make sure things not only go smoothly, but also in ensuring the RIGHT things continue on track.  So a BA received feedback on a report.  The person addressing the BA told them to put the report in a certain format.  Now a more junior BA, he listened intently and described what he had done.  He asked what was wrong with his method and the response was basically it wasn't in the format as she was describing.  This went back and forth for a few minutes with nothing more decided than someone feeling that the report should be in the new format and a very unsure junior BA.

In talking through this situation with the junior BA, two very good questions came up:

1. Why?  What's the purpose of the report?
2. What question(s) is the data answering?

Two very simple thoughts, but something I'm not sure all us BA's really stop and ask ourselves, ask our stakeholders.  We put SO much effort in all our documentation, but do we stop and validate ourselves?  Do we double check the information we're providing is solving the need and ONLY solving the need (no sugar coating)?  I think these are two great things we should work on asking up front and more often on every single piece of documentation we work hard to create.

But these are only two good questions - many more are there!  What questions always help you ensure you're only doing activities that will help your initiatives and ONLY those initiatives?