IIBA® Melbourne brings you a virtual event where you learn from Maria's wealth of knowledge and experience in business analysis. Maria will take you through her business analysis journey and the complexity of the business world, in particular she will cover the 7 key ingredients in getting business analysis right.
2. IIBA® Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of
country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing
connection to land, waters and culture.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging
and extend our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people present with us today.
Acknowledgement of Country
4. The Art of Getting Business Analysis Right
12th October 2022
By Maria Montgomery
5. Session Overview
Business analysis story and evolution
of the Business Analyst role
01
02
03
04
05
07
08
Current challenges and problems
Impacts of poor business analysis
Getting business analysis right – model
What does it take to get the business analysis
right?
Sample – Core competency assessment
Takeaways – 7 Ingredients of getting business
analysis right
06
Why is core BA Competency important skills
assessment
6. The Art of Getting
Business Analysis
Right.
So, what does it mean
to you? Credits to Skip Prichard
7. Business Analysis story and
evolution of Business Analyst
role .……
Once upon a time in
1940s business analysis
started as a practice
when the first
programmable computer
was birthed. *
* IIBA Bangladesh Chapter
Credits to Mastering Business Analysis
8. Current challenges and problems
Picture credit to Unsplash
Lack of centralised Business Analysis community
Inconsistent Business Analysis approaches and
outputs
Meeting project stakeholder’s expectation
Lack of clarity of BA roles and responsibility
Retention of competent business analysts
Constant project re-planning
Specific domain knowledge
9. Impacts of
poor
business
analysis
FACT: Requirements errors
account for 70% to 85% of
rework.
Incomplete or inaccurate requirements
Project scope changes (scope creep)
Business objectives not being met
Business disruption caused by missed requirements
Missing or incorrect features (functionality)
Unmet expectations resulting in poor system adoption
11. Having the right balance of the BA competency levels
in the BA practice/organization, by upskilling, learning
Conduct BA professional development (mentoring,
coaching, training)
Regularly undertake your competency skills audit
Ensure good governance
Design high-quality performance (scope, strong requirements
standards, quality reviews, approval processes etc.)
Conduct detailed groundwork to capture requirements by
working with change team to identify potential impacts
Ensure right people are involved
Have a well-prepared stakeholder's matrix
Have a clear understanding of analysis purpose/needs
Tune into your impacted stakeholders/systems
Set right business analysis expectation
COLLABORATION COMPETENCY
GOVERNANCE
Getting business analysis right
So what
does it
take to do
well?
PEOPLE
OWNERSHIP
STRUCTURE
Take ownership of the project, take
pride in your work and add value
Communicate continuously and
consistently by creating trusting
relationships with your stakeholders,
project and team members
Have a right structure for your
team and organisation
(practices, standards, service
catalogues, tools)
12. Planning &
Monitoring
Techniques
01
02
03
06
COMPETENCY SKILLS
AUDIT TREE
Process
Mapping
Data Modelling
05
Active listening
Written & verbal communication
Information
Security
01
Creative thinking
Visual & conceptual thinking
Decision making
Learning
Requirements
Statements
Fit Gap & NFR
Analysis
Decision
Making
Customer Journey
Strategy Analysis
Analytical Thinking
& Problem Solving
Behavioral
Characteristics
Business
Knowledge
Interaction
Skills
Communication
Skills
Requirements
Management
Technical
Knowledge
Domain
Knowledge
Business Case
02
Trustworthiness
Adaptability
Ownership (Accountability)
03
Industry knowledge
(Finance, Insurance, Superannuation)
Mobile & digital
04
Solution knowledge (Cloud,
Azure)
Network & infrastructure
06
Facilitation
Team work
Negotiation & conflict resolution
User Stories
Core and Underlining competency
Techniques & Tools
BA Planning
Mind
Map
Meetings
Body
language,
mindfulness
13. Why is core BA competency important ?
Skills Standards
Ability to succeed
A measure of skills
and knowledge
14. SAMPLE - CORE COMPETENCY ASSEMENTS
COMPETENCIES DESCRIPTION Limited Knowledge
1
Foundational
2
Intermediate
3
Advance
4
Expert
5
Planning and Monitoring
Organise and coordinate tasks and work
effort do business analysts and stakeholders
Strategic Analysis
Perform work to collaborate with
stakeholders in order to identify a need of
strategic or tactical importance (the
business need).
Requirements Elicitation
Conduct elicitation activities, in information
from stakeholders and confirm results
Requirements
Management
Deliver requirements analysis,
documentation, requirements life cycle
management
Techniques
Provide a means to perform business
analysis tasks with the most common
techniques
COMPETENCIES DESCRIPTION Limited Knowledge
1
Foundational
2
Intermediate
3
Advance
4
Expert
5
Planning
and
Monitoring
Business Analysis
Approach
Business Analysis Plan
Business Analysis
Governance
BA Team Capability
Business Analysis Approach Capability
Low
1
Low
1
High
5
High
Assessments:
Super Star (High High)
Potential (High Low)
Indecisive (High Low)
Problem (Low Low)
15. The Art of Getting Business
Analysis Right
1. PEOPLE
Stakeholders
Interactions
5. COMPETENCY
Competency Plan
Competency Skill Audit
Professional Development
4. STRUCTURE
Practice
Standards
Tools
Business
Analysis
3. KNOWLEDGE
Business
Technical
6. QUALITY
Peer Reviews
Governance
Standards
7. DONE
WHY, WHO, WHAT,
HOW, WHEN, WHERE
2. Collaboration
Relationships
Purpose/Needs
Expectations
16. Where to find me!
Let's be friends on LinkedIn (if not already)
www.linkedin.com/in/montgomerymaria
Join my LinkedIn group #ITGROWTHGUILD
Maria Montgomery website:
17. For more information and to register visit
https://australia.iiba.org/events-list
Future Events
13 October 2022
IIBA® Sydney - Working with Lawyers on Projects (online)
26 October 2022
IIBA® Melbourne - NFRs vs FRs (online)
27 October 2022
IIBA® Adelaide - Requirements and How to Find Them
18. For more information and to register visit
https://australia.iiba.org/events-list
Future Events
1 November & 2 November 2022
Global Business Analysis Day Event
23 November 2022
IIBA® Melbourne – Secrets behind AI project successes
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Welcome to the Art Of Getting Business Analysis Right. Thank you for the introduction.
Pause and ask the question. What does it personally mean to you?
Lets take us back to where it all began. As a practice within an organization, it started in the 1940s when the first programmable computer was birthed. (as per IIBA Background knowledge). It may have been known as System Analysis. So why is it that we are still finding organisation that are trying to discover the value of BA? Primarily by the government, universities and the organizations that invented them. In addition, they were not very efficient, for example storing data was difficult due to a large amount of space it consumed. Communication was difficult between programmers BA role was born.
Originally referred to as a System Analyst role. The importance of the Business Analyst has really been recognized in the last decade.
I remember the days when I started my career in BA space, wow it was over 28 years ago started as a Junior BA in 1994 Ansett . BA role actually just came relevant in the IT industry. I started my career as a sandwich year at Ansett no longer around and followed my career in various industries. When growing up, I think that I was always an analyst at heart. Back in Serbia where I spend my childhood, I remember always over analysing things, and constantly asking my mother questions. I am sure that I was always doing her head in.
Evolution ---- it is still evolving. We now have Business, Tech Analysis, Process Analysis
And the importance of the Business Analyst has really been recognized in the last decade as businesses more readily seek technology solutions to complicated business problems.. BA getting involved in strategic analysis,
Business Analysts are at the forefront of this concept since they can speak not only to the technology solution, but how that technology solution should be implemented to meet the market desires. This is how businesses achieve competitive advantage. Not by wasting time and resources on rewrites, maintenance and defects, but putting action in motion to use technology to better reach customers. And the Business Analyst plays a key role in making that vision a reality.
Purpose is to take you back in time and acknowledge how our role as Bas has evolved and I still at times come across the lack of understanding of the BA role to the constant evolution of the role?
Constant Environment Changes (Agile, Waterfall), Domain Knowledge (Technical, Business)
https://bangladesh.iiba.org/news/brief-history-business-analysis#:~:text=Emerging%20of%20a%20new%20branch,first%20programmable%20computer%20was%20birthed.
Current Resource Market - It is hard to find BAs, the market is very hot. I often hear from PMs how do we secure a quality BAs.
Current Resource Market
Quality
Studies have shown that rework can consume 40 to 50 percent of your total development costs (Charette 2005). Requirements errors alone account for 70 to 85 percent of the rework cost (Leffingwell 1997). --- When bad requirements happen to good people --- by Karl Wiegers ---- 40 to 50 % of your total development cost is spent on re-work.
https://www.cio.com/article/236601/five-ways-inadequate-requirements-wreak-havoc-with-enterprise-software-purchases.html
Inadequate requirements analysis
Business disruption – missed requirements to save time which could cause serious disruption
Governance – we need to have some governance to ensure high quality of BA work
Quality - What does quality mean as a BA, their work.
Expectations – Do PMs, stakeholders have high expectations of BA. We need to know everything, we are jacks of all trades
Working with Vendor - We have multiple stakeholders and even vendors to deal with. How do we work with them? We can’t control our vendors quality.
Communication / RELATIONSHIPS --We have all come across at some point even moving to different organisations with that same difficult or challenging stakeholder, that stereotype. When I moved from financial sector , and had to deal with the accountant-type stakeholder UMMMM I know this type, they don’t like to be told and quizzed much. I need to understand what they are saying before even talking to me. Those difficult stakeholders just don’t disappear from our lives.
Not working together – across projects we may have BAs, Tech BAs, Process BAs
Domain knowledge – on going Tech domain knowledge (Cloud, AZURE), Finance Super
https://www.batimes.com/author/christina-lovelock/
People - Create trusting relationships with your stakeholders. (Seek first to understand before being understood) my favorite saying.
We have all come across at some point even moving to different organisations with that same difficult or challenging stake holder, that stereotype. When I moved from NAB to ANZ, and had to deal with the accountant type stakeholder UMMMM I know this type , they don’t like to be told and quizzed much. I need to understand what they are saying before even talking to me. Those difficult stakeholders just don’t disappear from our lives.
Ownership – Accountability is essential for any good Business Analyst, so always take ownership of the project and take pride in your work. Proactively drive key outcomes and be gratified at the end that you were able to deliver something successfully. That way, when you move to your next project, you can talk enthusiastically about the real impact you had and not have to hide behind others’ work. Be proactive and take responsibility for your actions.
Make sure you conduct effective requirements/business needs elicitation, running effective meetings to ensure needs are captured at the right time.
Adding value have a voice. Whilst your role is centered around making things happen, you should also have the autonomy to have a voice and make suggestions on how processes could be improved, or in some cases, completely reinvented. That way you will add value, whilst also earning credibility. respecting each other's value add, being open and honest.
Ensure to upskill your domain knowledge!!!!
Conduct detailed groundwork to capture
Find a balance when working with Vendor
Find better ways of working (where possible)
Working well with people
https://www.talenza.com.au/blog/2019/08/5-traits-every-successful-business-analyst-should-have
Lets reflect on what has been discussed before. Audit your skills competency. History move, pause look at whole competency tree.
Competency is important to getting BA right.
Each Leave is important.
I will spend some time going through each leave. And there is more that could not fit on the tree.
Planning and monitoring - Organise and coordinate tasks and work effort do business analysts and stakeholders
Strategy Analysis - Perform work to collaborate with stakeholders in order to identify a need of strategic or tactical importance (the business need).
Requirements Elicitation - Conduct elicitation activities, in information from stakeholders and confirm results
Requirements Management - Deliver requirements analysis, documentation, requirements life cycle management
Techniques – many techniques, provide a means to perform business analysis tasks with the most common techniques
I can add much more now with all the feedback you have provided me with.
Competencies often serve as the basis for skill standards that specify the level of knowledge, skills,
and abilities required for success in the workplace as well
as potential measurement criteria for assessing competency attainment. Competence is a measure of both proven skills and proven knowledge.
The Competency Model helps BA Professionals to: Identify the skills, knowledge and behavioral characteristics demonstrated at all levels of the BA Profession. Track where they are in their career and provide the information necessary to grow in the profession.
Sample of work I have done with my teams …
Specific areas you or your team can improve.
People - Working closely with your team members
Collaboration – Ensure there is a strong collaboration, Run effective meetings. Be prepared.
Knowledge – continuously learn, research, find your gaps, go on courses
Structure – Practice, tools, standards
Competency – what is right competency
Quality – Do you have enough details where it matters. Share your data in a meaningful way.
Done – Why is analysis required. What is purpose of your analysis. How needs it? Clear understand of the purpose analysis required (meetings, needs, problems).
Have a right system for projects.
Be humble, be open-minded, don’t upset people and if you it isn’t the right piece of work for you then leave on good terms. In a relatively very small market like
It is not about being right, it is about getting it right.
