This session was delivered nationally on behalf of the IIBA Australia Chapter in May 2020 by Arvind Arcot of Yarra Valley Water. Arvind's contact details are within the slide pack. Overview: There are various elements that go into establishing and running a successful practice. This presentation will touch on those components and are purely from my experience. Here is Arvind's story of how he built his practice at Yarra Valley Water and how he used these various elements to build and run the practice.

1. MELBOURNEMELBOURNEMELBOURNEMELBOURNE
Welcome to
Building a BA PracticeBuilding a BA PracticeBuilding a BA PracticeBuilding a BA Practice

2. MELBOURNE BRANCH UPDATE
Events:
• IIBA Australia will be coordinating state-level branch online events
• Next event from Melbourne to be held in June
Education:
Melbourne branch to run online Study Groups:
• Next BABOK Study Group commences in Late May
• Next Agile Analysis Study Group commences in Late May
• Tickets Available: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/o/iiba-australia-chapter-melbourne-
branch-2275740447 or search IIBA Melbourne on Eventbrite

3. BUILDING A BA
PRACTICE Arvind Arcot

4. ABOUT YARRA VALLEY WATER
• Largest of Melbourne’s three water
corporations,
• Service 1.9 million people and more than
50,000 businesses
• Covers 4,000 square kilometres
• From as far north as Wallan and extends to
Warburton in the east.
• 9,000 kilometres of water mains
• Over 9,000 kilometres of sewer mains.
• Around 800 employees

5. HAVE A VISION
Photo by Matt Noble on Unsplash
• Don’t be scared to have a vision
• Have a short term vision and a long term
vision
• Understand the culture of the organisation
before setting a vision. They need to be
achievable.
• A shared vision for the practice.
• Also have a personal vision for the
leadership of the practice.
My personal vision: To get my practice to a stage where I am not needed anymore.
My Vision for the practice: To progress the practice up the value chain and be involved in strategic decision making
Shared Vision at YVW: To be a very respectable practice and gain the trust of the whole organisation

6. UNITE THE BA COMMUNITY
• Created a guild of BAs across the organisation
• Opened the doors to everyone in the organisation
• Everyone got a sense of belonging and a support system
• A Business Analysts’ fraternity was created
• Instil a sense of pride in them
• Provide clarity to the role of a BA
Source: Anthony Mersino, August 2019
There Is No Spotify Model for Scaling Agile

7. • Understand the business
• Understand the culture
• Understand YOUR people (Team)
• Understand THE people (Business)
 Individually
 Understand their pain points & passions
 Relate it to how the practice can help them
 In a casual environment
 Check in on them periodically
 Do it genuinely and with a smile on your face
BUILD BRIDGES
Photo by Mason B. on Unsplash

8. PHOTO BY MARKUS SPISKE ON UNSPLASH
“Treat your relationship as if you are
growing the most beautiful sacred flower.
Keep watering it, tend to the roots, and
always make sure the petals are full of
colour and are never curling. Once you
neglect your plant, it will die, as will your
relationship.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the
Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

9. CREATE AN
AWARENESS OF
BUSINESS ANALYSIS

10. IDENTIFY TRAINING AND
UPSKILLING OPPORTUNITIES

11. HAVE AN ONLINE PRESENCE
• Something for them to read after
you have finished talking to
them.
• Testimonials are powerful.
• Existing members?
• Important industry and company
BA events etc..
• Suggestions can help improve
the practice.
• Amount of interaction can be
assessed based on how useful
the content here is.
Marketing is key.

12. TAKE EVERY
OPPORTUNITY TO
MARKET YOUR
PRACTICE

13. OTHER MARKETING EFFORTS
• In meeting room TVs
• Near the Tech Lounge
• Near printers
• On a TV screen near where the
BAs sit.
• Currently working with IT to
make this the default wallpaper
on laptops for a period of time

14. BE VOCAL …. VERY VOCAL…. INSIDE YOUR COMPANY
• I don’t stop singing the praise of my BAs
• Don’t be afraid to stand up in gatherings
when asked to… to talk about anything
regarding your practice or your field
• Small gathering or a huge formal
gathering….show the same confidence to
present…. You are representing your practice
and your BAs.
• Give your BAs the opportunity to present at
times.

15. BE VOCAL…. VERY VOCAL…. ON SOCIAL MEDIA
“Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” - Jay Baer

16. BE VOCAL …. VERY
VOCAL…. OUTSIDE
YOUR COMPANY
• Grab every
opportunity to
present at events and
take your company
there.
• Your company will
like it and that will
reflect in the way they
interact with you
• Bring industry
experts into your
company to share
knowledge

17. CELEBRATE
YOUR TEAM’S
SUCCESSES

18. OTHER DIMENSIONS OF A PRACTICE
Tools and Technology Sense of community
Resource usage
efficiencies
Frameworks
• Standards and industry best practices
• Alignment with organizational
methodologies
• Knowledge stock take/Skills matching
– Right people for the right job
• Capability upliftment
• Documentation templates
• Success Measurement – Maturity
assessment
• Backlog of improvement opportunities

19. KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Run the practice like a business. Create a Brand…Make is Visible … Market it
• Your organisation should come to you ONLY for anything even remotely BA related and not go
to market and recruit independently
• Focus on adding value and ignore the detractors. They will come around when you show
value
• Make friends in the business so they can support you and your vision. Helps with office
politics.
• Make lots of noise…..Don’t just succeed…. Talk about it
• Explore cross pollination with parallel practices
(PM/Agile/DevOps/Testing/Architecture/Change Mgmt. etc.)
• Take care of your people …. Your biggest assets

20. yvw.com.au
QUESTIONS

21. yvw.com.au
THANK YOU
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvindarcot/