The document discusses balancing domain knowledge and analytical skills for business analysts. It makes three key points: 1. While domain knowledge is valuable, too much can lead to assumptions and reduced thoroughness in analysis. Analytical skills like rigor and structure are critical. 2. There is no single ideal balance, as the needs depend on the individual analyst, project, and stakeholders. In general, high levels of both domain knowledge and analytical skills are best. 3. For managing analysts specifically, the role requires balancing delivery work, people management, and coaching. The ideal balance depends on stakeholder needs and expectations. Maintaining focus and managing expectations of the varied role are ongoing challenges.

1. The Balanced BA
Striking The Balance Between Domain Knowledge &
Analysis Skill
Simon Nicholls
Head of Business Analysis, SLI
June 2016

2. About Me
3
• Change professional for the last 20+yrs
• Approx. 10yrs in The City on Sell-Side…….except for a brief stint in consultancy
• Last 14yrs at SLI on Buy-Side
• Career ‘plot’
Practice Lead
Change Manager
Technology Analyst
Technical Business Analyst
Consultancy
Technology Systems Analyst
Trade Settlements Process SME

3. About SLI & Our Business
• Global organisation with 31 offices in 18 countries
• Manage £253bn assets
• Client base comprised of institutions, fund/investment platforms and retail customers
• Change / project activity
 91 active projects
 Multiple strategic endeavours
 50 BAs
 ….+ Systems Analysts + Solution Analysts
4

4. What are the ‘Attributes’ of an Analyst?
5
Content
CraftCore
Domain
Knowledge
Analytical
Skill
Personal
Effectiveness

5. Is Domain Knowledge Important?
6
• Stakeholders will always value some domain knowledge
• Analysts will always be sought out for their deep domain
knowledge
• Analysts can leverage past experiences
• Helps accelerate the analysis process
Helps promote strong stakeholder relationships
Experience & knowledge is always useful
Expedites the analysis process

6. …….But There Are Downsides
Too much domain knowledge can lead to:
Too many assumptions on behalf of the analyst/project
Reduced thoroughness in the analysis process
Decisions being made for the business
Business Analysts can become pseudo business
Ultimate accountability drifts away from ‘real’ business stakeholders
7

7. Is Analytical Skill Important?
8
Idea Initiation Feasibility Mobilisation Delivery Closure
Objectives &
Scope
Requirements
Elicitation
Requirements
Analysis
Solution
Development
Solution
Assessment &
Validation
Define project boundaries
Problem definition
Enrol Stakeholders
Plan requirements gathering
process
Decide approach
Plan materials
Build Business Case
Gather detailed requirements
Requirements prioritisation
Requirements verification
Requirements traceability
Operating model creation
Assess proposed solution
Allocate requirements
Define transition requirements
Validate solution
RFP (request for proposal)
creation
Vendor selection
Cross reference test approach
Cross reference test cases &
requirements
Typical Analysis
Activities
The Analysis
‘Journey’
Change
Process
Translate business requirements
into solutions
Collaborate with IT/3rd parties to
ensure solution meets
needs
Manage new requirements as
they emerge
Pilot solutions as appropriate
Keep business units engaged
throughout development
cycle
• Analysts
 Help articulate the problem
 Capture the true business needs
 Avoid the ever-present ‘Jump-to-solution’ mode
 Help ensure solutions are fit for purpose
Rigour, Structure & Discipline, Analysis is a ‘Profession’

8. Balancing Domain Knowledge & Analytical Skill
9
Domain
Knowledge
Analytical
Skills

9. Stakeholder & Project Influences
Trust & individual relationships
Expectations will differ
Will always value domain
knowledge
Subject matter complexity
Repeatability
Time pressures
Risk appetite
10

10. What Does Ideal Look Like?
• High in domain knowledge
 Broad understanding of the business
 Specialist knowledge
• High in analysis skill
 Extremely capable analyst
 Experience to multiple project types
• Also, some practicalities…….
 People are affordable
 People are available
11
Analyst profile
ALWAYS
matches the needs of the project assignment

11. Coping with Reality
• Recruitment
 Always recruiting people with pre-built domain knowledge is difficult
 Only hiring deeply experienced analysts is impractical
• Career Development
 Keeping people engaged
 Where next on the career journey
 Succession planning
12
Analyst profile
DOES NOT ALWAYS
match the needs of the project assignment

12. Key Messages
• There is no formula
• Some domain knowledge is useful for some people
• ….But the analysis skill is critical for everyone
• Good SMEs do not make good analysts (all of the time)
• Having no (limited) domain knowledge can actually be a good thing
• Need to strike the right balance across the BA community
13

13. Questions?
14

14. The ‘Balanced’ Managing Analyst
Player, Manager, Coach…how to get the balance right as
Managing Analyst
Eva Cairns, Managing Analyst Investments & Derivatives
Isla Bell, Managing Analyst Client & Corporate
June 2016

15. Content
16
1. What are we here to talk about?
2. Introduction – The MAs at SLI
3. One Role, many different profiles
4. Key Challenges
5. Value Add
6. Lessons Learnt & Recommendations

16. What are we here to talk about & why?
17
1. Share experience of structuring a BA practice by putting a Managing
Analyst role in place.
2. Share lessons learnt around the Managing Analyst role itself.
3. Encourage some thinking around BA practice structure, career paths
and role profiles.

17. Introduction – The 3 MAs at SLI
18
What is an Managing Analyst (MA)?
The Managing Analyst manages a team of BAs linked to a specific portfolio of work and is responsible for
shaping new pieces of work as well as overseeing and delivering analysis activities within that portfolio .
Who are the 3 MAs at SLI?
A bit of history…
Simon Nicholls
Head of Business Analysis
Isla Bell
MA
Client & Corporate
Eva Cairns
MA
Investments &
Derivatives
Kareen Allan
MA
Real Estate &
Regulation
18
2012
BA Practice
created
2013 2014
Simon
becomes
BA Practice
Lead
Eva
becomes
first MA
Isla joins
as second
MA
2015
Kareen
joins as 3rd
MA
10 Business Analysts
(perm & contractor)
10 Business Analysts
(perm & contractor)
10 Business Analysts
(perm & contractor)
2016
BA Practice
has 3 MAs
& ~35 BAs

18. What do we do?
19
Doing – Shaping new pieces of work, delivering analysis on specific projects
Managing – People management, resourcing & recruitment, stakeholders management
Coaching – Oversight & Analysis QA, help ensure consistency of approach & output
Developing – BA Practice Development, team development, knowledge development
Planning – Forward looking view, portfolio planning, resource planning
…and why may this be different from what other leads in BA Practices are
doing?

19. One MA role, many different profiles
• The role profile can look different every month and is different for each MA.
• Key drivers are stakeholder expectations, people or project issues, time of year.
20
70%
15%
15%
Profile A – The Player
Player
Manager
Coach
40%
30%
30%
Profile B – Balanced
Player
Manager
Coach
20%
50%
30%
Profile C – The Manager
Player
Manager
Coach
Pros
- Sense of achievement of delivery
- Keeping knowledge up to date
- Gaining trust & credibility
- Working closely with BAs
Cons
- Dragged into detail
- Removed from planning
- Limited time for ‘non urgent’
activities like coaching and
development, can lead to ‘fires’
Pros
- Awareness across many areas
- Support for each facet of the role
Cons
- Spread too thinly
- Hard to achieve an even balance
and to manage others’
expectations
Pros
- Focus on support and development
of others to strengthen the team
- Staff feel well supported
- Seen to be moving practice forward
Cons
- Can get too far away from content of
the work & Subject Matter expertise
may not be up to date
- Not enough knowledge to foresee &
help resolve delivery issues
- Lose trust & credibility

20. Current MA Challenges
21
• Role expectations & profile heavily depend on how stakeholders work
• Some stakeholders only ‘accept’ one part of the role (eg want MAs to be
players or line managers only)
• Strong people management and coaching of BAs can be undervalued
Managing Expectations
• Trying to balance the needs of individuals, the BA practice, analysis tasks and
stakeholders ie being pulled into many directions at the same time
• Maintaining focus on the ‘player’ activities can be difficult as unplanned
management issues can easily take priority
Balancing priorities
• It takes time to effectively embed a new role into the structure, therefore it is
still ‘shaping’ up and affecting communication and MA involvement
Effective Embedding
• Given MAs are still practitioners, they can sometimes be seen as an extra
pair of hands to fill gaps on projects
Filling Gaps

21. Value Add of the MA role
22
• Putting MAs into the structure reduced management responsibility for the
Head of Analysis and enabled him to focus on BA practice lead activities
• MAs also take on BA practice development & link portfolios of work
• The Analysis Management Team created is more effective at brainstorming
ideas, discussing issues, making decisions & driving things forward as a team
Practice Development & Management
• MAs look after BA sub teams that are linked to a common agenda and can
encourage team building, focused discussions and developments in these
teams more effectively
Team Building
• The MA role provides a career path into a leadership role for BAs who would
like to develop as people managers
Career Paths
• MAs can manage & coach BAs more effectively given their BA background
and subject matter knowledge
• MA understands the reality of Business Analysis rather than just the theory
BA support for BAs

22. Lessons Learnt & Recommendations
23
1. How best to establish the MA role
within the Practice?
Communicate and support newly established
role, senior management needs to truly embed
this within the structure
Consider the stakeholders carefully when
setting up the role profile, get their input and
determine what works best for that portfolio of
work
Manage stakeholder expectations (this
includes the BAs!) in line with the agreed role
profile, this is key to make things work
Establish ways of demonstrating the value of
the coaching and developing aspects of the
role
2. What is the ideal MA role profile?
There is no right answer, but too thinly spread
is not effective, the role should have a focus
and be driven by the needs of the relevant
portfolio of work.
Key Drivers that determine the profile are
portfolio managers & business stakeholders,
staff issues, ‘fires’, time of year
Whilst flexibility is good, changing focus daily is
not…select an area of focus and stick with it
for a defined period of time. Delegate
responsibilities to BAs as career opportunities.
Manage expectations accordingly so you are
not expected to be A one day and C the next
day.

23. Your Thoughts and Experiences…
24