Quotes from How To Influence Stakeholders:
The next time you need to elicit a process, try this: Interview the subject matter expert and document the steps in the process. Then watch them perform the process. Chances are, you will pick up a lot more steps in the process than what they told you. They are not trying to be secretive, they are just being human. They make internal assumptions. By observing the process, you get to see each individual action they perform in order to complete the entire process. Only then can you question the reasons behind certain actions so you can truly understand it - Paul Mulvey
On The Importance of Data Migration
Data migration is typically the most overlooked component of a project that involves moving from an old system to a new system. While there can be many people involved in discovering the new business requirements or in designing a new UI, the data migration task itself tends to be either forgotten or delegated to one person. This perceived simplicity of data migration leads many project managers (and sometimes the business analyst) to think that data migration can be separated from the main body of tasks needed to deliver the system - Yvonne Harrison
On Avoiding Manual Workarounds
We should keep an eye out for “manual workarounds” creeping into our project. We should challenge the view that “a few seconds here and there is fine” and ensure that our stakeholders have the right data on which to base the decision. Small numbers soon become big and can cripple a business case - Adrian Reed
How do you release on time? You fix scope. You have release criteria. You have shorter projects because they are easier to estimate and deliver. You use an incremental or an agile lifecycle so you have more predictability about your release - Johanna Rothman
Trust is key to relationships. In fact, people often stay with a mechanic or garage that they trust for years – even if they know they can get a cheaper deal elsewhere. Trust helps build customer loyalty, which is extremely beneficial as it’s often stated that signing up a new customer costs on average 4-6 times more than keeping an existing one. A holistic view of the business, achieved through thorough business analysis will help to ensure a consistent level of service and quality are delivered, and this is one of the cornerstones to building trust with customers - Adrian Reed
In reality, very few stakeholders value reports by weight. The trick is to write just enough… and that’s a challenge I’m sure we’ve all grappled with! By really thinking about the needs of the document consumers, we can edit it down, so it provides them even better value - Adrian Reed
There is value in letting the customer drive the conversation—whether it be through the repertory grid approach, or by going to a place where the conversation naturally occurs itself, such as Amazon product reviews. More times than not, this approach can give companies a much better shot at really developing features the market wants, features they need, and ultimately features they will use - Kelly Burroughs
On the Power of Data Modelling
I do worry that too many projects nowadays concern themselves with process rather than content, and with slogans rather than techniques. Data modelling is a well-proven technique that is fundamental for successful business analysis - The Business Alchemist
On the Role of Business Analysts
We know that one of the first things lead business analysts need to do is to uncover the real issue, problem or business need. And then make sure that whatever requirements or ideas are suggested align with the thing we were trying to address in the first place - The Business Alchemist
Documenting requirements is an important part of any successful project, but at the end of the day, if we are spending our time and energy on managing the vehicle we use to communicate them instead of the requirements themselves, there is a large risk that requirements will be overlooked, be incomplete, and ultimately not clearly define what it is the business needs to be successful - Kelly Burroughs
On adding value
Without the soft skills we never will get beyond the mechanical work of being a BA and move on to adding value. That’s why I stress to the students I’ve taught that there’s far more to being a BA than the techniques, important as they are. You can be a BA without ever employing these techniques. I know, because I’ve done it. It might not be pretty, but we got to where we needed to go. And I’m sure that’s better than designing the best parking meter in the world, for a street that doesn’t need it - Julian Ostling
You no longer have to focus as much on information gathering and sharing or simply being called the bridge. You need to focus on analyzing and being an advisor to your team and organization. If not, your consumers will be looking to someone else.
Early in my career, the view of the BA role was to just focus on the requirements, not the solution. There were BAs that would cringe when discussions of a solution were happening before the requirements were fully vetted. Discussing the solution should be part of your role. Your team and business partners are not looking for analysis, they need solutions. If you are not part of the solution the perception is you add less value.- Kupe Kupersmith
On Mistakes made when writing use cases
1. Using the language of the user interface to talk about the user behavior. For example, instead of saying, ”Actor X selects to create a new account”, you state, “Actor X clicks the new account button (or tab).” 2. The use case is clear about all the steps the user needs to take, but is missing the corresponding system action that needs to happen in response to each user step. 3. Use case includes technical details that are not required to understand how the user interacts with the system. Common examples of technical details include: data elements or data tables, names of system components and system-triggered processes or procedures. - Laura Brandenburg
The quality of the product, and the benefit it brings, will be remembered long after the project budget and deadlines have been forgotten about. - Adrian Reed
So often organisations miss the opportunity to gain insight from their customers. They spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars eliciting the views of strangers through market research… and they miss the insight that their own customers are giving them for free! They spend millions on change programs, delivering new IT systems and new processes and ‘bake in’ the inefficiencies in their existing processes, without considering what their existing customers are telling them. - Adrian Reed
