Understanding the Whole and Not Just the Parts

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Oh The Joys of Requirement Walk Throughs - Part 1

This week has been quite a busy week as I was part of facilitating walk throughs. What made these walk throughs a little more challenging for me is that I had to walk through requirements that I did not write nor had all the background on how these requirements came about. I am currently in a requirements manager role for this particular project where I provide leadership and direction to the business analysts on the project. Sometimes it's challenging enough to just put out fires and provide that direction, in addition to filling in gaps when needed. I have found though that if you have built great relationships with those on the project team, most people with help you in any way they can in the situation I was in. So here is how the week leading up to walk throughs went.

1. Since there was another large project doing walk throughs the same week of my project that utilized some of the same resources, there was some coordination that needed to be done between myself and the other requirements manager, as well as the impacted parties. Agenda's had to be created to outline where the overlap was. Once everyone agreed on how to accommodate the overlap, I worked on my agenda to where each business analyst would present all of their topics at one time, meaning in the same session or sessions, taking into account timezones. We are quite a virtual team with business analysts in other timezones as well as our business partners in other timezones.

2. I then worked with the business analysts to define the plan on how we conduct our virtual walk throughs. Each person would essentially bring up their own business requirements template and present their requirements. Once each business analyst completed their sections I would incorporate into the final document as approved requirements. We use SharePoint for project documentation but i wanted to be constantly updating the online version during the walk throughs so i did not want to do the checking in and out. Yes I did multi-task while walk throughs occurred.

3. The PM sent out the agenda to the broader project team so everyone knew our plan and what sessions they would want to attend.

So at this point we are prepared for walk throughs to begin...but are we?

Look for another blog post that discusses some of the things that can occur during a walk through and how you can handle those situations to reach your outcome. These will be real life experiences i encountered.

Regards,

Paula Bell

Top 10 BA Trends for 2011

I love checking out YouTube videos and I stumbled across a video that was posted by ESI.  This video talks about the top 10 BA trends.  You can find the actual video here. However, I wanted to outline the trends here.

1. Business Architecture
2. BA & Cloud Computing
3. RMD (Requirements Management & Development): Delivering Smart Business Perspective
4. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
5. Agile success means breaking tradition
6. Business analysis is recognized as critical to change management
7. Resurgence of centers of excellence
8. Business analysis is essential to regaining market share
9. Business analysis continues to struggle to define itself
10. Business analysis requires better balance competencies (soft skills and technical skills)

I find this these trends are dead on and a lot of what organizations are dealing with. I felt this was definitely worthy of sharing.

Less is Sometimes More

Sorry for the late post as I have been sick but what I have been reminded this week is less is more. It is sometimes very hard as a business analyst to get out of the details sometimes to speak at a higher level. For example, have you found it hard to tailor your documentation to fit the audience in which you are talking or presenting to? If you are presenting to a senior leader in your organization you probably don't want to show up with a 50 page document when you can get the same information across in a 4 page PowerPoint presentation. Typically senior leaders or executives only want the high level bullet points but expect you to speak to the details if they should have questions. However, your technology team may need the 50 page document to understand what you want them to do. Now I know my agilists just crinched but I'm just trying to make a point. Another area of topic is business process modeling. A common question is, "How much detail should I flow?". What I have found is business analysts need to be really skilled on reading your audience, understanding the team dynamics and understanding the level of content your targeted audiences need. Getting out of the detail can be challenging because we are in the detail daily but we seriously need to understand how to get out of th detail and be concise. This is the point of twitter, concise messages. If I ask a question, I don't need you to go to Brazil, Argentina and then back to the United States. I need you to stay in the United States and in the city.

Some of the tips I have learned to become better at this are as follows:
1. Understand your audience - understand what your audience likes to see as far of level of detail. This means getting to know the people you work with. This doesn't mean get on a personal level but get to know pet peeves and what style of communication each individual on your team prefers. Yes, this is the power of interpersonal skills.
2. Be concise when appropriate - sometimes you need detail but be concise where you can. Remember, tweet!
3. Have a peer review your work that is mot engaged in your project - if the peer can't understand then your message is not clear. If it doesn't flow logically or make sense to your peer then there is a good chance it won't be clear to your audience.
4. Prepare - prepare for your presentations in advance, if you can. Don't wait to the last minute.
5. Be prepared - ensure you do understand the details IF asked for detail so you can speak to it. Otherwise stay concise and to the point. That will eliminate confusion and unnecessary swirling.

I have seen business analysts struggle because it's hard to get out of the detail but as business analysts we have to be flexible and meet the needs of all parties involved. We have a hard job and huge responsibilities but we are HUGE assets to the organizations in which we work.

Go forth and conquer!

Regards,
Paula Bell

Communication is Key

One of the most important skills a BA should possess is communication. I put this skill higher than writing the requirements because if you cannot effectively communicate you will not capture or understand the business needs. Another skill is to understand how to communicate with the many different audiences you will work with daily. I have found that if you find how the other person likes to be communicated to you will be more successful. I have also found that no matter how you communicate some people will never get it. No matter how specific you are, whether it be task assignments or getting your point across it's as though you are speaking another language. I write this post to ask you to think of the following when you conduct your business analysis as these tips have proven successful to me:

1. Understand how each individual likes to be communicated with
2. Adjust your communication style to fit your audience
3. If you find that written communication doesn't work then try verbal communication
4. Watch the tone in which you communicate, it's mot what you say but how yo say it
5. Less is more - be concise but get your point across
6. Avoid phrases such as "You need to do..." this puts individuals on the defensive
7. Paraphrase what you understood the person to say to ensure you understand
8. Proof read written communication
9. Do not respond based on emotion
10. If an individual gets loud then you get soft. Don't add fuel to the fire.

These ten concepts have proven successful in my business analysis career. Hopefully, these can help others.

Regards,
Paula Bell

The Bat

Last Wednesday we had quite a drama filled night.  We had a bat in our house.  It first started Wednesday morning when my daughter was getting ready for school.  She walked out of the bathroom to her room and ran back to my husband in the bathroom advising there was a big bug in her room and she was scared.  My husband went in her room and had the children go downstairs.  My son came down stairs as I was fixing my lunch and asked me, "What was that?"  My response was that I was getting milk out of the refrigerator.  My husband then came downstairs and advised that they saw a bat.  As I completed fixing my lunch I had to head out to work.  So my husband stayed with the kids and contacted Animal Control.  When Animal Control got to our house, of course the bat couldn't be found, so my husband and Animal Control figured the bat left the way the little critter came in.  So we continued on with life.  Later that night around 9:15 pm I was on my laptop in my bedroom and I saw this thing fly from the bathroom to my daughter's bedroom.  I got up and started to walk out my bedroom and I saw it fly again.  I started screaming frantically, jumping up and down.  I got the kids up out of bed, nearly dragging my son mind you, and ran down the stairs like a mad woman losing one of my slippers in the process and totally forgetting how I was dressed.  I ran out the door with my kids and we got in our car.  I then frantically called my husband who was wrapping up work and pretty much told him that I was not going back in that house until that thing was gone.  He hung up from me and called Animal Control.  As he called Animal Control my son proceeded to throw up in my car because when he gets scared, his stomach gets nervous.  So I had to hurry get him out of the car.  Mind you none of us are appropriately dressed at this time either.  I get my son under control and my husband calls me back.  As we are talking Animal Control is pulling up to the house.  Thank goodness it was a woman because again, I was nowhere appropriately dressed.  She laughed at me and asked me, "Why are you in the car?" I proceeded to tell her that I am petrified of bats and so are my kids and I had no intention of going back in that house until that little critter was caught. She went upstairs and two minutes later she came downstairs with the bat captured.  I breathed a sigh of relief as she left and my husband pulled up. Then my mind started playing tricks on me.  I started thinking, "What if there are more in the house?"  So the next day I called a Bat Exterminator and on Saturday he came and did a thorough examination of our house and advised we do not have a colony but there are some areas that should be sealed so they don't come back.  Of course, I got right on that and hopefully we will get someone out here this weekend to seal up those entry points.

As you can see this was quite a drama filled day.  I'm sure the bat didn't want to be confined to my house any more than I wanted him here but this little critter didn't know where to go as you could tell it was scared.  How many of us in the business analysis world are the bat and how many of us are frantic Paula.  

The Bat

•  The bat knew he was not in the normal environment he would like to be.  How many times as business analysts do we feel we don't fit in the environment that is thrown at us?  Sometimes the projects we are handed down do not put is in the most comfortable positions, especially those that are politically charged.  Like the bat we want an escape and we want to move as fast as we can to get to that escape, hoping for someone to rescue us like Animal Control.  Sometimes, unfortunately we don't get rescued and we need to deal with it.  Then we are like the bat that can blend in so well in the environment that it makes it hard to find the little critter.  Sometimes we have to blend in, without sacrificing our integrity, to get the job done opposed to resisting.  Something’s you just can't change so instead of taking the approach of fighting it, find a way to get around that challenge to get the job done.
• For the BA's that are trying to get into the field you may feel as though you don't fit.  You're flying around like the bat trying to find a department to land in so you can start your career but it appears that no one give you a chance because you don't have the experience.  So you need someone to rescue you as well.  Your rescue is the network you create for people to speak on your behalf as well as any mentors you can find to help open up opportunities for you so you can land.  It's so critical to network and find individuals who can help you understand the discipline.

 Frantic Paula

• How many times as BA's do we feel things are out of our control that we want to pull our hair like I did when I went on a screaming and jumping rampage?  That was not the best reaction to the situation and I know I didn't help my children in staying calm at all as my son's stomach didn't hold.  As BA's we have to watch our reactions to situations as our reaction will funnel down to the rest of the team.  Sometimes we start fires we have no reason to start because of how we react to a challenge.  Before reacting, think.  Sometimes the situation is not as bad as you think.
• Relax, relate and release

Though this bat situation was dramatic and I'm still not totally comfortable until I get everything sealed up in my house it taught me a few things about myself.  My reaction to the situation was not that great though it turned out fine.  Be encouraged my fellow BA's because just like the bat there is someone out there to rescue you and things are not always as bad as they seem.

Regards,

Paula Bell

www.paulaabell.com

Consistency

One thing I like to be is consistent as consistency is extremely critical as that helps to shape a person's credibility. With that being said, I have not been as consistent as I would like to be on my blog. So my goal is to update my blog every Wednesday with something that I have learned each week.

Thank you for following me as I want this blog to be a forum where we can all come together and share experiences and best practices not just around business analysis but around life in general.

Regards,
Paula Bell