Solving 4 Barriers to Business Analysis Success

Bruce is the founder of ProjectManagementHacks.com, a resource for growing IT project managers.

  Business Analysis   Requirements Management  

Project managers and business analysts typically work together closely on projects. The project manager sets the overall direction, solves roadblocks and handles planning issues. In contrast, the business analyst deeply explores the business problem, maps processes and discovers requirements.

If the business analyst fails, the project manager will struggle to succeed. It’s the difference between a project plan that states “build a bridge” and “build a bridge that will carry two train lines, 1,000 pedestrians and 2,000 cars per hour.” Clear requirements are clearly important in delivering a valuable project.

If we take the premise that the project manager plays a role in clearing barriers and supporting the team, how can the project manager better support their business analyst? The answer is to look out for these barriers.

Barrier 1: The Wrong Approach to Requirements Development
How many times have business analysts been told, “Go gather the requirements from stakeholders”? And how often has the project team been frustrated by results that lack depth?

“What the stakeholders tell you initially may not be the real requirements,” explains Cheryl Lee, a business analyst consultant based in Toronto. “A few years ago, I had a stakeholder who asked the team to archive data. Well, ‘archive’ means …

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