How Important is it to Become an Advocate for Business Analysis?

 

Very important! As Cheryl Lee said last week, “Business analysts (BAs) are sometimes seen as the annoying siblings who ask a lot of silly questions that hinder progress on projects. Organizations are sometimes unsure on how to leverage business analysis in order to deliver successful outcomes.” 

Let’s face it, business analysis is an aspect of initiatives that sometimes gets shortened or skipped. It’s not that business analysis is unimportant; some just believe other work is more important.

Finding some root causes

So why does this happen? Those of us who already know the value of business analysis do not need to be convinced. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession In-Depth Report on Requirements Management tells us that the #2 reason why projects fail is poor requirements, where most business analysis is focused. Many of us (project managers, business analysts, testers, trainers, developers, etc.) understand how important business analysis is. So, are there just too few of us? 

I recently went to a meeting on land conservation, where the very inspirational keynote speaker, Dr. M. Sanjayan, had a wonderful message from which we can learn. 

To summarize, he said, as an advocate for a cause, be careful that you’re not just talking to others who are already convinced. Instead, focus on those who do not yet care as much. Help them know why—from their perhaps skeptical perspective—it is in their best interest to care.  Dr. Sanjayan used an interesting turn of phrase—rather than “how we can save nature”, he focused on “how nature can save us”.

So I would say we also need to direct our message to those who are not yet convinced about the importance of business analysis and frame it in terms which directly impact the folks to whom we are speaking.  Promote the idea that business analysis is not just “nice to have”, but rather “something you can’t be without.”  

So what can YOU do?

Here are a few ideas, hoping that you have more to share ::-)  (No, that’s not a mistake in my smiley; mine always wear glasses ::-)).

• Consider setting up a forum so that those who already know the value of business analysis can share ideas and experiences.Brainstorm a list of folks who need to learn more about the value of business analysis and what topics would be of interest to them and invite a wider audience to the forum.
• Set up a fun in-person or virtual event where folks can try business analysis techniques on non-work problems to see how business analysis can clarify ideas. Visual modeling techniques are particularly appealing. For example, how about a process model for how to coordinate a trip by your hiking club? Or a little data model to structure the information kept about your book club?
• Have a presentation or roundtable discussion at a local PMI chapter about how BA/PM collaboration can support successful project work. For ideas, check out the collaboration points in PMI’s Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide (free for PMI members to download!).
• Cheryl created a wonderful BA Community in her Ontario PMI Chapter.  You can do the same in your chapter and invite people inside and outside the chapter.
• Set up an executive forum where executives can learn from a speaker to gain more top-down recognition and sponsorship for business analysis.One of the agile user groups to which I belong has a yearly executive half-day meeting where executives present to executives. One attendee recently reported that his exec immediately latched on to what the presenter provided and went on to convey the message to all of his reports.That’s powerful stuff!

Your thoughts? What topics would you suggest to advocate for business analysis to the as-yet-unconvinced? Looking forward to learning from all of you ::-).