Most of the situations, project managers end up in taking business analyst roles. Can a hard core PM do justification for the BA role? Saving Changes...
Can they? Sure, if they have the prerequisite skills & competencies. But is this a good idea on any project of moderate or high complexity? Probably not as they will be "stuck in the middle" and might put the project at risk by playing a dual role.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
A hard core PM, cannot do justice to a BA role because a BA role requires an intense solution focus. It requires a very detailed definition of the product/solution or result to be delivered by the project whereas a PM would be concentrating more on the activities that are required to deliver the product,solution or result.
BA focuses on the end result - that is , the "What" of the project whereas PM focuses on the the end result as well as the means to the end, that is the "How".
I cringe when i see a job advertisement with a title "PM/BA"
Both these roles must exist on a project and be done by different people.
A good article by Mark Mullaly has focus on the distinction between the two roles
Mark StewardDirector| Arrow Zee AustraliaSydney, Nsw, Australia
Depends on a number of factors, project size, complexity etc. Some smaller projects cannot justify the cost of both a PM and BA, so they look for someone to do the same job and other project roles too. In these cases treat each project on its merits. Look carefully, and make sure that someone is not trying to cut corners and save few dollars by thinking they can combine the roles for the sake of it. I have seen this in organisations that have low levels of PM maturity or with people who are trying to shoehorn a project into a budget. It works both ways in that sometimes they will hire a BA and get them to PM the project as well. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Yes but it would depend on the profile of the said PM. A PM might not necessarily have the analytical skills or mindset required to be a good BA but if he/she does then there is no reason why not. I'm not sure what 'hardcore' means and if I am one but being a PM/BA has been the story of my life for many years. Also agree with Kiron that you might not want somebody do both at the same time on a complex/larger project. I've only ever done both on small projects but frequently move to one or the other on large complex project. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
For people like me that participated from the genesis of business analyst role that was a "normal" situation in the past that in some places still persist. The problem with that is the focus or mindset are totally different. While a business analyst must "left people fly" to define the solution the project manager must "land them" in terms of scope/time/cost/quality. Some of us, because the domain where we worked, did not have problem with that. Today, there is a tendency to split both roles mainly with the creation of BRM role. Saving Changes...
I am doing ERP related projects since many years and the BA role and understanding was always an inherent part of my PM understanding and working responsiblilty. However, I experienced a couple of projects where it was necesary to have separated BA roles in the project due to size and complexity. I am in line with above comments. Saving Changes...
