Andy JordanPresident| Roffensian Consulting S.A.Cherry Grove, AB, Canada
It's critically important for business analysts and project managers to be able to work together, but what suggestions do people have for best practices to work together? I believe that it's important for both the PM and BA to understand not just the project details but also the business drivers behind the project. The BA and PM can then share that with other team members, but what else needs to be done? Saving Changes...
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arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
There needs to be a shared documentation tool for transparency and better understanding of project expectations. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
From year 1990 I´ve been working with the PMI and the IIBA regarding this topic. Because of that I have written several articles and I have performed conferences around the world inside the PMI World Tour talking about that. But today I have to say that the best source to understand that is the PMI´s Practice Guide for Business Analysis. Saving Changes...
I would suggest to have the business cases, use cases and stories should be shared between PM, BA and other team members. Sometimes, it is not possible to share everything related to business case with every one so it is advised to have information available over a shared tool with restrictive access.
In case of IT projects, it is very helpful to have this information available to QA Engineers. They can link their test cases as well. Based on organizational guidelines, a tool or product can be used to implement it.
BAs should be doing the sessions with PM and whole team to present cases during kickoffs and as and then there are amendments.
Continuous formal/informal interactions are very helpful. Saving Changes...
the organization shall increase the awareness between both BA and PM, that they complete each other. the cooperation shall be a major duty of the BA and PM in their job description in order to enforce the cooperation and collaboration. Saving Changes...
Steven ZacharyDirector| Alberta Health ServicesCalgary, Alberta, Canada
There seems to be two parts to this question:
1) "What suggestions do people have for best practices to work together?"
Set expectations early, leave ego at the door, participate as equals. The PM is typically responsible for the budget but that to often gets confused for functional management relationship. The BA is an essential peer of the PM and will make his/her life much easier. Each role has great strength and each should play to their roles to maximize project effectiveness.
Building confidence in each other, influencing with facts, not emotion, delivering value, being respectful and humble are all ways we can individually influence this. No silver bullet.
2) "I believe that it's important for both the PM and BA to understand not just the project details but also the business drivers behind the project. "
This is so so so important. The driver behind, or better yet, the value behind any work should be well understood. I like to say if you can't elevator pitch to me the business value and how you are supporting it, you are going down a dangerous path. Saving Changes...
