How does feature benefit selling work? Suppose that you are purchasing a car. If the salesperson told you that the features are side-curtain airbags, fuel-injected cylinders, and a gas tank door on the right-hand side of the car, he has just explained the features. But what do you care? You care about the impact (or benefit) that it has for you. So, to sell you the car, the salesperson is going to tell you that the side-curtain airbags make the car safer if you are hit from the side. The fuel-injection makes a car’s acceleration smoother and has more dependable response – great for when you need extra passing power getting onto the highway. And a gas tank door on the right hand side? Safety minded for when you break down on the side of the road and you have to refill your tank – you are away from traffic (this was seriously the way that it was sold to me when I purchased my last car!)

How can we use this information to our advantage as BAs? If you explain how something that you are doing as a BA benefits the customer, you are far more likely to get buy-in from that stakeholder. Think of those items in your processes in which you experience stakeholder push-back. What are they? Now think about how those items provide value to your stakeholders. That is the benefit to them. When they understand the benefit that the item has for THEM, they are more likely to comply with your process.

For example, you need to have stakeholders review a business requirements document prior to your final review. Think about how having them review the document prior to the review benefits THEM. Does it make for a better quality document and a better delivered product for them? Does it make the best use of their time in the review session? Will it help uncover misunderstandings prior to the final document? Probably a combination of these.

Make sure that you keep track of your successes. By understanding the benefits and values that “sell” your “features” to your stakeholders, use that to build upon your stakeholder analysis. By understanding the business, and what provides them value and benefits, you will be more successful in getting them to align to your processes.

So, do you explain the benefits of a feature to your stakeholders, or do you leave it with “because that’s the process, that’s why”?

The other one says, “Your finger?”

“One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean [anything]”

“But, what is the ‘one thing?’”

“[smiles] That’s what you have to find out.”

The scene is from the movie City Slickers, and the conversation takes place between Jack Palance and Billy Crystal. While they are talking about life, I use this scene as an allegory for BA communication. I have often been in the role of a mentor to other BAs when they express their frustration at not being able to obtain the information that they need from stakeholders. BAs explain that they just can’t get the stakeholders to answer in time. I respond that they have not found the “one thing” that will help the communication with that stakeholder.

There’s a recent discussion going on at LinkedIn regarding key strengths of a BA, and out of 104 responses, at least 25-30 discuss communication. From my opinion, the BA is the lynchpin of communication on a project, and needs to be able to find that “one thing” that enables effective communication. As a BA mentor, here are some tips to facilitate effective communication and find that “one thing”

1. Make it about the stakeholder. Remember, your role as a BA centers around the bridge between business and technology. Talk to your audience about what is important to them, not to you. Don’t start off talking about what you need from them, start off by finding out what they need. Talk to them about their business problems and their “pain points.” They understand the difficulties that they face in their line of work, but may not necessarily be aware of all the aspects of what it takes to do your job as a BA. It’s your job to facilitate that discussion.Example – when I train BAs, I ask two questions: “What do you want to get out of this training?” and “What are the problems and ‘pain points’ that you experience in your job?” When I ask about which question is easier to answer, they always tell me that it’s the second one. I explain that it’s logical because the first question targets the instructor and the instructor’s needs while the second question targets the students and their needs. By making it about them, they can answer the question much easier.
2. Switch to their best mode of communication. Not everybody prefers the same mode of communication. Some like the phone, others prefer face-to-face interaction, and still others like e-mail. When trying to elicit information from stakeholders, and it’s not working, try switching to a different communication method. If you cannot get someone to answer your repeated e-mails, try a different technique. Try a phone call instead – that channel is considered more personal than e-mail, and it may just work better. Or try a face-to-face meeting with them. The important thing is that you are contacting them in the way that they need to be contacted. Sure, sometimes it may seem like you are stroking their ego, but ultimately remember that your mission is to facilitate the conversations and communications. Doing it in whatever way that you can to make the project successful will only ensure your success as well as the project success.
3. Look for that connection that makes you a trusted agent. Since you are in a position to elicit information from stakeholders, you need to get them to open up and see you as someone who can help them get their job done. How do you do that when they see the statement “Hello, I’m from IT and I’m here to help” as ironic? Well, aside from making the communication about them, you need to establish trust as quickly as possible. So I suggest that you look for something that has nothing to do with the project, and open up with a connection that you can find with the stakeholder. How do you know what they are interested in? One way is to look at what they have hanging on their wall, or a picture on their desk. If they put something like that on display, that is what is important to them.Once, I had to elicit information from a high-powered commercial real estate broker. This was not the first time that he was involved in CRM elicitation, and the time that he would spend with me would take away from his sales time, and I was only allotted a  30-minute meeting. So, I expected a very negative session. Upon walking into his office, I saw a large photo on his wall of a tropical island that I recognized as Trunk Bay in St John. Instead of getting into the elicitation, I told him that I recognized the photo. He asked if I had ever been there, and I said yes, and I asked him the same. Well, for the next 20 minutes, we discussed his scuba diving experiences there and I talked about my snorkeling. Instead of the 30 minutes that I had been promised, I had 90 minutes with him. By talking about his needs and his interests, I became someone that he could trust. We had opened the line of communication from what I initially expected to be a negative session.

As BAs, we have to constantly be on the lookout for that “one thing that helps facilitate communication between you and your audience, and establishes you as a trusted agent with your stakeholders.

The first speaker was Lee Spelman, a managing director of JP Morgan Asset Management. Her talk was on the economic outlook and investment strategies. Her personal expertise is in the technology sector and she recommended companies building cloud computing solutions are a good investment. She noted that non-technology companies should not have to be technology experts to use technology. Cloud computing  allows users to have less hardware and infrastructure locally, instead accessing what they need via a cloud.

The second speaker was Michael Hugos, author of Business Agility: Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World, during the IIBA Books, Authors webinar series. Michael also predicted the rise of cloud computing, and subsequent outsourcing of corporate technical support call centers.

Both of these predictions make sense as mobile devices become the norm. Users don’t need to know where their data is stored, or where their application software is physically stored.

This, like every technology innovation, has implications for business analysis. I honestly don’t know a lot about cloud computing but am going to spend some time learning more about it. It is very likely someone will ask me about it and I want to be able to have an intelligent conversation. This is a good example of how BAs need to stay current with new trends in both technology and their industry. As BAs we must be educated enough to have a conversation about any new innovation and how it might better support our business stakeholders. As with all of our analysis work we don’t need to know “HOW” to build it, but we do need to know “WHAT” it is.

Executives develop strategies and overall goals for success.  These strategies and goals get realized through implementing projects.  Business Analysts have the critical role and responsibility to ensure the solution implemented via the project meets the company’s goals.  Are you feeling it? 

Besides having a good grasp of the techniques available to you as a BA there are two strategies of your own you should employ to make a positive impact.

1)      Lift your head out of the details and look where you are going.  Every now and then make sure your project is still aligned with the company goal(s) it is supporting.  If it is not, raise a flag to make the PM, your manager, and the business sponsor(s) aware.  You and your team should make adjustments to get the project re-aligned or push to have it canceled.  Stopping a project that no longer supports a company goal is a success, not a failure.

2)      Use the support network around you.  In the fast paced environment we work in there is not enough time for you to come up with solutions to the challenges you will encounter on your own. You do not have to do this alone.  At your company you are surrounded by an endless number of subject matter experts, other BAs, project managers, and a wealth of technical knowledge.  That is just the beginning. Look outside of your company and join and participate in local professional organizations like the IIBA.  There is no need to stop there.  Why stay local, when you can go global?  There are so many online communities where you can connect, interact, and learn from like minded people around the world.  Communities like BA Times, Modern Analyst, and a number of LinkedIn groups are great place to get answers to the business analysis questions you need answered.  Think about how valuable you are to a company by not only bringing your knowledge and expertise, but also bringing expertise from around the world.

Being a part of the future success of your company is wonderful.  Even though there is a lot of pessimism with the current economy it is an exciting time to be a business analyst.

To our success,

Kupe

Let me give you just a few of the reasons that I LOVE status reporting!

 1. BAs get the opportunity to “toot their own horn”. We all do hundreds of little tasks every week, in addition to our big projects but often only the big things are noticed. A status report is an opportunity for you to let your manager know about the other important, yet small tasks you are doing. For example, when one of your past business stakeholders calls to ask your advice and you spend a half of an hour doing some research for them you are improving your organzation’s business. Let everyone know!

2. Status reports are a great record/history of work done and time needed. I don’t know about you but I don’t remember everything that I did last year. When I want to go back to review the time needed to perform a certain task, or remind myself of what type of projects I was involved I always have a great, detailed record available. This is very useful at performance review time and when its time to recertify for your IIBA CBAP and PMP. Status reports are also a great resource if you have to update your resume.

3. Reviewing your list of assigned projects each week forces you to stay focused on your priorities. Your status report should include due dates so that you can measure your progress on large tasks. Describing the work that you did during the previous week also helps you to plan for the next week. The report reminds you to do things that had gotten pushed aside during a critical time.

4. Best of all, making notes about the work that you have accomplished gives you a good feeling. We sometimes get too focused on all of the things that we haven’t finished and forget about all of the work we completed. Pat yourself on the back at the end of the week and write a status report for yourself!

My take is that templates are helpful to the extent that they provide consistency but become problematic when BA’s can’t see outside their parameters. For example, if I need to do a Context Dataflow Diagram to scope my project and there isn’t a place in the template to put it – does that mean I shouldn’t do it? I would argue, no – we need to use whatever analysis techniques help us think outside the box and apply critical thinking skills to our projects.

I recommend thinking of the template as a guideline but don’t be limited by it. Use the techniques and format that is going to help you communicate more effectively with your stakeholders and elicit all the core requirement components (data, process, business rules, external agents).

Thanks, Barb

Day 3 - Tuesday October 28, 2008 

Ronald Ross gave a keynote "From Here to Agility" today.  He began by reminding the audience that BPM (Business Process Management) continues to be very important when businesses want to re-engineer processes for more efficiency and value, but that it is really decisioning that gives each business their competitive edge. When he discussed decisioning he is really talking about a superset of business rules – those rules that are really strategic and rules that need to change often.

This comment seemed to be echoed by many presentations during the day. Most of the presenters when discussing business rules were referring how companies make decisions, the process they use to decide, the criteria used and how fast they can make decisions really gives the company the most edge. Processes are more static. As we teach about essential processes (what are the essential activities that need to be performed irrespective of how these activities will be enabled by any technology): the essential steps of a process will not change – how we implement them will change. He takes that even further to say that even processes that are implemented do not change that often except for the decisions we make during those processes. Those decisions are much more dynamic and change frequently as the landscape changes based on the economy, competitors, new customers, and the types of products and services sold. What he and many in the conference echoed is that anything that changes often like decisions need to be pulled out of the process into a rule. Every body knows in large businesses that it often takes IT several months to incorporate changes into a system. With today's rules-based engines (RBEs) a business person or any qualified product specialist like the business analyst can author, test, and implement a decision in a few days instead of months. This allows companies to be more agile.

My takeaway was that analysts need to consider with each requirement they capture if the content will change often over time. If it may, then it probably needs to be pulled out into a rule repository, segregated from the process model or even the data model and later put into a Rules engine (if it will be automated) where it can be managed and changed much faster.

Developing a CoE is not easy.  Bob and Angela do a wonderful job of explaining the reasons for developing a CoE, the various levels of a CoE, and real world examples to help you get started on your journey.   Enjoy the presentation and leave comments here on your thoughts of the presentation as well as your CoE experiences.