Posted: November 30th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
Communications is, of course, the single biggest indicator of project success or failure. As project managers, we have to think about all aspects of communications, including how much, to whom, in what format, etc. We also get pretty savvy at knowing which communication channels to use.
A lot of project work gets done through informal, undocumented communication channels. This is not only OK, it’s actually necessary. Imagine if every conversation or information gathering effort we conducted required a documented plan. The fact is a lot of good data can be mined from the water cooler and coffee klatch gatherings.
Posted: November 15th, 2011 by Bob Prentiss. 2 Comments »
Hello there – BobtheBA here wishing you fantastic Holidays in advance. Yes, it really is that time of the year again! Where did the time go? Seems like yesterday when 2011 was full of plans, promise and new projects. Now, with less than 7 weeks to go everyone will be busy cramming (whoops – I meant implementing) projects and of course focused on family and friends during the Holiday(s) of your choice. So whatever you are celebrating be it Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanza, New Years, or something else, I thought I would share my B.A. Holiday Wish List for you. Many of you may not know (my students and some of my colleagues do) that I am actually the Santa Claus of Business Analysis. That’s right, I will know if your requirements have been naughty or nice so here are my top 5 things I wish for you during the Holidays (to remain on the nice list of course).
Posted: November 10th, 2011 by RichLarson. Comments »
Not every road to certification is the same, and some don’t go the way we plan. It’s gratifying to hear from people who have passed, and we get spontaneous notes frequently from successful CBAPs and PMPs. We love hearing from you! We also get emails from unsuccessful candidates, and do our best to offer advice or when appropriate, coaching or other tutoring. Here’s a success story that started off with hours of study, but a failed CBAP® exam, and ended with a successful 2nd attempt and obtaining the CBAP®.
Posted: November 8th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
I ran my first triathlon this past summer. My biggest concern going into the race was how I was going to hold up toward the end. Running is the last of the three events, and the one about which I was least confident. I wondered if I would be able to finish that last mile or if I would simply be so exhausted that I would not make it across the finish line. As it turns out, I was so invigorated by the experience and so excited about completing the race that the closer I got, the easier it actually became as I moved toward the finish line.
Posted: October 26th, 2011 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »
BobtheBA here, as I headed towards my vacation destination of Las Vegas I started to think about the wonderland of Business Analysis that Vegas surely had in store for me. When I travel I am always on the lookout to see how business analysis was and was not applied. I mean, think about it… the financial applications alone in a world where you are geared to lose has extreme business rules written all over it. For the record, I go to Vegas for the world-class restaurants and the shows but gambling does fascinate me and there is business analysis happening everywhere you look. However, the one thing that really caught my attention on this trip was the service and underlying competencies. This cannot be more important than in the food industry in Las Vegas where the economic downturn has turned up the competitive heat for business.
Posted: October 18th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
Recently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project moving in a constructive direction. She commented that she knew the success of the project was her responsibility, but she felt hamstrung in her ability to get what she needed from people. Even simple requests for information from external stakeholders went unanswered and resulted in project inertia.
I hear this from project managers on a regular basis and it always brings me back to one of the truisms in project management: The project manager is responsible for project success.
Posted: September 27th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
On every project there are things we know and things we don’t know – Knowns and Unknowns. Organizing your thoughts around those concepts can be a constructive approach to understanding a project as shown in the matrix.
The Known Knowns you handle via the plan, but what about those various flavors of Unknowns? How do you normally account for those things in the project? Often it’s with padding – estimates that include unidentified amounts of time and/or money just in case.
Posted: September 13th, 2011 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »
BobtheBA here and for the last several weeks I have found myself driving along in my car at about 4PM on Sunday afternoons strolling through my preset radio stations. Each time I would find the NPR show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! (with Peter Sagal and Carl Kassel). I do not remember making a conscious effort to find a way into my car and tune in at 4PM on Sundays but certainly each time I have, I was pleasantly surprised. On my last NPR drive I cannot say that I remember who was on the show or even what they were talking about but I do remember a phrase that caught my ear; “in radio, a good pause is used to give the listener time to picture what is being said”. This certainly made complete sense and I started to give some thought to Business Analysis efforts and the pause-ability that BAs need on the job.
As Business Analysts, it is in our nature to want to share everything we know. Often when we do so, we do so at a rapid pace and with a level of thoroughness that can only be described as impressive. Despite our thoroughness and our ability to disseminate the information quickly there are still those individuals that need to interrupt us and ask questions before we can cover everything. Why is that? There are of course several reasons but one possible answer to this is that we did not let them absorb at a rate where they could take in the information in a comfortable fashion. By comfortable I mean one where they can listen and paint a picture of what they are hearing. They ask questions because they are trying to connect the dots. One thing we can do Business Analysts is to develop some pause-ability. A well-timed pause during a presentation by a Business Analyst can go a long way. Actually, several well-timed pauses will go a long way but how many, and when?
There are a lot of different ways that a Business Analyst can utilize their pause-ability. I am a big fan of less is more coupled with the dramatic pause for extra effect. There are also the open-ended questions in which a natural pause follows. What about letting people know that you will pause for a few moments to let them think about what you said? Or let them know you will pause to gather your thoughts? On the flipside, if you use pauses excessively or without direction (the um, uh, oh, er… pauses) they can impact credibility so they really should be well thought out and purposeful. So why else would you pause? How does your pause-ability rate? What has worked for you?
Posted: September 6th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. 1 Comment »
My son’s hockey team won their last tournament of the summer season this past weekend. As the athletes came into the lobby from the locker room, everyone cheered, recognizing each individual contribution. Another mom made a comment out loud that many of us hockey parents think just about every time we see them come out of the locker room: “They’re so little!”
It’s truly amazing to see 9-year-olds play hockey at the level that this team plays. They skate on the ice as though they’re dancing on pavement. They handle a stick with astounding skill. They move the puck up and down the ice with agility that sometimes takes my breath away.
Posted: August 23rd, 2011 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »
Hello all – BobtheBA here and when we last left off we were exploring how innovation can be key to turning requirements trash into stakeholder treasure. The scenario we were exploring was a difficult stakeholder that was not forthcoming with their requirements. Your job (should you choose to accept it) was to improve your 1:1 interview process through innovation by looking at it through different eyes like those of a hostage negotiator. It may yield a different result or help you to be more prepared than what you thought possible.
