how business analysts are catalysts for business change
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by James Archer at the "big pICTure" meetup of @itworks in Brussels on April 2nd, 2014. James explains why and how business analysts are good catalysts for successful business change.TRANSCRIPT
How business analysts are catalysts for business
change
James Archer
The bridge
The context
Challenge - Process
Advice
Different(levels(of(leadership(Business Analysis and Leadership4
● Organization. While many business analysts see no need to look beyond their immediate project, outstanding ones will always have one eye on the organization they work within. They realize that, in order to make change stick, they need to understand and engage widely across their whole organization. This requires an understanding of the entire system, the ability to deal with power and politics, skills in working across boundaries of culture, and an understanding of both strategy and commercial realities.
● The wider world. The very best business analysts realize that they have a lot to give to the wider world, starting with their own professional colleagues. From writing articles to presenting at conferences, they give back to their profession and, in the process, may be recognized as thought leaders. Others serve on professional associations such as the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) around the world, supporting new analysts and developing the profession in many ways. Still more engage with others through networks, within and across companies and on social media, grappling with dilemmas and solving problems together.
F IGURE I .1 The diff erent levels of leadership
BA
Organization
Project
Self
Wider world
01 Intro.indd 401 Intro.indd 4 5/13/2013 3:33:30 PM5/13/2013 3:33:30 PM
Self Project Organization Wider World
The �T� of skills and competencies
Intra and interpersonal skills
Busin
ess
kn
ow
led
ge
Tec
hn
ica
l ski
lls
Environment / climate
Product
Process
People
A systemic approach
© Creative Problem Solving Group Inc.
Climate is different to culture
DIMENSION DESCRIPTION
Challenge/ Involvement
The degree to which people are involved in daily operations, long-term goals, and visions
Freedom The independence in behaviour exerted by people
Trust/Openness The emotional safety in relationships
Idea-Time The amount of time people can (and do) use for elaborating new ideas
Playfulness/ Humour The spontaneity and ease displayed within the workplace
Conflict The presence of personal and emotional tensions
Idea-Support The ways in which new ideas are treated
Debate The occurrence of encounters and disagreements between viewpoints, ideas, differing experiences and knowledge
Risk-Taking The tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity exposed in the workplace
The 9 dimensions of climate
Brown cow
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
Peter Drucker
When policy gets ahead of itself: The �tragic tale� of the Integrated Children�s System
The story
An example of just one mandatory form
Brown cow
Model the way
Creating solutions that: resonate or attune or reflect
or enable the organizations values
Understanding oneself to understand the organization
Brown cow Social workers are skilled professionals
We need to support them in doing difficult jobs
© 2013, Perspectiv LLP. All rights reserved. Working out ways to high performance.
Inspire a shared vision
(Business(Analysis(tools(can(
help(turn(ideas(and(visions(of(others(into(prac7cal(solu7ons(
The(more(a(project(is(linked(to(strategy(and(visions(of(the(future(the(be>er((
Role of business case
Articulated importance of tools and conditions to support social workers
Fear - Government plans unworkable and incompatible with RBKC
Risk - RBKC requirements incompatible with national requirements
Challenge the process
Search for opportunities Look outwards Seize the initiative
Experiment and take risks Most innovations from people closest to the work
Janusian thinking Creative ideas from contradictory ideas Looked outwards and inwards - use best of ICS (rigour and structure) with strong sense of supporting social work practice - individual needs of child within family context
Innovation = new and useful
How to make complex processes intuitive
Enable others to act
The key is how well is a change adopted - NOT the quality of the solution
Share knowledge Facilitate relationships Break down silos
The stretchy text box
Box to enter text into You never know if this is an important question for this child. Therefore an expanding text box became a really
Brown cow Make it easy for social workers to enter information (
Stretchy text box (
Copyright © the Atlantic Systems Guild Limited
• Functional requirements are things the product must do
• Non-functional requirements are properties that the product must have
• A constraint is a restriction on the design or scope of the product
.. some aspect of a product�s content or behaviour, which is needed to support the business
A requirement is..
Copyright © the Atlantic Systems Guild Limited
• Functional requirements:
! Technical skills
! Business knowledge
• Non-functional requirements:
! Inter and intra personal skills
! Leadership skills
• Constraint:
! Self-imposed
Requirements for a Business Analyst are...
www.volere.co.uk www.baleadership.com Twitter - @jamesarchers [email protected]