Excerpt:

The start of a new year provides a psychological “fresh start” and an opportunity to reflect on past successes and future challenges. However, when it comes to personal development there are so many opportunities. The world really is your oyster, but with limited time and resources it can be difficult to know where to aim!

Traditional thinking leads us to focus our training and development activities purely around perceived weaknesses.  Whilst it is inevitably important to ensure that critical weaknesses are addressed, there are massive opportunities for us to further develop our strengths so that we “shine” and stand out from the crowd.

With this in mind, I’m going to try an experiment and build my development plan differently this year.  Interested?  I’ll explain further below…..

Focus on the stars, not the monkeys!

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/what-skills-will-you-develop-in-2012-focus-on-the-stars-not-the-monkeys/

You wouldn’t overrule a professional pilot… So why overrule a business change professional?

“Imagine the scene. It’s 22:30, and an aircraft is preparing to take off for a long haul flight. In the cockpit, the captain and first officer are busy carrying out their final pre-flight checks. They check the weather, the fuel levels and a whole range of technical dials and indicators. They start to map out a detailed flight plan.

All of a sudden, the CEO of the airline bursts in through the cockpit door.

“What the hell are you guys doing? I want this aircraft in the air ASAP.”

The pilot looks aghast: “But sir, without sufficient checks………….”

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:
 

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/stop-the-project-plan-crash-you-are-the-expert/

This is a subject I’m passionate about.  All too often, Business Analysts are seen as little more than “stenographers” who write down what stakeholders say.  The reality is different — we can add value at every stage of the project.  The earlier the engagement the better!

Not all senior stakeholders understand the value of business analysis

You can listen to the recording here:

Adrian Reed on BASummit.com : Hints & Tips for promoting the Value of the BA Role with Senior Stakeholders [5 Minute MP3, 5Mb]

I’d love to hear your views.  What tactics have you used to ensure that senior stakeholders understand the breadth & depth of the BA role?

To find out more about BA Summit, visit www.basummit.com

Taking an extended break can help gain focus on what is really important

“However much you enjoy your job, chances are that you have some days where you start to wonder exactly why you chose business analysis as a career.  As BAs, there is no doubt that we feel the pressure now and again – whether it’s from a screaming programme manager, or perhaps just the pressure we put on ourselves to deliver on time despite the unexpected adversity that tends to hide in the deepest darkest corner of complex projects.

Taking an extended break can help gain focus on what is really important…..”

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/keeping-the-focus-personal-reflection-on-my-two-month-sabbatical/

Organisations should beware of the warning signs and avoid "The Solution Illusion"

The Solution Illusion occurs when organisations buy into some kind of solution (perhaps an IT system, or an outsourcing contract) without fully understanding the problem or business need that they are trying to address.  Without a thorough understanding of the problem domain, it’s almost impossible to maximise the potential benefits. This leads to projects and initiatives that get cancelled, and projects that don’t deliver the expected benefits.  In a worst-case scenario, an organization may end up implementing an expensive solution or IT system that is far more complex than it needs, yet still does not resolve the organizations issues.

The Solution Illusion often results in people and organisations assuming that because something is expensive, enticing and “en vogue” that it must be an improvement that will solve just about any conceivable problem.

The (alleged) £7 Billion Turkey

There are many real-life examples of The Solution Illusion occurring in organisations large and small.   Take the well-publicised example of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) IT Care Record project, which was initiated to provide nationwide electronic access to patient records.  A National Audit Office (NAO) report from May 2011 implies that the original project had not taken adequate consideration of the local business requirements/capacity, and talks about additional customisation being required and disagreement with suppliers over substantial “new requirements” during the project.

A likely cause of this situation is that the problem domain was not fully understood at the outset, leading to misunderstandings about what functionality would be delivered.  Could this be a real-world example of The Solution Illusion in practice?  Either way, the resulting report makes a sobering read:

“….we conclude that the £2.7 billion spent on care records systems so far does not represent value for money, and we do not find grounds for confidence that the remaining planned spend of £4.3 billion will be different.”[1]

At the time of writing, an official statement has been made confirming that the programme will be dismantled as “it is not fit to provide the modern IT services that the NHS needs.” [2]

Avoiding The Solution Illusion

As management and business change professionals, it’s important that we take the opportunity to step back, understand and define the problem domain, long before we examine potential solutions.  We need to work collaboratively to avoid knee-jerk reactions that don’t actually address the underlying business need.  And sometimes we must slow down and reflect, before we speed up to deliver.

This is one area where the tools and techniques from the world of Business Analysis can add a huge amount of value.  These tools will help us understand the problem in terms of the process, people and organization. In many cases, we can get from ‘alleged’ solution to ‘actual’ problem by asking a series of questions.  In some cases, it could be as simple as asking “why” several times until the underlying business need is elicited.  In more complex cases, it might be necessary to employ more rigorous and structured techniques.

However you proceed, asking robust, challenging and analytical questions up front help the project team to understand the business value and customer value that is required.  This measure of business and customer value should be used throughout the project to guide scope.  It informs the business case and ensures that everyone (From the Project Team, to the End User, to the Sponsor) understands the problem that is being solved. And once the business value and the business benefits of the project are understood, it is much easier to build a compelling business case.

Projects and initiatives that fall for The Solution Illusion have a higher risk of failure.  They might well deliver on time, and on budget, but if the problem was never understood, what are the odds of it being solved?

Have you observed The Solution Illusion?  I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.  Please go ahead and add a comment below.

“As a BA, joining a project that has been in force for some time can be challenging.  There are normally a whole host of previous decisions that have been made, and it’s likely that key members of the project team will have already formed a working relationship with each other.  You might not know the domain, the stakeholders or the business unit yet.  And on top of all of this, some projects are shrouded with secret and subversive politics…..”

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-avoid-project-land-mines/

“Have you ever considered to what extent your SMEs and stakeholders understand “projects” and the more broad discipline of “business change”? It’s something that’s rarely talked about, but I recently had an experience outside of work that has led me to re-evaluate the assumptions I make about stakeholders’ knowledge.

I’ll tell you my story….

I live and work in the UK, but recently had the opportunity to travel to New York City.  I was fortunate enough to have some spare time while I was there, and being a typical tourist I was extremely keen on visiting the Statue of Liberty.  I decided to get the subway.  Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever used the subway in NYC – but as an outsider it is extremely confusing………”

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/a-project-is-like-a-visiting-a-city-%E2%80%93-and-some-of-your-stakeholders-might-need-help/

“There’s an old expression that says ‘you get what you measure’. This may be a little clichéd, but it generally holds true within organizations and processes. It’s human nature to shoot for the objectives that have been set, and it is human nature to pay attention to the metrics which are being measured. If metrics and performance indicators are set incorrectly, process and systems break. Sometimes KPIs that were set with the intention of improving a situation actually have the direct opposite effect. And what’s worse, this poor customer experience gets ‘hidden’ because the wrong data gets captured.

The problem: Targets are often blunt and misinterpreted…….”

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/beware-you-get-what-you-measure/

I’ll be presenting on two topics : Firstly,  Stakeholder Engagement and Management and how it’s possible to ensure the right people are involved at the right times during projects.  Secondly I’ll be exploring the expanding BA role including how to sell the role to executive stakeholders.

I’m thoroughly looking forward to my trip.  See you there?

Adrian

Adrian’s speaking itinerary – August 2011

3 August @ 17:30 -  New York City

Making a difference in projects – the expanding BA role

Microsoft, 1290 Avenue of Americas, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10010-3602

4 August @ 17:30 -  Iselin, New Jersey

Stakeholder Engagement: Delivering Projects in the Face of Adversity

Microsoft, 101 Wood Avenue South, Iselin, NJ

9 August 2011 @ 18:00 -  Baltimore

Stakeholder Engagement: Delivering Projects in the Face of Adversity

UMBC Technology Center:1450 South Rolling Road, Baltimore, MD 21227

10 August 2011 @ 18:30 – Washington DC

Making a difference in projects – the expanding BA role

The Graduate School, 600 Maryland Avenue s.w.Washington, D.C. 20024

Topic 1: Making a difference in change projects : The expanding BA role

The Business Analyst role is changing.  BAs are increasingly being recognised as professional change practitioners who can add value throughout the entire project lifecycle.  However, the extent of this development varies by organisation.  In some organisations, Business Analysts have much broader remits than others and there is still no single definition of “Business Analyst” or “Business Analysis”

In this presentation, Adrian Reed will outline the changes in the role he has observed in his role as a Lead Business Analyst in the UK.  He will discuss the “core business analysis role”, along with the opportunities and challenges that are facing the international BA community, including:

• The changing breadth and depth of the BA role, as observed by a UK based practitioner
• The different pressures that organisations are facing, and how BAs can add value
• The need for the BA role to be understood by senior stakeholders within organisations
• Ideas for “selling” the BA role to stakeholders throughout the organisation, to encourage early BA engagement.
• Hints and tips for increasing credibility amongst senior stakeholders

In this interactive session, Adrian will outline his observations from the UK, and will invite discussion from the audience to compare and contrast with how the BA role is perceived in the US.

Topic 2: Stakeholder Engagement : Delivering projects in the face of adversity

“Projects don’t deliver change.  People do”.

People are a key part of any change project.  Therefore, successfully engaging and managing the right stakeholders is an essential activity on any project.  In large projects, there may be a diverse and dispersed group of stakeholders, all of whom have an interest in the end deliverable.  It can be difficult to know who to engage when, and the consequences of getting this wrong can be painful!

In this presentation, Adrian Reed (A UK Based Business Analyst) will discuss how to identify, categorise, engage and manage the stakeholders in a project.  He will discuss:

• How to determine which stakeholders really matter on your project
• What to do if a key stakeholder isn’t taking enough interest in your project
• The best ways of analysing the needs of your stakeholders
• Tips for communication styles and building rapport
• Tips for leading and engaging a team that is spread across diverse geographic locations
• Tips for engaging and approaching executive stakeholders who you haven’t worked with before
• How to handle conflict if it all goes wrong!

This practical and memorable session will be useful to Business Analysts, Systems Analysts and anyone who has day-to-day involvements with IT or change projects.