From the category archives:

Engaging the Business

Are you proactive in engaging business stakeholders to understand their real problems and needs? The foundation of productive and positive relationships lies in trust and mutual respect. A core element of BA leadership is ensuring the business trusts you, the BA, and the IT team.

If your project is a turkey, kill it early

by Adrian Reed on February 1, 2012 · 2 comments

in Engaging the Business,Enterprise Analysis,Leading Organizational Change

Right, I might be branded a heretic, but I’m going to say it. Organizations that deliver every project that they kick off (with the project’s scope intact) are either extremely lucky, extremely risk averse, or extremely misguided. This sounds like a contrarian view, and may even sound a little controversial.  In fact, you might (quite [...]

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A project is like a visiting a city – and some of your stakeholders might need help

by Adrian Reed on September 7, 2011 · 3 comments

in Engaging the Business,Stakeholder Analysis

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 [...]

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Join Your Distributed Team in Virtual Celebration

by Joan Davis on August 11, 2011 · 1 comment

in Engaging IT,Engaging the Business,Managing Business Analysts

Once upon a time, when the world was young and co-workers shared the same four walls, we celebrated special occasions and important milestones together with games, food, and laughter.    However, for decades now we’ve enjoyed the geographical freedom brought on by digital communication, working anywhere in the world, courtesy of a simple data line or mobile hot spot, and with [...]

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We are all part of the conversation, from inception to design and beyond

by Adriana Beal on August 10, 2011 · 4 comments

in Engaging the Business,Requirements Analysis,Requirements Elicitation,Requirements Validation

In my last post, Help a BA! How do I get stakeholders to focus on business requirements?, I wrote: As discussed above, it’s not only OK, but expected that the business side will be involved in defining the solution that will be built to address a business problem or opportunity. The solution requirements, which describe [...]

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Help a BA! How do I avoid appearing meek when starting a new job?

by Laura Brandenburg on August 1, 2011 · 38 comments

in Engaging the Business,Help a BA,Marketing your value

Michelle asks: Could you provide tips to not appear ‘meek’ in interviews and during your first days on the job? When I start a new job I’m usually quiet while I listen and gather information. I am called a sunny person because I smile and talk positively around everyone. So, the context is from other [...]

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Recognition is important, but it’s not everything

by Ryan Knapton on June 2, 2011 · 4 comments

in Engaging IT,Engaging the Business,Marketing your value

Is your BA style to go for glory? Do you seek praise around every bend? Do you want to be seen, heard and acknowledged? Do you vigorously voice your ideas and take all the credit? In today’s cutthroat business world I do not blame you if you do; often when one is at the project [...]

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Are you suffering Acronymitis?

by Curtis Michelson on May 26, 2011 · 12 comments

in Business Analyst Humor,Communication,Engaging the Business

The acronym, a beloved tool of lazy typists everywhere.  And market driven economics, too.  Not to mention Tweets and Facebook posts.  Space is at a premium.  Time is money after all.  And for goodness sakes, who wants to type out  I n t e r n a t i o n a l   I [...]

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The link between stakeholder relationships and project planning

by Nik Gebhard on May 19, 2011 · 2 comments

in Engaging IT,Engaging Project Leaders,Engaging the Business

During the past few days my curiosity-muscle has been tickled by the dormant value that resides in understanding stakeholder backgrounds early on in a project. Of particular interest is how this relates back to project timeline estimations and planning. “How?” you ask. Allow me to explain… I wouldn’t expect much “umming and ahhing” if I [...]

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Can Writing UAT Scripts be fun?

by Michelle Swoboda on March 16, 2011 · 7 comments

in Business process,Engaging the Business,Requirements Validation

I am sure that any business analyst who has written user acceptance scripting can confirm that script writing is super detailed, critically important and mind numbingly boring.  But is it important – yes it is.  Why you ask would something so boring be important?  Well, if the business user cannot validate that the new business [...]

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Identifying Hidden Project Stakeholders by Connecting the Relationships

by Joan Davis on February 17, 2011 · 5 comments

in Engaging the Business,Stakeholder Analysis

When beginning work on a project – whether joining an existing effort or helping to plan the kick-off – the competent BA looks around at the players to identify the Stakeholders in this initiative and what they care about.  After all, they’re the ones that will have to live with the outcome.  The obvious Stakeholders [...]

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