As we all know, tools change, as do buzzwords; and learning to use a buzzword-compliant tool or methodology (often inappropriate for the problem at hand) is substantially easier than understanding the problem or being able to get the business people and the IT people to demonstrably speak the same language. How many times was I told by the “IT people” that the business people cannot and will not understand any business models anyway, and it is not worth trying. But in fact, business people can and do understand appropriately represented models, and it was very much worth trying: some of my business clients (including traders!) created excellent business models themselves.

A dirty little secret how I achieved that: at the meetings I run I have prohibited ANY discussions related to tools or methodologies; and, following Dijkstra, I used only what I could explain to the business audience on the back of a (business-size) envelope. Here is a counterexample: when at one of the meetings a high-level IT person introduced a use case diagram and started a discussion about the meaning of “extends”, the most important business client left the meeting in about 2 minutes, and it took me a serious diplomatic effort to retain the client and the project (this IT person never came to modeling meetings with this client again).

There are many stories of this kind… And a BA is not the same as a PM.

Your thoughts are interesting and deserve some thought. Also, please understand that I by no means believe that I have all of the answers. I can just tell you how I run my business and discuss the types of individuals I try to work with. Some of my thoughts may take some time to distill…believe me, it is an education process with my clients as well.

First, I want to make a comment on one of your statements. See below.

“I have participated in the hiring process many times and one of my pet hates is someone who is being hired to do one job (be a BA) touting other skills (being a PM), especially when they are in their CV. To my mind, despite what I say above, one is either a BA or a PM; my BA performance certainly suffered when I was covering for absent or ineffective PMs.”

I completely agree. In my discussions with many BA’s the thought is that a good BA with PM skills can effectively manage their piece of the project…not the whole project. In other words, “drive to done” your particular piece. I agree that if a BA becomes the PM for the whole project…meaning all pieces…then the BA work must necessarily suffer. Not good.

A “super BA” in my opinion is a “Business Solutions Consultant”. These individuals SOLVE PROBLEMS…ANYWHERE. Here is where I answer your question directly.

When a BA says that they:

- lead/turned around an underperforming team that finished a project that was supposed to take 2 months but ran into 8 months, and after arrival the project was finished one month after the your arrival….after assessment and re-assigning roles (blah, blah, blah….)
- turned a team’s performance around from overwhelming criticism (3 out of a possible 10) from “clients”, to a team that achieved excellent feedback (9 out of possible 10 on survey).
- discovered a problem with Oracle invoicing module that took 30 days to procure a correct invoice and but only 2 days to procure a correct invoice after the BA’s team attacked the problem.
- brought in to assess and fix inventory issues in which inventory accuracy was estimated at only 85%….assessed problem and created/lead team that brought inventory to 99% accuracy.

You see? These are LEADERSHIP” attributes. Any hiring manager will appreciate the soft skills required to get these things done.

I am a firm believer that any company not considering BA’s for their open management positions are missing the boat. If a BA has the skills to get things done with people they have no managerial power over, this is true leadership. Just think what they could accomplish with these types of leadership skills, knowledge of both Business and IT, AND managerial authority.

Partly, I think that BA’s need to start thinking about themselves and their skill sets in a different way….as management prospects. and leaders. Nobody else is going to, unless the profession itself starts.

On that note, I realize there are plenty of BA’s out there who have no desire to manage or lead teams. The profession needs these types too. Not everybody can be a Chief. We need Indians too.

I ask every CIO/VP candidate I recruit their opinion on BA’s. To a man/woman, they value them highly and see them as going into management. I just had a conversation with a practice lead from a national professional services organization (IT and Finance & Accounting), and she expressed that her customers cringe when her BA’s have to go to other clients. Nothing gets done without good BA’s. Often clients want to hire the super BA’s but are unwilling/unable to get approval for the high salary.

I give so much attention to Business Solutions Consultants (“super BA’s”), because those are the individuals I am passionate about recruiting.

Looking to David’s answer to the certification question, I wonder if the real value of the PMP is shifting discussion to results and away from the basic “what is a Gantt chart” question.

I definitely don’t classify David as a “normal” BA recruiter. And I see a lot of what you are seeing as well. What I love is how he is helping sell the role you describe to organizations and helping them see the value the BA mindset.