It’s an evening course and runs from 6:30pm to 8:30pm (CST USA) and will require a VoIP headset.

 The course will run for 14 weeks and is being offered for the incredibly cheap price of $40.

I have been in contact with Doug over the past year on subjects related to business analysis and training and recommend his informal but professional approach very highly.

If you are interested, register at training.cbapmentor.com or email him at douggoldberg@gmail.com

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During this exercise, I was asked to step in to show how I would manage requirements which appeared to be inconsistent with the scope. I did this but, if I’m honest, not to my satisfaction.

For the benefit of the group, I thought it would be useful to reflect on this exercise and how I might have tackled it given more time to think and also to start a discussion on other approaches to this problem.

Background

It’s worth saying upfront that this problem which we could call scope management exists in almost every project where there is more than one stakeholder so it is critical to have some tools to tackle it.

To be quite clear, this article is NOT discussing change control which is another but related subject. Change control applies when scope has initially been agreed and baselined. Scope management (as I use the term) applies early in the project when scope and requirements are still quite fluid.

The problem can arise for a number of reasons and here are some:

- The project vision is not fully understood by all the stakeholders

- Some stakeholders will have ‘pet’ requirements which they will introduce regardless of whether it forms part of the vision
These requirements may well make the stakeholder’s life easier but, typically, either the business case is not compelling or they have no or insufficient investment budget which is why they have not been considered before

- It is easy for stakeholders to get sidetracked and, completely unintentionally, introduce requirements which don’t fit within the vision

Why manage scope?

Successful scope management is critical to the success of any project. If it is not closely controlled throughout the course of a project, there are a number of issues which may arise:

- The project overruns it’s timescale

- The project goes beyond budget

In either of these cases, there is a risk that the project gets pulled either because the budget is fixed or it has a delivery deadline that is not negotiable. Even if there is some flexibility in budget or timescales, there is a much greater problem which is credibility.

The project loses credibility if it is unable to control budget or timescale and when it has lost credibility, those who control the finances are much more likely to pull the project to prevent further losses.

Techniques for managing scope

1) In a project where the culture is open and consensual, it can be effective to explain the problem very clearly to the stakeholder proposing the requirement which contradicts the vision. In this case, the business analyst should explain (without being patronising) how the requirement does not fit within the vision. He/she should also explain that it is always the case in any project that it will not be possible to deliver all the requirements as this is inevitably the case with a finite budget.

2) The business analyst should invite the stakeholder to drop the requirement. It is advisable to sweeten the pill by offering to include it in a list of requirements that are ‘nice to haves’ and can be considered in a future release or for a different project.

The stakeholder will not necessarily take up this ‘opportunity’.

3) If the project is very much management led and scope control is invoked very clearly by the project sponsor, it may be beneficial to explain this same view to the project sponsor instead of the stakeholder. In this case, the decision can be made more easily but it is important that transparency is maintained the decision and the reasons are explained to the stakeholder group. Some would be comfortable with a less transparent approach but I feel this works well to build up trust and makes for a more productive working environment.

4) Another approach is to play off one requirement against another in front of the stakeholders to allow them to decide the priorities. This can be approached very simply by asking them to imagine the project was completed but requirement X was not supported because there was insufficient budget to deliver requirement X and requirement Y.

In this case, requirement X should sit very clearly within the vision and requirement Y should be the one you want the stakeholders to drop.

Again, this helps the stakeholders see for themselves the relative priority of requirements and to question which ones are really critical.

5) If none of these approaches work because stakeholders are being resistant then more formal requirements prioritisation techniques should be pursued (see article). There is a strong argument that these should be undertaken anyway to support discussions later in the project regarding what appears in a release or even when it is necessary to reduce the scope due to unforeseen circumstances.

In summary, project success is only possible when project scope is managed very carefully. The risks to budget must be managed to avoid the project losing credibility being cancelled.

There are a number of approaches available which can be employed but must be selected depending on project culture and stakeholder attitudes.

What approaches have you applied successfully? Please add your comments below.

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Initially, David has set up a reading group where the BABOK has been the ‘text’ under study with a lot of interest and praise for Ellen Gottesdiener’s ‘Software Requirements Memory Jogger’ (see my eBook where I recommend this book)
It wasn’t clear, initially, the long term direction this was going to take (i.e. what the members wanted from this) but this has emerged recently with the members clearly voting for a case study experience to really get under the skin of the business analyst role.
The mentor committee has started working on this and the plan is to start this exercise at the start of October. We wll be using The Software Requirements Memory Jogger as our reference and will be acting as both guides and ‘real world’ stakeholders during the course of the exercise.

I’ll be reporting back on this as it progresses.

The real reason I’ve agreed to commit time to this is to help me really understand the professional development needs of the business analyst community, whether that is new/inexperienced business analysts or those looking to enter the profession.

My eBook and informal, ad hoc mentoring have helped take me a long way in understanding the community’s needs but I hope this will provide me with some deeper insight.

In order to support developing that insight, I have introduced a quick survey that helps me get a ’snapshot’ of the type of people who are looking for support in professional development and the problems they are facing. I would appreciate you taking three minutes (only four questions!) to complete the survey here.

This will allow me to develop the products that address problems business analysts (or aspiring BA’s) face today.

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A leading figure in the project to move BBC production from London to Salford is to use Business Analysis Conference 2009 to call for a shift in the way BAs interact with creative professionals.

Mark Harrison (Creative Director, Innovation, for Project North and BBC Vision) said measurement and analysis are in danger of getting in the way of new leaps in technology of the kind which have transformed the media in recent years.

In an interview with Judy Rees he calls for a new approach which recognises the danger of a culture clash, and takes specific action to harness some of the intuition that characterises creative people. That it turn, he believes, will release more potential for change.

He says that the growth of a “measurement culture” within the BBC over the last decade or so has left creative professionals facing a “wall of analysis” which may now be obstructing change. He says it’s like trying to break down Tiger Woods’ golf swing into its component parts – you would not expect the sportsman himself to do that in detail without affecting his game: instead his coach would decide where to focus his attention.

Mark said the analysts and consultants he had met fell broadly into two categories. “The one kind is the kind that says, ‘Here are a set of analytical tools, I wish you to help me to apply them to this area of your work.’ And the other is the kind that says, ‘Tell me about your area of work.’ And they do a lot of listening, and because they are good listeners they start to learn how to speak back to me and our colleagues in our language.”

The latter kind of analyst, he believes, is the one that will help to drive profound technological change in future and counter the creatives’ cry of “Why are you doing this to us?”

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That’s the message from David Taylor, one of the keynote speakers at the Business Analysis Conference.

David is the author of fastest selling business book in the world The Naked Leader, and has two global best-selling follow-ups. David is also the winner of the prestigious European Business Speaker award and has featured on a number of TV programmes.

Speaking in a podcast interview with Judy Rees, he said it was time for the business world to move away from boring and confusing process manuals, and to bring people and processes together to delight customers.

David said: “It’s really great to see how business analysis has… taken its place at the heart of organisations.

“Now it’s up to individuals who are business analysts to no longer to be dealing at the humdrum levels of organisations but to be networking at very senior levels and having a real influence on the future.”

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Business analysts can deliver better, cheaper systems - and have more fun - by adopting user-centred techniques. That’s the message from Nick De Voil, one of the speakers at the Business Analysis Conference later this month.

West London-based De Voil has been working in the industry for more than 25 years, mainly on large public sector and financial sector projects. His consultancy now focuses on putting businesses onto the web – and he has become passionate about the importance of user involvement.

In a new podcast interview with Judy Rees, he explains how analysts who use only traditional, mechanistic approaches may be missing a trick. To achieve the best possible results – while saving time and money - they need to find ways to engage people and get them fully involved, using newer approaches from the world of Human-Computer Interaction.

Nick also explores why this much-needed change might prove to be a challenge for expert analysts, developers and designers.

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The IIBA’s Business Analysis Conference, which runs from 28 to 30 September, will involve more than 150 delegates from 10 different countries. Keynote speakers include David Taylor, author of the bestselling The Naked Leader.

Martyn Wilson, president of the IIBA’s UK Chapter which is sponsoring the event, said that a key theme would be the development of the BA role within organizations.

Speaking to Judy Rees in a podcast interview, he said that BAs were increasingly working at a strategic level, and moving from their traditional IT base to look at people, products and processes, often enterprise-wide.

He said: “Often BAs don’t quite appreciate the uniqueness of the skills they actually have. We want them to understand the true value that they deliver to businesses.”

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We have been pursuing the presenters to write articles and participate in interviews to get people ‘warmed up’ for the conference.

Here is a selection:

Leadership mastery, X-ray listening and planning for change

Some of the speakers have agreed to provide us some insight into what they will be discussing and these are included here:

Martyn Wilson (chairman if IIBA UK) explains how the real value of business analysis is being revealed

Nick De Voil (speaker) talks about user centred design

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Judy Rees of Xray listening (http://www.xraylistening.com/business/) for generously volunteering to conduct these interviews. Judy will also be talking at the conference on - guess what!

This is NOT one to miss. Business analysis has come of age, it has never been more recognised for the value it offers organisations.

Keep your skills up to date by listening to engaging speakers on the latest thinking or practioner’s advice on the best approaches.

If you would like to attend, you have a few discounting options:

i)                    join the UK IIBA chapter and achieve a discount of 15% or £249. It currently costs around £110 to join the IIBA and provides significant benefits including networking opportunities, access to frequent talks by prominent, challenging speakers as well as access to the BABOK.

ii)                   register and quote “BAM” to achieve a discount of 10% or £166.
As a Business Analyst Mentor reader, I am happy to pass this discount in full on to you.

iii)                 if you have two or more colleagues who would like to attend, you can achieve a bigger, additional discount. For example, if you know six colleagues, you can achieve a further 25% discount which would save you a total of £602

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The interview was wide ranging from my experience as a business analyst, mentoring and my reasons for starting the website.

Please click here for the podcast and tell me what you think.

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It gives you an idea of who the course is for, the type of content and a preview of the course ‘look and feel’ (which I think you should find very helpful if you’re not sure if the course is for you).

If you’re interested in the course then I recommend you view the video.

If you decide to sign up for the course, don’t forget to sign up using this link to receive my $100 discount.

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