New programs are the life blood of any organisation, company, corporation, government agency, military, etc. (NB: For ease of discussions, let’s just use the term “company” to cover all the above.) They support the company’s business strategy, vision, and future. Yet confusion often arises when a company decides to launch a new programme. They want to further growth but are unclear on “whom do we need”. Well you need a sponsor (obviously), who will be the “champion” for the program. But who next? The answer will surprise many. You must appoint/hire someone to the mostly unrecognised, most overlooked, most underrated role in business today. The lowly business analyst (BA). I say “lowly” because they (BA’s) are quite often the “unsung” heroes of any “good” emerging programme.
Now this may confuse some who typically would have thought something else. Perhaps a Project Manager (PM)? Alternatively, a Program manager (PgM)? A Change Manager (CM)? Some even consider a financial expert of sorts. All wrong.
See, what you need to appreciate is the difference between programme roles, versus a set of responsibilities. (NB: A RACI would make this clearer if you are not clear on intent). The key is focus on the responsibilities, not the role. You can hire a PM or PgM if they are “qualified” in Business Analysis. I have seen many PM’s and PgM’s over the years who are excellent in business analysis. So it’s not uncommon for these “jack of many trade” experts to wear multiple hats. But make no mistake. IF a PM or PgM wears this hat, they must be an absolute “artist” in this skill. Even so, what does this mean? Let’s explore this a bit.
What does “Qualified” mean?
First, the bad news. Many universities today offer degrees in Business Analysis and you can find them just about everywhere (e.g. Universities offering BA degrees). With undergrad focus/niche specialities such as “Business Analytics”. Or “Business Data Analytics”. Fancy a degree in “Business Analytics with Financial Technology”? Or how about “Business Intelligence and Data analytics”? And look a this one, “Intelligence Analysis and Management with Foundation Year”; (Egads! What is going on here??)
With apologies, I am not trying to belittle a persons accomplishments if they have a degree in this area. Yet sadly, just about anyone can get a degree and emerge as a so-called “expert”. Yet true business analysis is more of an “Artistic ability”, rather than just education. And sadly, this will become readily apparent within a very few short years post-graduation. Those with an artistic streak will endure. Whilst those who do not have that “je ne sais quoi” for business analysis, will quickly find other work.
In my experience, some of the best BA’s I have ever met are “home grown” from other disciplines. For the simple reason is that they love the work. Their “artistic abilities” are evident in so many ways (which we will explore further here). It is why they have found work as BA’s. Because they enjoy it and they have highly disciplined analytical minds.
Business Analysis Discipline – “Must Haves”
First, just to be clear, “discipline” does not equate to “punishment” in this context. It simply means becoming a true expert in a branch of knowledge. Moreover, having the quality of being able to behave and work in a controlled way, which involves obeying particular rules or standards. Key words here are “knowledge”, “controlled” and “rules or standards”. Some of the most important aspects common to all great BA’s: –
- Able to read, digest and clearly comprehend large amounts of information;
- Can think “outside of the box” in terms of avenues of research; takes new findings in stride with all known facts.
- Able to evaluate benefits & dis-benefits of key findings during research with clearly articulated reasons of why to include, or exclude (work through ambiguity, a critical thinker);
- Can model these benefits & dis-benefits clearly in a form easily understood at a senior level;
- Can clearly propose and articulate well-structured options and arguments (both verbal & written) on how to proceed, to include “do nothing” options (problem solving).
- Good at communicating and listening (social skills). This means they can build relationships, facilitate meetings, ask pertinent questions, really listen and comprehend the answers.
- Depending on the endeavour, clearly understands the business, technology, financial goals and ambitions: as both a standalone programme and in context of the wider company ambitions.
Business Analysis Discipline – Good to Have
Other good key skills that would truly benefit the programme are listed as follows: –
- Experience on the subject area (e.g. Technology; Software; Finance; Manufacturing; Construction; Education; etc.);
- Principled to not lie, manipulate data or soften the truth of findings;
- Ability to build relationships (I said this twice now so important, yes?), self-manage their own time, be thick skinned to criticisms/feedback;
- Ability to put aside their feelings when considering feedback;
- Able to be assertive on findings without being aggressive; (e.g. deliver truthful findings in a non-adversarial manner); ability to put aside their feelings when considering feedback;
- Loves the work!
- Experience in the role commensurate to the value of the programme; e.g. 1 year for programmes under £100K versus 5+ years on programmes over £1M. (NB: Not a hard fast rule though. Some of the best BA’s I have ever met were true “artists”, yet only had 1-2 years in the area);
I could go on to sub dimensions of these skills & behaviours but you should get the point from this short list.
The impact to a new programme
Now I could ramble on with literal verbal diarrhoea on how this could affect emerging programmes. Instead, let’s provide a case type study so we can demonstrate the effectiveness of a great BA, versus a mediocre one.
- Scenario: The Company has 87 sites that accumulate customer data. New GDPR regulations (GDPR) require strict adherence to new standards. The company has 9 months to ensure new GDPR standards are in place. Late delivery will incur significant financial penalties. Each site has their own database of contacts. On-site teams manage current standards on limited budgets. A new programme is started to bring all site data in line with new GDPR standards. Allocation is a £2M budget. “Do nothing” approach is not an option here.
- Two Business Analysts are assigned and will work independently of each other. BA#1 has 5+ years but is not happy in the role and is “mediocre” at best. BA#2 has 5+ years, loves the work and is an “artist”.
- The BA’s are given 8 weeks (~2 months) to conclude their work, present findings, and courses of action.
BA#1 method and results (Mr. Mediocre)
BA#1 talks to the local team to understand current way of working. Assesses new standards, the team size, workload required, and technologies used (Oracle DB). Determines that new standards would affect team size by +1, graduate level new hires. Contacts 3 other centres to confirm same/similar scenarios. Proposed hire costs of £20K per new member, 1 per each site = £1.74M. Transition would be done in 6 months, with £250K allocated to start up/running costs. New license costs for each person included. This is the proposal Mr. Mediocre puts forth to the Sponsor utilising the £2M.
BA#2 method and results (Mrs. Artist)
BA#2 talks to the local team to understand current way of working. Similarly, she assesses new standards, the team size, workload required, and technologies used (Oracle DB). She digs in much farther, investigates new cloud technologies, and contacts a further 15 remote sites. She raises questions on architecture, database licensing, and way of working, resource costs, and current compliance rates.
Additionally, she finds compliance rates in past have been generally poor. Teams were overworked and took “shortcuts” in adhering to old standards. So there is little faith new standards would be adhered to better. Also discovers some sites are high cost regions so new personnel would be expensive. Discovers the Company has a corporate Oracle license with free cloud incentive packages being offered.
The proposal Mrs. Artist proposes has key outline as follows: –
- Each site engages with a local Oracle admin to link local databases and schema’s at each site to new cloud solution. £150K;
- New Oracle cloud solution setup. £100K cost for new central site technical setup;
- Central control team at new site to be setup; 10 new hires, highly experienced GDPR experts @£400K.
- £200K allocated to start-up/running costs, no new licenses required.
- Overall setup will take 6 months;
- Reduced workload at each site will result in average person cost savings of £1.5M per annum. Based on release of 87 staff, one per site. There will be reduced license costs of £50K.
- Central control option fully compliant, upgraded quality of standards;
The proposal Mrs. Artist submits to the sponsor has a target cost of £850K for the full programme (£150+£100+£400+250K). With subsequent savings of £1.5M resource costs per annum now and in future and £50K license costs.
Conclusions are fairly obvious, yes?
Fair play to Mr. Mediocre. His outline of a plan meets targets, costs, and agenda. He took the agreed scope and built a reasonable solution around the parameters provided. In short, a “mediocre” plan.
Mrs. Artist though is exactly that as her name describes. An Artist. She was not looking to just meet conditions. She is quite experienced in “digging in” to the unexplored regions most people avoid (murky waters). To include controversial areas such as “releasing people”. Then, she further considered the business technologies in use and the goals of the programme (and company). Quality was at the forefront of her mind whilst considering existing agreements and conditions, at multiple sites. This “deep dive” on her part enabled her to conceive an option that was somewhat “outside of the box”. Yet truly presented a far more “artful” solution option. Finding an artist with great business analysis skills may also be your salvation in recovering a Toxic Programme!
So which do you prefer? Meet all conditions at a cost of £2M? Or exceed conditions, improve quality, deliver at an £850K cost and reap benefits of an additional £1.55M per annum?
The Hunt
Finding these “artists” is not as hard as you may think. Go talk to your employees and find out what is working great. A technical solution. A process. A strategy. A programme. I will bet you that 9 times out of 10, there was an “Artist” involved. These are the type of people that “make a difference” between successful companies, and “mediocre” ones! The true “Unsung heroes” of the 21st Century!
