I have been working on a software project in the requirement Elaboration phase . The biggest challenge the BA team was having an Approach to requirements. And the even more bigger challenge was having all the stakeholder 'Buy in' to the approach. I think this capability of 'buy in' , getting an acceptance of all stakeholders in your point of view , your way forward is a key capability of leadership for all business Analysts. I speak Business Analysts as that my profession . Fortunately on this project i got a glimpse of what it takes to get a 'buy in' from all stakeholders of the project . In my case is the was the business for whom the software was being built, the IT department of the organisation and of course our BA team. This is what i observed were the key skills that we demonstrated in order to role out a successful solution to an unknown problem.
1) Observing what's going on : I read somewhere that the mark of intelligence is to hold 2 contradictory point of views and remain unbiased. This skill is required to observe what exactly is going on. In today's information laden world it's easy to apply concepts /jargon /styles/methodologies to so called problems without even identifying the real problem. Observing what's going on was the first step.We observed , heard each stakeholders point of view /concerns and arrived at certain probable problems. Why i say probable is because it's not easy to identify a problem upfront , you need observation , detachment and patience for the problems to surface.
2) Arriving at an approach to surface the problems : It was identified that the key problems are not surfacing. Even if they were, people were in a mode of denial to accept the problems.Most of the times projects fail due lack of proper escalation of the correct problem at the correct time. People rarely understand what's happening. To arrive at proper indicators to identify where the problem lies was the next step to be put in place. This approach brought to surface the real challenges of the project . we could clearly identify whether the problem was unclear business processes or capability issues or bandwidth issues .
3) 'Buy in' into the Approach : You might have the best of the solution to a problem , you might have resolved things in your mind but if the team who is living the problem day in and day out does not believe in your solution , it's bound to fail. Therefore the biggest challenge we faced was the buy in from all the stakeholders. Building trust that this approach will work and keeping a space of revisiting the rolled out approach. The Approach was communicated to all types of stakeholders. Their concerns were heard . Approval was sought . Even if there was a single team member who had issues with the approach was invited to put their points across . Stakeholder by Stakeholder , person by person , this approach gained acceptance. We all together in the end believed that the approach was our own !! And now it's internalised in each team member and rolling .
4) Fine tuning the Approach : We can never begin with 100% clarity . We have to roll out a solution , observe , learn and implement improvements . With the new internalised approach , problems kept surfacing and the approach was fine tuned to build in efficiency into the whole process of requirements elaboration.Again all stakeholders were heard and accommodated.
The take away for me as business Analyst were these four skills that i need to inculcate in order to be an elegant business Analyst. However the key skill where most effort , energy and patience required is the skill of building 'buy in' .And now i know !!..Knowing always the first step.
1) Observing what's going on : I read somewhere that the mark of intelligence is to hold 2 contradictory point of views and remain unbiased. This skill is required to observe what exactly is going on. In today's information laden world it's easy to apply concepts /jargon /styles/methodologies to so called problems without even identifying the real problem. Observing what's going on was the first step.We observed , heard each stakeholders point of view /concerns and arrived at certain probable problems. Why i say probable is because it's not easy to identify a problem upfront , you need observation , detachment and patience for the problems to surface.
2) Arriving at an approach to surface the problems : It was identified that the key problems are not surfacing. Even if they were, people were in a mode of denial to accept the problems.Most of the times projects fail due lack of proper escalation of the correct problem at the correct time. People rarely understand what's happening. To arrive at proper indicators to identify where the problem lies was the next step to be put in place. This approach brought to surface the real challenges of the project . we could clearly identify whether the problem was unclear business processes or capability issues or bandwidth issues .
3) 'Buy in' into the Approach : You might have the best of the solution to a problem , you might have resolved things in your mind but if the team who is living the problem day in and day out does not believe in your solution , it's bound to fail. Therefore the biggest challenge we faced was the buy in from all the stakeholders. Building trust that this approach will work and keeping a space of revisiting the rolled out approach. The Approach was communicated to all types of stakeholders. Their concerns were heard . Approval was sought . Even if there was a single team member who had issues with the approach was invited to put their points across . Stakeholder by Stakeholder , person by person , this approach gained acceptance. We all together in the end believed that the approach was our own !! And now it's internalised in each team member and rolling .
4) Fine tuning the Approach : We can never begin with 100% clarity . We have to roll out a solution , observe , learn and implement improvements . With the new internalised approach , problems kept surfacing and the approach was fine tuned to build in efficiency into the whole process of requirements elaboration.Again all stakeholders were heard and accommodated.
The take away for me as business Analyst were these four skills that i need to inculcate in order to be an elegant business Analyst. However the key skill where most effort , energy and patience required is the skill of building 'buy in' .And now i know !!..Knowing always the first step.
