Effective Strategies To Improve Business Analysis

In some groups, the BA could be in support along with the side project manager instead of being a frontrunner. Whereas PMs invariably want our help. After all, it all comes in taking the gain out of having a robust BA with a focus on delivering the business needs. This blog is about how to incorporate Active, Proactive, and Reactive approaches when it comes to handling a project, irrespective of its size.

Be Active. Be it anywhere, in conferences, proposing ideas, or contributing to the discussions, you should never be a passive member of the team.

Be ProActive. Be one step ahead and showcase a plan and analysis methodologies to the project team.

Be ReActive. Have the ability to react quickly once new info, technology, or needs are introduced.

Be Active

Be active in conferences, in proposing ideas, and conducive to the discussions.

You may turn boring conferences fun by immersing others into what you have to present. You also learn a lot of new ideas among technology consultants, which can be beneficial to all. Conferences may also be fun and productive as stakeholders share their information and concepts of various businesses. However, they become boring and frustrating, particularly once participants explode track or monopolize the discussion. Regardless of the scenario, the active BA is either leading or conducive to the discussion. There are a couple of techniques that will facilitate – Preparation and Presence.

Preparation means to apprehend your subject to meet your interest.

Within the project team, we are a channel to convey information/ideas between the developing team and the business client. It's not necessary to have expertise on the technology or the user’s business domain, however, you ought to have sufficient information of each to be an efficient liaison between the client and the development team. You need to stay updated with the technologies of your area and your business. It's particularly vital to supply your thoughts in project conferences on needs that are later implemented.

Before any primary discussions with the client, make sure you have a basic understanding of the organization and business of your stakeholders. You may also ask several related resource-people for better understanding and direction. It is like doing your research before embarking on an adventurous hike to the mountains.

For all necessities, conferences make sure that you have a proper system to present a slide show and keep the attendees glued to the day’s agenda. To run a decent meeting, be ready with 1) visual clues and 2) the power to steer the discussion back to the topic of your alternative. The latter needs presence.

Presence suggests that having the power to derive the audience’s focus on you and your line of dialogue.

There are various tricks and tips for having the focus of the audience on you. You can take inspiration from entertainers like Elton John who played piano but used his unpredictable movement around that piano to keep the audience's eyes on him. Similarly one can use hand gestures and movement around the podium. Make eye contact with each one so that they feel included. Write comments on the wallboards while you continue the dialog. Once you have put your point forward with other members to discuss, sit down, permit others to add more, and share their views.

Be ProActive

Be one step ahead and showcase a plan and analysis methodologies to the project team.

Proactively, one should be ready with the plan analyzed ahead of time and showcase the same with the development team at the kick-off meeting. This way, all team members are well aware of their expectations, roles, and responsibilities. This very plan will set parameters for subordinates to know what is to be done and what should be the best approach to implement the client’s requirements.

The Analyst is always in a turmoil of frequent change requests from the client, which is a very common expectation when building a project, similar to making a new house. So, a BA has to be on his/her toes when it comes to a CR, as it may have very high impacts, which if imperative must be thoroughly analyzed before getting it implemented and proactively identifying forthcoming consequences in time.

Be ReActive

Should be able to react quickly once new info, technology, or wants are introduced.

A successful BA needs to be versatile with the rapid change in information and technologies. One should be always prepared and must act appropriately and with agility as and when a new technology is introduced. The BA should not be concerned about the sunk cost ( a financial term used when monetary value is gone in vain) which could be a case if due to some change by the client a lot of dedicated hours of analysis are lost in thin air. In such cases, the BA should automatically pivot to analyze the new set of requirements and its implications to the rest of the system.

Conclusion

Initially following an approach does take some effort, but if you manage to follow such an approach as mentioned in this blog, you will definitely see some positive and noticeable outcomes.

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