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Dynamic Duos: Batman & Robin, Peanut Butter & Chocolate, PMs & BAs

Jennifer C. Colburn, CBAP, PMPProject World® and World Congress for Business Analysts®

22 September 2014

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• Senior Business Analyst at Solea Software Solutions, living in Portland, Oregon

• Member of the International Institute of Business AnalysisTM (IIBA®) and a Certified Business Analysis ProfessionalTM (CBAP®)

• Member of Project Management International (PMI®) and a certified Project Management ProfessionalTM (PMP®)

• Member of the Portland, Oregon Chapter of the IIBA®• Past member of the IIBA Competency Model Committee,

assisting in the development of the Business Analysis Competency Model

• Enjoy traveling

A little bit about me

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• Do you consider yourself a:– Project Manager– Business Analyst– Both a PM & a BA– Other

• Are you a:– PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-ACP, or PMI-PBA – CBAP or CCBA– Both

A little bit about you

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Robin: You know, in the circus, the Flying Graysons were a team. We had to trust each person to do their jobs. That's what being partners is all about. Sometimes, counting on someone else is the only way you win.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118688/quotes

Dynamic Duos: Batman & Robin

Robin: I could have made that jump!Batman: And you could have splattered your brains all over the side of the building.

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Dynamic Duos: Peanut Butter & Chocolate

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Project Manager

Dynamic Duos: Project Managers & Business Analysts

Successful Projects

Business Analyst

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“With a clear understanding of – and respect for – each other’s roles and responsibilities, project managers and business analysts can work together effectively to achieve project objectives.”

- David P. Bieg, Program Manager, Project Management Institute

Mutual Understanding & Respect

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• What is Business Analysis and why is it important?

• What are requirements and how do they impact project success?

• Who is responsible for Requirements Elicitation?

• What is Requirements Management?• Who is responsible for Requirements

Management?• Formula for a Dynamic Duo!

Overview

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Definition of Business Analysis

IIBAThe set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.Understanding how organizations function to accomplish their purposes• Definition of organizational goals• How those goals connect to specific objectives• Determining the courses of action that an organization has to undertake to achieve those goals and

objectives• Defining how the various organizational units and stakeholders within and outside of that organization

interact (From the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge, v 2.0)

PMI• The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to determine problems and

identify business needs• To identify and recommend viable solutions for meeting those needs• To elicit, document, and manage stakeholder requirements in order to meet business and

project objectives• To facilitate the project team with the successful implementation of the product, service or

end result of the project or program(From the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition)

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BABOK® Knowledge Areas

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• IIBA® founded in 2003 to advance the practice of Business Analysis

• Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

• IIBA offers two certifications:– Certified Business Analysis ProfessionalTM (CBAP®)

• Over 4,000 Recipients since 2005

– Certification of Competency in Business AnalysisTM (CCBA®)• Over 600 Recipients since 2011

– Exam covers the 6 Knowledge Areas and Underlying Competencies

Importance of Business Analysis – IIBA®

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PMBOK® Knowledge Areas

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• In 2009, Version 4.0 of PMBOK® added “Collect Requirements” to Project Scope Management

• Created the PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)SM credential in 2014– Recognizes the individual’s expertise in business

analysis, and using these tools and techniques to improve overall success of projects.

– Exam cover these five domains: • Needs Assessment• Planning • Analysis• Traceability & Monitoring• Evaluation

Importance of Business Analysis – PMI®

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Requirements Challenges

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• PMBOK® – A condition or capability that is required to be present in a

product, service or result to satisfy a contract or other formally imposed specification. • Types include: Business, Stakeholder, Solution, Project, Transition

• BABOK®– 1. A condition or capability needed by a stakeholder to solve

a problem or achieve an objective.– 2. A condition or capability that must be met of possessed by

a solution or solution component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification or other formally imposed documents.

– A documented representation of a condition or capability as in 1) or 2).• Types include: Business, Stakeholder, Solution, Transition

Definition of “Requirement”

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• “The project’s success is directly influenced by active stakeholder involvement in the discovery and decomposition of needs into requirements and by the care taken in determining, documenting, and managing the requirements of the product service or result of the project.”– PMBOK® Fifth Edition, Section 5.2 Collect Requirements

• “For too many analysts, organizational resistance and participation problems in the requirements process is so great, it is near impossible for the analyst to be successful.”– IAG Business Analysis Benchmark 2009

Project Success & Requirements

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Challenges of Business Analysis

http://www.stellman-greene.com/2007/08/03/qa-how-to-get-ahead-in-business-analysis-without-really-trying/

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PMBOK® 5.2 Collect Requirements Inputs:• Scope Management

Plan• Requirements

Management Plan• Stakeholder

Management Plan• Project Charter • Stakeholder Register

Requirements Elicitation

BABOK® Conduct Requirements Elicitation Inputs:• Business Case• Business Need• Solution Scope• Stakeholder List• Roles and Responsibilities• Organizational Process Assets• Requirements Management

Plan• Scheduled Resources

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PMBOK® 5.2 Collect Requirements Outputs:• Requirements Documentation• Requirements Traceability Matrix

Requirements Elicitation

Note: Outputs are very different because the BABOK® has separate KAs for:Requirements Management & Communication (which includes Requirements Traceability, Preparing the Requirements Package, Managing Solution Scope and Requirements),Requirements Analysis (which includes Prioritizing, Organizing, Specifying & Modeling Requirements, as well as Determining Assumptions/Constraints, Verifying and Validating Requirements)and Planning and Monitoring (which includes Requirements Management Process)

BABOK® Conduct Requirements Elicitation Outputs:• Document Elicitation Results

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Techniques for Requirements Elicitation

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• Do your projects have separate well defined roles for Project Managers and Business Analysts?

• Who is responsible for project success?

Project Roles

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• The PM is responsible for ensuring product delivered to customer on time and within budget.

• The BA is responsible for ensuring that the product is built according to requirements and is built correctly.

• This difference in focus is reason that having both roles on team is critical.

- Barbara Carkenord, Director of Business Analysis Practice at RMC Project Management

Why a Project Needs Both

http://www.lbmctech.com/wp-content/uploads/Whitepaper-Project-Manager-and-Business-Analyst.pdf

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• Project Managers are ultimately responsible for ensuring project work is completed by the project team

• RACI/Roles & Responsibilities• WBS with specific Requirements Elicitation

tasks • Considerations: – Skills required for different techniques and tools– Resource availability and location– Audience– Team approach

Requirements Elicitation- Whose Job Is It?

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• What do you think is the #1 reason for project failures?– Inadequate funding– Unrealistic timeline– Resources limitations – Poorly defined requirements

Reason for Project Failures

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Requirements Management According to Dilbert

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2009 IAG Business Analysis Benchmark survey• 74% of companies have low level of requirements

management maturity • These organizations achieve the business

objectives of a project only 54% of the time and take 35% more time to achieve this poorer result

• 75% of organizations surveyed waste over 1 in 3 dollars spent on IT development and implementation annually as a result of poor requirements maturity

• Poor requirements definition and management wastes 34% of the average organization’s IT Budget

Requirements Management Five Years Ago

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2014 PMI Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth Report: Requirements Management – A Core Competency for Project and Programs Success found:• 20% of organizations reported high requirements management

maturity• 47% of unsuccessful projects fail to meet goals due to poor

requirements management• Inaccurate requirements gathering is listed as primary cause of

failure (37%)• 5.1% of every dollar spent on projects and programs is wasted

due to poor requirements management• 51% of organizations do not have the necessary resources to

perform requirements management• Only 46% report performing well on “Collaboration between the

project manager and business analyst”

Requirements Management Today

http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Knowledge%20Center/PMI-Pulse-Requirements-Management-In-Depth-Report.ashx

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• Low Performing Organizations– More than half of projects are unsuccessful

primarily due to poor requirements management– Costs 10 cents for every dollar spent

• High Performing Organizations– Only 11% of project are unsuccessful primarily due

to poor requirements management– Costs 1 cent for every dollar spent

From PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth Report: Requirements Management – A Core Competency for Project and Programs Success

The Cost of Poor Requirements Management

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PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession® • “For organizations to deliver projects

successfully, they need to be really good at business analysis. And to be really good at business analysis, they should have expertise in managing requirements.”

• Over half of organizations surveyed indicated that in the next 3-5 years, they expect an increase in the integration of requirements management and business analysis with project management.

Future of Requirements Management

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BABOK® • The activities that control requirements development,

including requirements change control, requirements attributes definition, and requirements traceability.

PMBOK®• The discipline of planning, monitoring, analyzing,

communicating and controlling requirements• Continuous process throughout a project• Involves communication among project team members

and stakeholders• Adjustments to requirements changes throughout the

course of the project

So What is Requirements Management Anyway?

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Members of PMIs Global Executive Council listed these skills as important for requirements management:• Active Listening• Interpretation and clear articulation of requirements, ability to

align them to the project’s strategic vision• Communication• Able to handle ambiguity• Stakeholder Engagement David P. Bieg noted additional skills:• Uncover unarticulated stakeholder needs • Understand business process complexity• Understand impact of changes to business strategy• Communicate solution value to key stakeholders

Requirements Management Skills

http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Knowledge%20Center/PMI-Pulse-Requirements-Management-In-Depth-Report.ashx

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• What level is your organization in Requirements Maturity?

• IAG’s Requirements Maturity Model is an excellent tool

Requirements Maturity Model

Maturity Levels Capabilities

0 – Incomplete Process

1 – Performed Practices & Techniques

2 – Defined Technology

3 – Implemented Staff Competency

4 –Institutionalized Deliverables

5 – Optimizing Organization

http://www.iag.biz/resources/capability-areas/the-requirements-maturity-model-explained.html

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IAG’s Business Analysis Benchmark 2009• Requirements Maturity improvement is highly

correlated with improvement in development effectiveness

• Development methodology does not impact success rates of projects

• Requirements maturity cannot be changed through continuous focus on only one underlying capability

• Lower skilled people in high requirements maturity company significantly outperform higher skilled people in low requirements maturity company

Understanding the Impact of Requirements Maturity

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Indirect Control• Executive Sponsor Buy-In• Quality of the product solution• End-customer satisfactionDirect Control• Competency of the person performing requirements

management*• Collaboration between the PM & BA• Defining and monitoring key objectives, benefits and

expectations • Definition of business requirements • Communicating and setting expectations with stakeholders• Managing Change• Verifying and Validating the Solution

PMI Key Requirements Management Practices

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• Defined processes and methodology– Documentation Standards– Requirements Center of Excellence

• Defined practices and techniques• Resources – hiring good BAs*• Training/Professional Development• Requirements Management Tools*• Scorecard/Measurements– Formal process for requirements validation to ensure

objective validation• Culture of valuing requirements management – Must include top management, project sponsors,

stakeholders

Improving Requirements Maturity and Management

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• Assess your skills– Take the IIBA Business Analysis Competency AssessmentTM – Intermediate and Senior Levels– Free for IIBA Members, $25 for Non-Members– Includes IIBA Business Analysis Competency Model

• Improve your skills– More efficient and effective you are, the greater testament to the

value of requirements maturity– Less time with stakeholders, faster time to delivery

• Improving from Level 1 to Level 4 results in:– 32.4% increase in analyst productivity– 30% improvement in time required by stakeholders to participate in

requirements sessions– Satisfaction rate with IT projects increases to over 80% (from about

50%)From IAG’s 2009 Business Analysis Benchmark report

What you can do to improve Requirements Management

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PMBOK®• How requirement activities are planned,

tracked and reported• Configuration management activities• Requirements prioritization process• Product metrics and rationale for using• Traceability structure

Requirement Management Plan

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• Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring– Focus on planning for the BA processes and activities.– Specify the how the business analysis tasks will be performed– Identify the deliverables produced– Describe how changes will be controlled and managed

• Requirements Management & Communications– Focus on presenting and communicating documented requirements to all stakeholders,

including project team members, to bring the group to consensus on project scope. – Identify and manage change

• Requirements Elicitation– Focus on gathering requirements from various stakeholder groups – Identify the tasks, knowledge and techniques for capturing requirements

• Requirements Analysis– Focuses on analyzing the data– Defines the methods, tools, techniques to structure raw data collected during elicitation– Identifies gaps in requirements– Defines the “solution” capabilities and can serve as the foundation for selecting among

solution alternatives.

BABOK® and Requirements Management

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• Outcomes of projects and programs are not affected by whether requirements management task and activities are performed by project managers, business analysts, or both. – PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession®

• Responsibility for the Requirements Management Plan is the PMs but that doesn’t mean they must perform the activities.

• Define in RACI/Roles & Responsibilities/WBS– Skills/Resource availability– Communicate so you don’t duplicate!– Collaborate!

Requirements Management- Whose Job Is It?

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Project Management Challenges

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• BAs– Top 5 things you wish PMs would do to support

Business Analysis to ensure project success?• PMs– Top 5 things you wish BAs would do to support Project

Management to ensure project success?

Wish List

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• A Business Analyst helps organizations define the optimal solution for their needs given a set of constraints (time, budget, regulations, etc.) under which that organization operates

• Solution Scope- set of capabilities a solution must support to meet the business needs

• Project Scope- the work necessary to construct and implement a particular solution

Project Scope Vs. Solution Scope

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Focus• PM focus on Project Scope: resources, budget,

schedule, plan, risks, quality• BA focus on Solution Scope: Business risks/issues,

requirements related tasks in WBS, solution quality, represent business

Engagement• Business Analysis is continuous process, begins

before projects start, continues after project ends• PM involvement usually starts when project is

approved and ends when project ends

Focus & Engagement

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• BAs - education on Project Management• PMs - education on Business Analysis• WBS tasks clearly assigned• Roles & Responsibilities clearly defined• Communications Plan clearly defined• Communicate & Collaborate - don’t duplicate• Importance of requirements management in

project success- prevent scope creep, reduce project risks and rework

Working Together

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Work as a team to deliver a quality product that meets the business needs, stakeholder goals,

and is on schedule and within budget.

Understanding +

Mutual Respect =

Dynamic Duo

Formula for a Dynamic Duo

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• Trust each person to do their jobs. • Form a partnership with your project team. • Counting on someone else is the only way you

win.

Closing Words from Robin