webinar: playing the role of business analyst and project manager at the same time
TRANSCRIPT
Steven Blais
Juggling Hats: Playing The
Role Of Business Analyst And
Project Manager At The Same
Time
1
Housekeeping
• Slides will be available on our SlideShare page, link will be emailed to you
• Recording of the webinar will be available to download, link will be emailed
• Take the time to complete post-webinar survey that will pop up at the end
• You can type your questions throughout the session
• Time will be allocated in the end for the speaker to address your questions
Steve Blais
Independent Consultant
ASAR - Al Ruwayeh & Partners’ Bahrain
Steve Blais, PMP, PBA, has 47 years' experience in Information Technologies as a consultant, author, speaker,
mentor and coach. He has performed as a programmer, project manager, business analyst, system analyst,
general manager, and tester over that time. He has also been in an executive position for several start-up
companies.
He writes a monthly column for Business Analysis Times and is a frequent contributor to AllpM.com, Modern
Analyst and other publications. He has presented the keynote addresses at PMI PacRim Conference in Tokyo
(2012), PMI South America in Sao Paolo (2011), IPMA European Conference (2013) and other conferences
around the world. He is the author of Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success (John Wiley, 2011).
Ideal Project manager /
Business analyst relationship • A “Janus” relationship
– Business analyst looking
outward to the organization
– Project manager looking
inward to the team
Clearly a Project is Better with
Two
• Provide counter balance
• Keep each other honest
• Amortize the specialization
• Back each other up
• Ensure a quality delivery
• Explicit and recorded conversation
• Increased pool of ideas and opinions
The Primary Focus
Problem Domain Solution Domain
Use Use Problem
Vision As Is I d e n t I f y
Accept
D e p l o y
Communication Business Community Solution Team
Solution
Source: Blais, Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success, John Wiley, 2011 3
Business Analyst Project manager
The Problem
• The division between problem and
solution domains is not clear cut
• The problem continues (and changes)
while the problem is being solved
• The solution changes while the problem
is being solved
– As do the impacts
Why One Person is Assigned
• Dictated by limitations on budget or resources
• Low risk (project failure has no major impact)
• No time or budget issues (R&D project) • Emphasis can be on business analyst role
• Requirements and scope defined and stable • Emphasis is on the project manager role
Inherent Problems
• Attention is split
– Not available for team decisions when dealing with
customer
– Not available to customer and users when dealing
with technical issues
• Knowledge / experience gap
– More capable / skilled in one or the other role
• Too much accountability
• No checks and balances
Pitfalls
Familiarity / safety
Advocacy
Conflict of interest
Conflict resolution
Long range view vs. deadline view
Cross-organizational vs. project focus
What versus how issue
What to do?
– Wear different hats
– Attend meetings as only one role
– Moderate or facilitate meetings as only one
role
• Do not mix types of meetings
– Ask those with questions which role they
are talking to
• “Are you talking to the business analyst or the
project manager?”
What to do (Part 2)
– Defer decisions
– Assign lieutenants for sanity checking
– Physical separation of roles
• Different drawers in the file cabinet
• Business analyst on right side of desk; project
manager on left
– Become schizophrenic
– Bottom line: maintain the focus!