This joke is doing rounds in the cyberworld. It brings out the importance of contextual knowledge to solve problems effectively. Enjoy!

There was a family with one kid. One day the mother was out and dad was in charge of the kid, who just turned three.
Someone had given the kid a little 'tea set' as a birthday gift and it was one of his favorite toys.
Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when kid brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water.
After several cups of tea and lots of praise from father for such yummy tea, kid’s Mom came home.
Dad made her wait in the living room to watch the kid bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!!'
Mom waited, and sure enough, the kid comes down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then she says to him, 'Did it ever come to your mind that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet comode ?'

Answer following questions based on the image:

1. Should the locals be happy with the outcome? (Yes / No)
2. Justify your answer
3. What could be underneath the red rectangles in the last image?
4. Bonus Point Question: What is the relevance of the above questions to Business Analysis?

This post is relevant to: a> individuals aspiring a career in business analysis, b> managers who struggle to hire BAs, and c> BA experts who can impart BA education virtually.

Having been in the BA space for a decade and having hired and managed dozens of BAs, my experience aligns with these stats (http://goo.gl/nNN5o). In a nutshell, demand for BAs is outstripping supply. I have seen organizations struggle to hire good BAs. On the other hand, there has been an upsurge of individuals who want to break into business analysis, but need help in translating their preparations into an actual BA role.

ValueBASE was founded with the mission to serve the cause of all stakeholders of Business Analysis. In the next 12 months we are planning to start several foundational initiatives towards this cause.

Today, I want to announce the beginning of our first initiative to add balance to the demand-supply equation. We believe that a great place to start is making experiential BA education accessible to grass-root level (students), and to the allied stakeholders (experienced professionals in related areas e.g. Programmer, QA, etc.)

To help students (especially MBA students recently graduated or close to graduation) and experienced professionals catch the next wave in employment, ValueBASE is launching a public virtual training that is exclusively focused on helping individuals kick-start their BA careers. Over the years we have hired dozens of individuals for the BA role who had zero to little work experience. We have squeezed our experiences to a distilled set of mandatory mindset, knowledge, skills and techniques such individuals should have to start their BA journey. That’s what we will teach in this program.

To ensure that BA learning translates into employment opportunities we have partnered with Waltech Inc. (www.waltechinc.com)-  a strategic IT recruiting company. Waltech will hire individuals who have successfully gone through this program. They will also provide visa for employment in USA to those who need them.

We are offering this virtual 40 hour program in two batches:
1.            Part-Time Batch: starting early Aug 2013. Duration: 4 weeks
2.            Accelerated Batch: starting early Aug 2013. Duration: 2 weeks

To jump-start the initiative we have already heavily subsidized the fees, and are offering special pricing for students. We also offer financial aid and flexible payment options to those in dire need.

To maintain our experiential style of delivery we are limiting the number of participants per batch.

Check out our website for more info: http://www.bavaluebase.com/publicbatrainingusa.html

ASPIRING BUSINESS ANALYSTS
Registrations are open. To register for the program or to inquire please send an email to:  ba_education@waltechinc.com

MANAGERS
Reach out to me at ronak@bavaluebase.com if you would like to hire individuals who have strong foundation, and you would like to groom them into successful & experienced BAs.

BA EXPERTS
Based on the interest I have seen so far, I anticipate the need to have more trainers in future to deliver our high quality education in different time zones. If you have passion and part-time availability to teach business analysis virtually then I would like to hear from you at ronak@bavaluebase.com

When can one say that s/he knows a domain? How much domain knowledge is enough knowledge? These are the questions that kind of ties many a BAs up in knots?

There are four elements to learning a domain: Purpose, People, Process and Information

• Purpose is learning the reason why the organization exists – what do they sell (product/service)? who are their customers/consumers? what is the value of that produce/service to their customers/consumers? what are some of the unique ‘jargon’ of the domain? what is the environment in which the organization operates? who are their competitors? what is their market share?
• People is about how the organization is structured – the org structure, hierarchy of branches, various departments, key roles in each department, a high level JD of these key roles.
• Process is about learning the business processes – the value chain, various processes within the value chain, the process flows for each process
• Information is about learning the data that is maintained by the organization – what information is created, retrieved, updated and/or deleted by the organization when business processes are executed

The one advantage of being a BA is that there are variety of techniques that you can employ in your quest for learning a new domain. Let’s list a few of them:

• Purpose:

1. PEST Analysis,
2. SWOT Analysis (Trends & Challenges are a part of this),
3. Glossary,
4. Value Chain Analysis (e.g. Insurance Value Chain)
5. Five Force Analysis

• People: Organization Modeling
• Process: Value Chain Analysis and Business Process Modeling, Business Rules Analysis
• Information: Business Domain Modeling, Data Dictionary

Most times, the problem that we face is overload of information. There is so much information on any given domain, that you wont know where to start and how information is enough information. If you start with the “end in mind” (like what Steven Covey would say), i.e. looking for information with an intention of developing the above models, you will be surprised how your research gets structured. Plus, you now have proper output of your research in the form of models that others can easily learn.

Good luck learning!

- Praveen Udupa

Continuing from my last post, let's now look at what really is a stakeholder map and why is it useful. So, to quickly recap, a stakeholder map is the four quadrant Interest vs. Influence map. All the stakeholders fall into one of these four quadrants.

What do these quadrants represent? 

The I Quadrant (top right) carries the most significance because the stakeholders who are high on both Interest and Influence are bracketed here.


But, mind you, the folk with negative Interest (the RED circles) can appear in the I and IV quadrants only...guess why?

What do I do with this map?

The stakeholder map essentially helps the BA figure out how the collaboration with the stakeholders should be.

I Quadrant - Manage Closely  

High Influence & High (Positive) Interest

1. Work in Collaboration/ Partnership and keep on board.
2. Manage them closely and maintain support
3. Refine communications to align with project goals.
4. Leverage stakeholder influence.
5. Use in project teams to deliver change.
6. Reward their support.
7. Use an interactive communication method - do not use a dictatorial tone with them. Make them feel that every idea is theirs

High Influence & High (Negative) Interest / Resistance

1. Build Relationships when possible. Take time to know them.
2. Understand the underlying reasons for resistance. Paint a picture of the future if things continue as is.
3. Acknowledge their concerns.
4. Compromise on strategy where it is possible - give and take negotiation
5. Stand firm on principles and the need for change
6. Involve other influencing people who are more positive in influencing them
7. Use an interactive communication method - do not use a dictatorial tone with them. Make them feel that every idea is theirs

II Quadrant - Keep Satisfied 
High Influence and Low Interest 

1. Keep them satisfied.
2. Send regular information about project but not constant involvement.
3. Ensure that they support the project.
4. Target communications to align with project goals.
5. Provide information to help them become supporters
6. Enthuse about change and sell the benefits.
7. Use an push communication method.
8. Be cautious about events that can suddenly move them to the I Quadrant, i.e. High Interest / High Influence

III Quadrant - Keep Informed
Low Influence and Low Interest

1. Manage relationship passively - not necessary to seek them out. Be courteous and genuine when they pass by the hallway or in the cafeteria
2. Be cautious about events that can suddenly move them to the I Quadrant, i.e. High Interest / High Influence
3. Use a push communication method - no interaction unless asked for.

IV Quadrant - Monitor
Low Influence and High Interest

1. Consult or have a dialog
2. Be cautious about events that can suddenly move them to the I Quadrant, i.e. High Interest / High Influence
3. Empower them and protect their interests
4. Consider their advice and opinions...no need to bend backwards to accommodate, unless they are really important to the project
5. Remain in constant communication to ensure that no major issues are arising

Coming back to my situation

So, had I known the above stakeholder management method, rather, had I known its real significance, I would have realized that both my warring stakeholders - sponsor and business owner - fall under the I Quadrant. In hindsight, what could have saved the project is the following collaboration strategies:

1. Involve both the sponsor and the business owner in all status review meetings (I used to involve only the sponsor)
2. Facilitate communication between these two stakeholders to ensure that both of them truly understand each other's worlds and both realize that neither is acting with any vested interest, rather, both want the best from the project
3. Arrive at the Release Plan together, such that both stakeholders' interests are optimally taken care of and that both understand what they are giving up, if at all, and why
4. Create an atmosphere of trust that neither stakeholder give you any guidance/direction without the knowledge of the other.

Well...better late than never, right? I might have been partially responsible for losing the project, but I did learn a lesson from that.

Let me know what you think...leave a comment!