BA Techniques When asked to give this talk, was looking for an angle. Thought at first might shine a ‘narrow beam’ on just one or two techniques. But which ones? At least someone in this audience would be expert and so bored by this. Then asked some of my colleagues to brainstorm – technique there! – list of all the BA techniques they’d ever heard of . A lot of techniques suggested, so I decided to do a survey of the field, as it were, and make some suggestions about where and how the various techniques might be used. So that’s the outline of my presentation.
BA Techniques
BA Techniques
BA Techniques
BA Techniques
BA Techniques
BA Techniques NOTE – SLIDE BUILDS – PICTURE APPEARS ON MOUSE CLICK To try to make sense of this, I decided to think about what business analysts actually do. I divided their work into six broad areas. These are not meant to be definitive, they’re only my classification for this talk. I’m sure we could debate this for hours and there are undoubtedly better classifications possible but just bear with me for this evening! DISPLAY USE CASE DIAGRAM. I – or to be absolutely honest, my colleague Debbie Paul - suggested using a use case context diagram for this and that’s what we have here. TALK THROUGH CLASSIFICATIONS AND WHAT’S INCLUDED IN EACH.
BA Techniques The first group of techniques are used to investigate the situation, to get at the facts – and opinions – that are relevant to the business issue we’re studying. In the ISEB BA diploma, this is called ‘elicitation’ and in the ISEB IS Consultancy Practice Certificate it’s called ‘Data Collection’. But what’s in a name? You’ll notice that I’ve used the use case ‘extend’ construct in some places here. The idea is that all of these techniques can stand alone but they can also be used to build on others. For instance, you might hold a workshop and then decide to pursue some issues in more detail using one-to-one interviews. Or vice-versa probably, though that’s not shown on the diagram. I would guess that interviews and workshops are the most-used techniques here, with others taking a supporting role.
BA Techniques Next, let’s look at some strategic analysis tools. Again, all of these can be used on their own but I’ve also shown them feeding in to a SWOT analysis. Everyone know what a SWOT analysis is? EXPLAIN SWOT CONCEPT IF REQUIRED. Very often, SWOTS are constructed by just brainstorming but we’ve found that using the other techniques to understand the internal and external environment makes for a more structured and powerful analysis. CATWOE – if you haven’t met it before – comes from the world of Soft Systems. The most important element is the Weltanshauung or World View and this is relevant in understanding strategy as, sometimes, it is a difference of world view within the management team of an organisation that leads to problems. Or where the world view is completely out of step with the real world.
BA Techniques Next, we have the important work of business case construction. I know that some business analysts get involved in this, while others contribute to business cases created elsewhere – by the project sponsor for example. But either way, I think that BAs need to have an understanding of the concepts involved. You’ll notice that extending the cost/benefit analysis are a number of scary-sounding accounting techniques. You may, as a BA, use the services of your management accountants to do these analyses properly but you do, I think, need to understand the principles involved so you can discuss the results meaningfully with the accountants. And, as the slide shows, you do need the ability to put your ideas over both in writing and in a presentation.
BA Techniques OK, so there you have it – a vast array of techniques. So how do you decide which to use when? I think there are three criteria to consider: The situation – TALK THROUGH THIS The ‘users’ – TALK THROUGH THIS The business analyst – TALK THROUGH THIS. MAKE THE POINT THAT WHAT WORKS FOR ONE PERSON WILL COMPLETELY FAIL FOR ANOTHER. IMPORTANT NOT TO GO OFF AT HALF-COCK AND RUIN YOUR CREDIBILITY.
BA Techniques NOTE – SLIDE BUILDS – PICTURE APPEARS ON MOUSE CLICK So how do we learn to use these techniques effectively? DISPLAY PICTURE. I guess most of us have seen this model of the skills development process. And I guess also that, for each of the techniques I’ve presented, we’re all going to be somewhere or other on the model. At least after this talk, we’ll all be in a state of conscious incompetence in that there will be some techniques we’ve only just heard of and will want to examine further.
BA Techniques Essentially, there are four ways of developing our mastery of the various techniques: Courses are an obvious one and, for some techniques, they really are essential. I think, for instance, that learning how to use CATWOE or build a business activity model is best done with someone at hand who can advise and guide you on what do to. But for many techniques, private study is just as good. The main difficulty is finding suitable reference sources and I have to admit that BA techniques are scattered about all over the place. But the references in the BCS Business Analysis book provide a starting point and there is always the internet. Thirdly, discuss with your colleagues and network e.g. IIBA events. I actually believe, though, that you learn best by trying things out. Ideally, you can find someone in your organisation who is good at a particular technique and get some mentoring from them. Short of that, find a small, safe issue, on which to practise. Sometimes, you’ll find that a particular technique doesn’t work for you – I can’t seem to get on with mind-maps, for instance, which is probably why I’ve left them out of this presentation.
BA Techniques Just to summarise this, then, I’ve put together what I call a basic toolkit of techniques that I think all BAs ought to master. I’ve treated my six areas sequentially here but, of course, this is an over-simplification. Also, some techniques can be used in other places – you might well use MoSCoW, for instance, in a workshop to get people thinking about the priority they assign to things. I’m sure each of you has a favourite technique that you’d want to see in these lists – and you’re view is as valid as mine here.
BA Techniques
BA Techniques When asked to give this talk, was looking for an angle. Thought at first might shine a ‘narrow beam’ on just one or two techniques. But which ones? At least someone in this audience would be expert and so bored by this. Then asked some of my colleagues to brainstorm – technique there! – list of all the BA techniques they’d ever heard of . A lot of techniques suggested, so I decided to do a survey of the field, as it were, and make some suggestions about where and how the various techniques might be used. So that’s the outline of my presentation.