The Past, Present, and Future of Business Analysis Title Slide Include a tagline for your presentation here BBC Sydney 2013 1
Once upon a time... mage 2009 Doug Kerr, Licensed Under CC-BY-SA How I Became A BA 2
Nobody Understood What We Did PM? Rules? Testing? Coding? UX? Requirements? Process? Training? Coffee? Data? 2012 CollegeDegrees360. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. 3
Projects Paid A High Price Flawed business analysis work became a key point of failure for projects and drove much higher delivery costs Analysts report that as many as 71% of software projects that fail do so because of poor requirements management, making it the single biggest reason for project failure bigger than bad technology, missed deadlines or change management fiascoes. Source: CIO Magazine, 11/15/2005 4
Are we: ORDER-TAKERS? GOFERS? ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGERS? DOCUMENTERS? Or would we rise to the challenge? 5
Business Analysis Had to Change New tools and techniques, methodologies, and organizations began to define and improve how business analysts worked. Methodologies began to address requirements development in earnest Specialized techniques emerged taking us past the system shall IIBA formed in 2003 to help move profession forward 6
Business Analysis Became A Profession We developed a shared understanding of the role so that we could define how to deliver better project outcomes. 7
Business and IT Bridging the gap between 8 2011 Jonas Ginter. Licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND. 8
But that didn t fix the problem According to PMI, less than ⅔ of projects meet their business goals and that number has been falling since 2008. 60 Standish Group CHAOS Report 50 40 30 Succeeded Challenged Failed 20 10 0 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2009 Source: The Standish Group Project Resolution History, PMI Pulse of the Profession 9
Business Value Isn t Inside Projects We can only do so much to improve business value by focusing on managing requirements within a project. Traditional BA Space Pre-Project Project Post-Project Rationale Delivery Benefits Enterprise Analysis Requirements Analysis Solution Assessment & Validation 10
Are we: LIAISONS? FACILITATORS? TRANSLATORS? REQUIREMENTS MANAGERS? Or will we rise to the challenge? 11
Business Analysis Has to Change Our focus has to shift again from tactical support of project delivery to a strategic understanding of business value. Requirements management focuses us on predictable delivery of scope We have to focus on delivery of business value We consistently neglect understanding of the reasons for change and evaluating the benefits 12
Move From Software to Systems Successful change requires that we look at things from a business perspective software requirements are only a part. Software People Process Organizational System Rules & Data 13
Bridging the gap between Projects and Operations 14 2010 Doug88888. Licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA. 14
We still have the alignment problem We must strike a balance between analysis and intuition, and take a share of responsibility for business outcomes. Analytical Thinking Goal: To Produce Reliable, Predictable, Repeatable Outcomes Reliability Architecture and Design Intuitive Thinking Goal: To produce outcomes that meet the desired objectives Validity Source: Roger L. Martin, The Design of Business 15
Architecture Embrace Architecture and Design Architecture and design ensure that we deliver value to our stakeholders by defining solutions that meet their needs Focused on Strategy, Structure and Purpose Provides a vision for Design, keeps it flexible Focused on Execution and Implementation Keeps Architecture grounded and relevant Design 16
Can we become: VISIONARIES? INNOVATORS? STRATEGISTS? LEADERS? Are we up to the challenge? 17
Business Analysis Can Change Again We need to create a feedback loop in the business between its strategies and the results delivered by change. Whole Context Situation Analysis Envision Estimate Potential Value Organizat ional Syst em Observe Measure Actual Value Requirements Analysis & Design Definition Solution Evaluation Part Component 18
Take Business Analysis to the Top Strategist Link needs to results, envision what could be, create new ideas and approaches. Facilitator Contributor Help project teams deliver better outcomes and results, control change, learn how to get requirements right, define needs correctly, create useful models. Learn the skills needed to contribute to a change team, the challenges of making changes, and the importance of requirements. 19
Bridging the gap between Strategy and Execution 20 2012 Hywel Jones. Licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND. 20
Businesses Need Us To Take This Leap The average lifespan of an S&P 500 company has dropped from 67 years in the 1920s to 15 today. Companies must focus on innovation and reinvention to survive Process and rules systems intensify competition Better execution of old models isn t enough 21
The Path Forward Is Up To Us Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Steve Jobs Business Analysis is a selfimproving profession This gives us exciting new challenges and opportunities This gives our employers a better future, greater odds of success Source: Wikipedia 22
What do YOU want to be? 23
C o m m unity.iiba.org I I B A.org i n f o@iiba.org Kevin Brennan, CBAP, PMP Chief Business Analyst, IIBA @bakevin kevin.brennan@iiba.org I n t e r n a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e o f B u s i n e s s A n a l y s i s 24