Business Analyst Community & Resources | Modern Analyst

What facilitation traps do you watch for in executive workshops?

Adrian M. — Sat, 10 May 2025 01:15:00 GMT

Facilitation traps I vigilantly avoid in executive workshops—and how I steer around them are as follows:

Trap	Why It Hurts	My Counter-Move
C-Suite Soliloquy – one leader dominates the airtime	Silences dissent, skews priorities toward a single lens	Use a visible “round-robin” queue and time-box each voice; summarize points to signal closure before moving on
Solutioneering Too Soon	Jumps to pet technologies before objectives are clear	Park premature solutions on a flip-chart, label it “Ideas—Revisit,” and refocus on why not how
Status Theater – updates masquerading as strategy	Burns time on tactical minutiae	Send pre-reads for status; open the session by reaffirming the strategic question and desired outputs
Groupthink & Halo Bias	Consensus forms around the highest-paid opinion, stifling alternatives	Introduce silent brainstorming (stickies or chats), then affinity-cluster ideas anonymously before discussion
Scope Creep Live	New agenda items pile on, diluting depth	Display a visible agenda with time allocations; invoke the “parking lot” for off-topic items and promise follow-up
Decision Fog – no clear next steps	Momentum dies post-workshop	End with a RAPID-style decision log: owner, approver, input providers, deadlines

Why it matters: Executives expect high-impact use of their time. By anticipating these traps, I protect focus, ensure balanced participation, and convert dialogue into concrete, owned decisions—turning a workshop into an accelerating force rather than a calendar expense.

What is Mathematical Reasoning and how is it beneficial to a Business Analyst?

Adrian M. — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 04:41:00 GMT

Mathematical Reasoning refers to the use of logical and analytical thinking to solve problems, interpret data, and draw valid conclusions by leveraging mathematical principles and methodologies. At its core, it involves breaking down a problem into smaller components, identifying patterns, making inferences, and applying quantitative techniques to arrive at a solution. This reasoning does not exclusively rely on complex arithmetic; rather, it encompasses a broader skill set that includes logical deduction, pattern recognition, and structured problem-solving. Mathematical Reasoning is not solely about numbers—it is about understanding relationships, recognizing trends, and formulating arguments that can withstand scrutiny.

For a business analyst, this kind of reasoning is extremely beneficial in multiple ways.

First, it supports data-driven decision-making. A significant part of a business analyst’s role involves collecting, reviewing, and interpreting various datasets—such as market reports, financial documents, or customer feedback. Mathematical Reasoning helps in translating raw data into meaningful insights. By identifying statistical trends, understanding variances, and applying probability models, business analysts can forecast outcomes and recommend actionable steps to stakeholders. This analytical rigor allows for more accurate predictions and risk assessments, enabling organizations to make well-informed strategic choices.

Second, Mathematical Reasoning enhances problem-solving. Businesses frequently face complex challenges—be it operational inefficiencies, unexpected cost overruns, or shifts in consumer behavior. By adopting a methodical approach, an analyst can break these issues down into manageable parts, quantify each element, and propose viable solutions. For example, when examining operational bottlenecks, understanding queuing theory or basic optimization techniques can help pinpoint the root causes and inform appropriate remedial measures.

Third, a solid foundation in Mathematical Reasoning facilitates clearer communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Business analysts often act as a bridge between technical teams (e.g., data scientists and IT professionals) and functional teams (e.g., marketing or sales). The ability to articulate data-driven insights in a precise but understandable manner depends on strong logical reasoning. When analysts can succinctly explain how numbers relate to business objectives—such as demonstrating return on investment or cost-benefit trade-offs—they help foster alignment and consensus across the organization.

Overall, Mathematical Reasoning equips business analysts with a robust toolkit for critical thinking, structured analysis, and effective communication. By applying mathematical principles to identify patterns, test assumptions, and communicate insights, analysts can drive value-adding decisions, address complex business problems, and ultimately contribute to the long-term success of their organizations.

What is a Big Rock Project?

Adrian M. — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 00:04:00 GMT

A Big Rock Project is a large-scale initiative that plays a critical role in driving an organization’s long-term goals. These projects are strategically important and usually involve significant resource investment, high complexity, and a substantial impact on the organization’s future. Unlike regular projects, Big Rock Projects have clearly defined goals and high stakes, which means they require rigorous planning, broad stakeholder involvement, and formal governance. For example, a Big Rock Project could involve launching a major new product, implementing digital transformation, or expanding into a new market. These initiatives are crucial because they ensure the organization stays aligned with its strategic objectives and remains competitive.

The term "Big Rock" originates from a time management metaphor popularized by Stephen Covey, where the "big rocks" are the most important tasks that must be prioritized ahead of smaller, less critical activities.

Key Characteristics of Big Rock Projects

Strategic Importance - Big Rock Projects are aligned with the organization's mission and long-term objectives. They often drive transformative changes, such as launching a new product line, entering a new market, or implementing a major technological overhaul.

High Complexity and Scope - These projects are typically complex, involving multiple departments, stakeholders, and sometimes external partners. Due to their scope, they require careful planning and coordination.

Significant Resource Investment - Big Rock Projects demand considerable resources, including time, budget, and personnel, often spanning longer timeframes compared to regular projects.

High Impact and Risk - The outcomes of these projects can significantly influence the organization’s growth, profitability, and competitive positioning. Because of their scale, they also carry higher risks.

Defined Objectives and Non-Negotiables- Big Rock Projects have clear goals and success factors that are non-negotiable. Failing to meet these objectives can lead to substantial negative consequences for the organization.

Approach to Managing Big Rock Projects

Managing Big Rock Projects requires a more structured and disciplined approach compared to regular projects:

Upfront Planning - Extensive initial planning and requirements gathering are necessary to ensure all aspects are considered.

Stakeholder Engagement - Involve key stakeholders from various parts of the organization to ensure alignment and buy-in.

Risk Management - Proactively identify and mitigate risks due to the project’s scale and impact.

Formal Governance - Implement governance structures like steering committees to oversee progress and make strategic decisions.

What is Business Portfolio Analysis?

Adrian M. — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 18:17:00 GMT

Business Portfolio Analysis is a strategic tool used by companies to assess the performance and potential of various business units, products, or investments within their portfolio. The primary objective of this analysis is to determine where to allocate resources most effectively, identifying opportunities for growth, areas for improvement, or segments that should be divested.

Business portfolio analysis typically involves evaluating two key dimensions:

1. Market Attractiveness - This dimension refers to external factors like market growth rate, competitive intensity, and overall profitability potential within a given market. It helps companies understand which markets offer the best opportunities for growth and return on investment for the foreseeable future. This is the outward view.

2. Business Strength - This dimension considers internal factors, such as a company's competitive position, market share, financial performance, and ability to generate sustained revenue in a particular business area. This is the inward view.

One of the most commonly used tools for business portfolio analysis is the BCG Matrix (Boston Consulting Group Matrix), which categorizes business units or products into four groups based on their market growth rate and relative market share:

STARS - Business units with high market growth and high market share. These are often prioritized for further investment because they are leaders in expanding markets.

CASH COWS - Business units with low market growth but high market share. These are mature, profitable units that generate steady cash flow, which can be reinvested into other areas.

QUESTION MARKS - Business units with high market growth but low market share. These require careful consideration to determine whether they can be grown into Stars or if resources should be redirected elsewhere.

DOGS - Business units with low market growth and low market share. These typically underperform and may need to be divested or phased out to free up resources for more promising opportunities.

Other portfolio analysis frameworks, like the GE/McKinsey Matrix or SWOT Analysis, also help companies analyze different aspects of their portfolio based on market attractiveness, competitive strength, and strategic alignment.

What is a Product Roadmap?

Adrian M. — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 23:45:00 GMT

A product roadmap is a strategic, high-level visual summary that outlines the vision, direction, priorities, and progress of a product over time. It serves multiple purposes, acting as a guide for both internal teams and external stakeholders to understand the future trajectory of a product.

Here are the key components of a product roadmap:

Product Roadmap Vision - The roadmap starts with a clear articulation of the product’s long-term vision. This vision encapsulates the overarching goals and the purpose the product aims to serve. It provides a north star that guides all product decisions and development efforts.

Product Roadmap Strategy - The roadmap details the strategy to achieve this vision, including key themes, objectives, and success metrics. It connects the high-level vision to actionable plans and ensures all stakeholders understand how the day-to-day activities contribute to the larger goals.

Product Roadmap Features and Requirements - The roadmap outlines the major features and requirements that need to be developed. This includes new functionalities, improvements, or even technical upgrades. Each feature is typically aligned with specific business goals or customer needs. The roadmap also highlights which features are most important and in what sequence they will be developed. This prioritization is often based on factors such as market demand, customer feedback, and strategic value.

Product Roadmap Timelines and Milestones - A roadmap provides a high-level timeline for when certain features or objectives will be achieved. This can be broken down into short-term, medium-term, and long-term horizons. Key milestones, such as product launches, beta releases, or major updates, are also indicated. These milestones help track progress and ensure the team remains focused on delivering value at regular intervals.

Here are some key functions and properties of a product roadmap:

Product Roadmap Supports Stakeholder Communication and Alignment - The roadmap is a powerful communication tool. It helps align various stakeholders—including product teams, executives, marketing, sales, and customers—on the product’s direction and priorities. By providing a shared understanding of what is planned and why, the roadmap facilitates collaboration and ensures that all parties are working towards common goals.

Product Roadmaps Are Flexible and Adaptable - A good product roadmap is not set in stone. It is a living document that evolves based on feedback, market changes, and new insights. Flexibility is key to responding to unexpected challenges or opportunities. Regular reviews and updates of the roadmap ensure that it remains relevant and accurately reflects the current state of the product strategy.

Product Roadmaps Are Visual - The roadmap is typically presented in a visual format, making it easier to grasp and communicate complex information. Common formats include Gantt charts, timeline views, and theme-based layouts. Visuals help in quickly conveying the sequence of work, the relationship between different initiatives, and the overall progress against strategic goals.

What is Business Continuity Planning (BCP)?

Adrian M. — Sun, 07 May 2023 00:06:00 GMT

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is the process of developing a plan to ensure that an organization can continue to operate or resume normal operations, in a timely manner, after an unexpected disruption of business. The goal of BCP is to minimize the negative impact of a disruption on an organization's operations, customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

A robust Business Continuity Planning (BCP) program involves a number of key components including:

Risk Assessment - Identification of potential risks and threats to the organization's operations, such as adverse weather, labor strikes, cyber attacks, power outages, fires, acts of terrorism, internal security incidents, pandemics, civil unrest, or other disruptions.

Business Impact Analysis - Analysis of the potential impact of each of the identified risks on the organization's operations, financial stability, reputation with customers, or even its long term survival.

Business Continuity Strategy - Development of a comprehensive plan (or multiple plans) which addresses how critical business functions can continue to operate or quickly resume in the event of a disruption. Business continuity mitigation strategies include alternative work locations, multiple data centers, recovery plans for each business unit, crisis communication plans, business insurance, and more.

BCP Development and Implementation - Development and implementation of a well documented, broadly communicated, and understood PCP, which includes policies, procedures, roles, responsibilities, and guidelines for responding to and recovering from disruptions.

BCP Testing and Maintenance - Regularly testing and updating the Business Continuity Plan in order to ensure its effectiveness and relevance in addressing new risks and changes in the organization's operations and goals.

Crisis Management - Development of a crisis management plan to manage and respond to a disruption, including emergency response plans, vendor/strategic partner agreements, internal communication plans, customer notification plans, and incident management plans.

BCP Training and Awareness - Developing and executing training and awareness programs for employees and key stakeholders to ensure they are aware of the details of the BCP as well as their roles and responsibilities in the event of a business disruption.

BCP Documentation - Maintenance of accurate and up-to-date documentation of the Business Continuity Plan and all related policies and procedures. Another important aspect of BCP documentation is making it available to employees and strategic partners in a variety of formats and methods so that it is readily available when needed, in case of a business disruption.

Business Analysts can play an important role in Business Continuity Planning by working closely with stakeholders to understand the organization's operations, identify potential risks and threats, and develop strategies to ensure critical business functions can continue to operate or quickly resume in the event of a disruption.

In summary, BCP is a critical function for any organization to ensure its resilience in the face of unexpected business disruptions with the goal of protecting its employees, serving its customers, continuity of adequate operations, and maintaining its reputation.

What is a Digital Immune System?

Adrian M. — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 23:43:00 GMT

A Digital Immune System makes use of a variety of software engineering strategies, design, development, technologies, and data analytics to autonomously mitigate and respond to operational risks and security risks, in real time.

What’s the difference: On-Premise vs Cloud vs. Fog vs. Edge Computing?

Adrian M. — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 20:03:00 GMT

Before we jump into the comparison of on-premise vs. cloud vs. fog vs. edge computing we need to take a step back and use first principles thinking by first defining the terms in a stepwise manner.

Let’s start with what is computing? For our purposes, let’s keep it simple: it’s the activity or process performed by computing devices (hardware or software) in order to achieve a specific goal or objective. The types of computations very drastically but can include activities such as retrieving data, performing searches, executing algorithms, or making decisions.

The key difference between on-premise vs. cloud vs. fog vs. edge computing has to do with where the computing takes place.

What is the Abilene Paradox and its impact to projects?

Adrian M. — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 03:06:00 GMT

The Abilene Paradox is that phenomenon which occurs when a group of people make a decision together which is counter to what the majority of the individuals or the group actually think or want.

It's an example of negative groupthink and communication breakdown which occurs when individual members of the group believe that their own opinion or preference is counter to what the group wants, without realizing that others are thinking the same way.

The Abilene Paradox can occur in the most polite and civil environments where each group member may mistakenly assume that the group wants and chose to not raise any objections in order to not "rock the boat".

This phenomenon was first introduced by Jerry B. Harvey in an article titled "The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement". Oddly enough, what Harvey noticed is that this occurs when the group is ineffective at managing agreement. Unlike managing disagreement when a group can't figure out how to come to a resolution or compromise, the Abilene Paradox occurs when individual members of a group do not raise concerns about the group decision even though, deep down, they do not agree with it.

So how can the Abilene Paradox impact your project?

Imagine a business analyst, on a large software development project, simply jotting down a critical decision or important requirement decided by a group of stakeholders against common sense and against the individual stakeholders judgement and expertise. Imagine that requirements is now implemented and deployed to production only to find out that's not what anybody wanted.

If you had the feeling and thoughts that it's the wrong decision, would you go against the grain and raise your hand?

Do you have what it takes to question the expertise of the subject matter experts?

How can you spot and avoid falling in the trap of the Abilene Paradox?

Avoiding the Abilene Paradox

As a business analyst, you need to recognize that agreement is not always good - especially when the problem is complex yet the agreements develops very quickly. Before we can avoid it, we must first understand why the Abilene Paradox occurs. Here are a some of the reasons:

Fear of being wrong - what if my idea is a bad one?

Fear of rejection - what if they don't like my idea?

Laziness to fight for a point of view - well, if that's what everybody wants, it's fine with me?

Fear of conflict - the team is working so well together, I don't want to be the one causing conflict?

To avoid falling into the Abilene trap, the business analyst should:

Look for and recognize when complex decisions are made in record time without disent.

Have one-on-one conversations with individuals from the group to get their opinion on the decision

Ask the group: "What would others think of this decision?"

Ask the group: "Do you see any issues with this decision?"

Encourage open communication to ensure everyone's opinion is heard.

Reward and recognize dissenting opinions and thoughts.

What is a Scrum of Scrums and what are its benefits?

Chris Adams — Mon, 03 May 2021 21:19:00 GMT

You manage a team of Project Managers and Business Analysts.They are all assigned different projects, but you come to realize they all intersect at one business application.

All teams conduct their meetings throughout the project to ensure it's going according to the project charter or their sprint goals. Some are using status meetings, and others are running daily scrums.

How do you ensure synchronization among the teams and that an accidental change does not compromise the business application? That there are no impacts or impediments to a smooth delivery? What is your approach?

What strategies might a business analyst consider when planning for a company's growth?

Chris Adams — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 17:10:00 GMT

If a company is to ensure its growth, it needs to plan for it. There are a number of growth strategies that can be used. Deciding which is the right growth strategy for a company depends on it current success and position within the marketplace in which it operates. Four of these growth strategies are:

Market Penetration (Existing Products/Existing Markets)
Market Development (Existing Products/New Market)
Product Development (New Products/Existing Market)
Diversification (New Products/New Market)

What is Enterprise Architecture?

Chris Adams — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 19:00:00 GMT

Enterprise Architecture was born out of the world of Information Technology and comprises Application Architecture, Data Architecture, and Infrastructure Architecture. As more professionals focus on the related topic of Business Architecture -- which covers the business organizational structure, business capabilities, business value streams or business processes, business knowledge, and finally the business strategy -- the need to clearly articulate the relationship between Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture grows. however, practitioners and leaders in the field have begun to broaden the definition of Enterprise Architecture to also include Business Architecture as a fourth sub-component, leaving Enterprise Architecture as the overarching concept.

Is it really necessary to document the business vision at the start of a project?

Chris Adams — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 16:55:00 GMT

The business vision serves as a foundation that drives, guides and unifies the project from beginning to end. It may be captured in a 1-page Vision statement or a formal Vision document, depending on the size and complexity of the project.

What is Model-Based Management and what benefits can it bring an organization?

Chris Adams — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 22:41:00 GMT

Model-Based Management refers to the activity of managing and making informed decision regarding the future direction of a business, process, or system(s) based on information gleaned and understood from models that document the current state.

How do you deal with management who constantly tries to reduce your estimated analysis hours?

Chris Adams — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 18:00:00 GMT

A good rule of thumb is that no single task should be greater than 40 hours when estimating. And if you know that your management has a habit of pushing back hard on estimates make sure that no single task is greater than 20 hours, with most being less than 8-12 hours.

What is a Team Competency Assessment and why might it be used?

Chris Adams — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 17:30:00 GMT

The success of any project is dependent on a number of factors, but ensuring you have the right team competencies (people and skills) is imperative. When a team is put together from scratch, ensuring that the team has the appropriate competencies to meet the needs of the organization is usually the paramount concern. Though it's not always analyzed in a formal way. However many operations and technology teams exist as a permanent group within an organization. As projects arise, resources (people) are assigned to various teams to complete the current projects. In this instance, without a formal assessment, it's common that the assembled teams lack the necessary skills for success.

Performing a team competency assessment can reveal any team weaknesses so that new or additional team members with the required skills can be sourced.

What is a Product Manager?

Chris Adams — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 16:00:00 GMT

The role of the Product Manager resides at the intersection between business, technology and user experience. The paramount responsibility of a Product Manager is to ensure that the product they manage (software, service, or other tangible product) creates value for the business. In turn, to create value for the business the product needs to be of value to customers or to internal business employees.

What is the 4-D framework for Time Management?

Chris Adams — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 21:50:00 GMT

Competing demands on our time ensure one constant; we rarely have enough time to complete everything we would like to do. Time management skills are critical to our success and productivity. The 4-D framework is a simple, yet effective, technique for determining how to react to requests on our time.

The 4 Ds are: Do, Defer, Delegate, and Drop (Delete). It can often be helpful to approach the framework in the reverse order listed to whittle down the list of requests.

What strategies could be used on a project to deal with undesirable (negative) risks?

Chris Adams — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 20:15:00 GMT

Common strategies for dealing with negative risks include Acceptance, Transfer, Avoidance, Mitigation

What is DevOps and how does it relate to software development?

Chris Adams — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 16:42:00 GMT

As the name suggests, DevOps represents a union of two different sub-disciplines – Development and Operations. Most analysts are highly familiar with the Development portion of DevOps. This is the traditional software development lifecycle used to create or make major changes to software applications. It includes a vast network of people who assist in developing a product including product managers, business analysts, software developers, quality assurance engineers, and others. From the DevOps perspective, this stage end just prior to software release/deployment.

The Operations portion of DevOps tend to be less familiar to analysts. In years past Development and Operations operated almost entirely in their own silos. The Ops team is made up of system and network engineers, DBAs, and others that build, manage, and monitor the IT infrastructure required to ensure the software can be properly deployed and supported. They receive the tested software builds and manage the release and deployment of the software onto the IT network while monitoring network stability.

What are the traits that differentiate a great leader from and a good leader?

Chris Adams — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 20:14:00 GMT

All leaders are usually rather intelligent and many possess hard skills and technical skills that help them perform well. But more important than IQ or hard skills is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor your feelings and those of others to guide your behavior. Studies have found that emotional intelligence is twice as important at all levels of leadership. And when studying top tier leadership positions emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 95% of the difference between average and star performers.

How do you effectively manage time, both personally and at an organizational level?

Chris Adams — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 17:20:00 GMT

Companies manage their capital budgets with intense rigor. So why do so many fail to manage their time with the same level of commitment and structure?

It has been found that on average executives spend 2 full days each week just attending meetings. To make matters worse the last 40 years have shown an explosion in communications. Executives received only about 1,000 external communications per year in the 1970s. This has ballooned to 30,000 communications per year in the 2010s due to emails, phone calls and virtual collaborations with people external to the organization.

By applying rigor to the way companies view time allocation, organizations have the opportunity to free up as much as 20% of their collective hours.

What is a Business Architect and is it different from a Business Analyst?

Chris Adams — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 16:35:00 GMT

The term Business Analyst is broad. The name alone implies that a business analyst performs some form of business analysis, but that’s not very specific.

When using the term business analyst broadly it may in fact be describing any number of more specialized roles, including:

Business Process Engineers
Product Managers
Systems Analysts
Requirements Engineers
Financial Analysts
Business Architects
Usability Analysts
Data Analysts
etc.

In comparison, a Business Architect focuses on the activity of creating and managing the business architecture. So what is a business architecture exactly?

What is the Blue Ocean Strategy?

Chris Adams — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 23:38:00 GMT

Red oceans represent existing industry and markets where industry boundaries and the rules of competition are well defined. Companies strive to outperform rivals and grab a bigger share of existing demand. As the space gets crowded, competition among companies turns waters red with blood. Competitive market strategies are about how to occupy, and hopefully succeed in, red oceans and gain a larger share of existing demand.

Blue oceans represent new or unknown markets where demand is created rather than fought over. This is a market creating strategy. Companies that pursue this strategy have been known to spawn entirely new industries.

Describe Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

Chris Adams — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 16:01:00 GMT

Porter’s Five Forces was created by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. Porter created his analysis framework in response to the well known SWOT analysis which he found to be lacking in rigor.

Porter described his 5 forces as the micro environment of the market because they directly impact the company’s ability to serve its customers and make a profit. The five forces are:

Threat of new competition
Threat of substitute products or services
Intensity of competitive rivalry
Bargaining power of customers (buyers)
Bargaining power of suppliers

How would you convince management that a business analyst is needed within a team?

Chris Adams — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 15:30:00 GMT

Answering a few key questions and summarizing the results can help you objectively present to management the need for a business analyst.

What are the key tasks a Business Analyst would perform within your organization?
How well is the team performing on each business analysis task?
How much time/money is lost due to poorly performed Business Analysis tasks?
Which tasks could the existing team improve on and which should be completed by an experienced business analyst?
Perform a summary level cost-benefit analysis based on your findings.

What is Benchmarking?

Chris Adams — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 21:05:00 GMT

When companies want to improve, they first need to have an accurate means of measuring performance. Without accurate measurement, determining process improvement is not feasible. Measurement establishes a baseline against which the organization can determine the degree of improvement that has been made.

How do you build trust in virtual teams?

Chris Adams — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 19:22:00 GMT

Trust between team members is an essential part of any well functioning team. While lots of things are more challenging when working with virtual teams, building trust is definitely one of them.

What is meant by Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing?

Chris Adams — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 19:01:00 GMT

The phrase Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing was coined in 1965 by psychologist Bruce Tuckman. He described that most teams follow a consistent path from the point when they are first assembled to the time when they become a highly proficient, highly effective group. This path leads them through four distinct stages; Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.

Describe Kotter's 8 Step Process for Leading Change?

Chris Adams — Sun, 08 May 2016 21:36:00 GMT

John Kotter, a professor at Harvard Business School, studied many businesses that successfully implemented change within their organizations. From this he formulated a common 8-step model that other organizations could follow to institute change. He introduced his eight-step change process in his 1995 book, "Leading Change."

Explain the difference between strategic and tactical as it relates to a business.

Chris Adams — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT

The terms strategic and tactical are typically used in a business environment to refer to the two main types of planning, thinking, or actions that takes place. Plainly stated, strategic refers to "what” and “why" the business chooses to do something and tactical refers to "how” they plan to accomplish it.

Strategic thinking, planning, and actions are rooted in a company’s ability to understand the environment they operate within, recognize developing patterns and trends within the industry, anticipate issues that may arise within the current operating environment, predict outcomes of planned initiatives and how they might impact the company’s direction, and develop sound fallback plans to mitigate the risk of a miscalculation. Strategic planning in particular deals with the mission and purpose of the organization, its value proposition, i.e., what value it delivers to the customer, as well as the company’s future direction and growth.

Tactical refers to how the company or manager plans to get the job done or achieve the particular strategic objective. Tactical thinking and planning considers the resources available (time, money, people) along with the risks or challenges that may be encountered, and determines the most efficient way to use those resources to achieve strategic goals while delivering quality results.

Some often remember the two concepts by using the mnemonic device, “strategic is doing the right things—tactical is doing things right”.

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Chris Adams
LinkedIn Profile

What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

Chris Adams — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 21:52:00 GMT

Business Analysts are often working within organizations that are all about dealing with the latest crisis. Instead of focusing on what’s important to the business from a strategic perspective, everyone is busy putting out "fires".

The Eisenhower Matrix is a prioritization tool that helps the business analyst refocus on what should be handled when, and who should focus on them. This method gets it's name because it is said it was used by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower who was adept at time management. The quote, "What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important" is attributed to him.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple 2x2 matrix. The 2 rows are labeled "Not Important" and "Important", while the columns are labeled "Urgent" and "Not Urgent". Items will fall into 1 of 4 quadrants.

Quadrants:

Urgent and Important - Deal with these immediately and give them your utmost attention.
Not Urgent but Important - Determine when these will be done.  These are items that move you towards your strategic objectives.
Urgent but Not Important - These tend to be trivial time wasters and distractions such as phone calls, emails, etc. There importance is low but they need to be dealt with at that moment. Delegate these to others.
Not Urgent and Not Important - These items may never get done and it's not that big of a deal. They are low on the priority list.

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Chris Adams
LinkedIn Profile

What is a balanced scorecard?

Chris Adams — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:29:00 GMT

A balanced scorecard is a framework that organizations can use to align business activities to the organization’s strategy and vision. Although often viewed as a strategic tool, the balanced scorecard works equally well at the operational level.

How can software projects contribute to the organization’s balanced scorecard?

Chris Adams — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:23:00 GMT

The planning process for software projects typically involves the identification of target-state goals and objectives to be achieved. These goals can be aligned to the organization’s strategic and operational goals, and project metrics can be set within each of the balanced scorecard perspectives.

What is force-field analysis?

Chris Adams — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:15:00 GMT

Force-field analysis is a technique for assessing an organization’s readiness for change, by identifying and evaluating the forces that support a proposed change and the forces that oppose it. The proposed change is pictured in the centre of a force-field diagram, with supporting forces and opposing forces listed on opposite sides. The strength or influence of each force is estimated, usually on a scale from 1 to 5.

The ‘force field’ can then be analyzed to determine if there is sufficient support to move the change forward, and to identify ways in which the supporting forces can be strengthened and / or opposing forces weakened.

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Sandy Lambert
Business Architect
LinkedIn Profile

What are the 3 main elements of an organizational readiness assessment?

Chris Adams — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 22:31:00 GMT

Cultural assessment – An assessment of the beliefs, attitudes and feelings common to key stakeholder groups and the willingness of those stakeholder groups to accept a change.

Operational or technical assessment – An operational assessment evaluates the state of business operations to begin using a new solution. Considerations include determining if training is needed and available in a timely manner, and whether new policies and procedures have been defined. A technical assessment determines whether required hardware, infrastructure, tools and technical support personnel are in place.

Stakeholder impact analysis – Identifies the impact that the solution will have on each stakeholder group or class, and verifies that the necessary actions or strategies will be initiated to mitigate or manage those impacts.

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Sandy Lambert
Business Architect
LinkedIn Profile

What is the BIZBOK?

Chris Adams — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:02:00 GMT

The BIZBOK stands for Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (also referenced as the BIZBOK Guide or The Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge).

The guide represents an organized body of knowledge, set of disciplines, and best practices for business architects and other practitioners who would like to document and manage a formal business architecture with their organization to address business challenges. Like many other BOKs or Bodies of Knowledge, the BIZBOK continues to be evolved over time

The current version of the BIZBOK is v3.0. It’s evolution and formalization is owned and managed by the Business Architecture Guild whose primary purpose is to promote business architecture best practices and expand the knowledge-base of the Business Architecture discipline. The guild is developing the BIZBOK with input from authors, practitioners, and other architecture groups such as the Business Architecture Society, the OMG Business Architecture Special Interest Group, and the Business Architecture Institute.

The full BIZBOK is available to Business Architecture Guild members.

The BIZBOK 3.0 Table of Contents:

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Business Architecture Blueprints

Section 2.1: Business Strategy Mapping

Section 2.2: Capability Mapping

Section 2.3: Organization Mapping

Section 2.4: Value Mapping

Section 2.5: Information Mapping

Section 2.6: Initiative Mapping

Section 2.7: Product Mapping

Section 2.8: Stakeholder Mapping

Part 3: Business Architecture Practice

Section 3.1: Common Approaches for Getting Started

Section 3.2: Business Architecture Governance

Section 3.3: Business Architecture and Business Model Frameworks

Section 3.4: Business Architecture and Business Process Modeling

Section 3.5: Business Architecture and Case Management

Section 3.6: Business Architecture and Lean Six Sigma

Section 3.7: Business Architecture and Business Performance Management

Section 3.8: Business Architecture Tooling Options

Part 4: Business Architecture Scenarios

Part 5: The Business Architecture Knowledgebase

Part 6: Business Architecture and IT Architecture Alignment

Section 6.1: Business Architecture and IT Architecture Alignment Overview

Section 6.2: Business Architecture and Enterprise Architecture Alignment

Section 6.3: Business Architecture and Requirements Alignment

Section 6.4: Capability and Application Portfolio Management

Section 6.5: Business Architecture and SOA Alignment

Section 6.6: Business Information and IT Architecture Alignment

Section 6.7: Business Architecture and IT Architecture Transformation

Part 7: Business Architecture Case Studies

Part 8: Industry Reference Models

Part 9: Feedback Structure

Appendix A: Glossary

Appendix B: Editorial Board and Contributions

What information should a Business Plan contain?

Chris Adams — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 20:20:00 GMT

The purpose of a business plan is to clearly lay out the vision and strategic direction of a business. This will include articulating the demand for your product or service and accurately defining the market in which the business will be operate. A business plan benefits its business leaders by imposing organization and focus to an early startup, and it benefits potential financial investors by communicating the factors that will influence their investment decision.

Sometimes the hardest part of creating a business plan isn’t knowing what to include but figuring out how to best organize the information since much of it is interconnected.

The Vision

Many plans will have a vision section that outlines at a high level:

The product or service being provided

The basic customer need that exists

The Product or Service

The product section further describes in detail the specific features of the product or service being offered. Some products need to have tailor matched features for specific demographic segments of its target market. The details of these tailored features should be described and mapped to the particular demographic segment that they serve.

The Customer

A business plan must define the customer that the product or service is intended to serve. The target customer base should be broken down into specific demographic segments based on characteristics such as gender, age, income, location, race, disabilities, educational attainment, employment status, and religion. The main reason for this is to identify the different motivating factors that drive each demographic segment.

The Market Environment

A thorough analysis of the market environment is essential. This allows the business to identify key competitors and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. It also identifies key environmental factors that may influence the success of the business. Consider using SWOT analysis or Porters Five Forces analysis.

Organization & Management

External investors require an understanding of your organization’s structure. This includes the legal structure of your business, any special licensing or permits that are required or that have already been obtained, and a brief bio of the key members or managers of the business. This gives them some understanding of the internal flow of operations and the capabilities of each manager or member.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Even the best products or services need to get the word out. Your business plan should include where and how each demographic segment can be reached with your marketing message. Will you use social media, sell door to door, or partner with existing companies and organizations?

Financial Management

Understanding your business startup costs, as well as your projected return on investment, is essential. Simple cost and profit projection spreadsheets with the financial data organized in whatever way is easiest is suitable. However if you are seriously considering external investors or bank loans you may want to organize the data into a projected balance sheet, income statement, and cashflow statement. 1 and 3-year forward projections are helpful.

Executive Summary

The executive summary comes first in the business plan, but you write it last. This is your overview of the business plan in a paragraph or two. But, its more than that, it’s your sales pitch. Write an executive summary that hooks the potential banker or investor.

In summary, a business plan should at a minimum contain.

Executive Summary
Business Vision
Product/Service
Customer Analysis
Market/Environment Analysis
Organization and Management
Marketing and Sales
Financial Management

Explain Kurt Lewin’s Model of Organizational Change

Chris Adams — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:21:00 GMT

If there is one thing that you can be certain of in business today it’s change. Kurt Lewin, a physicist and social scientist, defined a model for organizational change as far back as 1947. This model is still taught today in many business schools as part of the change management discipline.

Lewin used an analogy of changing the shape of a block of ice to convey his theory. If you want to change the shape of a block of ice you must first melt it or break down its existing structure. Once it’s unfrozen, it becomes liquid and can be changed by guiding it in any direction you desire. Using a mold, you can cause it to take on a different shape from its original state. Finally, you freeze the liquid within the mold to crystallize it into its new shape. This is how Kurt Lewin explained his influential three-stage model of organizational change. Here are some key points to consider when thinking about three stages of change (Unfreeze, Change, Freeze).

Unfreeze

Before you can begin changing an organization in any meaningful way you need to overcome the inertia of the existing way of doing things. This starts by challenging many of the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of people within the organization. As Lewin put it, “Motivation for change must be generated before change can occur. One must be helped to re-examine many cherished assumptions about oneself and one’s relations to others.” You are breaking down the status quo. During the unfreezing process everyone feels that things are becoming off balance. This feeling becomes a strong motivator for people to seek out a new equilibrium. During this stage, you need to sell the benefits of the change. The more people that recognize that the change needs to occurs the more likely it will be successful.

Determine what needs to change
Sell the benefits of the change to everyone involved (this includes getting support from upper management)
Specifically address any doubts or concerns

Change

Once the organization has gone through the unfreeze stage, effective change can begin within the organization. People begin to look for new ways to do things and support the new direction. Time and frequent communication are two key factors for the change to occur. People need to understand the changes as they occur and feel that they are part of the change. Some take a long time to recognize the real benefits. This can lead to fear and rumors that need to be handled quickly.

Involve people in the process and empower them
Communicate frequently
Dispel rumors quickly

Freeze

Once the changes have taken effect, the next stage is to freeze or crystallize the changes within the organization. Putting the proper processes and the organizational hierarchy in place to manage them is important to ensure this happens. Since change is always occurring, some might ask why bother to freeze things. Why not stay in a constant state of change? Constant change, without freezing things in place at least momentarily, leaves people without a clear sense of direction. It becomes more and more difficult as time goes on to convince people that something needs changing if you don’t give the most recent changes time to fully crystallize. Also, taking the time to celebrate the successful completion of changes within the organization provide everyone with a feeling of reward and gives them closure.

Develop processes to anchor the changes into the culture
Provide clear communications, support and training
Celebrate the successful completion of changes

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Chris Adams
LinkedIn Profile

What is Balanced Scorecard?

Chris Adams — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:12:00 GMT

Balanced Scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that was formalized in the 1990s by Dr. Robert Kaplan (of the Harvard Business School) and Dr. David Nortan. The goal of Balanced Scorecard is to implement a performance measurement framework which provides strategic non-financial performance measures that when coupled with traditional financial metrics provides a more “balanced” view of the organization. Using Balanced Scorecard a company can align daily business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization effectively transforming their strategic plan from a passive document into a plan which provides clear and measurable goals for all areas of the organization.

As described by Kaplan and Nortan, Balanced Scorecard retains the traditional financial measures, but financial measures reflect past events. This alone is inadequate for guiding and evaluating a company’s future direction. A company’s future success is driven through customer relationships, supplier relationships, employee development, process improvement, technology improvement, and innovation.

To improve in these areas Balanced Scorecard organizes the development of metrics and the tracking of progress against these metrics into four perspectives.

The Learning and Growth Perspective
The Business Process Perspective
The Customer Perspective
The Financial Perspective

The Learning and Growth Perspective focuses on the development of metrics around training of employees and education of the organization as a whole. These metrics should be structured in a way to guide managers to focus their training funds where they will help most. They should also drive other methods of learning such as mentoring and ensuring that knowledge can easily be communicated and shared throughout the organization.

The Business Process Perspective focuses on the development of metrics that allow managers to know how well the internal business processes are running and how well they meet the needs of the organization’s customers.

The Customer Perspective focuses on the development of metrics around customer satisfaction. This perspective cannot be underestimated as it has been found that customer satisfaction is a leading indicator of the future performance of the company. Over time, dissatisfied customers will seek out other organizations that can meet their needs better.

The Financial Perspective focuses on traditional financial metrics. Companies often already place a heavy emphasis on financials which can lead to an unbalanced view of a situation. While this perspective is very important, Balanced Scorecard aims to balance this perspective by considering it in conjunction with the metrics and data of the other perspectives.

What is Management By Walking Around and how does it relate to Business Analysis?

Chris Adams — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:50:00 GMT

Management By Walking Around (MBWA) is a popular management technique used by top-level managers in traditional brick and mortar businesses where managers walk around and observe the work, culture, atmosphere, and problems that may exist. It has several powerful benefits.

1. Tension between top-level management and front-line workers is reduced through informal and frequent exposure
2. Management better understands what is really happening in the organization
3. Workers see managers as being truly interested in their needs, ideas, and inputs
4. Workers see managers as “in-touch” with what is really happening
5. Workers see a manager’s genuine concern for the well being of the organization and develop respect and appreciation for management

And the list continues. But how does this management technique relate to Business Analysis?

Believe it or not, there are many similarities between the role of a business analyst and a top-level manager. These similarities also result in similar challenges that need to be overcome. Because business analysts often move from project to project, they may find themselves face to face with front-line workers who don’t really understand or appreciate their role. They may be at first mistrusted. Even front-line workers who understand the role that the business analyst SHOULD play on their project may lack confidence in their abilities.

MBWA is, in many ways, just a modified form of requirements gathering through observation. By extending the concept of MBWA to business analysis, many of these challenges are overcome.

1. Frequent and informal observation sessions increases the amount of exposure workers have to the business analyst reducing tension
2. The business analyst gains a first-hand understanding of the project and process versus a theoretical understanding from requirement gathering sessions or one-on-one interviews
3. Workers see the business analyst as truly interested in their needs, ideas, and inputs which increases the chance of buy-in on the project (remember, workers have probably seen their fair share of promises of a better process or system from past projects that never delivered)
4. The business analyst is seen as “in touch” with the workers, process, and project
5. Workers develop respect and appreciation for the business analyst