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Title SlideInclude a tagline for your presentation here

BBC 2013

The Past, Present, and Future of Business Analysis

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Once upon a time...

How I Became A BAImage ©2009 Doug Kerr, Licensed Under CC-BY-SA

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Testing?PM?

Requirements?UX?

Process?

Rules?

Training?

Coffee?Data?

Coding?

Nobody Understood What We Did

© 2012 CollegeDegrees360. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

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“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

Projects Paid A High PriceFlawed business analysis work became a key point of failure for projects and drove much higher delivery costs

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Are we:ORDER-TAKERS?

GOFERS?

ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGERS?

DOCUMENTERS?Or would we rise to the challenge?

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Business Analysis Had to Change

‣ 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

New tools and techniques, methodologies, and organizations began to define and improve how business analysts worked.

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Business Analysis Became A ProfessionWe developed a shared understanding of the role so that we could define how to deliver better project outcomes.

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Business and ITBridging the gap between…

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But that didn’t fix the problemAccording to PMI, less than ⅔ of projects meet their business goals and that number has been falling since 2008.

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 20090

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Standish Group CHAOS Report

SucceededChallenged Failed

Source: The Standish Group Project Resolution History, PMI Pulse of the Profession

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Traditional BA Space

Business Value Isn’t Inside ProjectsWe can only do so much to improve business value by focusing on managing requirements within a project.

Pre-Project Project Post-Project

Enterprise Analysis

Requirements Analysis

Solution Assessment & Validation

Rationale Delivery Benefits

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Are we:LIAISONS?

FACILITATORS?

TRANSLATORS?

REQUIREMENTS MANAGERS?

Or will we rise to the challenge?

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Business Analysis Has to Change

‣ 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

Our focus has to shift again…from tactical support of project delivery to a strategic understanding of business value.

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Move From Software to SystemsSuccessful change requires that we look at things from a business perspective—software requirements are only a part.

OrganizationalSystem

Software

People

Process

Rules & Data

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Projects and OperationsBridging the gap between…

© 2010 Doug88888. Licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA.

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We still have the alignment problem…We must strike a balance between analysis and intuition, and take a share of responsibility for business outcomes.

Architecture and Design

Analytical ThinkingGoal: To Produce Reliable, Predictable, Repeatable OutcomesReliability

Intuitive Thinking

Goal: To produce outcomes that meet the desired

objectivesValidity

Source: Roger L. Martin, The Design of Business

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Embrace Architecture and Design

Focused on Strategy, Structure and PurposeProvides a vision for Design, keeps it flexible

Focused on Execution and ImplementationKeeps Architecture grounded and relevant

Arch

itect

ure

Design

Architecture and design ensure that we deliver value to our stakeholders by defining solutions that meet their needs

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Can we become:VISIONARIES?

INNOVATORS?

STRATEGISTS?

LEADERS?Are we up to the challenge?

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Business Analysis Can Change AgainWe need to create a feedback loop in the business between its strategies and the results delivered by change.

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Each Level Builds On The One BeforeMaster the key skills required at each level to earn the trust needed to move to the next.

Contributor

Facilitator

Strategist

2020

Strategy and ExecutionBridging the gap between…

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Businesses Need Us To Take This Leap

‣ Companies must focus on innovation and reinvention to survive

‣ Process and rules systems intensify competition

‣ Better execution of old models isn’t enough

The average lifespan of an S&P 500 company has dropped from 67 years in the 1920s to 15 today.

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The Path Forward Is Up To Us

‣ Business Analysis is a self-improving profession

‣ This gives us exciting new challenges and opportunities

‣ This gives our employers a better future, greater odds of success

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs

Source: Wikipedia

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“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

Gen. Eric Shinseki

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Community. I IBA.org | I IBA.org | in fo@I IBA.org

© I n t e r n a ti o n a l I n s ti t u t e o f B u s i n e s s

A n a l y s i s

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Kevin Brennan, CBAP®, PMP®Chief Business Analyst, IIBA

@bakevin kevin.brennan@IIBA.org