Been here 8 months now ... and finally - after gently and consistently nudging ( and in some cases some very strenuous verbal shoving ....) I am finally getting things in place so that our business processes are being followed by the role players... It has taken some very firm decisions, and I am apparently known as the 'Bugzilla Nazi' and the 'Mistress of Bugzilla' in various circles. Oh well. I've been called worse.
So here are some tips from my experiences for any aspiring BA's out there : Defining the process for any business or client is actually the easy part. Anyone can tell you what they do, or what they think they [should] do. And writing that down should be as easy as opening Visio ( or Rational Rose or whatever tool you are using ) and picking the shapes . They will even be able to tell you what they know they want to do, in an ideal world, if you are skilled enough to elicit the best practices out of them.
Getting agreement and consensus is even fairly easy - anyone will agree to anything to get out of a meeting they don't want to be in. Particularly if they are not corporate marketing types who love to sit drinking coffee and debating the merit of splitting that long sentence of page 7 of the brochure into 3 smaller easier to read sentences. Things like this are critical to the world order you know.
The really hard part is getting people to stick to what they say.
That's why getting buy in is so critical. If people do not believe in the same things , they won't do the same things. And buy in expires. Just because someone was on board at the start , doesn't mean they will stay that way . It's a consistent process of expectation management. People skills are essential. Your tech-solution could be as beautiful as an African Sunset over the Serengeti , with the elegance of Grace Kelly, and if no-one likes your attitude - you are going to get no-where.
If someone in your organisation does not see the merit of doing things a certain way, it doesn't matter which bigwig made the decree about it , it's not going to change anything . They will not do it. And if they do, it will be done half-heartedly .
As much as 90% of the effort you will put into a business process definition and documentation will involve playing nice with several different role-players , each of whom will have their own agenda's.
You do not need to change their minds about what is important to them, because if you can do that , you have missed your calling and should become a Cult Leader. You need to find the things that are important to them , and make sure that they are addressed in your 'new' process. At the very least , you need to make them feel like you have listened to their needs , and have heard their issues and problems. And even if you haven't managed to solve even one of them. They must believe that you have tried.
Which means , you must try . There is no room for platitudes in this line of work. If people cannot trust your sincerity , then how do you expect them to believe that you have found the best solution to their problems ?
The people you need to work with the most - are the little guys who actually need to do the work. They don't care about the millions of dollars your process will save the company, if it means that they have to scrap everything they know and learn not only a completely new way of doing things , but that they were not even consulted at all in the defining of their new work process.
If they are happy - this will trickle up the chain , and you will have a much easier time with the big boys and girls.
So - that's my 2 cents of hard earned wisdom for today.
So here are some tips from my experiences for any aspiring BA's out there : Defining the process for any business or client is actually the easy part. Anyone can tell you what they do, or what they think they [should] do. And writing that down should be as easy as opening Visio ( or Rational Rose or whatever tool you are using ) and picking the shapes . They will even be able to tell you what they know they want to do, in an ideal world, if you are skilled enough to elicit the best practices out of them.
Getting agreement and consensus is even fairly easy - anyone will agree to anything to get out of a meeting they don't want to be in. Particularly if they are not corporate marketing types who love to sit drinking coffee and debating the merit of splitting that long sentence of page 7 of the brochure into 3 smaller easier to read sentences. Things like this are critical to the world order you know.
The really hard part is getting people to stick to what they say.
That's why getting buy in is so critical. If people do not believe in the same things , they won't do the same things. And buy in expires. Just because someone was on board at the start , doesn't mean they will stay that way . It's a consistent process of expectation management. People skills are essential. Your tech-solution could be as beautiful as an African Sunset over the Serengeti , with the elegance of Grace Kelly, and if no-one likes your attitude - you are going to get no-where.
If someone in your organisation does not see the merit of doing things a certain way, it doesn't matter which bigwig made the decree about it , it's not going to change anything . They will not do it. And if they do, it will be done half-heartedly .
As much as 90% of the effort you will put into a business process definition and documentation will involve playing nice with several different role-players , each of whom will have their own agenda's.
You do not need to change their minds about what is important to them, because if you can do that , you have missed your calling and should become a Cult Leader. You need to find the things that are important to them , and make sure that they are addressed in your 'new' process. At the very least , you need to make them feel like you have listened to their needs , and have heard their issues and problems. And even if you haven't managed to solve even one of them. They must believe that you have tried.
Which means , you must try . There is no room for platitudes in this line of work. If people cannot trust your sincerity , then how do you expect them to believe that you have found the best solution to their problems ?
The people you need to work with the most - are the little guys who actually need to do the work. They don't care about the millions of dollars your process will save the company, if it means that they have to scrap everything they know and learn not only a completely new way of doing things , but that they were not even consulted at all in the defining of their new work process.
If they are happy - this will trickle up the chain , and you will have a much easier time with the big boys and girls.
So - that's my 2 cents of hard earned wisdom for today.
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