EVOLVING THE ROLE OF THE BA
BA DEVELOPMENT DAY
RENEE SAINT-LOUIS
Delivering Business Value in the Real World
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Have a little fun

Discover 4 barriers to adding value at any
company

Learn how to set yourself apart and evolve your
BA career
A LITTLE FUN

I need a few volunteers
HOW DOES CHANGE FEEL?
People feel awkward & self conscious
 People will think more about what they will give
up than what they will gain
 Even when other people are going through the
same change, we still feel alone
 We’re concerned we don’t/won’t have enough
resources (time, money, skill, etc)
 People are at different levels of readiness
 If there’s too much change, we rebel
 Take the pressure off and we revert to our old
ways of doing things

Adapted from The Seven Dynamics of Change – Ken Blanchard
WHAT IS VALUE?
BABOK ® 3.0 – Value is the importance of something to a stakeholder in a
context
BARRIERS TO DELIVERING
VALUE
BARRIER #1

What’s your job?
WHAT DOES THE BABOK®

SAY
BABOK® v2.0
A business analyst is any person who performs
business analysis activities, no matter what their job
title or organization
 Business Analysis is the set of tasks and techniques
used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in
order to understand the structure, policies, and
operations of an organization, and to recommend
solutions that enable the organization to achieve its
goals


BABOK® v3.0

Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change
in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending
solutions that deliver value to stakeholders
WHAT’S THEIR JOB?
Defensive Player on a Football Team
Teacher
WHAT IS YOUR JOB REALLY?
To do what it takes to
help my company
succeed.
Your job is not what you do. Your job is the goal you pursue.
- Fred Kofmann
WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
A simple example:
Response A:
• I can’t update the
query, I don’t have
authority to do that.
• What if the data isn’t
100% accurate?
• Result: Manual work
continues at $30/hr
VS
Response B:
•Send me the query, I’ll take
a look at it.
• Query updated/tested
within minutes
• Result: Savings of 3
hours/agent/day
•27 hours * $30 = $810/day
WHAT ABOUT THIS – WIN OR LOSE?
Found outside a co-workers desk:
Warning: You are entering an analysis
paralysis free zone
Please proceed only if you know:
1. What problem or question are you trying to
solve?
2. What action will the information drive and
what will you do with the information?
3. What is the estimated financial impact?
If you do not know all of the above 3
requirements please proceed to the nearest
trash receptacle and discard your request there.
Thank you, you may have just saved the
company’s time and resources.
ELEVATING YOUR CAREER TIP #1
You don’t need permission to win. Look for ways
to help your company win everyday – no matter
how small – and then take action.
BARRIER # 2 – CREATING A
LANGUAGE BARRIER
BETTY THE BLAMER

Who is Betty?
Betty is a mid-level Business Analyst in a
large manufacturing organization. She’s the
first to speak up when something goes wrong
and assign blame. She rarely has a good
thing to say about her peers.

‘What were they thinking?’

Betty’s Goals


She wants to feel important and valued
Thinks she makes herself look good by making
others look bad
Common phrases Betty uses around the
office:



I told you so
Who missed that requirement?
I knew that wouldn’t work – what was the
business thinking?
ACCOUNTABLE ANNE

Who is Anne?
Anne is a mid-level Business Analyst in a
large consumer packaged goods organization.
She’s the first to figure out how to fix it when
something goes wrong. She focuses her energy
on how to make it right.

Anne’s Goals
She wants to learn from mistakes – her own as
well as her team’s
 She takes ownership of issues
 She wants her team to succeed

‘How can we help?’

Common phrases Anne uses around the
office:


How can we make that issue better?
What can we do differently next time?
ACCOUNTABILITY VS. BLAME
Blame Language
They
 Them
 The Business
 Excuses
 Problems
 It’s not my job

Accountable Language
We
 Us
 Our
 I can
 Ownership
 Solutions

WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP HEAR?
Blame
Victim
 Concerned about self
 Not in it to win it
 Short term thinking
 Flight risk

Accountability
Team player
 Coachable
 Wants to win
 Cares about the
organization
 Trustworthy

TIP # 2: Evolving your career starts with
taking ownership – we are all leaders.
WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
A simple example:
Response A:
• How was this issue
positioned to leadership?
• Who agreed to this
change?
•It’s on the roadmap
• Result: Registration
rates continued to
plummet
VS
Response B:
•Talk to security about
alternative options
• Get a tiger team together
to implement the solution
• Result: Registration rate
increased from 38% to 65%
BARRIER # 3 – GETTING TO NO!
EXCEPTIONAL EDDIE

Who is Eddie?
Eddie knows his company’s systems inside
and out, and spends a good deal of his time
fixing problem logs. So, when a change is
needed, he’s the first to point out all the
things that could go wrong and why it will
never work.
‘That will never work.’

Eddie’s Goals


Eddie knows if it can go wrong, it will, and
he’ll have to clean up the mess. Avoiding
change is Eddie’s middle name.
Common phrases Eddie uses around the
office:


We can’t do that
What if something goes wrong?
WHEN EDDIE SPEAKS….

Leadership hears:
WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP NEED TO HEAR?
“The fun is always on the other side of a yes.”
Tina Fey
WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
A simple example:
Response A:
• If we include these
customers in a call
campaign, they may get
mad that we are calling
them at work.
•
• Result: Missed
opportunity to welcome
2000 customers a week
VS
Response B:
•Every customer should be
welcomed to the family.
• Let’s make sure we have
scripts for all of the possible
customer segments
• Result: Increase in
customer conversion to 2nd
purchase
ELEVATING YOUR CAREER TIP #3

Manage the exceptions – don’t let them manage
you!

Call it out: It feels like we might be managing to the
exception
- Marty Clark
BARRIER #4 – ADMIRING
PROBLEMS
PROBLEMS ARE EASY TO ADMIRE
Because change is really hard.
WHAT LEADERSHIP DESPERATELY NEEDS…
People who help the company grow
 People who know the competitors and how to
beat them
 People who remove barriers
 People who turn strategy into reality

WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
A simple example:
Response A:
• Repeat JAD sessions
held where team
brainstorms ideas and
suggestions for
improvement.
• Result: No action
taken, problem persists
VS
Response B:
•Create a tiger team after
JAD session to assess
existing assets to help solve
problem
• Create 30 day work plan to
implement quick wins
•Result: Action taken,
adjust plan when results
are measured
ELEVATING YOUR CAREER TIP #4

Don’t be afraid of executives, be afraid for them

Strategy without action is worthless. Don’t wait –
take action.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Have a little fun

Discover 4 barriers to adding value at any
company

Learn how to set yourself apart and evolve your
BA career
QUESTIONS?
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
--Albert Einstein
Contact: [email protected]
Twitter: @ReneeSaintLouis