Every project has a person who is at the center of the
action, constantly pushing the team to excel.
They live and die by the successes and challenges that are encountered.
At first glance it would seem that the Subject Matter Experts
(SME) possess the passion to drive a project to successful completion. But that might not be their core motivation;
subject matter experts are driven by being known as the go-to expert on a
particular topic - let’s say security.
They have achieved success as a vertical thinker. Vertical expertise is critical to the success
of the organization and to a project, but it has a narrow, although important, focus
in relation to enterprise success.
If you look deeper into your project team you will see the Business Analyst (BA) has obtained the overall
knowledge that can lead to project success.
The good ones can answer any question about the project, follow a
well-defined process, translate business “asks” in to actionable tasks, and clearly
understand the factors that will determine their team’s success. A BA helps
facilitate and develop solutions for the subject matter expert – they are
driven by the challenge of solving the tactical problems.
The BA thinks horizontally and can assist in generating new
ideas to solve problems. They are
required to assimilate multiple requirements from multiple SMEs and consider
technical constraints in order to formulate a solution.
Let’s use an example of creating a weapon that can destroy a
planet, reference the Death Star – I can’t help but use a Star Wars reference
here. The BA will wrangle with irrational requirements, they will solve problems
that seem unsolvable, the project will not succeed without them - the larger
the project, the bigger the pressure.
Now consider that the project the BA is working on is only a
single project in a larger plan. There
are several projects of the same size and scale each with their unique
challenges and all with different stakeholders.
Who owns that? Or who can own it?
The evolution of the BA into a business strategist starts
with the understanding of the detailed requirements coupled with the wider
knowledge of how these requirements fit into the projects that dovetail into
the programs. A business strategist must prioritize the components of the
roadmap to ensure that a specific mix of projects will achieve the
organization’s vision. The business
strategist must be able to communicate to all levels within the organization as
well as provide inspirational leadership to a variety of teams.
The success of large enterprise initiatives depends on the
ability of skilled Business Strategists. We believe a BA can grow into a strategist
whether the enterprise itself fosters that larger role or the BA as an
individual challenges himself or herself to “be a business strategist within
their project”.
Join the DefinedLogic team at the 2013 Project World & World Congress for
Business Analysts to learn the skills a Business Strategist must have to
drive your Enterprise Vision. You may
also learn what would have happened if the “Empire” used a Business Strategist.
It’s not too late to register! Click here to attend: http://bit.ly/15EfWyf
This post was written by Alex Shanley, Partner, Business Strategist,
Defined Logic LLC.
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