Business Analysis: Strategic Capability for Business Success Convergence of Requirements Engineering, Customer-Driven Value
Delivery, Innovation as a Business Strategy, and Leadership Alignment
Ms. Hartley is pleased to join forces with industry leadership and professional trends to promote the advancement of business analysis (BA)as a strategic capability and core competency for innovation-centric and customer-empowered business success in the 21st century — and a naturally aligned focus area of her practice. She helps executive leadership understand and position their companies to realize the ultimate BA value proposition in the context of the bottom line that 1) encompasses and builds upon project lifecycle Requirements Definition and Management practices, 2) cultivates innovation as a core competency and business strategy, and 3) recalibrates the baseline and context of project success.
The ultimate BA value proposition is about business success in our new economy. The means to that end is a maturation process that is typically defined by industry standards in the context of this 4-level maturity model:
Being at Level 4 is what it now takes to be successful in the 21st century, as "the new norm". Yet current industry benchmark data shows that the mainstream is still struggling to achieve and sustain Level 2 capability. Business as usual and slow-paced incremental improvement strategies are simply not sufficient for success in our fast-paced, consumer-empowered, global economy. Mature and optimally leveraged BA capability elevates the end goals and ultimate success criteria for business value delivery to be the accuracy of complex problem and opportunity analysis and the ability to continuously respond innovatively, efficiently, and effectively — as measured by the impact to the bottom line.
AH Consulting's approach — aligned with that of the Business Analysis Leadership Consortium (BALC) — is specifically designed to bridge the adoption gap between practitioner-focused grassroots efforts to date and the critical success factor for value realization and long-term sustainability: strategic commitment with top-down leadership alignment and accountability. Targeted outcomes:
Energize and optimize workforce engagement and collaboration; integrate BA capability, maturation, and capacity into competitive workforce strategies.
Align with portfolio and project management, software development lifecycle methodologies, enterprise architecture, and business process management .
Optimize the use of enabling technology for competitive advantage; capitalize on complexity, information, and analytics to drive creativity.
Delight consumers with superior products and services that reflect continuous innovation on a regular basis.
Establish, nurture, and leverage innovation and agility as core competencies, emulating entrepreneurial behaviors and start-up practices (intrapreneurship).
Standout organizations embrace strategic and tactical Business Analysis capability as a corporate asset essential for business viability. These organizations take steps to understand how best to leverage, invest in its capability development and manage capacity. A holistic integrated approach as reflected in the BALC framework is essential for success.
Please contact Ms. Hartley to learn more about BALC, its approach, and how it can be best leveraged in your organization. View/print BALC introduction (PDF).
If you are interested in reading more detail behind AH Consulting's BA practice focus, please continue scrolling down the page or click on a topic in the left margin. Alternatively, just contact Ms. Hartley and set up some time to talk. She would love to hear from you.
Realizing the BA Value Proposition: Challenges and Opportunity
While maturity Level 4 of the BA Value Proposition Spectrum is the new normal for success in the 21st century (and no longer "the holy grail"), many organizations are still struggling in the Level 1 - 2 range and continuing to experience high rates of project and investment failure with serious overspend and waste.
More specifically:
Companies are continuing to struggle with foundational BA capabilities that are focused on projects and requirements — in spite of significant focus on practitioner development, a plethora of supporting resources, enabling technologies, industry leadership, and professional definition and maturity.
Executives and senior leadership decision makers have not yet embraced the extent to which the ability to deliver compelling business value required for business success is largely dependent on internal innovation, complexity management and creative leadership that is rooted in BA capability.
Business as usual and slow-paced incremental improvement strategies are simply not sufficient for success in our fast-paced, consumer-empowered, global economy in the 21st century. Business success now depends on how quickly companies embrace and achieve the "new normal" underlying consumer/customer delight: continuous innovation and optimized delivery.
Although there is evidence of Level 2 improvement and a small percentage of companies moving toward Level 3 with a few already performing at Level 4, mainstream Level 2 failure continues to be attributed largely to poor requirements definition and lifecycle management practices. This is in spite of significant strides over the last decade in defining best practices, industry-led methodology, frameworks, maturity models, training programs, practitioner certifications, standards bodies, and enabling technologies. In order to be successful at Level 3 and Level 4, Level 2 must stabilize with consistent outcomes, efficient execution, and positioned for continuous continuous improvement. A BALC-aligned approach is the recommended path forward.
Companies that are embracing contemporary and evolving Business Analysis discipline and practices as a strategic and managed capability, are making significant headway at Level 2 stabilization and business value realization. They can begin shifting focus to Level 3 and Level 4 without Level 2 disruption and cyclical setbacks.
Kathleen Barret, President and CEO of International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), summed it up in the title of her presentation at the Building Business Capability BBC (Nov 2011) conference,"The Future of Business Analysis: It's Not What it Used To Be". This title and presentation positions the discipline, professional evolution, capability, art and craft squarely at the center of helping businesses survive and prosper in a very complex world that is constantly changing at lightening speed. And that the future is now. The audience was largely practitioners and supporting third-party service providers who were hearing this message and call to action repeatedly throughout the BBC conference. The recurring question from conference attendees (practitioners) was ... how do we get our leadership on board?
At a high level, Business Analysis is defined as the discipline of identifying business problems and opportunities — and determining the right solutions or responses to achieve business success. The most impactful, business-sustaining, and innovative solutions will leverage enabling technology. Thus contemporary, professionally aligned, and evolving BA practices, skill sets, and work products typically traverse both business and technical domains and are defined as such, serving in a role of leadership, facilitation, and translation to bridge business and technology in an optimal manner for business value realization and competitive advantage.The benchmark for success in the 21st century demands, more than ever, thatcompanies who want to succeedmust embrace this discipline, contemporary and evolving practices, and its professional alignment with creativity, innovation, and leadership — with a sense of urgency.
IBM's 2010 CEO Study, Capitalizing on Complexity, reflects input from 1500 CEOs around the globe who amplify this message and call to action required to "capitalize on complexity" for success: 1) embody creative leadership, 2) build operating dexterity, and 3) reinvent customer relationships. The Business Analysis value proposition, discipline, and capability are at the core of all three directives — in both strategic and tactical roles of engagement.
While leading edge companies are "getting it", this recent CIO Leadership article summarizes the current (January 2011), challenging transitional state of BA practitioners:
They straddle the worlds of technology and strategy. They often need to fight their way through office politics and organizational hurdles in order to ensure projects are completed successfully. Their role tends to be ill-defined and misunderstood, even though they are becoming ever-more critical contributors to achieving enterprise objectives.
While professional practitioners are embracing the responsibilities and expectations, as a whole, BA core competencies, skill level, and capacity are not yet embraced and managed as a strategic capability and competitive workforce core competency. Companies that step up to fully embrace, invest in, nurture and leverage this strategic capability as a critical success factor will have the marketplace advantage and be best positioned for success by being able to leverage rapid change, complexity, uncertainty, and customer-empowered influences.
Leadership Alignment and Commitment Are Critical Success Factors
Executive sponsorship, commitment, and leadership alignment — with a unified call-to-action — are critical success factors to achieve the ultimate BA value proposition that underpins the notion of innovation as a business strategy. Without this top-down support that must set the tone and permeate the culture of the organization, capability gains that may have been realized through practitioner-led, grassroots efforts and project-specific improvements are typically lost over time when projects end, people change jobs, and organizations are redesigned. Also, a second consequence may be that ultimate accountability for business value delivery is not being measured as a key performance indicator and perhaps not aligned with corporate goals.
In conjunction with leadership commitment, a management paradigm shift as described by Stephen Denning in his book, The Leader's Guide to Radical Management - Reinventing the Workplace for the 21st Century, may be necessary in order to restore and energize a fully engaged and enthusiastic workforce. This is foundational for innovation, creativity, more risk taking and establishing trust. Denning defines the seven principles of continuous innovation — that also characterize the "heart and soul" of BA value proposition realization — to be :
1. Delighting Customers
2. Self-Organizing Teams
3. Client-driven Interactions
4. Delivering Value to Clients with Each Iteration
5. Radical Transparency
6. Continuous Self-Improvement
7. Interactive Communication
The radical management component is shifting the mindset from continuous improvement to continuous innovation — and following all 7 principles at the same time. This closely resembles entrepreneurial environments and also aligns with the core competencies, behaviors and activities required to achieve the ultimate BA value proposition.
The article, Three Forces That Will Transform Management, authored by Gary Hamel, also suggests that a leadership transformation — more compatible with the knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy of the 21st century — is inevitable. In this article, the three forces are defined to be:
Inescapable challenges that defy conventional management wisdom
New social technologies that allow human beings to accomplish great things without the weight of bureaucracy
A new generation of employees who come to work preloaded with anti-bureaucracy values
Business as usual, incremental improvement strategies, and traditional leadership paradigms are no longer a proposition for business success in the 21st century. Business Analysis capability — realizing its value proposition and its natural entrepreneurial orientation — in conjunction with leadership transformation are critical factors for success in our new economy.
To summarize the point, we can think of Apple's approach to business differentiation through innovative products and services that delight consumers as "the new norm". While every company does not have a Steve Jobs, companies that want to survive and prosper will embrace innovation as a core competency with a leadership imperative and management framework to develop and nurture the requisite capability in-house (as reflected in the Shelly Lazarus interview). Business Analysis — leveraging creative individuals, skilled practitioners, and aligned leadership — is the foundational element to secure innovation as a core competency.
Other Examples of Innovation and Leadership Alignment Taking Place
3M is a role model for a standout company underpinned by an innovative culture with leadership alignment as reflected in this video: The Innovative Culture at 3M.
This interview with Shelly Lazarus, Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, provides great insight to the essential role of innovation and the requisite culture alignment that starts with the CEO. A great success story!
Learn how innovation is permeating Proctor and Gamble as a business strategy, led by the CEO.
Interested in more examples of innovation essentials and how to get there? Perform a Youtube search on innovation. These Harvard Business interviews are reflective and a good place to start:
Cornerstone for Transformation, Innovation, and Change Leadership
The definition and value proposition context elevates Business Analysis to be a key capability in the 21st century and the cornerstone for business, technology, specialized practices, industry, and even community transformations. This capability ultimately defines what the change or transformation needs to be with sufficient understanding and clarity to make it happen (through efficient project execution) as well as the best approach or roadmap for success. If you are interested in more details on this point, please read Kitty Hass' white paper that positions a BA Center of Excellence as the cornerstone for business transformation.
Another supporting perspective is elaborated in this article, "Provoking Creativity: Imagine What Your Requirements Could Be Like", posted on the Volere Requirements Resources website that was selected by IEEE Software magazine as one of the Top Picks for influential articles over the 25 years of IEEE Software.
The key to making transformation stick is a function of change leadership and successful adoption. BA activities and practitioners are inherent change agents and should be developed to have the core competencies, leadership skills, and disposition for enterprise and industry analysis to work through and derive the most feasible, innovative solutions for competitive advantage — and serve as a role model for practice improvements that lead to efficiency and high quality outcomes. Ms. Hartley is not alone in this position that is elaborated in detail in the presentation: The Essential Business Analyst: Agent of Change.
Capability and Capacity Development with Optimal Engagement
In 2003, the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) was established to formally identify, define and manage the professional development of the core competencies of Business Analysis as well as sub-disciplines (such as project lifecycle Requirements practices) and how the capabilities should be leveraged — and how other disciplines and capabilities such as Corporate Strategy, Enterprise Analysis, Business Architecture, Business Rule Management, Business Analytics, Business Process, and Business Process Management fit into the picture with a rational and optimized coexistence framework.
While IIBA focuses its efforts on BA practitioner development, it also offers a corporate membership and describes it as being "designed to establish an ongoing relationship with the employers of business analysts to help them improve their BA practices. This is accomplished by enabling them [business analysts] to use the knowledge and capabilities offered by IIBA to their full advantage."
Themed conferences such as Building Business Capability, third-party training programs, formalized certification programs, and specialized consulting practices have aligned with IIBA and the Business Analysis value proposition to help the Business Analysis Professional grow as practitioners and key leaders to help companies realize and benefit from this strategic capability.
Evolving project management practices and centers of excellence are recognizing the opportunity and benefit to be gained by leveraging the BA roles and leadership capacity throughout a project lifecycle— in partnership with Project Management — as described in this white paper. Many problems associated with project struggles would be solved by integrating and leveraging the business analysis value proposition.
In addition, the ability to harness and manage the complexity factor of projects and programs is largely dependent on BA capability. More insight on this connection and complexity management is elaborated in this article.
Kitty Hass' 2011 book, The Enterprise Business Analyst - Developing Creative Solutions to Complex Problems, brings it all together in a comprehensive and easy-to-consume manner. Kitty has also identified and positioned project complexity management as a paired discipline in her award-winning book, Managing Complex Projects - A New Model . The result further reinforces the essential and powerful partnership between Project Management and Business Analysis and inherent opportunities of joining forces.
Ms. Hass further elaborates how these two disciplines should work together for optimal business value in her recent presentation at the BBC 2011 conference: Adapting the BA Role for Complex Projects.
Requirements Practice Excellence is a Critical Success Factor
Project-aligned requirements definition and management practices with enabling technologies are critical foundational elements of the BA value proposition and must be executed well in a repeatable and predictable manner to play its role effectively. These practices are carried out primarily by BA practitioners (also referred to as Requirements Engineering professionals); job titles may vary.
Good requirements practices that embrace enabling technology like inteGREAT from eDev Technologies make it feasible to establish project discipline and governance on an enterprise level and deliver value with optimal efficiency (level 2 and level 3 of the BA value proposition spectrum) — allowing more time and key talent to focus on the discovery and definition of solutions that optimize value (level 4) — the ultimate BA value proposition.
Naturally Aligned with Entrepreneurial Orientation, Spirit, and Goals
Creativity, innovation, sense of urgency, agility, adaptability, high performance, and work ethic are the cornerstone for entrepreneurial endeavors and success — and opportunity creation — as explained in this short video clip from the Kauffman Foundation explaining that entrepreneurs do three things: 1) birth the new (innovation), 2) create jobs (opportunities), and 3) create wealth. When you watch this video, associate the notion of a new company and new jobs with that of new business unit, practice, initiative, or offering within an existing company that require efficiency, creativity, and innovation to be successful ("intrapreneurship").
This is largely what the Business Analysis value proposition is all about. In a nutshell, for business success, corporate America must re-center around an entrepreneurial core, reinvent its workplace, energize its workforce, align HR strategies and organizational design, and adopt new leadership paradigms to nurture creativity, capitalize on passion and reward high-performing teams — that results in establishing a core competency of innovation required to achieve the following (before your competitors do):
Reduce cost or increase value for a higher quality of goods and
services of any kind
Continuously introduce new products and services that delight
customers and engender loyalty
Create company wealth for financial stability, distribution and growth
Business Analysis Leadership Consortium (BALC) Offers Path Forward
Spearheaded by Ms. Hartley, the Business Analysis Leadership Consortium (BALC) is a team of leaders, experts, and change agents who have come together with a unified voice and approach framework to elevate the critical importance of BA capability, its link to innovation and creativity capacity, and help clients realize the ultimate BA value proposition — and why it now must be embraced as a strategic imperative with a sense of urgency. View/print BALC introduction (PDF).
The BALC response is based on the premise that lack of strategic alignment and top-down leadership commitment, compounded by increasing complexity with consumer-empowered clientele that has raised the bar significantly, are the fundamental reasons Level 2 outcomes in the BA Value Proposition Spectrum are still lacking and faster progress as a whole is not being made.
Starting with strategic alignment and leadership commitment, a BALC-aligned approach serves as a leadership partner and bridge to value proposition realization with an approach that is comprehensive (addresses interdependencies), leverages industry standards and best practices, and is optimally aligned with the customer's environment and collaborating practices — focusing on a shared perspective on the value proposition, management methodology impacts, capability adoption, sustainability, adaptability, and continuous improvement.
Within the context of this 4-step framework, the activities, recommendation, approaches and roadmap are aligned with enterprise maturity to create strategic business capability that will set the stage for Success in the 21st Century — the ultimate BA value proposition.
Please contact Ms. Hartley to learn more about the BALC approach and how it can be best leveraged in your organization to establish a trajectory for success.
