Project X Discussions

7 ways to tame your email monster

Here are some suggestions from a newsletter I read.  It has to do with dealing with email while writing a report, proposal, requirements document or memo.

1. Never try to write when you might receive ANY alert (either audio or visual) about emails lurking. Turn off your notifications or simply shut down your email software. Writing can sometimes be hard and when we’re tired or frustrated it’s all too tempting to switch to doing something more entertaining like reading an email.

2. Don’t fret about what you might miss when you’re signed off. If this thought distresses you, simply calculate a minimum acceptable response time for your employer. The vast majority of businesses will see a two-hour response as “very quick” so that means you need to check your email no more than four times per eight-hour day.

3. Don’t check your email first thing in the morning. Most people have more energy in the morning. This is the time when you should be writing, working on important projects or eating frogs. Why spend your precious high-energy time on other people’s agendas? Put your own work first!

4. Think about how your super speedy responses may be contributing to your email problem. If you generally respond to emails within five minutes then you’ll quickly become known as “rapid Rosemary” or “speedy Spencer.” In other words, people will EXPECT you to reply quickly. But if you establish a track record of responding within 12-24 hours, they’ll adapt to your habits.  (If they have something urgent, they will phone you.)

5. Batch your emails. Set specific times of day when you’re going to deal with your emails. If you’re working an eight-hour day, for example, you might designate 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 4:30 pm. To really reinforce this goal, keep your email software turned off and launch it only when you need to send an email (then turn it off again right away) or during one of your designated pickup times.  

6. Play “beat the clock” when processing email.   Handle it once and quickly.

7. Tell your boss and/or clients what you’re doing. Be sure to tell everyone about your new policy for email. If you want extra Brownie points, ask your boss or clients to call or text you if there’s anything super urgent. And if you happen to mention that you’re doing this to improve your efficiency for them, my hunch is they’ll be both delighted and flattered.

For complete item see http://www.publicationcoach.com/7-ways-to-tame-your-email-monster/

What do you do to tame your email monster?

Questions You Wished You Asked Your Grandparents

As I got older, I have become more interested in my genealogy.   However I have learned that the dates are less important than the family stories.  I really did not learn many from my grandparents but wish I had asked more.

A friend of mine had the same idea and asked a bunch of us to what questions we wished we had asked our grandparents.  His idea would be to compose a list and then write some answer for his grandkids.  

The list is quite extensive so I will not repeat it here, but if you are interested I could send it to you.

• What are your fondest memories?
• What are your worst memories?
• What did you do most evenings when you were young?  - middle-aged?
• What were your most favorite places you visited/travelled?
• Who were your favorite entertainers?
• What were your hobbies?  - interests?  - sports?
• What were your parents like?  - grandparents?  - siblings?
• What were you proud of?
• What were your health problems as you got older?
• What special gifts do you remember getting?
• What were your hopes and dreams when you were a young person?
• What responsibilities did you have in your family?
• What particular role do you think you played within your family?
• What was a typical school day like for you?
• What were your siblings like?  - did you have a favorite?  - why?
• What factors were driving yours/your parents’ need/desire to emigrate?
• Where did you/your parents come from?
• Who did you/they leave behind? 
• What difficulties did you/they encounter?

I must get on with answering these questions.

Get Anyone To Do Anything

From a book called "Instant Influence" I extracted the following six questions:

1. Why might you change?  (for yourself why might I change?)

2. How ready are you to change  -- on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means "not ready at all" and 10 meands "totally ready."

3. Why didn't you pick a lower number?  If one was picked, ask question 2 for a smaller change or ask "what would it take to for 1 to turn to 2.

4. Imagine you've changed.  What would the positive outcome be?

5. Why are those outcomes important to you?  

6. What's the next step, if any?

The key is tapping into the person's readiness.  Also they come up with the ideas, not you.  This leads to action.

I remember when I first learned about readiness and learning people only do what they are ready to do.  I then decided on my next proposal to take that into account.  I had no idea how to proceed.  

Clearly the questions above point out the other person must indicate their readiness.

Another time I had a great idea for a client for a strategic planning process and completely misread their readiness.  

Tuning in to the other person's readiness is a great skill and one that we need continually work on.  

Adler. a famous psychologist, said he could detect the client issue on the first visit and it could take many sesssions for the client to discover the issue.   What patience!  If only, I could shut up and listen. 

The whole key to the steps above is listening, listening and listening.

 

Give The Client or Customer 10% More

Do you have a delighted customer or client?  I bet you are in demand. 

Harvey Gellman, my mentor and business partner, had a saying "Give the client ten percent more than they expect."  

Don't just meet their expectations but exceed them.

That is really a very stretching goal as a consultant but great to keep in mind.  

One thing a delighted client will do is ask for more help.  You become a star and the go to person for lots of things outside you specialty.  Being in demand from clients is gold to the consultant.  

This came to mind when a friend wrote on Facebook how thrilled he was to get excellent customer service from ETR407, a Toronto electronic toll road.   He was also surprised.   I said he should let them know and he said he would not want to get the agent in trouble.  How sad is that.

However I think many people's expectations are low and so when we exceed them we stand out in the crowd.

However I do not have any truck with talking about giving 110%,  That makes not sense, I am talking about expextations.

What can you do today to exceed someone's expectations?

Then share in a comment.

Why Are You Who You Are?

Ever wonder why you do what you do?   

I often wonder why I ended up doing what I did.  

How much of what you have done is based on luck and chance?

There are not simple answers to these simple questions.  

I think we set driection in our life based on many influences in our life.   We do not choose our parents and our circumstances.   

However it is what we do with what we have makes a difference.   

Many people are successful because they were in the right place at the right time rather than some grand plan.

I often wonder if I had chosen a different road when i came to a fork in the road how my life would have different.   

I often take credit for things I have achieved and on reflection realize most things have happen by chance.  However I think we can learn from life but do we?  

I am in a philosophical mode.   However I think it is useful to ponder these eternal questions occasional.

How To Influence People

I am rediscovering Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People."   The amazing things is that his ideas are as relevant and fresh now as they were when he wrote it in 1935.  

• "If you want honey, don't kick over the beehive."  
• Principle one "Don't crtiticize, condemn or complain"
• If I want people to enter their golf scores into the computer, I must get them to want to do it for their own reasons.  Criticizing, condemning or complaining will not work.  That is simply kicking over the beehive.
• If I want people to read my blogs, I must figure out the issues that a relevant to them.  
• If you want people to do something, find out what is important to them and tune in to their motivation.

Stay tuned as I work through the ideas and try to apply them. 

Successful Data Warehousing

Recently I have been doing some research on the characteristics of successful data warehousing services.  I have learned some very interesting things and the challenges that organizations face.  The interesting thing is how important this area is for a successful business.  The stories of the leaders are legendary and the skills necessary to use good business intelligence are in great demand.  However the challenge of people offering business intelligence services is significant.   

The challenge of every organization is to find a way of sorting out truth from fiction.  Most organizations have a tremendous amount of information in the systems that run their business and do their financial reporting.  However the information is often not available in a form that can be used by decision makers.  The challenge is to collect the data into a data warehouse which can produce some good reports and help people make good business decisions.

The challenge in many organizations is the people in IT have a vision of what is possible with good decision making tools but the decision makers are really not aware of what is possible.  Some business sectors, like finance and retail, have made great strides in changing the direction of their organization with good business intelligence.  Many others have had difficulty getting started. 

A typical sign of an organization which is moving towards better business intelligence is the use of very complex spreadsheets for management reporting.  Usually the data for these sheets are entered manually for other sources and then manipulated to give some impressive and important reports.   Most organizations have at least one horror story of a decision which was made because of errors in entering the data or an error in the spreadsheet.  Most organizations do not really have much of a choice because to get started in data warehousing can be quite intimidating.  I do not think it has to be difficult but needs to be carefully planned. 

One of the difficulty many organizations face when trying to get started with a data warehouse is they set too ambitious target at the beginning.  Do not bring in all the data at the beginning.  Set up a structure that can grow but start small.  Many people think that the first step is huge, I believe a approach that leads to early short term benefits is really important.  Often the grand design is easier to imagine but with some effort and creativity you can create some early wins.   I think the business people must demand early results and be impatient.  These demands can create some design challenges but lead to better learning and business results.  The penalty of not moving forward to make good decisions from good information can be very serious for an organization. 

The challenge of the IT leader is to move with the readiness of the organization and at the same time take leadership, very delicate balance.  The ideal circumstance is a business leader who is demanding better information and an IT leader who sees a vision of data warehousing that meets immediate needs and builds for the future. 

The difficulty is the justification of the expenditure.  With operational systems, the justification is related to fairly tangible return on investment.  How can one predict the value to better information to make better decisions?   I think the metaphor of mining is a great one.  Mining companies spend a large investments looking for new ore bodies.  Management is always looking for better business intelligence to make better decisions.  The search is very important because in the rapidly changing business environment, being blind or basing decisions on multiple versions of the facts is very risky.  Not every search will lead to gold but without the search the business is blind.  After the search is successful, we now want more and more.  One of the most interesting things that the data warehousing project finds frequently is that the sources of data is very bad.  From the business point of view, basing decisions on bad data is very risky.  Looking at the data outside of the operational framework often reveals weaknesses that do not necessarily affect the operational systems.  Always be skeptical about all information and always give it the test "Does this make sense?"

B-Strong Walk - 1st Annual

For the past couple of years I have been lucky enough to be able to participate in events and discuss the overall charity that was founded by a business partner's daughter.

The story is amazing and the work that the family and friends of the Bolgers has been doing is astounding.  We added the charity as one of our official charities and participated as a sponsor of their gala last fall and had a blast.

This year they are launching a new Walk in support of Brain Tumour Research.  The walk is on B-Strong day (announced by the town of Markham) which was Lindsay's birthday.  Please join in the support of this event.  My family will be there and I am putting together a Project X team.

So find out more here

Or even better yet, support the cause here

Update #1:  We are half way there.  Thank you to everyone who has helped.  All the money raised goes straight to the charity.

Communications - Listening

In consulting listening is one of the most important skills and one of the most difficult for me.  I find that my ability to problem solve, my tendency to rush to solution and my preconceived ideas and prejudices all get in the way of listening well.  My thoughts and eagerness sometimes lead me to interrupt rather than let the client finish.  One of the techniques I use to keep me quiet is to take copious notes.  It is hard to note what the person is saying and talk as well.

Another technique I use is to try and understand the other person's private logic.  My teachers taught me that people always act and think within their own private logic which is based on how they see the world.  This is often not the way we see the world.  If I hear something inconsistent rather than ignoring it I ask the person to connect the dots for me.  They will be able to connect the points on a line which reveals how they see the world.  I recall somebody telling me they thought the IT director was making a mistake.  Then later they said they thought the IT director had done a good job.  I asked the person to clarify what I thought was an inconsistency.  The person said that previously he had done a good job but currently is making a serious mistake.  Investigation of the distinction was really very interesting. 

Rephrasing and confirming understanding is really critical.  We have to put our egos aside and really try to see things the way the person speaking sees them as opposed to way I see them. 

Practice and rehearsal in a safe environment really helps.  Having a mentor or partner who will help you improve is really priceless.  Harvey, my mentor, used to always asked questions when I went for help.  He was a great model because he helped me discover things for myself. 

In these interviews or discussions more is going on that just fact finding.  We are actually engaged in a process of consulting with the other person.  Using good listening we can help the person understand their circumstances and actions they might take to improve the situation.

Another great listening question is "Is there anything else that you would like to tell me or you think I should know?' or simply "Anything else?".

Are you a good listener?  Any tips and techniques?

Future Pacing - Sound too Simple

I would guess you found the last posts (see Future Pacing) to be very simplisitic and unbelievable.  I can tell you from personal experience that it is extremely powerful.

The difficulty ia the well formed outcome.  If you really want the outcome unconditionally, the exercise will really make a difference.  Try it first with somthing simple that you really want to change.  

For example brushing your teeth before you go to bed.  Use the procedure and as long the it past the simple question, future pacing will create the behavior.

Try it with something simple.  

"We're going for the low hanging fruit."

While I understand the metaphor, that is by picking low hanging fruit we will achieve earlier benefits, at lower cost and with less effort, I was wondering what would happen if we extended the metaphor. In other words, when do we pick the rest of the fruit? And is it right to pick the low hanging fruit first?

I've become so frustrated with the over use of the phrase that I sent a note to a friend of mine who had an apple farm to find out if the statement really made any sense.

Here is what I found out.

It turns out, there is one good reason to pick the low fruit first. It prevents lower apples from getting damaged by apples that naturally drop during picking. Otherwise, there are no further benefits to picking the low hanging fruit first.

I asked my friend if apples ripen in any particular order, like from the top down, or from the bottom up, or from the sunniest side to the shadiest. It turns out Apples all ripen together. Even though all the fruit is ripe, apples inside the tree canopy tend to be smaller and have less colour but if you wait for them to colour the rest of the fruit will be overripe.

While the picker starts from the bottom, the whole tree is picked together because labour costs are too great to go over a tree several times.

There is an exception for premium apples like Honeycrisp and Ambrosia that bring in more money. These varieties may be picked twice and maybe three times to give a chance for the greener apples to redden and size up.

The problem that occur with multiple pickings is that the apples picked later are riper, softer, and have a shorter storage life. Apples left to redden and picked later, though they are greener in colour and smaller, are riper than the ones picking earlier. For this reason the apples picked last are sold first while apples that were picked first are sold later due to their longer storage life.

Returning to the project delivery metaphor. Substituting the word 'fruit' with the word 'deliverable'. Then if we pick our low hanging deliverables first and wait to pick the remaining deliverables later I can expect these things:

Less impact from the later deliverables on the early deliverables - Less damage to the low hanging fruit because it didn't get hit with higher fruit dropping on it
More long term value from the earlier deliverables - Longer shelf life for low hanging fruit because I picked it first
Higher labour costs for returning to the project to implement later deliverables -when I return to the remaining deliverables to a second time for the higher fruit
Less long term value from the later deliverables - Shorter shelf life for the higher fruit because it was riper when picked
And if we never return to the tree to pick the remaining fruit we lose any realized value for them.

So much for tree fruit. What about vine or bush fruit? Raspberries and blueberries do not ripen as evenly as apples. They ripen randomly all over the bush and need to be picked as they turn colour regardless of where they are on the plant! Some picking the low hanging fruit in this scenario makes no sense.

Wine grapes are picked all at the same time and depending on the ripeness of the fruit and the sugar level or brixs. As the sugar level determines the alcohol content of the fermented grapes. Again, picking the low hanging fruit in this scenario makes no sense.

Can You Change the Future?

A great technique which can help us change our future is called future pacing.  The steps are very simple but extremely powerful.

• Select a future outcome that you desire.  Describe it in detail.
• Test whether you really want his outcome by asking.
  • What will happen if outcome occurs
  • What will not happen if the outcome occurs
  • What will happen if the outcome does not occur
  • What will not happen if the outcome does not occur, consider carefully
• If the honest answers to these questions are simple we have a well formed outcome
• Now visualize the outcome happening in the next week.
• Describe what it is like in detail
  • What it looks like
  • What it feels like
  • What it sounds like
  • What you are saying to yourself about it

• Now visualize the outcome in three weeks answering the same questions.
• Next imagine the outcome in two months answering the same questions.

 

Be careful to only do this exercise with things you really want to occur because it is very, very powerful. 

This exercise should be done quickly and if you have a friend who could ask you the questions you will find it easier.  

 

Can You See Your Habits?

An amazing fact of human nature is that we can see other peoples behaviours more clearly than our own.  That is why we need help from others to change.  

The best person to help is someone who is outside you circle and is not involved with your life.  They will see the issues more clearly.  Counsellors and consultant can be very helpful because they are outside our world and have a different perspective.  I used to say they were objsctive but npw I say a different perspecitve.

They can help us find the triggers and rewards for habits and help us explore ways to replace one habot with another.  These people do not need to be professionals but have great skill in listening.  I have found that if I listen carefully enough the person will tell me the solution.  I then have to propose it to them and see their reaction.  They may not accept it right away but with my help they will start to change.  

I have a golf coach who works with me that way and has been very helpful is correcting my habits.  He is very patient with me.  So why am I not a better golfer?  I am not willing to spend the 10,000 hours of practice.   An example of a thought habit is how I think my swing should feel.  The thought results in an "outside in swing."   He has worked long and hard to change that thought habit.  However the habit creeps back regularly and I need to go back to the fundementals.  

Many of our thought habits are really quite ingrained in us.  We need to go back to the fundementals regularly.  

What are your thoughts habits that you cling to tenaciously which you know are not helpful?

The Power of Habits

We find it difficult to change because our habits and routines are extremely powerful.  A fellow has done some great work on the power of habits and written a book.  He was interviewed recently by Dan Pink, who wrote Drive.  See Dan's blog on the interview  Power of Habits and How to Change Them

We are all creatures of habits and the key is to use this to our advantage.  

Think about how you drive a car.  Very little is conscious behavior.  Most is habitual.

One fascinating point is that we cannot eliminate a habit but you can replace it or transform it into a new habit.  The key is to discover the cue or trigger for the habit and the reward you get for the behavior.  We need to experiment with what triggers a behavior and understand how we can replace the behavior the trigger start with a new behavior and give it a reward.  We need to experiment.

On powerful habit I have developed is publishing a blog every week.  I have found that subjects come to me in groups and I write more than one at a time.  However I feel real pressure to create something weekly.  

Another habit I have developed is having a hot tub or hot bath most every night before I go to bed.  I find it very relaxing and helps me sleep at night.

I will think of behaviors I want to change and do the analysis and report back later.

Scope Management

I realized my scope blog did not include much content because I clearly have no simple solution because it is not a simple problem. see Scope Creep and Other horrors

In my cottage example of adding a bathroom that turned into a new wing, I would like to explore possible solutions as a metaphor for any scope issue.  The first thing is that the guy managing scope should have responsibility for the budget as well.  That is why the project did not get off the ground.  

However if somebody had come up with a design or concept that would have added a bathroom as the first phase of a larger addition the project may have gotten of the ground.  

Again if I had really wanted an additional bathroom I would have pushed it harder.  Being the sponsor, I could have insisted that the other members of the team come up with designs that met my requirements and did not blow the budget out of the water.

The key with the project was that the sponsor also was also responsible for the budget.  Everybody else were conumers of the product.  Imagine if the scope and budget responsibilities were separate unless the CEO got involved.  I predict chaos and a fiasco.  (Remember the project, Graham) 

Project X's Rapid Results approach makes real sense.  The challenge is designing the projects.

Scope Creep and Other Horrors

• What can you do about scope creep?
• What are the causes of scope creep?  
• Is it inevitable?

I think everybody becomes creative as we think about a project.  I was thinking of adding a bathroom at the cottage and before the conversation finished it became adding a whole new wing onto the cottage.  Of course, nothing happened because the project was too big.  What happened to the simple idea?

I think part of the cause is nothing is ever perfect and can always be improved upon.  You know the expression "Anything worth doing is worth doing well."  I think it might be unsaid but that it really means "anything worth doing should be perfect."

I have a relative who spent a long time getting his PhD.  He said he just wanted to do an adequate job.  I think adequate was his definition of perfection.

Another cause of scope creep is people's unwillingness to take the Rapid Results approach.  Get something working and then make it better, faster.  We are all scared that we will not go the next step and thus never finish.

Very few of us can tolerate the creative tension between our vision and reality.  See my blog on that subject,   Creative Tension

I would love to hear from some Project Managers stories about scope management.

 

Complex Project Sponsorship

Often in IT Projects, the sponsorship of a project is not simple.  Often there a many stakeholders who have a significant interest in the project.  This is common when we are working on a data warehousing project.  Many different groups have vested interest in the project.  These interest might also come in conflict.  In particular problems will arise if one group is responsible for the requirements and another for the budget.   What are some actions you can take to mitigate the problems?

My first advice is to try to simplify things.  Harvey used to say "I am a simple man so you must make it simple for me."  That means in your mind deciding who really cares and make sure they are supporting your activity.  They will go to bat for you and clear away obstacles.  In addition some of the people have more influence and power in an organization.  I have found it does not necessarily follow from the organization chart.  Some people just know how to get things done.

I have also taken on a role of communication medium between all the various interest especially if the group do not meet with each other for various reasons.  Often groups have history which inhibits good communications and trust.  By focusing on the objective of the project and repeating it frequently sometimes you can get people all looking in the same direction.  I often visualize the objective as something which you can point to on a wall or in the centre of the table and metaphorically getting them all to look the objective as oppose to each other.  Shuttle diplomacy really works. 

Another thing to remember is that nobody means to do the wrong thing.  It may appear wrong to you, but from their perspective it is right.  The problem is to see it from their perspective.  I often become very confused and admit it.  I then asked for help in joining the points along a logical path.  Often the explanation will clear up the confusion and you have better idea why the apparent conflict exist.  Then you can set about getting the players to focus on the goal.

Usually complex projects means that many people in an organization have to change the way they have always done things.  Some people may not even understand why they do things they do but just know it works.  For them to step into the unknown is scary.  These people need support and help from the people they trust who can help them make the change.  Often simplifying things will help because many people do not need to understand the complete system just their part.   Make it simple and low risk.

We all know on complex projects not everything will be exactly as we expect even with extensive testing.   By letting people know that things may not go exactly as they hoped and giving them ways of getting help is important.  Eventually as they gain experience with the system they will learn the things that do not work well and avoid them. 

A real key to success of a project is for people to know that the project is important to their "real boss".  A note or email from the project sponsor or sponsors telling people how important the project to the sponsor and thanking them in advance for their support will help.

I am sure there are lots of ideas and experiences people have.  Like to hear some ideas.

Insegni Centre and Project X Labs Announce Joint Social Intelligence Offering

We are so thrilled today to be announcing that Insegni Centre has partnered with Project X Labs to create a joint offering in the area of Social Intelligence, called LikeInsight. See cross post here

Social Intelligence you ask?  Think Social Media Data + Business Intelligence!

I look forward to sharing a more detailed post tomorrow with snippets from an upcoming presentation I am giving.

In the meantime, to read the press release, please click here or read below.

—————————————–

TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2012 /CNW/ – Project X Labs Ltd and Insegni Centre Inc. today announced a new solution that brings together Social Media Data and Business Intelligence (BI).  The solution, called LikeInsight^TM, aligns Social Media strategy, social data and a company’s existing data assets to increase the insights available to organizations.

As with all BI visualization solutions, richness of data and relevance is crucial.  Social data provides a level of relevance from some of the most active sources of data that enrich the sentiment analysis. Through this innovative solution, LikeInsight^TM allows organizations to segment their Facebook fans based on their interests and motivations, developing a never before available picture of their customers’ online sentiment.

Leveraging a jointly integrated process for business intelligence strategy and delivery, Project X Labs Ltd. and Insegni Centre Inc. have a solution to enable social insight for organizations in a way that has not been previously possible.

“Everyone is talking about Big Data. Working together we have built a solid framework to readily take advantage of some of the rich data that is available for our clients,” said Stephen Hayward, president of Project X Labs. “By partnering with Insegni Centre we’re able to take their proven strategic approach and Social understanding, combine it with our Rapid Results business intelligence visualization tools and create real results for current and new clients.”

“Social media usage by companies has been predominately a one-way marketing channel,” said Michael Ianni-Palarchio, Founder of Insegni Centre.  “The strategy of leveraging social media data has been an increasing business priority, and partnering with Project X Ltd and Project X Labs, a leader in business intelligence development and deployment, allows us to move clients from Social Media data strategy to Social Media Insight reality.”

For more information on LikeInsight^TM and how your organization can tap into the insight of your customers’ social media data, request a demonstration and an initial consultation.

About Project X Labs
Project X Labs combines innovative product development with rapid results thinking to bring global customers business intelligence and data visualization software products. Focused on breaking down the barriers around enterprise scale software and delivering solutions that show results in weeks, not months, Project X Labs is redefining access to business intelligence for every size company.   Project X Labs is a wholly owned subsidiary ofProject X Ltd. They can be found at www.pxlabs.ca.

About Insegni Centre Inc.
Insegni Centre is a strategy advisory firm that specializes in assisting organizations develop strategic positions across a wide variety of business technologies and solutions.  With a focus on understanding business objectives and ensuring that IT initiatives are strategically aligned to enable those goals, Insegni Centre utilizes an approach that focuses on rapid innovation to obtain strategic differentiation.  In the area of Business Intelligence (BI), Insegni Centre works to provide the strategic framework that allows companies to identify BI opportunities within their organization, develop their BI Vision & Objectives and define their BI Requirements.  To find out more visit us atwww.insegnicentre.com .

For further information:

Stephen Hayward - shayward@pxltd.ca  – 416.422.8900 ext 201
Michael Ianni-Palarchio - mip@insegnicentre.com - 416-900-1055 ext 100 

Challenges of the Business Analyst

The work of a business analyst is to develop an understanding of business process and model them.  Usually the work is associated with a project whose objectives are to change or improve a process.  Often these processes are quite complex and the analyst must get the information from many sources.  Usually much of the information and ideas for improvement are in the heads of key users of the processes being studied.  The challenge of the analyst is to get a good understanding of the process from these people. 

This task presents the analyst with many difficulties.  A business analyst often encounters people who are not ready to cooperate for many reason. 

• Lack of understanding of the project
• Impatience, "I've told four other people the same information."
• Fear of having their job automated
• Fear that their lack of expertise will be exposed
• Opposition to the project
• Previous bad experience with analysts
• Person is already overwhelmed by their job, no time.

These can be summarized by saying the person is not ready to cooperate.  So how should the analyst proceed. 

I have found that the first step in any meeting between people is the development of rapport.  The people need to feel comfortable with each other as people.   How many times have you been meeting with somebody and things go very poorly and you had the premonition in the first twenty seconds.  Likely no rapport has been established between the people. 

Once rapport has been established it will then be possible to address the concerns of the person.  If you try to address the concerns without rapport you will be like ships passing in the night.

Establishing rapport can be thought of two people getting on the same wavelength or feeling comfortable with each other.  Building rapport is a skill that can be developed and requires some work. 

You need to have some information about the person you a going to meet with.  If you have mutual acquaintances, you might get some information about the person's likes and dislikes, job history, personal situation, interests, etc.  The idea is to find something that you share in common that is not controversial that you can talk about.  Often people will talk about the weather or share a cup of coffee which is a start but often not enough.  Often if you are in the person's office, you will see pictures or other decoration which reveals their interest.   Often something related to the business or people you know in common is helpful but remember the subject is something you will agree on.  Politics and religion are not safe ground.

Having established rapport, the next step is to be clear bout the purpose of the meeting and get an agreement on the agenda, including the time frame.  Here is where you address any concerns that you detect. 

Although you will be anxious to get down specific details, I strongly recommend to stay at a higher level for a while.  Ask open questions that find out the person overall view of the project and how it fits in with their interest.  An open question like "Tell me what you think about ..........?" or "Could you give me a little of your background?"  Once you have some context for the information, you will be much better evaluate the answers knowing some of the biases of the person.

Often the person's reluctance will stem from little or no understanding of the project.  Without a context the information you glean from the person may be totally off the mark and misleading. 

If you have started the conversation and you feel that you have lost rapport for some reason.  Gradually re-establish rapport.  One technique I use is to summarize where we are so far and get agreement on that.  If you detect, reluctance, ask "Do you have some concerns?"  Keep the question very open and listen carefully what the person says.

Another problem that arises between systems people and the rest of the world is that we use a lot of jargon and short forms that are foreign to others.  Using those words, reminds the person we are in different world or world apart.  NO RAPPORT.   Listen to the words the person uses to describe something and use the same words.  If they have a name for a function, use that name.  If they have a name for a process, use that name.  Stay away from the technical jargon we all slip into in the IT world.  "The ETL process of EDW is critical to Micro-strategy software.  We need to understand how to normalize your data so we can drill down and across."   If you thought I was from the moon before, I just moved to Mars.

I will write some more about business analysis later but remember stay in rapport.  You will be amazed how quickly you can get the information you need when you are in rapport. 

 

Hidden Factors

Are you often perplexed by why people do the things they do?  Often I oversimplify the reason by simply thinking they are incompetent.  I suspect they do not see things the way I do.  Often the reasons are hidden from you.

These hidden factors could be simply be things like they could just had a fight with their spouse or a bad review from their boss.   I keep reminding myself I cannot see things through their eyes.

After that reminder, hopefully I become more curious about their point of view and listen more carefully to discover what is really going on.

I remind myself that nobody intentionally makes mistakes.  If they appear to intentionally make a mistake, I must remember to did deeper.