In anticipation of his presentation at Building Business Capability in Las Vegas, Nov. 2 – 6, 2015, we asked John Smith, Business Architect & Systems Business Capability Manager, Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out his interview in relation to his BBC presentation entitled, Developing Business Process Driven Requirements.

Q: Can you describe the challenges you face or have already overcome in establishing a more cohesive and productive company or organization?

A: The business and IT speak two different languages which causes confusion, frustration, and frankly defects in technology implementations.  It is so important to speak the business language and have the ability to translate into IT language.  So how do you create artifacts that the business understands and can validate and also make sure that they are able to be consumed by IT.  By implementing a traceability process in your project lifecycle, the language barrier can be eliminated.

Q: What’s the latest method/process/tool you have implemented to help your organization or business run more efficiently and effectively?

A: Two years ago we created a Business Capability Placemat for our organization which included level 2 business processes.  We have consistently used the placemat for Risk Analysis, Capability Planning, Strategy Planning, Continuous Improvement and Impact Analysis.  The great thing about using the placemat is the consistency in terminology and business requirements and rules re-use.   Consistency and traceability is invaluable and saves so much time and confusion.  The placemat tool is now used across all business units for capability planning.

Q: If you could give your five-years-ago self-insight and advice about this industry, what would you say?

A:  As organizations become more nimble and IT staffs are reduced, I have noticed less time spent on business requirements and business analysis.  While organizations are striving to reduce costs, technology solutions alone are not enough.  Time should be spent evaluating and optimizing business processes before technology is implemented.  Otherwise you have just spent a lot of money making a machine execute a substandard process.

Q: Sneak preview: Please tell us a take-away that you will provide during your talk at Building Business Capability?

A:  Requirement gathering can be very tenuous.  How do I know I have all the requirements?  How do I know the requirements are correct?  How do I know the requirements are going to achieve the expected outcomes?  I will discuss a tactical and practical method of soliciting business requirements that will reduce the risk of providing inadequate business requirements and will demonstrate how the business requirements can be used throughout the entire project lifecycle regardless of methodology.  And it is really easy!  Shhh…don’t tell anyone.  I can’t wait to meet everyone and share tips and tricks that I use.

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Don’t miss John’s presentation, Developing Business Process Driven Requirements, at Building Business Capability on Thursday, November 5, 2015 from 9:00 to 10:00 am. Click here to register for attendance.