In anticipation of his presentation at Building Business Capability in Vegas, Oct 31, – Nov. 4, 2016, we asked Jonathan Babcock, Senior Manager at Jabian Consulting, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out his interview in relation to his BBC presentation entitled, Process-Based Business Analysis:  Blending Art & Science for Better Business Outcomes­­.

Q: In what ways do you see your group helping your organization pursue business excellence?

A: I am the business analysis service offering lead in my firm, so my pursuit is to help our clients pursue business excellence. One of the ways we do that is to blend business analysis with process analysis to improve communication and requirements management. Another way is to help organizations understand how business analysis can be used outside the traditional confines of IT projects, and how business analysis is critical to enabling successful agile implementation.

Q: Can you describe the challenges you face or have already overcome in establishing more robust business capabilities for your organization?

A: As a consultant specializing in business analysis, I have opportunities to help my clients to make better use of their valuable business analysis resources. One common challenge I face across clients is that of helping organizations understand how to use business analysis outside of the confines of IT, or outside of “the team” in agile. Many organizations are not getting the full benefit of business analysis at more strategic levels of the organization. For example, as organizations strive to scale agile, we find that enterprise/strategic business analysis is a key enabler in delivering complex and cross-functional solutions. This not only serves the organization, but provides interesting career opportunities for gifted and senior business analysis professionals. One of the most rewarding moments I get to experience is seeing the proverbial “light come on” in the minds of stakeholders when they begin to see business analysis not as a technology documentation function, but as a truly enabling business capability.

Q: What are your short-term goals for becoming more agile?

A: My philosophy for becoming more agile has always been about finding ways to apply agile principles in my work and in my organization’s approach to doing work. For example, I find ways to try to break large initiatives into smaller and more manageable, yet valuable components in order to deliver value earlier. I look for ways to increase face-to-face collaboration between business and delivery stakeholders in lieu of communicating primarily via documents to improve quality of communication, and shorten feedback loops. Finally, I strive to “maximize the amount of work not done,” meaning, I focus on creating only those analysis deliverables that are essential to creating shared understanding among stakeholders, and to enabling delivery team members to succeed in their efforts to provide valuable solutions.

Q: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned in the past year?

A: Perhaps the most valuable thing I’ve learned in the past year is that there is a great deal to be gained by observing and learning from the experiences of others. I have been doing business analysis for many years, so often when I come to sessions at conferences like BBC, I am not looking for revolutionary or new ways of doing things. Rather, I’m looking for a slightly different angle of looking at things, or new technique, or some little nugget of wisdom I can take back and assimilate into my own personal business analysis toolbox. By participating actively in local IIBA events, and in conferences like BBC, I have the opportunity to continuously hone my craft by leveraging the knowledge and experiences of others. Hopefully this year, I’ll be able to impart some valuable insights during my session as well!

Q: What do you see as the most important goal or trend for business analysts and other professionals to keep in mind?

A: One of the most important trends I’ve noticed over the past year or so is that many organizations have succeeded at standing up agile teams, but many still struggle with cross-functional and complex business solutions spanning multiple teams. I think this challenge to successfully scale agile is going to provide meaningful and exciting opportunities for business analysts to add value outside the confines of the team at more strategic program and portfolio levels.

Q: What’s the latest method/process/tool you’ve implemented to help your business operate more effectively? Have you seen any results yet?

A: The latest tool I’ve implemented in my organization is a simple business analysis knowledge portal page. Often, organizations have lots of knowledge capital stowed away in various locations, but to really unlock the power of that collateral, people have to know where to find it so they can use it. By creating this business analysis knowledge portal, I have made it much easier for my peers to find and reuse existing documentation, example deliverables, professional development materials, and other useful resources.

Q: Sneak preview: Please tell us a take-away that you will provide during your talk at the Building Business Capability (BBC) conference this year?

A: I am really looking forward to providing insights on business process analysis that attendees can use right away to improve their own performance, and to improve how business analysis is done in their organizations. I know most of us are familiar with business process, but many still overlook some of the properties and uses of business process such as its usefulness at improving communication and requirements management, and how it can be used as a common reference model in organizations with a mix of agile and traditional delivery teams.

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 Don’t miss Jonathan’s presentation, Process-Based Business Analysis:  Blending Art & Science for Better Business Outcomes­­, at Building Business Capability on Thursday, November 3, 2016 from 9:00 to 10:00 am. Click here to register for attendance.