In anticipation of his presentation at Building Business Capability in Vegas, Oct 31, – Nov. 4, 2016, we asked Michele Maritato, Business Analyst, Scrum Master at PMProgetti srl, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out his interview in relation to his BBC presentation entitled, The Product Owner in Scrum, a Powerful Agile Business Analyst.

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

A: Understanding the business environment has always been an essential capability for improving competitive advantage. Today we leave in fast changing world and operate in turbulent global markets, where understanding business call for organization, methodologies, competencies, speed and a bit of creativity. In Italy, PMProgetti Srl was the first company that has adopted the IIBA guidelines for Business Analysis since 2008, and utilizes these competencies for understanding customer’s needs, together with an innovation mindset, both aimed at reaching and maintaining the top positions in the business context. All our Consultants are trained on Business Analysis, and today getting the IIBA CBAP certification in PMProgetti is a must.

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

A: The main challenges we are facing as a company are related to defining the strategy, aligning the organization and execute properly the strategy, as well as to measure the results. We have identified in Business Analysis, Project Management and Leadership the essential competencies to overcome these challenges.

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

A: Since we started in PMProgetti we have decided to invest in three set of competencies: Business Analysis, to stay in sync with the market and innovate; Project Management, to be effective at executing; Soft-skills, in particular Leadership, to motivate people. And we will continue to invest in the future in this direction; so far we have experienced outstanding results from the complementary application of these disciplines. In the short term we are going to certificate all our people in Business Analysis. As for Agile, we have adopted Scrum as our core framework, and we are certifying our people.

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

A: We live in world that changes very fast, and companies need to continuously develop more competencies to improve their performances. Business Analysis is essential for Innovation; companies should invest more and more on Business Analysis for Innovation. Knowledge and application of the Babok Guide guidelines for all Business Analysis roles (and also for other roles) is growing fast and for sure will continue growing in the next years.

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

A: Getting the certification in Business Analysis is a must. Learning how to do Business Analysis in agile environment is growing fast.

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: We have adopted some tools to help people develop Leadership competencies around the Emotional Intelligence theory. We want to have great Managers, and great Leaders to face the challenges that are coming. Yes we have seen some interesting results in motivation of our people.

Q: If you could go back 5 years in time and give some professional insight or advice to yourself, what would it be?

A: Business Analysis is a discipline essential for many companies. I would invest more in developing Business Analysis competencies and bring as many people as possible towards IIBA certifications.

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: My presentation will focus on the competencies of the Product Owner as an Agile Business Analyst. I have taken the Babok Guide model and adapted to work in Scrum. A useful framework to understand the PO role in Scrum and how the Babok Guide can support role. Yes, the IIBA certifications are perfect also for the Product Owners.

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Don’t miss Michele’s presentation, The Product Owner in Scrum, a Powerful Agile Business Analyst, at Building Business Capability on Friday, November 4, 2016 from 10:10 to 11:10 am. Click here to register for attendance.