In anticipation of his presentation at Building Business Capability in Vegas, Nov. 2 – 6, 2015, we asked Shahriar Maghami, Agile Project Manager/Scrum Master at Chevron, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out his interview in relation to his BBC presentation entitled Challenges of Business Analysis and Business Analysts in Agile.

Q: How is your organization advancing the pursuit of business excellence and how does it impact your business units/departments?

A: Our business unit has assessed business analysis capability thoroughly, assessing the “as is” status. It has also identified areas of improvement and the respective recommended actions as well as implemented improvement recommendations with the highest priority.

Q: What are your near term goals for creating a more agile organization at your business or company?

A: Iteratively maturing current practices, assessing maturity metrics and KPI’s periodically, and defining and implementing a multi-year shaping curve for agile maturity. Also contributing to and alignment with corporate agile council.

Q: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned in 2015 thus far? What’s the most important goal/trend for business analysts to keep in mind?

A: In IT development, creating a robust solution with desired market edge and ROI and achieving user satisfaction should be what governs our work. IT is not for IT. IT is to enable and enhance the business.

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

A: Project Portfolio Management in general, and Agile Project and Process Management tools. Also, utilization of corporate Requirements Management Work Process.

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

A: “Scope creep” needs to be redefined, particularly for agile projects. If managed correctly and adequately, scope changes could result in a much higher satisfaction for the end users and stakeholders, and will substantially increase the return on investment (ROI).

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Don’t miss Shahriar’s presentation, Challenges of Business Analysis and Business Analysts in Agile, at Building Business Capability on Thursday, November 5, 2015 from 3:20 to 4:20 pm. Click here to register for attendance.