Friday, November 14, 2008
A few thoughts on a book I read last year, A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink. I pulled the book out again recently after a presentation I did for a local IIBA meeting. The presentation was focused on the future of the Business Analyst. I found that there were several essential aptitudes that Pink refers to for workers of the future: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. He calls the future the “Conceptual Age”. These are “right-brain” qualities but it does not mean giving up on the “left-brain”. It means that we need to have androgynous minds. I put a little thought to how these aptitudes might help me as a business analyst.
Design: As Pink mentions, it is easy to dismiss design. Can you have well-written requirements and still get a bad design? Yes. Why? Because designing requires “right-brain” qualities. It requires you to think holistically and creatively to bring disparate things together in order to offer multiple solutions. So, even though requirements were well written and should increase your chances for a great design there is still a need to think more holistically. Well-written requirements should also be well-organized and well-aligned to improve design solutions.
Story: – a.k.a. Usage Narratives in the business analysis world. “Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories” – Roger C. Schank, cognitive scientist. Business analysts have the ability to tell stories to clarify and communicate requirements but they can also listen to stories to uncover requirements. Stories add the context, reality and emotional connection to those that have not been through the experience. They help us “techies” to understand the user’s experience. I have also learned fairly recently that stories also help make the connection for the users by describing the impact of what they might consider a minor change. For example describing the impact of adding one field to a screen that they want in
“real time” – telling the emotional story of the confused database administrator when the data has to come from three different places!
Symphony: i.e. Seeing patterns and relationships. It is all about being a boundary crosser – applying skills in one area to another. Work Breakdown Structure, Organizational Hierarchy, Functional Decomposition Diagram – all based on decomposition techniques. Building a relationship matrix for traceability, CRUD, Roles and Responsibilities. Business modeling, facilitation and Six Sigma techniques. Many are the same technique applied different ways. This aptitude is most important for requirements analysis. Looking for the missing requirements. Many requirement tools now provide the ability to sort, filter and apply various attributes to requirements to help find patterns and relationships.
Empathy: Try imagining yourself in someone else’s position. Contagious yawners show empathy. . As business analysts we are put into a position of understanding both the IT and the business domains. Empathy helps us know the right questions to ask and to build strong relationships in both domains. But note that empathy is difficult to reproduce in distributed teams
Play: – Having a play ethic. Using games, laughter, and humor. Can this help you in getting requirements? Can you “what if” the ridiculous to get everyone started? Can you add some competition and prizes for those who catch the most acronyms used in a requirements document? Has anyone tried to make business analysis fun?
Meaning: – The purpose is in the journey itself. It’s about thinking of the big picture and not getting lost in the details. As business analysts it’s all about the details, so we can easily get lost. So it is also about going back to why we are doing this project, knowing who cares, ensuring we can communicate the purpose. It is also about being grateful for those that contribute to help everyone be successful – It is also about saying thank you.
So business analysts out there – work on your “right-brain” qualities!
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