Resources

There are many ways to ‘do’ business process improvement projects. It’s best if the company has a methodology from BPM, Lean, Six Sigma, Reengineering or some other methodology. Here’s the one I use, starting with selecting the project and ending with monitoring and sustaining the project; ‘doing’ the process improvement project means completing the section in the middle from Chartering and Staffing to Implementation Plan.

Companies use a number of methods to conduct the BPM project from using a Six Sigma Black Belt as an expert, to having a Business Analyst do interviews with subject matter experts and developing the as is model and to be map, to using different half day workshops for different phases of the process with the appropriate stakeholders. The one I highly recommend and have used with over 100 different processes is a team-based method.

Anyone who has worked on waterfall projects knows the challenges:  The lack of communication between the business users and the developers; the predetermined (and immovable) requirements; the quality issues that are not evident until you are too close to the release date to safely address them; and the frustration of having to wait months (and sometimes years) before your efforts result in a live working solution.

When you make the move from waterfall to Agile projects, you have two choices:  You can choose to either block out your waterfall experience altogether (like any traumatic event!) or you can choose to leverage your experience to make yourself an even more effective Agile team member.  Here are three ways that you can use your waterfall experience to your advantage: 

Process management is at present one of the most often implemented methods of management within organizations (Armistead, Pritchard & Machin, 1999), though it is not a new concept in and of itself. Its foundations have been set as far back as 60 years (Deming) or even perhaps 100 years ago in Taylor’s work (F.W. Taylor) (Deming, 1986). Traditional process management assumes that processes cannot be altered by process performers in the course of their performance (Gartner IT Glossary, 2016). Within the traditional model, the performance of processes is tied to the decisions of the management of a given organization, which are reflected in standard process models (often in the form of rules and regulations or procedures). But as numerous research demonstrates (Kemsley, 2009a; Pucher, 2010; Ukelson, 2010; HandySoft, 2012), traditional BPM is useful in 20% or perhaps 30% of processes of the organization.

Is your company ready to apply the BPM discipline?  A BPM Readiness Assessment offers a company an objective and efficient means to assess its ability to change and adapt to a process performance orientation. Understanding a company’s “process maturity profile” enables it to design a BPM adoption program that addresses six critical success factors that accelerate the adoption of BPM and specifies a program for realizing its sustainable value:

• Linkage of process performance to business strategy
• Employee understanding of process (skills and roles)
• Utilizing BPM technology• Practicing process improvement methods
• Process-related attitudes and behaviors
• Implementing Process Governance (decision-making and oversight)

VALUE OF ASSESSMENT

“To more fully realize the benefits of behavioral insights and deliver better results at a lower cost for the American people, the Federal Government should design its policies and programs to reflect our best understanding of how people engage with, participate in, use, and respond to those policies and programs.” – President Obama

10 proven approaches for transitioning from a traditional business analyst role to an Agile business analyst role (Part 2 of 2) The first 5 steps to becoming an Agile Business analyst were outlined in part 1 of this article. Now, part 2 of this article provides you with five more tips for becoming a successful Agile Business Analyst.

Step 6: Be an Expert Communicator

Everything about the Agile business analyst role depends upon effective communication with business users, development team members, management, and executives to understand their needs and to act as a liaison across all parties. You should be equally comfortable speaking with stakeholders at both a big picture level and at a very detailed level, depending on what the situation requires.

In 2006 the Babson Process Management Research Center defined Strategic Alignment as the continual tight linkage of organizational priorities and enterprise processes, enabling achievement of business goals. Phrased differently this means linking strategy goals to operational goals and linking operational goals to process goals. This equates to defining a method for improving alignment among the organization’s performance measures, strategic plans, improvement projects, and budgets. It assumes that the organization employs a method for defining its business strategy such as a Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Using the BSC as an example one must first examine it to determine how BPM can be integrated into the BSC approach. BPM specifically focuses on improving the Internal Quadrant of the BSC. The Balanced Scorecard approach does the following:

10 proven approaches for transitioning from a traditional business analyst role to an Agile business analyst role (Part 1 of 2)

Making the switch from traditional software development approaches to Agile methods can be a challenge for any IT professional but it is especially challenging for business analysts. Although there are thousands of resources available to guide Agile teams, relatively few of them are written specifically to answer the Agile business analysts’ most common questions:

• What is my role on the Agile development team?
• What is the most effective way for me to work with Product Owners?
• How do I make a smooth transition from writing detailed requirements specifications to crafting succinct and powerful user stories?

And, most important, how do I get started?