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‘Individuals and interactions over processes and tools’.
To really live by this statement, we need to monitor our own behaviours, seek to improve our relationships with others and our interpersonal skills. But how much time do we spend analysing and reflecting on our own behaviour?
There are some common behaviour traps that Business Analysts can fall into, that we all need to be aware of.
There are some common behaviour traps that Business Analysts can fall into, that we all need to be aware of.
Pedantic
We all know that as BAs we can be pedantic. In the past we may have even celebrated this behaviour, but if we are seen to be taking enjoyment from the fact that other people have made mistakes, it’s not helpful and people will avoid involving us.
Being given the opportunity to contribute to something is really important. As BAs we need to cultivate a culture where people want to discuss things with us, they want to share early drafts of their work, they trust us to encourage them and collaborate with them and not pick holes in their work.
Maverick
Some BAs will resist any attempt to constrain and standardise business analysis. They won’t use templates, they are vague about the BA deliverables the are producing, they won’t share things for peer review and are not interested in the development of the BA practice.
Despite this, maverick BAs are often well regarded by their project team. They are seen as helpful and flexible and the project doesn’t care too much about use of BA templates and development of standards!
Maverick BAs really damage the profession as they are not promoting a consistent view of what the BA role is about. They do what they want, however they want to do it.
We need to put aside our maverick tendencies, and believe that by contributing to the development of the profession, we will elevate the standard of business analysis in our organisations.
Superior
Sometimes we regard other project roles with contempt, (“The PM is an idiot”; “Users don’t know what they want”; “The developers don’t listen”….) and sometimes BAs make no effort to conceal this contempt! These situations provide a good opportunity to practice our empathy skills:
Why don’t users know what they want? They have probably never had the luxury of stepping outside their day jobs to really think about it.
Why does it appear that Devs don’t listen? They are often pressed for time and have to make assumptions based on their knowledge and previous experience.
Why do project managers seem like idiots? They are juggling 100 priorities and it’s not their job to know the detail like we do.
The BA role is incredibly useful, but we are part of team, and if the team fails we all fail, however good our individual contribution.
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