The Role of the BA in Creating a Common Vision
by Catherine Brunsting
Lack of predictability in getting a new product or service to market is one of the biggest threats a business can face. This problem is pervasive and many businesses are simply unaware there is a better, more predictable approach to deliver projects.
In her article Ms. Catherine Brunsting addresses how we can bring about predictability into what is delivered and when it is delivered, and how a strong Business Analyst can insure that this happens.
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Predictability of what?
In my experience, predictability of cost is the highest priority (no one wants to go back up The Hill) to ask for more money, schedule is second, and exact scope of requirements is third. And predictability itself has to be weighed against other factors. If predictability raises the total cost of the project by 10%, is it worth it? How about 50%? What if predictability necessitates a requirements freeze that locks out a great idea--one that could have doubled the business value of the application--just because we didn't think of it soon enough?
The use of facilitated requirements workshops (as Ms. Brunsting suggests) is an excellent idea for creating alignment (or finding out that it just plain doesn't exist) and getting pretty good requirements, but this is still the state of the project when everyone knows the least.
I'm looking forward to learning more from the Getting Predictable (tm) methodology, but the last time I checked, www.geneca.com was unavailable.