Memphis Chapter IIBA

1
Memphis Chapter IIBA

• Subject Matter Experts the forgotten project
  partner
• Presentation
• 7/21/09

2
About your Presenter Anne Harkins

• IT Professional
• Developer
• Systems Analyst
• Business Analyst
• Lead Analyst
• Project manager

• BA Manager
• Curriculum developer
• Facilitator
• Consultant
• Senior Instructor

3
Anne Harkins Training and Consulting

• Sample Client List
• SunTrust Banks
• Principal Financial
• ALSAC/St. Judes Childrens Hospital
• AutoZone
• AEP (American Electrical Power)
• Kamehameha Schools
• The Hartford
• International Truck
• TSYS
• Time Warner Cable
• Pacific Life
• Chevron
• Deutsche Bank

4
Anne Harkins Training and Consulting

• Roles held
• Instructor
• Business Analysis Training focusing on
• Project Life cycle, roles, methodologies
• Requirements elicitation
• Requirements documentation
• Data, Process, Agents, Actors and Business rules
• Consultant
• Informal Mentoring
• Formal Project Assignments
• Facilitator
• Group Sessions
• Project Team

5
Resources Cited

• Standish Chaos Report 2007
• Borland 2008
• IAG Business Analysis Benchmark 2008
• IEEE 2007
• CIO Magazine 2008
• Forrester 2008
• Books/Abstracts/Articles
• Successful Business Intelligence Cindi Howson
  2007
• Failed IT Projects (The Human Factor) Sheila
  Wilson 1998 (incorporated into college
  curriculums and course studies on Project
  Management)
• Early Warning signs of IT Project Failure
  Kappelman, McKeeman, Zhang 2006

6
Presentation Objectives

• Who is a Subject Matter Expert (SME)
• Industry Trends
• Characteristics of a SME
• Why Train SMEs
• Educating for Better Requirements

7
Typical Project Team
Executive Sponsor
Project Manager
BusinessAnalyst
Developers
Business Partners
QA
Systems Architect
8
Process Of Analysis
BusinessAnalyst
Elicitation of Business Requirements
Business Partners
9
What are Business Requirements?

• Business Processes
• Business Data
• Business Rules
• Workflows
• Policies, Procedures
• Exceptions!!!
• Reports, Mailings, Spreadsheets, Month-end,
  Quarter-end, Year-end, Screens, Communications

10
Who is a Subject Matter Expert?

• Business Partners
• Customers
• Clients
• Stakeholders
• Users
• Subject Matter Experts

Business Partners
11
Who is a Subject Matter Expert?

• Individual who has special, in-depth knowledge of
  a business area
• Project team player who enhances team
  understanding of the business process, problem,
  need and/or opportunity
• Critical role player in project team success
• Thought leader and expert with a unique
  understanding

12
Subject Matter Experts the forgotten project
partner
Why is the Subject Matter Expert (SME) the
forgotten project partner?
13
Partnership

• The degree to which the business and IT can
  partner together is the single most important
  organizational aspect to successful business
  intelligence.
• Successful Business intelligence
• Cindi Howson 2007

14
Cant live with them

• There is no realization on the part of the
  business as to how they affect timelines and
  implementations.
• IT Professional, large US Retailer
• Information Systems must understand the business
  and be involved in what they are trying to
  achieve.
• BI Leader, Landstar Inc.

15
Subject Matter Experts the forgotten project
partner

• What we have done as an Industry
• Trained and certified Project Managers
• Trained and certified Quality Assurance Analysts
• Trained and certified Business Analysts
• Trained and certified Facilitators
• Have we gotten what we need?

16
Industry Report Card

• 70 of projects failed to meet deadlines
• 50-60 of projects fail to meet the needs of the
  business
• 80 of issues stem from poor requirements
• 50 of project timelines now spent on rework
• 40 of defects are missed by QA and caught by
  users
• Sources
• Standish Group Chaos report
• Forrester Research

17
Project Success Skills

• CIO MAGAZINE survey
• Which is the most important skill for project
  success today?
• Technical Proficiency 10
• Understanding the Business 58
• Communication of Business Requirements 70

18
Where does it break?

• Who or What is the
• weak link?

19
The Human Factor

• When IT projects fail it rarely is a result of
  the technology. At its core, project management
  is all about people.

There seemed to be a direct relationship between
project failure and the human factor
contributions. The larger the failure, the more
the human factor contributed to that failure.
This is more evidence that most software
development projects fail because of failures
within the team running them.   Failed IT
Projects (The Human Factor) Sheila Wilson
20
Fixing the Human Factor

• Some of the recommendations include
• Team development and commitment to project
• Effective communication techniques with roles and
  responsibilities
• Competent staff
• Transfer of knowledge (easy system or way to do
  this)
• Cooperation

21
Why didnt you tell me?

• Is it still a requirement if the subject matter
  expert didnt tell the analyst?

22
IAG study

• Staggering findings
• Two different IAG studies have now produced
  identical findings There is a 60 time and cost
  premium to be paid on projects with poor quality
  requirements

23
Why?

• Almost 70 of organizations surveyed DID NOT take
  effective action despite knowing this. Why?
• Belief that analysis is not real project work
• Superior technical skills make analysis
  unimportant
• Business requirements considered a document not a
  cumulative process used to achieve consensus on
  needs

24
Are we hitting the right target?
25
Why train SMEs
Consider If our business partners knew what
analysts needed from them before they started the
project, they would likely deliver truer, cleaner
requirements. Better requirements get us closer
to the right solution!
26
SME Requirement Types

• SMEs business requirements fall under three
  types
• CONSCIOUS stated known requirements
• UNCONSCIOUS unstated because SME assumes you
  know, assumes it wont change, or just forgets to
  vocalize it
• 3. UNDREAMED unstated because the SME thinks
  it is likely incapable or out of scope or budget

27
Time and Money

• In absolute terms, the quality of requirements
  will dictate the time and cost of the solution.

28
Subject Matter Experts the forgotten project
partner

• What can we do?
• TRAIN OUR BUSINESS PARTNERS on
• what we need from them
• how to communicate those needs
• giving feedback on diagrams and models
• Train our SMEs on Delivering Better Requirements!

29
Who is a SME?

• Individual who has special, in-depth knowledge of
  a business area
• Project team player who enhances team
  understanding of the business process, problem,
  need and/or opportunity
• Critical role player in project team success
• Thought leader and expert with a unique
  understanding

30
SME Challenges

• Delivering right information
• Availability
• Understanding their own role
• Understanding project methodology, templates,
  diagrams
• Software development not primary job

31
How do we fix it?

• Recommendation of IAG
• Focus must shift to quality of requirements
  discovery as a process, not just a document, if
  they hope to consistently deliver successful
  projects.

32
How do we fix it?

• Success is driven more by how the organization
  engages its stakeholders in the process of
  requirements discovery and is less associated
  with requirements documentation.
• Business Analysis Benchmark 2008

33
Current SME role

• The average project in study which used poor
  requirements practices overran amount of time
  expected by stakeholders for participation by
  200
• Result
• Difficulty in getting stakeholder involvement in
  future
• Lackluster efforts
• Higher turnover
• Heroic efforts

34
Future SME Role

• Productive use of time
• Understanding of the process
• Understanding of their role
• Delivering higher quality requirements
• Providing usable, meaningful feedback on diagrams
  and templates
• Buy-in to end result

35
Good News

• Chain reaction of excellent requirements
• Design and coding can follow agreed upon models
• Rework reduced
• Features developed by priority
• Testing and QA focused on right requirements
• Testing and QA faster and more efficient
• End-user satisfaction rises
• Successful implementations!

36
B1Team Training Course offering

• Maximizing SME Contributions
• Critical tools for business partners

37
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Course Outline
• Project Roles and Expectations
• Understanding Types of Requirements
• Providing the Right Resources
• Diagrams I can expect to see
• Contributions I should make
• Delivering Better Requirements by delivering
  better answers

38
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Project Roles and Expectations
• Learn the players
• Understand the positions
• Impact of lifecycle and
• methodology

39
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Understanding Types of Requirements

Requirement A condition or capability needed by
a stakeholder to solve a problem or achieve an
objective.
BUSINESS
FUNCTIONAL
TECHNICAL
Learn the answers to questions such as Whats my
role here? What do you need from me? What will I
be asked and why?
40
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Providing the Right Resources
• What is in my business
• area?
• Where can I find
• requirements?
• Looking beyond
• written documentation
• What do my analysts
• need from me?
• Whats important,
• whats not?

41
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Diagrams/Documents I can expect to see

42
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Contributions I should make
• Providing requirements
• Providing feedback
• Being available
• Making the project a priority

43
Maximizing SME ContributionsCritical tools for
business partners

• Delivering Better Requirements by delivering
  better answers
• Understanding the question,
• probing for specifics
• Think like a wise man but communicate in the
  language of the people
• William Butler Yeats 1865 - 1939

44
Conclusions

• Put emphasis on the right target
• Train for the human factor
• Plan for project success

45

• Subject Matter Experts
• from the forgotten
• to the invaluable
• project partner
• THANK YOU!

46
Additional Course Offeringsby B1Team Training

• Enhancing Analytical Skills
• Critical tools for Business Analysis
• Lean UML Requirements Elicitation
• Critical tools for Lean UML Analysts
• The Analyst role in Web Development
• Critical tools for Analysis of Web-based
  Solutions
• Estimating the Analysis Work Effort
• Critical tools for estimating time and effort of
  Analysis
• The Analyst Role in Product Testing and Quality
• Critical tools for Testing Skills and Techniques
• Agile Requirements Elicitation
• Critical tools for Agile Analysts
• Facilitating Requirements
• Critical tools for Facilitators
• Enhancing Analysts Performance
• Critical tools for BA

47
Contact Us

• Contact Information
• Anne Harkins, Training and Consulting
• anne.harkins_at_yahoo.com
• 404-771-9468
• B1Team Training
• Training for all project team members!
• b1teamtraining.com