The Importance Of BA Competencies In The Successful Delivery Of IT Projects
Numerous academic groups have proposed theories as to why projects fail; research from Forbes, the British Computer Society, Gartner, and many more stand out among them. IT project failures have generally been attributed to a variety of factors, including subpar business cases, subpar project management, subpar people, and subpar processes.
On the other hand, several elements discussed below can be recognized as the driving forces behind projects that succeed.
The knowledge, conduct, attitudes, and abilities known as BA competencies give a business analyst the ability to carry out business analysis effectively and successfully. These BA competencies correspond to the elements that direct the accomplishment of IT projects successfully. To learn more, check out the BA training online.
Accurate problem definition and analysis
This is essential to completing projects successfully since it involves accurately identifying the issues, their extent, and potential remedies. The business’s tendency to concentrate on the effects or symptoms of an underlying issue and swiftly deploy technology to address these symptoms is a significant contributing factor to IT project failure. In the best-case scenario, users end up with a costly IT solution that they seldom ever use—at worst, they end up with unsuccessful IT initiatives or workarounds.
Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving
This skill uses a variety of methods, including critical thinking, system thinking, and problem-solving approaches, to assist in doing root-cause analysis and generating problem statements that aid in accurately identifying an issue.
People
The biggest asset of every organisation is its people. Numerous theoretical frameworks, such as Maslow’s and Herzberg’s, have studied worker productivity. When starting IT projects, the human resources team (who is rarely included in the IT project team) possesses the expertise regarding behavioural traits, emotional intelligence, and concepts that impact productivity. All too frequently, however, the emphasis during project launches is on the technical abilities of the project team.
Behavioural Characteristics and Personal Quality
Understanding behavioural traits and the ideas of motivation, productivity, and emotional intelligence as they relate to human resources, BAs must continuously keep these things in mind as they try to comprehend the issue at hand and identify the necessary conditions for a workable solution.
Knowledge of the culture and structure of organisations
Project delivery agility can be impacted by both structure and culture, which are different in that structure deals with norms, regulations, and policies, and culture is concerned with organisational values, behaviours, and attitudes. For the project to be completed successfully, the two must be combined in the best possible way.
Business Knowledge
This calls for the use of industry, organisation, business acumen, suitable techniques, and solution understanding. In his well-known statement, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Peter Drucker emphasised the significance of having a solid grasp of business to support organisational success.
Effective Communication
This is the process of communicating concepts, ideas, viewpoints, information, and data to ensure that the message is received and comprehended clearly and purposefully. The fact that this is not acknowledged as a skill that extends beyond speaking and writing presents a difficulty for numerous firms. It includes listening, analysis, and nonverbal communication. An IT project’s chance of failing rises when this is lacking.
Communication Skills
Because they serve as a liaison between the business and IT, business analysts receive training in effective communication techniques. They may help all stakeholders provide successful solutions by helping to guide and interpret talks and by having a solid understanding of business and IT principles.
User needs and backing from superiors.
Although the goal of IT solutions is to satisfy user needs, a major contributing factor to IT project failures is the management’s ambivalence. Frequently, upper management is more focused on strategy and has a broad perspective on multiple ongoing initiatives than understanding customer needs. As a result, there is a gulf between top management and project delivery, which means that initiatives don’t receive the support they need to succeed. In theory, support is typically provided, but in practice, senior management is often far removed from the projects.
Interaction Skills
Business analysts can serve as a middleman between upper management and the business in addition to serving as an intermediary between IT and the business. Their ability to engage others allows them to facilitate discussions among stakeholders and make sure that tough questions are raised and addressed in order to guarantee the effective completion of projects.
Modular Technology and Business-Driven Data Platform
Successful IT initiatives require an organisation’s current technological architecture to be driven by data-driven business needs. Businesses no longer have the option of being technologically averse or functioning at the periphery of the technology spectrum due to advancements in technology. In today’s corporate environment, technology fosters agility, and the introduction of AI makes it more convenient for companies that wish to thrive will need to invest in sound technology architectures and platforms.
Tools and Technology
This BA competency encourages the use of technology and tool expertise to increase productivity. Business analysts are well-equipped to be adaptable while continuing to expand their toolkit, thanks to the use of general communication and office productivity tools like Teams, Slack, etc., business analysis tools like Jira, Azure, Visio, etc., and AI technologies like Chat-GPT, Google Bard, Slides AI, etc.
Clear Process Flows and Management of Business Requirements
This includes determining the appropriate requirements, managing stakeholders, making sure that the information flow throughout the organisation is accurately depicted, and managing change. It also covers the entire process of delivering an IT project.
Professional Techniques
This relates to providing excellence through design. It is a compilation of many BA competencies with an emphasis on guaranteeing excellence in service delivery throughout the customer experience. This entails having a thorough understanding of an organisation’s personnel, procedures, stages, and the data needed to make each one as effective as feasible.
Conclusion
IT project failure rates have historically been high, but there are currently many options to change this trend. Business analysts have a chance to improve their craft, become more visible, and stop the trend as knowledge and awareness grow and the business analysis skill set becomes more mainstream throughout organizations. Check out the courses for business analysts to learn more.
