I once set the following question before a group of project managers and business analysts: “Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Business Analyst—you can only have two of them—now choose…”
Needless to say, the discussion (verging on argument) that ensued was pretty exciting.
As a project manager, speaker, author, but primarily as a project manager, I clearly advocate the need for a good professional project manager. As a coauthor of Strategies for Project Sponsorship, I am also clearly calling for the project world to take the investment in project sponsors seriously, and, therefore definitely, a skilled project sponsor is needed. But here I fail my own test. I can’t stop at just two out of three; in this case, “two out of three ain’t bad” doesn’t make the grade; “three out of three” is the right answer.
I presented in Canada at a joint project management and business analysts’ conference, and the conversations were one and the same—project success, consistent realization of business benefits, and reduced risk. I must admit that I was concerned that, despite my own personal experience in this field, the two groups would polarize at such an event—perhaps even sitting in two siloed communities on either side of the room. I was delighted to find that this was not the case at all.
In Real Project Management (Kogan Page), I describe the early part of any project as the “journey of expectation management”, as all of the project representatives come to learn about each other and understand what the project aims to deliver and what the realistic outcomes are likely to be, and so on. The critical message is that nobody understands everything at the start of the project, and when there are external third parties involved, even less so. Suppliers of products and resources have to learn about the business of the customer, and the customer has to learn about the supplier’s product capability. During this period, the project sponsor doesn’t operate at this level of detail, and, if we are honest, the project manager has a lot to do as they work to create a team, gain control and authority, and inspire everyone with a common purpose and vision. Strike one for a business analyst at this point in time, as they can provide the depth of engagement and knowledge to get the project off to a better start and greater likelihood of success.
So we have got the project off to a great start, and so now we can sit back and relax; success is assured, of course. No, of course not, we all know that projects are never that simple, and the one thing you can expect during this period of change driven by the project is that there will be a change within the project as all parties aim to align the project to the business and deliver true value. Strike two to the project that includes the convergence of both project management and business analysis skills for comprehensive change management.
Strike three comes with regard to that critical activity, overwhelmingly critical activity, of communication on a project. Don’t tell me that any project manager couldn’t do with some help in this area. The business analyst is responsible for stakeholders of the solution, leaving the project manager to focus on the stakeholders of the project; this is a real result.
Vicki James takes the reader on an important journey in Leveraging Business Analysis for Project Success to really appreciate the value that the business analyst brings to your future project success.
Peter Taylor (The Lazy Project Manager)
Peter Taylor is the author of two best-selling books on Productive Laziness—“The Lazy Winner” and “The Lazy Project Manager.”
In the last four years, he has focused on writing and lecturing, with over 200 presentations around the world in over 25 countries, and has been described as “perhaps the most entertaining and inspiring speaker in the project management world today.”
His mission is to teach as many people as possible that it is achievable to “work smarter and not harder” and to still gain success in the battle of the work/life balance.
More information can be found at www.thelazyprojectmanager.com—and through his free podcasts in iTunes.