Author Archive for MariaMurphy

The medium or the message and the changing role of the User

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 23 January, 2008 in social computing, communication and business analysis. 0 Comments

I recently read an article in BRW by Neil Shoebridge about how the Internet, mobile phones and MP3 players have changed the business of selling and the creation of marketing messages and that the Internet and other new media had made the medium more important than the message. This means that messages need to be tailored to different media rather than the same message being spread across all media. I think this is an important point given the context of social computing and its impact on delivery of messages.

We have seen in the US presidential candidate race and indeed during our own Federal election here in OZ, that Politicians who want to have street cred are getting themselves on MySpace, Facebook and You Tube to try and tap into wider audience of potential voters. It’s very much about having a conversation and really connecting with your target audience. This makes it a really interesting time to be a Business Analyst or Information architect.

I am finding in my own work and that of my colleagues, that we are getting more and more requests from corporate organisations, media organisations and agencies, wanting help to scope out requirements for making their online presence more interactive and taping into social computing tools. My friend Matt and I have recently been discussing the role of the User in a social computing context and how this role has changed. As Business analysts, we need to be aware that stakeholders now play many roles and ensure that we incorporate these changing needs in our requirements specifications for web sites.
Users are no longer just the audience in a social computing context. They can also be the customer, the consumer, a participant, and part of a community. Users want to comment on your website, review and rate articles and through this contribution, can help the organisation understand what Users see as valuable information on their website. The communication channels to the User needs to recognise these multiple roles and move to greater interaction with the User. We need to ensure that the medium being used is able to fulfill the requirements of the User (in their numerous roles) and marketers need to ensure that the message is tailored and specifically relevant to the audience they are trying to involve and excite.

8 things you didn’t know about me

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 21 December, 2007 in about me, passion and inspire. 5 Comments

My friend Matt recently blogged about Luis Suarez and that he has written a list of eight things you didn’t know about him. It’s a meme, where the rules seem to be pretty straight forward:

  1. Link to your tagger and post these rules
  2. List EIGHT random facts about yourself
  3. Tag EIGHT people at the end of your post and list their names
  4. Let them know they’ve been tagged

So, I have taken up the challenge and here is my list of things you may not know about me:

  1. I was born in the Bris Vegas (Brisbane Qld) and am the middle child, but I am the oldest girl
  2.  My parents were both teachers so that prolly explains why i have way too many Degrees and a Masters as the importance of education was a key theme in my family. I continue to learn and seek knowledge so I guess Mum and Dad did something right :)
  3. I have travelled the world but mainly for work so I am trying to rectify things and start travelling as a tourist and taking my time to see the real cities (and not just the hotel conference facilities) and gain a better understanding of the history and the people.
  4. I am accidentally in Canberra but have found great friends and rewarding and challenging  work to do even though it has meant a big career shift for me.
  5. I have known great love in my life and am loved :) I am just a hopeless (hopeful) romantic.
  6. My Dad died when I was too young to appreciate his brilliance and amazing talents. He was not the kind of guy you noticed (as he was always in the background organising and supporting). He was a gentle, quite soul that was happy to let others shine and was very proud of his children’s achievements.
  7. I come from a very sporty family. We all played Tennis to a high level. At school I also played netball, volleyball, hockey, softball and in my spare time, athletics. I still play netball competitively 3 times a week.
  8. I have two wonderful children and I just hope that I am a good Mum and am always there for them when they need support and love. I love them unconditionally.

The people I’d love to know more about are:

  1. Julia Gillard — It’s great for young women to have an  inspirational role model in government and I hope she can live up to this expectation.
  2. Matthew Hodgson — My best friend who constantly challenges me to do great work and be a better person. He is also a bit of a KM (knowledge management) guru so I have lots to learn from Matt and he is the most passionate presenter you will ever see.
  3. Donna Maurer — I have only just gotten to know Donna recently on a personal level and have always respected her professionally. I look forward to getting to knwo her better.
  4. Andrew Boyd — He is one of my friends who has encouraged me to blog. He has a lot of ideas and cares about others.
  5. Allison Denny-Collins— She is very knowledgeable in HRM and has a very level head on her shoulders. 
  6. Caroline Elton — She was my good friend back at Pharmacia and has been overseas for ages and is now moving back to Sydney so we have lots of catching up to do.
  7. Helen Mirrem — I just think she is a fascinating woman, a great actress and have always admired her choice of gritty roles. 
  8. David Beckham — He seems to be genuine and down to earth despite his high profile and a lot of Australian sportsmen could learn from his example.

Take up the challenge. Write some random facts about yourself.

Web 2.0 and the impact of technology on social computing

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 8 November, 2007 in Impact of technology, social computing and Women in ICT. 5 Comments

Today I presented to the WIC hot breakfast series on Web 2.0 and the impact of technology on social computing. I talked about how life is really fast paced, we are time poor and don’t have time to catch up with our friends and family as it is, let alone have time for social networking with web friends. But a communication and connectivity revolution is occurring and like any good revolution, its one that connect people, information and knowledge and is about the people and YOU taking control.

Yes, I’m busy and time poor, but what I’ve realised is, this is exactly why social computing works for me. By using the social computing tools available me i am sharing contacts with people I trust and learning how to quickly get through the noise on the Internet, to the sites that are going to be interesting and relevant to me.You can leverage off the power of the many and build your network through friends and friends of friends. Its about getting connected. It also about trust and how you trusted network can work for you so you can gain access to the knowledge and information you need.

This connectivity revolution is fostering innovation and creativity. Instead of the Web 1.0 top down approach to information, Web 2.0 allows a bottom up approach to sharing information. That’s why the social stuff is at the very core of Web 2.0. Knowledge may be power, but the real power is when that knowledge is shared. Viva the revolution!

Presenting at WIC

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 5 November, 2007 in presentation, social computing and Women in ICT. 1 Comment

Just a quick note to let you know that I am presenting at the next WIC hot breakfast series of meetings this week. I am talking about the Impact of Web 2.0 Technology and Social Computing. More information on the event can be found at WIC.

Struggling to define Business Analysis and the BA role

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 22 October, 2007 in Business analyst and business analysis. 4 Comments

There is still a lot of debate in BA circles around what our role is and what is offered by the various organisation representing and supporting BAs. Is the role all about requirements analysis? Are we just interested in IT and systems analysis or are our practitioners focused on the broader business and processes?

I came across an interesting article forwarded to me by some information architecture friends, Matt and Andrew. The article on the discipline and role of IAs was written by Jesse James Garrett in 2002 and the issue of defining the roles of IAs that they were struggling with back then, are very familiar issues that we are now facing as BAs.

Garrett argued that there is a discipline known as information architecture as well as a role known as information architect and that they evolved hand in hand but the time had come for change. Thus, just as there is the discipline of Business Analysis, there is the role of a Business Analyst. If we define the discipline based on the role then we may potentially be too broad as the role of as business Analyst varies from organisation to organisation an em-compasses BAs working as commercial, process, financial, technical and systems analysts. If we define the role based on the discipline, then whatever the field of business analysis is, those who are specialists in this field are business analysts. This definition however could, in practice, become too narrow.

As suggested by Garrett we seem to be at an impasse “Any definition broad enough to encompass the role is too broad to foster useful discussion of the discipline; any definition narrow enough for the discipline is too narrow for the role” and “Basing either definition on the other means one is going to be insufficient. Trying to do both at once isn’t working, producing a classic chicken-and-egg problem”.

We really need to define the scope of what is business analysis and then can look at what that discipline offers in the way of frameworks and tools to its members, as the specialists in this field. If we decouple the definition of the discipline from the definition of the role entirely then we have the opportunity to concentrate on more precisely defining the discipline of business analysis.

Are BAs strategic?

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 24 June, 2007 in strategic planning. 4 Comments

As a BA, I do deal with the operational aspects and this may be seen as the “bread and butter” work of a BA. However, the shift towards employing MBA graduates as BAs, means that we find ourselves able to add value from a strategic perspective as well. We are more focused on the client area and understand their business as well as being able to communicate and understand the technical requirements to develop systems.

I am a little disappointed that BABOK is not looking into strategic planning. I have found that in recent years, the work of a BA has changed dramatically. As BAs we are being required to approach projects from an “Outside-In” perspective. That is, we are asked to understand what the big picture or overall strategy is in order to map and build the requirements for the business.

When the business cannot fully articulate their needs, we workshop to help them create a vision of what the system will look like and make them aware of emerging technologies that may help. We provide prototypes along the way and it is a very collaborative approach between the business, architecture and BA team.

Requirements come from people

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 14 June, 2007 in requirements. 4 Comments

Recently I attended a session on the “7 Pillars of Wisdom-Requirements” by Suzanne and James Robertson. It was a great session and reinforced what I have been thinking for some time about why some BAs succeed and others do not.

The fourth pillar that they spoke about was that “requirements come from people”. This I believe is the key message for BAs. Yes business analysis is about the business and the system, but it is also about the “people”, the “users”.

My background before the BA life was business management and communication. My technical expertise has been learnt from experience at both the client and technology group end. I really agree with Suzanne and James that gathering requirements is a “sociotechnical” business. You do indeed need to find out who all the stakeholders are to find out all the requirements. You also need to keep them interested and motivated throughout the process and that’s about communication.

People love to talk about their business.  If you take the time to really listen you will uncover what they like and don’t like about a process and what opportunities they see for improvement. Getting initial interaction to get some high level requirements is the first step, but not the only step. The systems that are developed right, are the ones where there has been stakeholder engagement from start to finish.

Unlike some of my collegaues, as a BA, I don’t think the process finishes when I have delivered the requirements document. I believe it is only the start. Keeping the stakeholder engaged through the development and testing process means maintaining a level of enthusiasm and passion for the project. OK, I admit that sometimes this role may be filled by the project manager, but I find, that if as a BA you have developed a great working relationship with the client, your passion and enthusiasm for the project will help ensure you get requirements that are not only sound from a technical perspective (as you have uncovered all the needs for the system) but you also have a system that works from a useablity perspective. Happy User = Happy Client :)

What is Business Analysis?

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 9 June, 2007 in business analysis. 6 Comments

I find myself being asked this question a lot - What is a Business Analyst and what do they do? As a consultant when I start a new client engagement, there is always be a problem to solve and there will always be some level of analysis that needs to be done. I believe Business Aanlsyis is a core capability for a consultant so I ask myself why it so difficult to define?

Are we as BAs, focused only on systems or is it more about the business than the system?

Within the organisation I work for, we have recently set up a core capability team to look at Business Analsyis and develop some tools and templates for our collegaues. We found ourselves having to go back to basics and first define what we were talking about.

So here goes….. Business Analysis is a structured approach that focuses on understanding the customer’s needs and identifying how best to meet those needs through developing effective relationships with the business and technology groups. Business Analysts therefore are responsible for identifying the needs of clients and stakeholders to determine solutions to business problems. Responsibilities may include requirements development for systems but may also address process improvement or organisational change.

So yes, business systems analysis is about getting the system right the first time, but to understand what solution is required, you need to know what is the essence of the problem and issues that the business is hoping to solve through this a change in processes or through building a new system.

As a BA you need to ask questions including; What is the business? Its objectives and goals? How do the processes work? What are the requirement specifications for this particluar Business? What are the stakeholders needs? Who will be the users of this system? It is only after you have asked these and many other such questions, that you can start to articulate what is required to ensure we getting the right system for the business.

So I see a Business Analyst as a key facilitator within an organisation, acting as a bridge between the client, stakeholders and the solution development team. The role of a BA is becoming critical to projects as they are the “transltors” that help structure and define the requirements for the business, in a way that is understaood by the developers.

As a BA, I find my cleint area is glad to have someone to deal with that “techo” stuff and therefore the challenge is to ensure a level of common understanding and “getting the business system right” first time.

To BA or not to BA

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 9 June, 2007 in Business analyst. 0 Comments

 

I have recently found myself promoted to the Regional Lead role for Business Analysis within my organisation. In an effort to develop this as a core capability within the organisation, I have recently been asked to mentor other BAs and develop templates and documents to assist my fellow consultants.

I find myself disillusioned with my fellow Business Analyst as there is so much confusion about the role of a Business Analyst and I find that a lot of my colleagues are happy to delegate a lot of the core Business Analysis domain to other speciality groups.

So, I started this Blog in an effort to put my thoughts on Business Analysis out there and try to navigate through the volumes of conflicting advice and opinions out there.

Hello world

Published by
MariaMurphy
at 8 June, 2007 in passion. 3 Comments

I am Murphs and this is my BA blog.
It’s my thoughts on the issues and challenges out there for Business Analysts and some of the useful tools and techniques I have found to help my deliver my projects.

I love being a BA as it is challenging and I get to talk to a lot of interesting people about their business and what they want to achieve. Its both strategic and operational, and when the users are happy, I am happy :)