Missing Requirements

Rarely will a requirements package be complete. Missing a requirement is very common and does not indicate a character flaw or any personal weakness. Because it is difficult to discover and document every requirement, BAs must always welcome questions and suggestions about missing requirements.

Unclear Sentences

Ambiguous sentences are easy to write. The more the BA understands the requirements, the less clear the requirements may be. The BA may skip important details or make assumptions about what the reader knows. Written descriptions should lead the reader from a high-level description down to a more detailed level. This requires very careful sentence and paragraph construction. Each sentence explains the concept or requirement in a little more detail and leads the reader to the next sentence, which will give more information. This is referred to as funneling. Imagine the words and the concepts circling in a funnel, only getting through the end when they are small enough pieces to go through one at a time.

Scope Creep

An important observation during a review is that the analyst has gotten outside of the project scope. This scope creep is natural when the BA is curious and has asked many questions. The value of a review is to help keep the analyst and the entire project team from increasing the size of the project. Ask reviewers to keep the project objectives in mind when reviewing the detailed requirements (see Chapter 3 for more information on scope creep).

Keep learning new analysis techniques Technique: Avoid Analysis Paralysis!

Many BAs have experienced analysis paralysis at least once in their careers. This phrase describes the situation when you keep thinking about and analyzing a problem, doing more research, documenting it, and then repeat. Think, research, document, think, research, document. It is the BA’s equivalent of an infinite loop in programming. You get stuck in this cycle and can’t seem to get out. Why does this happen and what can you do to get out of it?

Why does this happen? There are a couple of common reasons for analysis paralysis. First, when you started the analysis, you thought that you knew the answer, but your research shows something else. You keep looking for more information that would support your original theory because it is human nature to prove ourselves right. Also, if you are wrong, you want to make sure that you are really convinced because you will have to convince others about the new direction.

Another common reason for analysis paralysis is that the answer you are coming to will not be one that your boss is going to like. In this case, it is a good idea to make sure that you have really done your research and thought through this carefully because you are going to be the bearer of bad news.

Finally, analysis paralysis may be caused by a lack of confidence in your work. New BAs may not be sure that their conclusions or recommendations are correct, so they continue to prove the same point using different techniques or approaches. This will be solved with experience and is very common with new BAs.

Stop, take a step back, and think about how you are spending your time at least once each day:

• Have you gotten off track?

• Have you wandered down a path that is very interesting to you but is really outside the scope of your task?

• Are you spending time detailing a requirement that will never be automated because its complexity requires the human mind to manage?

• Are you looking for something that you may never find (i.e., a software package that meets the user’s exact need)?

• Are you overanalyzing how the work is currently done when your project will be changing that procedure anyway?

• Are you brainstorming about better ways of operating the business when you should be focused on understanding the core processes?

Whatever you are spending time doing, is it the very best use of your time at this point in the project? If not, stop and change direction. A busy analyst doesn’t have time to get distracted.

One of the best ways to get help with this perspective on your work is to talk with your project manager. Many project managers conduct weekly status meetings because they want to make sure that their team members are not getting too far afield of the project goals. Project managers are very good at getting things done. Don’t hesitate to give your project manager a description of what you have been working on for the past week and see how he or she reacts. BAs are very good at reading body language, so even if your project manager doesn’t say it directly, you will be able to tell if he or she winces and fears that you are off track.

How do you stop analysis paralysis? First you must learn to be aware that you are doing it. This is often the most difficult part. BAs must “look up” from the details periodically and make sure that the work they are doing is the most important work to be done at that moment for that project. This is a good reason for leaving a task incomplete at the end of the day and giving it a fresh look the next morning. In the light of a new day, after a good night’s rest, the problem may suddenly appear clear or less important. Do you ever hear yourself say “Why did I spend so much time agonizing over that?”

Ideas to get unstuck include:

1. Ask a fellow BA or co-worker (or any friend) to listen to you talk about the problem; just talking about it out loud sometimes helps you to see why you are stuck.

2. Give yourself a time limit: “I am going to work on this for one more hour, and then, wherever it is at that point, it will be done.”

3. Sit down with the SME and review the work that you have done so far; explain that it is a draft and ask for help to find the missing pieces.

4. Sleep on it.

5. If you have time, put it aside for a few days; this is the best way to get perspective.

6. Try a different requirement technique to represent the situation (e.g., if you are using a swim lane diagram, try an entity relationship diagram).

7. Know the 80-20 rule.

An important fact about business analysis work: The requirements will never be 100% complete and will never be perfect. If you are a perfectionist, be prepared to feel a little frustrated. Hugh Prather, an inspirational speaker and writer, once said: “Perfection is a slow death.”

When you are stuck in the details of a problem (analysis paralysis), you lose perspective. Change your perspective so that you can see it differently to get unstuck.