Page 79 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

understand, identify and recommend data-driven solutions that can add value, facilitate change and
drive efficiencies.

Now, a BA could be brought into a struggling IT Project mid lifecycle. They’d use data analytics to
assess processes, thoroughly understand business requirements and deliver data-led reports and
recommendations. You’d get a return on investment (ROI), as I’ve said in another post on the subject
“the best BAs combine the creative instincts of a project manager, an accountant’s eye for financial
feasibility, a business leaders understanding of culture and an IT experts knowledge of the
technologically possible, to advise on how to improve products, hardware, software, services or
processes”.

But imagine having this resource from the start! Business analysts are often the first to engage with
project stakeholders at a critical stage of the project lifecycle – the point where what you do will
influence how well a project will meet the needs of the wider business. Why wouldn’t you have
data-driven insight at this crucial stage?

With Business Analysis as a Service (BAaaS) you can have this resource at the start without adding to
your payroll headcount. Where on that failing IT Project incident time continuum we imagined
earlier will you get the greatest ROI?
aaS and when

The ‘as a Service’ universe is expanding by the second to meet the changing demands of IT Projects.
Every capability gap, every incident, every stakeholder request … there’s a resource ready to meet it.

It may even be that subject matter expertise is even closer than you think, sitting just a few desks
away or somewhere in your contacts list!
The judgement we have to make is when to make the call. If we can just get a little better at that,
the damage to our IT Projects will be reduced significantly.