Why BA CoP's fail: 10 things to watch out for
Understanding why BA CoPs fail is an essential part of strategic planning. If you can identify the gaps in your own organization, you will be in a much better position to put a plan in place to "Mind the Gap."
This article will look at 10 common reasons why BA CoPs fail.
Problem 1: Leadership (or the lack thereof)
The wrong Champion
BA CoPs fail when a Champion wants to have a CoP for cosmetic reasons. They feel having a CoP will make them look good within their organization, but they are not personally invested in its survival.
Remember that it's not a good idea to "delegate" a Champion, or have an Executive Sponsor "stand in" as Champion. The Champion role requires a high degree of participation, consistency and supervision.
The wrong CoP leader or CoP leadership team
Finding the right person to be the CoP leader is not an easy task. Leading a community of BAs needs some very particular skills and behaviors: encouraging participation, managing CoP events and linking with other related communities (such as PM / PMO / Designers / Developers).
A technically talented BA is not necessarily the best BA for the job of leader.
The wrong Sponsor or no Sponsor
Lack of senior level sponsorship will cause a CoP to fail. Organizationally it's usually quite easy to identify senior level sponsors of communities such as PM or IT Architecture - but a BA community often does not have obvious senior level sponsors.
Problem 2: Baby BAs
BAs are too junior
In many organizations, BAs are predominantly a junior resource only - they don't have the leadership skills, or the experience to self-organize and develop a CoP. They may not be aware of industry standards, BA methodology or what is happening "outside their walls."
BAs have inconsistent skill sets
This is common in companies without any standard BA Training, where the BAs have been hired from outside, and have disparate backgrounds, abilities, competencies and domain knowledge.
There may not be enough skilled BAs in an organization to effectively establish and then run a CoP.
Problem 3: Shifting Organizational Sands
High turnover in all roles
If BAs move rapidly in and out of projects and switch domains or business areas, their CoP sponsors may "disappear."
High turnover creates inconsistent material, training, communication and BA orientation.
The Organization is constantly shifting
This can be result from:
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Acquisitions and mergers, where an enterprise must rapidly reorganize.
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BAs moving from Business to IT and back again.
CoPs often get lost in this organizational re-shuffling, as waves of change sweep the BA CoP away.
Problem 4: Community of Process
Inflexible / intransigent
Once methods and working practices are documented - this generates a very strong sense of ownership (which is a sign of a strong community). However it can then be difficult for the CoP to be open to change, and CoP members may wish to protect the effort which was put into creating and documenting their working practices.
The danger occurs when real working practices on projects start to diverge from the documented working practices. When this happens, the CoP and its processes start to lose credibility.
Too much methodology and process, not enough responsiveness to actual business needs
Another common error is focusing on BA methodology, templates and processes, without understanding the underlying business problems/needs:
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Poor communication or facilitation
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Unacceptable documentation
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Missed requirements
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Disconnection with Stakeholders, Subject Matter Experts, PMs, developers or QA
Problem 5: No Time, Participation or Motivation
Many people sign up, but they can't or won't deliver against their commitments
Most people want to be part of a CoP, without recognizing or appreciating the time commitment that's required. In addition, the pressure of project work means that many CoPs try to make progress on their action plan in the slivers of time which people are given (or they create) alongside their project delivery work.
It's easy for these commitments to slip, and it can also be a very ineffective way of delivering: e.g. attempting to deliver a 10 person-day piece of work for the CoP by having 10 people spend 1 day each over the course of 2 months.
It's better to commit resources up front, which needn't be more expensive. Committed resources are very important in the early days to build momentum and to achieve initial business benefits, which in turn creates the case for further resources.
Lack of participation.
Unmotivated or uncommitted BAs may be due to several reasons:
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Lack of strong sponsorship
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No focused group activities
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Uninteresting material
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Group members don't see the value of participating
Without participation (the practice in Community of Practice), the CoP "fizzles out."
Problem 6: No organizational commitment or investment
Organizational resistance and roadblocks
This includes not allowing BAs to spend time participating in or contributing to their CoP. Some commonly heard objections are:
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Do we really need a BA CoP?
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Are we mature enough as an organization to create something like that?
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Are we big enough to create something like that?
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Isn't this just more methodology and process?
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We already have a PMO.
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We don't have the money.
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We don't have the right people.
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We don't have the time.
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We don't want a Community of Practice; we want a Center of Excellence.
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What value does it add to my organization?
Problem 7: BA > PM Career Path
Junior BA > Senior BA > PM
In many organizations, the only way to progress to a senior position is to move into PM roles. This has a negative impact on BA CoPs, as those people may consider the time and personal commitment to build or to contribute to a BA CoP as wasted effort.
I.e., if promotion is your aim - why waste your energies developing the BA profession in your organization?
Problem 8: Insufficient reward: no recognition for developing and contributing to a CoP
A handshake, instead of a kiss
If it is an under-the-radar activity, do you get any organizational recognition (even a thank you) for developing / contributing to your CoP?
When CoP-building activities are undertaken on a voluntary, unrecognized basis, they are at great risk of being dropped in favor of more formal objectives.
This is a symptom of being disconnected from organizational objectives. If your contribution to the BA CoP doesn't appear in your annual objectives, then why are you doing it?
Problem 9: The underlying SDLC is disconnected or flawed
Broken SDLC
The underlying SDLC may be confused, with no clear hand-offs between:
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Business Analysis
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Development
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Governance and budgeting
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Portfolio management
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Program management
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Project management/PMO
The Project failed, but the Requirements looked beautiful
BA processes may be robust and well-defined, but if there is no interaction with other groups, then BAs wander like Ophelia, cutting their requirements into paper flowers, disconnected from the Renaissance world of development, testing and implementation.
If there is no genuine collaboration between BAs and developers, or if the developers are doing Agile/Scrum/XP development and the BA CoP has only "traditional" requirements processes, the CoP will fail.
Problem 10: Lack of internal marketing of BA value
The CoP can become inward looking / not sharing / defensive, and not managing their key stakeholders
BAs are usually passionate about the value of their profession and the need for great business analysis processes (requirements development, requirements management, business modeling, etc).
However they are not always as passionate about demonstrating the value with some measurable benefits. They may also not be pro-active in promoting their value to other communities.
If the BA CoP does not market itself internally and does not demonstrate measurable value to the organisation, the BA CoP will be at great risk of being "dissolved" by the organization's Powers That Be.
Authors: Peter Leather & Sam Cherubin
Peter Leather is a specialist in developing the capability of Business Change & IT organisations and a recognised expert in implementing skills frameworks and developing CoPs. He led the implementation of a 100-person Business Analysis CoP at UK Insurer Norwich Union and then went on to oversee the development of seven Business Change & IT CoPs including Project Management, IT Design & Architecture and Testing. He was invited to speak at the SFIA UK Capability Management conference in 2007 to share this experience with 200 IT leaders from the UK & Europe. Please contact him at www.exceptional-performance.co.uk/business-analysis.
Sam Cherubin is a business analyst, consultant and author. He has developed Toolkits, Playbooks and Templates for BA CoPs. He can be reached on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/samcherubin.