Widely Read White Papers on Critical Business Practices

Authored by Kitty Hass, The leading expert in Assessments, Managing Complex Projects, Using Business Analysis to Execute Strategy, and Improving IT Performance

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“Planting the Seeds to Grow Mature Business Practices”

A must read for anyone who is involved in implementing Business Analysis or Complex Project Management Practices

Kitty’s Acclaimed White Papers are Based on Expertise,

Experience, and Extensive Research

BA Proficiency: How Capable do I need to be? (Link)

Your organization needs to ensure it has appropriately skilled BAs possessing the capabilities needed to successfully deliver complex new business solutions that meet 21^st century business needs. Your challenge is to close the gap in your BA capabilities to meet the needs of your organization. What will it take? Are you up to the task? It’s not just about competency (what you think you can do or your score on a multiple-choice knowledge assessment); it’s ALL about capability: examining your competency level against your current and future work assignments and the performance and project outcomes you achieve within your organizational context. To determine the characteristics of your BA capabilities, identify your capability gaps, and put a plan in place to close the gaps, read this new white paper that explains the groundbreaking approach to examining if your BA capabilities are enough.

Planting the Seeds to Grow a Complex Project Management Practice (Link)

This new white paper is a must read for anyone involved in improving Project Management practices

21^st Century Projects

What have we learned about 21^st century IT projects? Demand is outpacing our ability to deliver. Our customers need us to be much more agile. Virtually all organizations of any size are investing in large-scale, important transformation initiatives of one kind or another. As a result, projects are too big, too long, and too complex.

Complexity poses barriers to change, complexity in both our legacy business processes and the information systems that support them. Too often, we take the “big bang” approach to projects instead of risk-reducing iterative models. Conventional plan-driven project management practices have higher failure rates than adaptive, incremental approaches. We are learning that requirements must evolve as we learn more about the business problem and solution. This paper presents the case for diagnosing project complexity using a new award-winning model and then making managerial decisions to use adaptive techniques to complement conventional project management approaches.

Planting the Seeds to Grow a Mature Business Analysis Practice (Link)

This new white paper is a must read for anyone involved in implementing Business Analysis practices

Our current turbulent economic times call for businesses to be able to react to change quickly, to chart a new course on a dime. This paper presents the case that, in these turbulent times, it is imperative that we learn how to close the gap in BA capabilities and competencies to remain competitive. But, what it will take, and are today’s business analysts up to the task?

As businesses acknowledge the value of business analysis – the result of the absolute necessity to drive business results through projects – they are struggling to figure out four things: (1) what are the characteristics of their current BA workforce, (2) what kind of BA workforce do they need, (3) what is needed to build a mature BA Practice, and (4) how are we going to get there. There are many elements that need to be in place to implement a mature BA Practice. In this paper Kitty and her business partners present a BA Practice Maturity Framework that answers these important questions:

How do we cultivate mature BA practices?
How does an effective BA workforce take shape?
Who is going to plant the seeds and nourish the practice?
What services are available to help guide the growth?

The first step in implementing a mature BA Practice is learning about our BA Practice Maturity Framework and how it can help your organization. K. Hass and Associates offers assistance in every aspect of BA Practice Maturity, from level-1 maturity to the level needed to meet your business goals. For more information, contact Kitty Hass at kittyhass@comcast.net.

Organizational Maturity Assessments to Grow Mature Practices (Link)

Organizations strive to reach higher business practice maturity because it is directly correlated to improved organizational performance. Great project management and business analysis leads to more effective business procedures, higher quality deliverables, lower project costs, higher project team morale, a better balance between cost, schedule, and scope, and ultimately added value for the entire organization. The primary purpose of maturity assessments is to evaluate the maturity of business practices needed to execute projects successfully within an organization and provide recommendations to improve overall project delivery capability. A properly performed assessment also serves as the catalyst for positive change in the organization. Organizational maturity assessments are designed to accomplish the following objectives:

Measure the ability of the organization’s collective project staff to repeatedly deliver projects that meet specifications, on time and within budget.
Identify gaps in current project planning and execution capabilities.
Provide a foundation for improvement and guidance for advancement in project practices through prioritized, structured, and sequential improvements.
Provide an indicator of how effective the client’s organization is in meeting its goals in managing projects and meeting business objectives.

This paper discussed the systematic approach to conducting an organizational Practice Maturity Assessment.

Managing Complex Projects, A New Model (Link)

This paper explores how the principles of complexity science can be used to find new creative ways to think about and manage twenty-first century projects. A new model is presented, The Project Complexity Model, which is used to evaluate project size, complexity, and risk, and determine the specific dimensions of complexity that are present on a project. This paper is the precursor to the award winning book by Kitty, Managing Project Complexity, A New Model published in 2008.

The Business Analyst, The Pivotal IT Role of the Future (Link)

Change is the norm, fierce competition is the driver, and lean thinking is the latest call to action. IT has finally come into its own, being viewed as a value provider as opposed to a cost drain. With the stakes so high, IT organizations are faced with an extraordinary combination of pressures to deliver value to their organizations in terms of added revenues, avoided costs, lower taxes, higher productivity, less employee turnover, less risk exposure, etc. IT projects must not only deliver high quality products faster, better, and cheaper (traditionally the responsibility of the project manager), they are also under intense scrutiny to positively impact the bottom line (increasingly, the responsibility of the project sponsor and delegated to the business analyst).

When you hear about far-reaching innovation, cutting-edge technology, and high-growth IT careers, don’t just think in terms of architecture and development prowess. We are discovering that technical skills can be relatively easy to outsource, but organizations cannot abdicate control of their business requirements. In virtually every organization, the pivotal leadership role of the business analyst is shaping the future of IT today. So don't blink...or you'll miss out on the IT opportunity of a lifetime. This paper (perhaps the most widely read paper on the role of the business analyst) goes on to describe the critical role of the business analyst throughout the business solution life cycle.

The BA Center of Excellence - A Vital Strategic Asset (Link)

Centers of excellence are emerging as a vital strategic asset to serve as the primary vehicle for managing complex change initiatives, a business support function just as critical as accounting, marketing, finance and HR. A center of excellence is a team of expert and experienced people that is established to promote collaboration and the application of best practices across the enterprise. Centers of excellence exist to bring about an enterprise focus to many business issues, e.g., data integration, project management, enterprise architecture, business and IT optimization, and enterprise-wide access to information.

The concept of centers of excellence (CoE) is quickly maturing in twenty-first century organizations because of the need to collaboratively determine solutions to complex business issues. Project management offices (PMO), a type of CoE, proliferated in the 1990s as a centralized approach to managing projects, in response to the challenges associated with complex projects in an environment with low levels of project management maturity and governance. Industry leaders are effectively using various types of CoEs, include Business Analysis Centers of Excellence. This paper presents a framework for developing a COE that “fits” your organization’s business strategy and organizational culture.

The PM/BA Partnership – a Vital Strategic Alliance (Link)

For organizations to achieve strategies through projects, a strong partnership between the project manager and the business analyst is essential. Indeed, when this partnership exists, and they both embrace the contributions of expert technologists and business visionaries, collaboration, innovation and far superior project performance is realized. This paper presents an in-depth discussion of the project manager and business analyst collaboration and deliverables, during each phase of a generic project cycle.