Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis by Jamie Champagne

Author:Jamie Champagne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. Ross Publishing
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Technique: Facilitated Sessions

A business analysis professional who needs to learn information from several stakeholders, troubleshoot an issue, or discuss a new design or product should consider conducting facilitated sessions. Facilitated sessions are generally designed to bring together people from different areas of the business to focus on one particular process or topic. The attendees work together to build a shared understanding of the topic at hand and may also work to develop ideas for problem-solving solutions. This technique was developed around an impartial, trained facilitator who conducted each session with specific rules and leadership skills to obtain a desired goal. A facilitated session can also be referred to as a workshop with the understanding that work is expected to be done during the session to complete a product, which is normally the intended goal.

Facilitated sessions and workshops are not meetings. They are structured, planned working sessions where every participant is carefully chosen and has a critical role to play. Planning and preparing for a facilitation session are significant tasks that, if not done well, results in a poorly run session and a waste of time for the participants.

Knowing when to conduct a facilitated session is very important. These sessions can be costly in terms of the number of participants and the time required. They should be scheduled and conducted only when there are more than two viewpoints that must be represented. Every business analysis professional must be familiar with the steps required to conduct a session successfully. Ideally, a junior BA will be able to observe several sessions before conducting one of his or her own.

Facilitated sessions are an excellent technique for project initiation activities. The newly formed project team of business and technical stakeholders can come together to clarify their understanding of the objectives of the project. In addition, the team can help to develop the scope or boundaries as well. Bringing together project participants at the beginning creates team enthusiasm and synergy. Everyone feels a part of the planning and decision making. They buy into the project goals and will be advocates for change in their departments. These initial project kickoff sessions are even more valuable when the project sponsor starts the session by telling the group the reason for initiating the project and explaining its important business value to the organization.

Facilitated sessions are also useful for detailed requirements gathering, elicitation, and design planning. A particular business process or set of business rules may be the focus of the session with participants providing content for and review of requirements diagrams or models. These gatherings can also be structured as brainstorming sessions where participants generate ideas for process improvements or new product designs.

These information-gathering sessions are led by a facilitator who is usually supported by a recorder and a timekeeper. The session is carefully planned by this facilitation team. Topics on the agenda, participants, meeting location, and length of sessions are all carefully considered and documented.

It is important to recognize that a BA acting as a facilitator on their

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