Joe Newbert shared ‘It’s time for business analysis to come of age’ for a financial services company who are harnessing the power of business analyst forums.
“A community of practice is key to increasing a team’s performance through the power of sharing knowledge. Sharing knowledge can improve the quality of how business analysis is executed in the organisation and is most valuable when people work together to find solutions to common problems,” says Newbert.
The lending institution at which Newbert spoke has a mature and experienced team of business analysts, and understands the importance of collaborating this way. The Business Analysis Team Lead who guides the business analysis community of practice regards the sharing of skills, tools and knowledge beneficial to her team’s success.
The fostering of the fledgling Community Of Practice has supported the enterprise project office set up with guiding principles and defined roles. “We have buy-in from the team and a willingness from individuals throughout the company who would like to see us succeed. Additionally we have a strong mentoring culture in the team and an eagerness to learn,” says the seasoned business analyst.
Running a Community Of Practice is not without its challenges though, explains the Team Lead. “Regrettably, time constraints and pressurised work prevent full attendance at business analyst team sessions. We also find it difficult to standardise documentation or artefacts due to the many different development teams and numerous systems and the different working environments.
It was great to have Joe speak at the Community Of Practice which drew a wider audience than business analysts. A business analyst’s skill-set and the techniques we employ are relevant to project managers, enterprise architects and business representatives within the company.
Business analysis is gaining traction as a discipline performed across the organisation by many specialisations. We need to incorporate and leverage off our collaborative learnings for maximum benefit for the company,” says the Team Lead.
Joe’s presentation, which gave current statistical information on the state of business analysis in South Africa, was thought provoking and motivational, and gave us a sense of pride of being in the profession. The talk demonstrated how business analysis should be used to benefit and create value for the organisation and highlighted the common issues that distract business analysts from delivering greater value, says the Team Lead.
“Organisations must never underestimate the constructive impact that community of practice’s, as collaborative knowledge platforms, have on business performance. Community of practice’s need to be afforded focus and nurtured for maximum value,” says Newbert.
Keen to grow your business analysis forum? Joe Newbert would love to to speak at your next session, book now by emailing media@bcmg.co.za.
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- Robyn Loy
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- media@bcmg.co.za