7 Mistakes Analysts Make When Working with Business Users

By Rob Drysdale, Senior Program Manager

InfoAdvisors, Inc.

If you’ve been working for any length of time then chances are you have been involved in meetings between analysts and business users. I know I have and I have done it from both sides of the fence. I have been working for almost twenty years through various roles as a supervisor and manager of business areas as well as a consultant. I have been involved in IT projects throughout my career. Some of the projects were small, but there have also been some large scale, multimillion dollar, enterprise projects. In most cases I have been one of the business users or sponsors, but have been an analyst on a few of them. I would like to point out the most common mistakes that an analyst can make when talking to business users. These mistakes are the ones that frustrate me the most when I am asked to participate in modeling efforts – and I know I’m not alone.

Mistake 1: Being Unprepared

The first mistake is not running effective meetings with the business users. This includes not starting and stopping the meeting on time and not being prepared. In general, you have limited time with the business users and so you need to maximize the time that you have. Start the meeting on time. Have an agenda. If you are having an informal meeting you need to have some form of agenda even if it’s only in your head. Have your questions and issues prepared so you can get through them effectively. And don’t let the meeting run over time.

Mistake 2: Not Telling Them What’s in it For Them

The second mistake is related to the first because it should be part of your effective meeting skills. However, many analysts are so focused on their own issues that they don’t think about the business users needs. They make the mistake of not explaining why they need to talk to the business users *and* what is in it for the business users. If you want valuable input from the business users and want them to spend the time with you, then you need to make sure they understand what is in it for them and why it’s important. In order to get effective input from the business users you need to start the meeting with a short discussion of the big picture, why they are needed in the process, and how important their input is. You may also want to schedule them for short training, but only if the training is focused on their point of view.

The business users will help you by supporting the modeling efforts if you show them that you are there to support the business. If you are there just to get a database design then the business user will not participate. They may sit there because they have to, but they won’t really give valuable input.

Mistake 3: Arguing and Debating with Other IT Professionals

The third mistake analysts make is fighting amongst themselves during the meeting with the business users. I’m sure you’ve seen it before. Usually it happens when the business user brings up an issue and the team members don’t agree on how it should be handled. So they start to discuss it and argue about it while the business user is sitting there waiting. IT professionals need to be able to have a quick discussion and if it can’t be resolved then they need to put it in the parking lot to be resolved later. Don’t spend your valuable time with the business users wasting it on an issue that they can’t help you resolve.

Mistake 4: Thinking You Know More….Or Worse, Showing Them that You Think You Know More

The fourth mistake occurs when analysts believe that they know more about the issue than the business users or don’t give the appropriate weighting to the issue. If it appears that the analyst is not appropriately addressing the business user’s concerns then the business user will basically “shut-down” and not provide effective input. I have been in these meetings as a business user and you always know when the analyst either doesn’t believe you or they don’t think it matters. When this happens, no matter what point in the meeting, the business users will lose all respect for the analyst and the process. At that point, the business users will no longer provide effective input for the issues.

On one particular project where I indicated that something would not work the analysts went ahead with the design and two years later it still didn’t work as it should because the team kept trying to fit their solution to meet our problems. This doesn’t mean that every issue needs to be addressed in the meeting, but there must be a process in place to deal with the issues that are left unresolved and get the answers back to the business users after the meeting.

Mistake 5: Relying Too Much on Jargon

The fifth mistake can be summed up in one word: Jargon. As an analyst it’s okay to talk in the jargon of the business where the business users can relate to it, but don’t use IT jargon that the business users will not understand. Any discussion with the business users needs to be at a level where both sides can contribute. This means that both the analysts and users need to talk without jargon, especially at the beginning of a project. As the analyst becomes more comfortable with the business terms and the jargon then they can start to use them throughout the discussion. The more you can talk in terms of the business jargon the more respect you will earn from the business users. But remember, stay away from the IT jargon.

Mistake 6: Avoiding Previously Created Models

The sixth mistake analysts make is trying to recreate the wheel. So many systems and processes relate to each other that whenever any project starts there has likely been a previous project that has looked at some part of the process and data. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to sit through a process modeling or data modeling session that starts with a blank page and the analysts want us to walk through everything step-by-step. The last thing a business user wants to do is sit through a modeling session that fails to take advantage of previous work. One of the main selling points to a user to participate in modeling sessions is that it is a way to document the business process and can be used again or referred to later. If you don’t take advantage of previous efforts then the business user won’t believe it is important to get it right since it will be a throw-away model.

Mistake 7: Failing to Manage Your Sponsors

The last mistake is not managing the business sponsors with respect to the assignment of users to projects. There are some business sponsors out there that will assign people to projects because they are the ones they can give up for long periods of time. Usually this means that they are the last ones you want on a project as they don’t know everything about the process and business area that you need. As an analyst you should be able to tell during your first few meetings with these users that they are not the right choice. You need to go back to the sponsor and let them know that you need the best business users and justify why it’s important to the business to have the best people assigned to the project. Too many analysts don’t do this and just continue on with the poor quality business users and get results that reflect the quality of the people. I can tell you one thing for certain: you need to ask for what you need. If you don’t ask, they can’t know you need it.

Finally...

Every IT project needs to find the fine balance between the needs of the modeler and the needs of the business. If you treat the business users with respect and show them that you are there to support the business, they will support you in return.