5 Common Pitfalls in Current State Analysis
Understanding the current state is arguably the biggest step for a Business Analyst or Product Owner on a new project to take. Projects, processes, and systems have a rich history that is typically complex. The larger the organization, the more complexity that is in play. User perceptions, stakeholder expectations, the political landscape and many other factors help or hinder the ability of the Business Analyst to acquire an understanding of the current state.
Understanding the current state is a major step in many projects. In today’s fast-paced environments, it is quite common to skip current state analysis completely or simply brushing over it with the justification of starting the project faster and current state analysis is a time waster or not needed. Fully avoiding current state analysis can lead to some interesting results in the project not solving the core problems and merely adding functionality on top of a weak foundation.
It’s hard to figure out where you are going unless you know where you are starting.
It is quite common in the Agile world that the Product Owner or Business Analyst has a complete understanding of the systems, processes, and environments of an organization. Most organizations have a wide variety of systems and processes that span many different teams within the organization. Taking the time to allow the Product Owner or Business Analyst to perform a current state analysis is essential to keeping a sprint moving forward quickly. Lack of current state analysis becomes immediately apparent during the user acceptance of a product at the end of the sprint. The lack of understanding of the current state causes the business solution not to work or address current business issues.
Organizational Readiness or Organizational Change Management are at a disadvantage. Not being able to acknowledge and articulate the need or “Why are we changing?” questions lead teams within organizations to not accept the change quickly. Acknowledgment of current issues and concerns is a good step in starting the Organizational Change Management and Communication strategy for the project. Without current state analysis, it is difficult for the Business Analyst or Project Owner to put together the Organizational Change Management and Communication Plan needed to propel the business solution forward quickly into the organization (think in terms of business solution adoption).
Like the roof on your house, we all need to vent. Venting can be a negative experience, or it can be turned into something positive. Holding feedback sessions with stakeholders, business partners, and customers can give you valuable feedback on the current state. Collecting this information will allow the Product Owner or Business Analyst the ability to see patterns or common themes of issues. Holding on of these meetings is tough. It’s human nature to jump to conclusions and offer solutions. The purpose of this type of meeting is to vent or explain what is currently happening. It’s not about pointing fingers, blame-storming, or finding fault. Set these expectations right at the start of the feedback meeting. Be sure all attendees understand the purpose of the meeting and that it is not for finding solutions.
Facilitation of these types of meetings is difficult. Individuals can feel attacked or blamed in these meetings, so it is important to create a safe environment to collect the current state issues safely. A good technique is to create a board where individuals can write their current issues on post-it notes and past them on the board. Let everyone know it’s okay to duplicate issues or concerns. This event is a listening meeting. Once the list of current issues is obtained, send it out to the group for them to review it. Others may chime in after the meeting with issues.
A distinct problem with a listening meeting or feedback meeting is over complaining and not being able to move past all the complaining or a single issue.
