Is it a trend that BAs see the project manager role as a natural progression of the BA career path?
I have recently took on a role of a BA Lead and held career development sessions with my team. Often most of them cited becoming project managers as their long term goal. I respect this goal but I just wanted to know is it the BA career path or are there trends that talks to this?

Laura’s answer:

Five or ten years ago, the common career advice to business analysts was that to be promoted, you should become a project manager.  In fact, business analysis was often heralded as an entry level path into project management.And even now, I find that assuming that to get promoted, they need to become a project manager, is a common misconception amongst BAs. This typically happens because their organization does not have a senior-level BA career path.

Today, the path from business analysis to project management is still a legitimate career direction, but it no longer represents the only option. In fact, we are seeing the reverse direction as well, with project management professionals transitioning into business analysis careers. There are many, many project managers who participate in our courses as a way to expand the business analysis aspect of their roles.

In short, the path from BA to PM is a historical trend that is slowly but surely being debunked.

As a manager, you are in a unique position to help drive this change.

• Can you help your business analysts find a career path in your organization?
• Can they move into senior level roles where they are involved in defining the project scope or evaluating new business opportunities?
• Can they move into lead business analyst roles such as your own?

This leads me to another point, as a big part of the answer to this question is “what’s next” for your career?  Your individual climb up the ladder may indeed pave the way for those on your team and, as you lead by example, you may inspire your BAs to also stay business analysts.

• Is the scope of responsibilities fulfilled by your team the full set of business analysis opportunities?
• Are there other opportunities to leverage your team’s strengths to take on new senior business analyst responsibilities and make a positive impact on the business?

As you settle into your new role as lead, these will be important questions for you to consider.

Now, this is not to say that project management is not one possible career path and you are right to respect that goal, if the goal is based on a passion for the role and not an assumption that this is the only promotion opportunity. In my experience some BAs are naturally suited to project management, but most are not. The competencies overlap but the mindsets are different.

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You can connect with Laura Kesner here on LinkedIn.

In this article, we’ll take a deeper look at how they made this opportunity a reality.

The Problem

The IT department was shifting to SCRUM and five teams were formed. There were only two business analysts. Requests to hire additional analysts to fully support the product owner and analysis roles for each team were not feasible due to budget concerns.

The Enterprise Analysis Solution

Douglas County IT refocused their business analysis efforts so that the department was more aligned with the business.  Laura and her colleague were now focused at a more enterprise level, with the responsibility of  understanding each business unit and identifying those projects with the highest business value to the County.

Primary product ownership responsibilities were shifted to stakeholders within the business group. These Product Owners are trained and coached by Laura and her colleague.

Understanding the Business Domain

We think we have it tough, understanding an industry or a business domain. Laura and her colleague have 17 departments to work with, which are composed of dozens of business units (upwards of 87). Over time, they have developed stakeholder relationships with key members of each of these business unit, begun to model each part of the organization, and developed an understanding of the key processes in place.

Laura works within a County Government organization, so business processes include everything from law enforcement processes such as booking, to finance and budgeting, to event management, to building inspections, to death investigation.

The Enterprise Business Analyst Role

One analyst meets with each department on a regular basis, as frequently as twice per month, but at least once per quarter. Frequency is determined by the number and potential value of projects initiated from the department. In each meeting, the analyst discusses the department’s strategy, how it relates to the organizational strategy (documented via a Balanced Scorecard) and develops an understanding of the department’s key initiatives. Laura has also actively observed staff members in many departments.

Sometimes department stakeholders will identify projects that require IT involvement. Other times, the BA will help identify those projects. Process improvement projects within departments can also be supported by the BAs.

Supporting Project Prioritization

Because of their close relationship with each business department, the business analysts are in a unique position to funnel projects into the organization-wide portfolio management process. As new projects are identified, the BAs help the stakeholders quantify the value, they assign 4 metrics to each project, and work with the IT team to complete a preliminary estimate. If the ROI doesn’t stack up, the BA might go back to the business and help them redefine the project for a more compelling business case. Many projects never make it past the BA and into the Steering Committee because they either lack significant value, they can be handled by using existing software or equipment, or because business process re-engineering efforts address the issue.

The Steering Committee is a cross-departmental group of individuals whose responsibility it is to recommend project priorities based on the initial analysis and any subsequent questions.

What Laura Loves About Being an Enterprise Analyst

Laura’sis overwhelmingly enthusiastic about her role.

“I have the opportunity to understand dozens of business domains. I’m never bored and I’m always learning.”

In other contexts I’ve heard Laura say

“I really am lucky to have the job that I have , where I can use my BA skills to help ensure we are working on those projects that have the highest business value to the County.”

Enterprise analysis is the holy grail for many BAs. It’s a collection of responsibilities that leverage some of our unique strengths at a higher level than any specific project assignment. It’s an opportunity to be recognized as a senior professional while also doing interesting and meaningful work.

Some Challenges in Being an Enterprise Analyst

Of course, accomplishing this isn’t easy and Laura did mention some challenges. The primary challenge is keeping track of all the incoming information. Laura picks up tidbits of information relevant to understanding the business domain or identifying projects in multiple contexts: reviewing documents, observing staff at work, formal meetings, hallway conversations, newspaper articles, etc. Keeping all of this information organized while the initial models are being developed is a challenge.

The second challenge is simply the sheer amount of work involved. Each meeting requires an agenda and has several outputs for the business analyst. Keeping up with the meetings as well as being sure she’s got time to do something productive with everything she learns is a new time management challenge. I can also imagine that without the imposed deadlines of project deliverables and timelines, keeping up is more of a matter of personal motivation.

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