{"id":18686,"date":"2017-09-26T05:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/?p=18686"},"modified":"2023-11-01T14:49:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T20:49:31","slug":"incomplete-business-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/incomplete-business-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Incomplete Business Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are many reasons that BAs end up producing incomplete requirements, and this can have an extremely negative impact on our job performance.<\/p>\n<p>Today we\u2019re taking a question from one Bridging the Gap community member, who gave us this scenario:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;In my company, there are no business requirements meetings. Business requirements are discussed among other meetings that include brainstorming, future feature planning, and the design reviews. \u00a0The timeframe is generally one hour and I don&#8217;t feel like I have the opportunity to ask the requirement questions I need and want to ask due to time constraints and the many agenda items in that meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I&#8217;m told requirements are not being captured completely. \u00a0What is a recommendation you can give to improve my performance?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Listen in (or read the transcript) to learn about my suggestions for improving BA job performance and resolving incomplete requirements.<\/p>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_49499\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1bJpXahTSeU?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=1&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&modestbranding=0&rel=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/get-business-process-template\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-18622\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner.png 876w, https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner-300x76.png 300w, https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner-768x196.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For those who like to read instead of watch, here\u2019s the full text of the video:<\/p>\n<p>Today, let\u2019s talk about how to avoid incomplete requirements. This is a big one; a juicy topic. It\u2019s important as BAs. This is how we know that we did what we were supposed to do is if we avoid missing requirements.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about it and let\u2019s dive right in.<\/p>\n<p>Before we talk about the tips I have, I want to share the question that came out because I think it\u2019s so insightful. The kind of pressure that we put on ourselves as BAs, it comes out in this question. Here\u2019s the question from this reader.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn my company, there are no business requirements meetings. Business requirements are discussed among other meetings that include brainstorming, future feature planning, and the design reviews. The timeframe is generally one hour, and I don\u2019t feel like I have the opportunity to ask requirements questions that I need to and want to ask due to time constraints and the many <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/how-to-create-quick-and-effective-meeting-agendas\/\">agenda items<\/a> in that meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I\u2019m told the requirements are not being captured completely. What is a recommendation you can give to improve my performance?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Big issues here. That pressure of trying to get things done in a short amount of time, feeling like you need to work within somebody else\u2019s meeting, and then being told that you\u2019re not doing a good job. This is not fun.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s dig into exactly what to do here.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"background: white;\">The Solution to Incomplete Business Requirements \u2013 First, Get Clear on Your Role<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The first thing is you want to get clear on your role. Whenever performance issues are at stake, understand what is it that, as a business analyst, that you\u2019re truly responsible for. Not all <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/what-is-a-business-analyst-role-anyway\/\">business analyst roles<\/a> are the same, and your role might be a little bit different than you expect. The number one reason people have performance issues is because they\u2019re trying to deliver something that people aren\u2019t expecting of them.<\/p>\n<p>You really want to get clear on what those expectations are. Talk to your project manager, talk to your manager, and talk to the stakeholders who use your requirements. Understand what would help them the most and how you can make the best contribution. What gap are you responsible for filling? That\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for here.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"background: white;\">The Solution to Incomplete Requirements \u2013 Second, Take Ownership of the Requirements Process<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Then you want to take ownership of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/business-analysis-process\/\">requirements process<\/a>. The last thing you want to do is try to fit your requirements process into somebody else\u2019s meeting schedule.\u00a0As business analysts, we\u2019re typically scheduling meetings, planning out the elicitation and discovery process, planning out the review process of our documentation, which we\u2019re going to get to next. You want to take ownership of that process. Then say,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn order to deliver on that role that we just clarified for me, these are the steps that I need to take.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Often, it\u2019s going to be a couple of discussions to discover the information, a couple of reviews, some time to do analysis in between that, and reviews and validation that you\u2019ve got to write. You want to take ownership of that process and say, \u201cThis is what we need to do.\u201d And then, schedule those meetings, the time you think you need, probably giving yourself a little bit extra time even, and work to make those <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/more-effective-meetings-3-things\/\">productive, effective meetings<\/a> that move the requirements forward. That\u2019s the second thing.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"background: white;\">The Solution to Incomplete Business Requirements \u2013 Third, Don\u2019t Skip Reviews and Validations<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The third thing is to be sure not to skip those <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/requirements-review\/\">validations and reviews<\/a>. Just showing up to meetings and asking a couple of questions is not enough. It\u2019s a guarantee that you will miss requirements if you\u2019re only <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/what-questions-do-i-ask-during-requirements-elicitation\/\">asking questions<\/a>. You also need to do some sort of walk-through and validation.<\/p>\n<p>Now, this doesn\u2019t have to be five hours sitting and reviewing a 50-page document. I\u2019ve done that. Early in my career, that\u2019s how we validated requirements. It was painful. It worked to a certain extent. There were some flaws in that. It\u2019s not a best practice today. But you have to do some sort of a walk-through. It could be a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wireframes\/\">wireframe<\/a>\u00a0walk-through. It could be a process flow diagram walk-through. It could be a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/what-is-a-use-case\/\">use case<\/a> walk-through or a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/how-to-analyze-a-business-process\/\">business process<\/a> walk-through.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever it is, it\u2019s that validation that the documentation that you\u2019ve created, the analysis you\u2019ve done is complete, and is it missing anything? That\u2019s when you get that \u201cYes, but\u201d response from stakeholders that leads you to new requirements that you\u2019re going to miss if you\u2019re just asking questions.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"background: white;\">The Solution to Incomplete Business Requirements \u2013 If You Have Resistance<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Then, what\u2019s next? You have to do what we just said. Clarify your role, own the process, and then do the validation process, too, which is where the new requirements are going to come.<\/p>\n<p>You might have resistance to this. If there is a reason that somebody\u2019s giving you only a few minutes on an agenda item, they don\u2019t think that this is what business analysis takes. They feel like you just are going to create the requirements out of thin air. You might have some resistance at first. You want to demonstrate your value quickly and easily. Make sure those first meetings you schedule are productive.<\/p>\n<p>You might start by, instead of the whole thing we just laid out, take ownership of one issue that came up in the meeting and say, \u201cI will schedule a meeting to make sure we discuss that issue.\u201d If an issue is in a meeting that\u2019s going off track and you can tell it\u2019s going to derail the meeting, you can say,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d love to jump in and I can schedule a follow-up with just the people that need to be there. We will handle that issue and make sure we get the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/quick-tips-for-managing-requirements-issues\/\">requirements defined for that issue<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Just take ownership of it. Demonstrate that you\u2019re starting to work in a new way, and that you\u2019re ready to contribute, and that you\u2019re able to contribute in that new way. That&#8217;s one way to start breaking down the resistance to the process.<\/p>\n<p>Another is when those issues requirements do come up, say,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis is what I want to do to correct that. I\u2019d like to hold a meeting, go through the requirements document, make sure that this time I haven\u2019t missed anything.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Really get the stakeholders involved, and use that as a solution to when these performance issues come up. Suggest an alternate approach and use that as a time to get buy-in. You\u2019ve got to overcome it. Until you take ownership of the process and have the space to take ownership of the BA process, you will continue to miss requirements. You\u2019ll continue to feel like you\u2019re scrambling and rushing and not getting what you need. You\u2019ll be reactive instead of proactive.<\/p>\n<p>How can you shift from that reactive, &#8220;I don\u2019t have enough time,&#8221; to &#8220;Here is what I need to be successful as a business analyst, and here\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Again. I hope that\u2019s helpful. Good luck. It\u2019s a tough challenge. It\u2019s a tough situation. But I know that you can do it and I know these suggestions are going to help you improve your work as a business analyst overall.<\/p>\n<h2>Figure Out What Your Business Users Really Want [Free Template]<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most important boundaries you can set as a business analyst is to be sure your business stakeholders are deeply involved in the requirements process, and have a lot of direct input and feedback. Starting by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/get-business-process-template\/\">analyzing their business process<\/a>\u00a0helps put them in the position to tell you what they really,\u00a0<em>really<\/em>\u00a0want.<\/p>\n<p>Business process analysis is often the very\u00a0<em>first<\/em>\u00a0technique used by business analysts when we start learning a new domain or analyze the scope of a project.\u00a0Today, I\u2019m offering my\u00a0<strong>Business Process Template<\/strong>\u00a0to you (absolutely free of charge!).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/get-business-process-template\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-18622\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner.png 876w, https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner-300x76.png 300w, https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FreeTemplateBanner-768x196.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many reasons that BAs end up producing incomplete requirements, and this can have an extremely negative impact on our job performance. Today we\u2019re taking a question from one Bridging the Gap community member, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1467,1470],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-analyst-knowledge","category-requirements-elicitation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridging-the-gap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}