Making the Leap from Business Analyst to Business Architect

Making The Leap From Business Analyst To Business Architect

Jeff Scott

VP/ Business & Technology Strategy

IIBA / UK Chapter -- June 18, 2012

My Mission: create successful

business architects

Don’t listen to enterprise architects!

6/13/2012 3 © 2012 Accelare. Proprietary and confidential. Do not copy.

Yogi Berra

“In theory, there is no

difference between theory and

practice. In practice there is.”

Business architects have a wide variety of backgrounds


5%

12%

26%

27%

27%

39%

42%

60%

Other IT role

Other business role

Project lead or lead developer

Business manager

Information or data architect

Application or solution architect

Enterprise architect

Business analyst

“What prior roles do business architects typically hold in your

organization (immediately before becoming a business architect)?”

(multiple responses accepted)

Source: Forrester Research

Business architecture is an ecosystem with many players

Business Architect [business]

Business

Architect [IT]

EA BPM

Business

Executive

Business Planner

- Strategist

Business

Analyst

Business

Manager

Information

Architect

APM

???

Is business

architecture

a function . .

or a role?

6/13/2012 © 2012 Accelare. Proprietary and confidential. Do not copy. 5

Business architects architect in the enterprise context

2008 — 15%

2008 — 3%

2008 — 80%

2008 — 39%

2008 — 47%

2008 — 9%

6/13/2012 © 2012 Accelare. Proprietary and confidential. Do not copy.


Business units are the focus


What business architects spend

their time on

Who business architects spend their

time with


35%

34%

13%

19% Internal BU alignment

Problem Solving

Enterprise Strategy

Cross BU integration

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

External to the company

Business executives

EA team members

IT senior managers

IT professionals

Working alone

Non-executive busienss leaders

Business architecture is about exploration .... not standardization


Dormant

Mature

Experimentation

New ideas

Contradictions

1987 2005 ?

Innovation

Frustration!


What is business architecture?

The executive’s view


The organizational reality — strategy diffusion


75%

75%

75%

75%

75% 68%

61%

55%

49%

Strategic

effectiveness

coefficient

Executives know they are not getting the expected value from their strategies

• In a 2010 HBR survey of 1000 executives, only 37% say their companies are “very good or excellent” at strategy execution.

• Only 23% blame current economic conditions as a major factor in their lack of execution.

Source: HBR 2010 Strategy Execution Survey


What does business architecture do?


• Effective strategy - creates a direct, clear linkage between executive intent

and organizational actions

• Effective investments - provides a structured approach to making

strategic and operational investment decisions

• Effective operations – clarifies the cross-organizational operating model

• Creates new insights and perspectives – encourages new thinking about

how the company creates value

Business architecture attributes:

• Focuses on “what” the business needs to do rather than “how” it

does it.

• Resonates with business thinkers (CxOs), P&L owners,

strategists, product planners, etc.

• Can be directed at a specific context (ecosystem, enterprise, line

of business, business unit)

• Is information rich and data lite

Strategy to execution management THE PROCESS OF BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE



Becoming a business architect

Thinking shift # 1 GIVE UP YOUR OLD PARADIGMS


Different

results

Thinking about thinking

Thinking

differently

Acting

differently

Think diffferent

Thinking shift # 2 START WITH WHY

Why

What

How

Adapted from: Start With Why, Simon Sinek

Jeff’s “why”

When we:

think innovatively,

work collaboratively, and

act strategically

we create more value for our

customers, shareholders, and

employees.

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how

_great_leaders_inspire_action.html


http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Thinking shift # 3 “SHOULD” SHOULDN’T MATTER

What should be

What is

What can be

© 2012 Accelare. Proprietary and confidential. Do not copy. 6/13/2012 19

Thinking shift # 3 “SHOULD” SHOULDN’T MATTER

What should

be

What is

What can be


Thinking shift # 4 OPPORTUNITY FOCUSED - NOT EFFICIENCY FOCUSED

Expense

Revenue

Expense reduction

is good

Revenue growth

is better

Profit = Revenue – Expense


Thinking shift # 5 SOLVE THE WHOLE PROBLEM


Context

Situation

Problem

Symptom

Thinking shift # 6 COMPLEX PROBLEMS REQUIRE DIFFERENT APPROACHES

© 2012 Accelare. Proprietary and confidential. Do not copy.

Context

Root cause

Solution

Problem

6/13/2012 23

Become more business-savvy THINK LIKE BUSINESS EXECUTIVES

• Improve your business perspective — read!

• Find a business mentor

• Build relationships

• Create a business architecture for your organization


Thank You


Jeff Scott

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1-704-275-1725

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/logicalleap

www.linkedin.com/company/accelare

Web: www.accelare.com

Twitter: @accelare

Blog: http://jeffscott.accelare.com (The Business Architect)

Making the Leap from Business Analyst to Business Architect

Business

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