The process of collaborative creation; of drawing and deliberating and rationalizing potential paths together until we reach an agreed upon “best way forward” provides the real value in visual modeling.
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Apparently, even back in Hippocrates’ day (approximately 450 BC), business professionals had a tendency to confuse their stakeholders with acronyms, jargon, and odd colloquialisms, but one stands a far better chance of ensuring understanding with clear, simple, common language. Some things never change!
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Communication using only words – whether verbal or written – leaves much to the imagination. Which is part of the appeal when it comes to reading for pleasure. Unlike a great book, most of us don’t read business documents such as a requirements specification for enjoyment. And unlike the book, there can be significant repercussions when one reader’s interpretation of the content varies widely from another’s. So, how can we improve the precision and clarity of documentation without getting too long?
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Poor grammar and spelling that cause a requirements model to be inaccurate, or difficult to understand and use, are serious because they negatively affect the documentation’s ability to serve its purpose. An otherwise solid, easy to understand document with some errors in grammar and spelling, is not as serious. In either case, poor grammar and spelling should be included in the offending analyst’s professional development plan, and improvement should be encouraged and expected.
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What’s blindingly obvious from one perspective might not be intuitive or “obvious” at all from others.
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My employer, Jabian Consulting, produces a semi-annual publication of our consultants’...
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It’s not because they don’t want you to know, it’s because they do things automatically and don’t even think to tell you about it.
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Occasionally, an analyst will encounter a stakeholder who wants to prescribe the detailed solution on day one. What then? Here are a couple techniques that have served me well over the years.
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The model that really matters is the one that people have in their minds. All other models and...
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Through communication expertise, a business analyst helps drive successful solution delivery.
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There are a few essential questions we should always keep at top of mind during our discovery and solution definition efforts. I’d like to suggest an alternate way of phrasing them that may help you get more depth in the responses you receive and generate more meaningful discussion from your clients or stakeholders.
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