Involved in change? You’re Invited to Join the 2011 Business Analysis Summit

Are YOU involved in improving business? Do you work with people to change processes, systems and/or the structure of their organisations? Do you need a huge range of skills, behaviours and competencies to make change work through and with others?

If so, you’ll want to join us for the next Business Analysis Summit. This year’s summit, from November 14th 2011, will feature short interviews with world-class experts, one each day throughout the summit, along with the ability to interact. The Business Analysis Summit is a unique chance for you to develop your skills, without the need to travel. There is no charge to register to listen in to each speaker via the web each day, at a time to suit you, and to join in the discussions. The theme this year is ‘The Business Analyst working with…’

Who should attend? Those working on improving business through changing processes, systems, organisational structure and/or infrasture. Those interested in delivering solutions that fits the needs of their organisations. Your title could be business analyst, project manager, programme manager, requirements engineer, business architect, business process manager, product manager, Lean or SixSigma specialist, or even business systems analyst, amongst many other things. The key is that you are involved in making a change for the better. If that’s you, then:

Sign up now to make sure you don’t miss out:

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Why a Business Analysis Summit? In a time of unprecedented change and with the economy in challenging times, the chance for business analysis to make a difference is bigger than ever. But it’s not easy, with so many barriers in your way:

  • people often don’t seem to know what they want until you deliver what they don’t want;
  • silos within your organisations;
  • so much work is done virtually, with conference calls and online meetings replacing face-to-face meetings of old;
  • the need to communicate effectively with business management at all levels and end users, as well as technical teams;
  • fewer resources and in less time than before, but with with the same need for delivery;
  • everything we produce should ideally be agile and able to flex as necessary as the business changes and adapts over time.

    • But it’s not impossible!

    This year we focus on the relationships that the business analyst has to develop, working with a huge range of people from project managers and technical teams, through to people going through change, the system, outsourced workers elsewhere in the world and user experience people. I’ll interview a team of global experts to gain their top tips for you on how to succeed as a business analyst in your organisation. Join us!

    How? You’re in the right place! Sign up now for the BA Summit 2011. Once you’ve signed up, we’ll keep you informed and let you know how to access each day’s interview. The time that you choose to listen in each day is completely up to you: the talks will be available each day from 8am Greenwich Mean Time (3am Eastern Standard Time) for 23 hours. To listen in, you’ll go to a special web page and play back the interview.

    We’ve selected a crack team of experts willing to share their thoughts, ideas, and experience with you, so you can:

    • Learn more about how business analysts can work effectively with stakeholder groups;
    • Understand how crucial understanding the whole system and systems thinking are to business analysts;
    • Find out how you can work hand in hand with our close colleagues, project managers, despite often different perspectives;
    • Learn how user experience can improve the final solution, without driving you crazy with last minute change requests;
    • Find out how a business analyst’s responsibilities include working with people who are grappling with change;
    • Hear about the best ways to work with technical teams, even when they’re outsourced;
    • Learn how the appropriate use of power and politics inside organisations can help you to deliver great solutions;
    • Look to the future of business analysis with confidence;
    • Understand the pitfalls you can avoid and gather hints and tips you can use straight away in your work;
    • You can even ask your own questions, through the form below.

    and more! Of course, the important thing about this BA summit is that you get to ask questions beforehand and participate in discussions on our LinkedIn group and/or via Twitter, so your ideas and issues are central.

    Meet the 2011 World-Class Business Analysis Mentors:

    Penny Pullan

    Penny Pullan: The Business Analyst working with Stakeholder Groups 14th November

    Dr Penny Pullan, your BA Summit Host, is gaining a reputation for putting on outstanding virtual events. Through her company, Making Projects Work Ltd, she is often invited to speak at face-to-face Business Analysis events and IIBA conferences, and she jumped at the chance to bring great speakers together virtually to create the first BA Summit last year. Her first book on facilitating risk management was published by Gower this year.

    Penny has worked with over a thousand business analysts over the past four years, across industry sectors from banking and finance, through to telecoms and pharmaceuticals. She enjoys making a difference with people grappling with tricky projects. Tricky means anything from risky, with ambiguous requirements, to having disinterested stakeholders, probably with a team dispersed around the world. If that’s your world, that’s where Penny is too.

    Penny will kick off this year’s summit by focusing on the key skill of working with groups of stakeholders. Facilitating groups of people happens throughout business change, right from setting a vision through through to acceptance testing and the delivery of benefits. Penny will bring some of her practical hints and tips on how to make groups work, whether they are face to face or virtual. Those who know Penny will expect some good stories and pictures too!

    Emma Langman

    Emma Langman: The Business Analyst working with the System (Systems Thinking) 15th November

    Dr Emma Langman is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bristol’s “Centre for Systems Learning and Leadership”. She is also the Change Magician at Progression Partnership, where she specialises in facilitating system-wide change. Heavily influenced by the early Systems Thinkers (Ackoff, Beer, Deming etc)….she has a passion for helping people to redesign the systems in which they work; and change the thinking they use in the work that they do. Her keynote at the BA2011 conference was very well received by nearly two hundred business analysts!

    Emma talks about the business analyst and the system, as well as systems thinking. She’ll cover what systems thinking is (and isn’t) as well as what it means for business analysts and others working with change. Expect to leave with ideas of how to incorporate systems thinking into your practice, as well as practical tips you can apply straight away.

    Suzanne Robertson

    Suzanne Robertson: The Business Analyst working with the Project Manager 16th November

    Suzanne Robertson is a principal and founder of the Atlantic Systems Guild. Suzanne works with organisations to apply innovative techniques and fresh thinking in all of their systems development activities. Her work also includes research and consulting on the management, sociological and technological aspects of requirements. The product of her research and experience is Volere, a requirements process, template and techniques for assessing requirements quality, and for specifying requirements.

    Suzanne is co-author of Mastering the Requirements Process—second edition, a guide for practitioners on finding requirements and writing them so that all stakeholders can understand them. Her most recent publication was in conjunction with her fellow principals of the Atlantic Systems Guild: Tom de Marco, Peter Hruschka, Tim Lister, Steve McMenamin and James Robertson when they published Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior in 2008. The book recognises and defines patterns of the way people behave during projects.

    Suzanne’s topic is ‘The Business Analyst and the Project Manager’. This key relationship is so important to project success but too often the project manager and business analyst don’t see things in the same way. Suzanne will tap into her experience of many project managers and business analysts to help those listening to transform the relationship that drives their projects.

    Darius Kumana

    Darius Kumana: The Business Analyst working with User Experience 17th November

    Darius Kumana works to provide thought-leadership for the integration of User-Centred Design and Agile software delivery philosophies. He is a leader and coach who understands that it takes great teams to build great software.
    Darius has worked in a variety of industries, including financial services, education, retail, logistics, and non-profit charities. He has held executive leadership roles in firms ranging from large corporate multi-nationals to small avant-garde firms and start-ups. He blogs at www.kumana.co.uk. Currently, Darius works for ThoughtWorks – a global leader in software delivery and consulting. He is equally comfortable leading Business Analysis and/or Experience Design teams.

    In this session, Darius will answer your questions on how business analysts can work with user experience to create great products and experiences for end-users, without jeopardising delivery!

    Brian Adamson

    Brian Adamson: The Business Analyst working with People going through Change 18th November

    Brian is a change management specialist with over 20 years of experience working with large global organisations to achieve business and transformational change. These include Digital Equipment, Roche and Mars Incorporated and his roles have ranged from IT, Business Change (including business analysis and project management) and Learning and Development. Brian has extensive international experience in both mature and developing markets around the world. He has delivered training and facilitated in Latin America, Russia and China, as well as the more developed markets such as Western Europe, Australia and the United States.

    Brian will be answering your questions on the topic of working with people who are going through change.

    Rob Brown

    Rob Brown: The Business Analyst working with power and politics 21st November

    Rob Brown is NOT a business analyst! He is, however, a leading authority on personal marketing, networking, executive presence, referrals and reputations. He heads the Global Networking Council and is author of the bestseller ‘How to Build Your Reputation’. As well as doing a lot of executive one-to-one mentoring on executive presence, gravitas, reputation building and networking, Rob is CEO of the Professional Banking Academy, an international company helping banking professionals increase their influence and win more business.

    Rob will focus on how business analysts should work with power and politics. His session is likely to cause some debate!

    Julian Cox: The Business Analyst working with Technical Teams 22nd November

    Note: due to illness, our original speaker, Davina Hesmer has had to pull out. Huge thanks to Julian Cox of AssistKD for stepping in at the last moment.

    Julian has over twenty years’ experience in IT, covering various system development roles including Business Analysis, Systems Analysis & Design and Project Management. He has worked in both the private and within public sectors. Julian has experience of a wide range of analysis & design approaches & techniques and of working with all levels of stakeholders within the business and alongside technical teams. On top of this, he is the lead examiner for the ISEB Enterprise and Solutions Architecture certifications

    Julian will tap into this knowledge and experience to answer your questions on the best ways to work with technical teams, wherever they might be!

    Nancy Nee

    Nancy Nee: The Business Analyst and the Future 23rd November

    Nancy Nee, PMP, CBAP, CSM is the Executive Director of Product Strategy for ESI International. She guides clients in the development and implementation of learning programs customized to their specific needs. Her solutions reflect the insight of almost two decades of PM and BA experience in healthcare, information technology, financial services and energy.

    Nancy’s business analysis experience includes strategic enterprise architecture, governance, business process analysis, continuous process improvement and automated solutions. In addition to customizing learning programs, Nancy counsels senior management though workshops and coaching to help build overall organizational capability and maturity.

    Nancy will be answering your questions about business analysis and the future.

    Coal Face Day: Real Stories from Analysts 24th November

    Richard Newbould: Practical Stories of Outsourcing

    Richard founded a software offshore outsourcing enterprise in India as the MD of Intershore Services and he has also run a vocational computer training charity project in Delhi. He’s provided consultancy to the Indian government. Prior to this, he spent 14 years in British Telecom, where he led a large software project using an outsourced Indian team.

    You and Your Colleagues Could Take Part Too

    What about you? Would you like to join in and share some real stories? Sign up and we’ll let you know how to put your own views across by audio or video!

    Just type in your Name, primary Email Address and the country where you’re located then click the “Register Me Now!” button to register for the Summit. If you have ask a question for us to answer during the summit, please enter it too.


    Sign up for the 2011 Business Analysis Summit

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    How does a Virtual Summit like this work? Here are some extracts from the feedback of the BA Summit 2010:

    Excellent concept brilliantly put together, thanks Penny. Robert Sprigge Business Analyst

    [There was a] word missing from the assessment range, we heard it so many times: FANTASTIC!!!!!!

    I think it’s been a really useful and important event for the business analysis community.
    Nick de Voil, Director, De Voil Consulting

    Thanks for another interesting summit Penny, this is a great way to learn and hear the opinions of others as I can do it when it’s convenient to me. You get a good range of speakers with a huge range of knowledge between them. I’ll definitely tune into the next one

    Thanks for all your efforts. Russ Chalton. Director. C.I.T.B.A. Ltd.

    Listening via browser was easy, did not seem to require any special tool. Flexibility to hear the broadcast any time during the day (I listened in at home in the evenings e.g. while cooking, even in bed just before sleeping, or during lunch break at work). Thought the breadth of topics from different angles was interesting and refreshing, especially enjoyed the Agile one! Very interesting how many speakers converged on the same opinions regarding role and future of BA, key skills etc – good food for thought for me.

    This is an excellent idea. I greatly appreciate the amount of work that you muit have put into organising it. The role of a Business Analyst is an extremely important and responsible one. Anything that encourages quality and enables us to work better is to welcomed. In the past I have done a lot of work on the development of right first time systems development methodology. I know what can be achieved and I wish people were open minded enough to allow us to deliver it. Jeffrey Nakar MIMIS Business Analyst

    I loved it! I loved the flexibility of being able to login anytime during the day to hear the interviews. The speakers that I heard were very professional, and well worth the time invested to listen to them. This was excellent!! thank you! Debbie Garcia, Business Analyst

    Thank you so much for organising!

    The topics were really interesting and the 1 pagers that were provided allowed for additional insight into the topics. A huge thank you for taking the time to help us all become more professional and improve our skills. Susan, Business Analyst

    I think this summit was a great idea and for a first attempt worked well, looking forward to next year. Richard Cheetham, Business Analyst

    I liked hearing the views of where things are going and what techniques are used. It helps to keep our own role structure and methods in perspective. Jeffrey Nakar MIMIS Business Analyst

    Was easy to listen, stop and start. Thanks Penny! Jill St. Clair/Sr Business Analyst

    A great summit. I feel quite invigorated! Nicki Boyd, BA Team Leader, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

    THANK YOU PENNY for what you are doing for the community. i’d like to see how next year, this can spread to more of the US community. one idea: if you give a slight discount for the recordings to IIBA members, maybe they will help ‘market’ it.

    I thought the pace and lengths of each of the sessions were pitched just right, allowing me to take the discussions on-board without feeling ‘swamped’ at any point. I think it was very helpful. Thanks for a great series of talks, I’ll look forward to the next Summit in 2011. Ken Parsonage, Senior Business Analyst

    That it was a free event with the ability to log in and listen when convenient to the listener. There were also a wide range of speakers and topics that interested me. What worked well? – The length of the webinars. – The topics and speakers. What did you like during the summit? – Use of social media for comments / feedback i.e. Twitter and Linkedin. What was helpful? – URL references to additional content – Supplementary information

    The information was good and very useful. The speakers were well-known names.

    All the summit was excelent. Wonderful! But, the ‘career focus day was the high point. Arlinda veiga, Business consultant

    1. The summit being available throughout the day 2. Diverse background of speakers 3. Very well moderated, representing the voice of the listeners / questioners 4. Linkedin group for discussions It was a wonderful summit and I feel privileged in being a part of it. Definitely look forward to attending such summits in future as well. Salman Saleem – Sr. business Analyst

    Thanks for going to the work to putting this on. It’s a great format and good supplement to other knowledge gathering opportunities. I am a fairly experienced BA, but I always find opportunities to listen to other’s perspectives very helpful. Kent J. McDonald, Business Advisor Knowledge Bridge Partners

    The flexibility of listening to the session at a convenient time during the day, the fact that it was a webinar, duration of the sessions were just long enough to keep my interest; excellent presentation and quality speakers Anne Marie Tovey, Business Analyst

    Excellent summit with a broad range of topics and lots of valuable learning points, thank you Penny. Corrine Thomas, Business Analysis Team Manager


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