STRATEGIC PARLOUR

By Dr Bob Kizlik Many, both within, and outside education, disagree whether thinking skills can be taught. Perhaps they are correct, but there is no question whatsoever that thinking skills are learned. Human beings are not born with not much more than rudimentary thinking skills. Thinking skills are one of the most important, yet inadequately implemented areas of the curriculum. Certainly a part of helping students develop and improve their thinking skills is connected in some significant way with challenge and discovery. However, it is often the case that what works in a given situation may not work at all in another, different situation. The variables related to thinking skills are themselves quite formidable, and there is no shortage of opinion about that.. Having both developed and taught thinking skills courses at the undergraduate and graduate level, perhaps a good way to begin is to start with the fundamentals, so... The vocabulary below and the definitions are intend...

What does it mean to have a well aligned business analyst role? When the business analyst role is well aligned to the requirements or development process, projects run very smoothly like well oiled machines. Just like there are many types of machines, there are also many types of processes and each process requires careful consideration of how the business analyst role must be aligned. High performance machines require a more precise alignment of its parts to produce the desired result, and high performing processes require a more precise alignment of the business analyst role to produce a high quality deliverable. In a misaligned machine, the parts will grind together, spew out smoke and sparks, have fits and starts, and sometimes break down altogether. When this happens on your project, it means missed deadlines, delays, cost overruns, and sometimes catastrophic failure. Challenges to Aligning the Business Analyst Role Business analysts today must contend with many different s...

The close of one year tends to make one reflect on what has occurred in the past year related to and ponder the future. Here we ponder some trends in the Project Management and Business Analysis fields for 2012. Here are our top seven predictions for business analysts (BAs) and project managers (PMs) in 2012. Divergence of the PM and BA Role . In 2009 we predicted that as the economy tightened, organizations would decrease their project budgets and combine the role of PM and BA. For 2012 we believe that organizations will see the need for both roles, particularly on strategic projects, and move away from a combined role. There are several factors for this trend: Business analysis is maturing as a profession. As the IIBA has gained traction, more organizations have become aware of the BA role and its importance. From 2010 to 2011 the number of IIBA members increased about 50%. Organizations have found that even with successful project management, many projects fail because of dissatis...