Professional Skills 2023 PDF

19/09/1444 Limitations The results of a SWOT analysis provide a high-level view; more detailed analysis is often needed. Unless a clear context is defined for the SWOT analysis the result may be unfocused and contain factors which are not relevant to the cur...

19/09/1444 Limitations The results of a SWOT analysis provide a high-level view; more detailed analysis is often needed. Unless a clear context is defined for the SWOT analysis the result may be unfocused and contain factors which are not relevant to the current situation. 65 Reviews Reviews are used to evaluate the content of a work product. Different types of reviews are conducted for work products. Each is tailored to the needs of the organization and business analyst, and uses these dimensions: Objectives: defining the purpose of the review. Techniques: identifying either a formal or informal way to perform the review. Participants: identifying who should take part in the review activity 66 33  19/09/1444 Reviews can include: an overview of the work product and review objectives, checklists and reference materials that can be used by reviewers, reviewing the work product and documenting the findings, and verifying any rework. Using feedback from reviewers, the work product producer updates the work product. 67 Each review is focused on a work product, not the skills or actions of the participants. The work product may be a package of several deliverables, a single deliverable, a portion of a deliverable, or work in process. For a completed work product, the objective of the review is usually to remove defects or inform the reviewers about the content. For work in process, the review may be conducted to resolve an issue or question. Each review includes the work product producer as a participant. Reviewers may be peers, especially for work in process, or stakeholders, who validate that the work product is complete and correct. 68 34  19/09/1444 Elements of a review - objectives Objectives are clearly communicated to all participants prior to the review. Objectives may include one or more goals, for example: to remove defects, to ensure conformance to specifications or standards, to ensure the work product is complete and correct, to establish consensus on an approach or solution, to answer a question, resolve an issue, or explore alternatives, to educate reviewers about the work product, and to measure work product quality. 69 Elements of a review - techniques Reviews can be formal or informal. The techniques used during a review are selected to support the objectives of the review. Inspection: a formal technique that includes an overview of the work product, individual review, logging the defects, team consolidation of defects, and follow-up to ensure changes were made. The focus is to remove defects and create a high quality work product. While usually performed by peers, it can also be used for stakeholder reviews. Formal Walkthrough (also known as Team Review): a formal technique that uses the individual review and team consolidation activities often seen in inspection. Walkthroughs are used for peer reviews and for stakeholder reviews. 70 35  19/09/1444 Single Issue Review (also known as Technical Review): a formal technique focused on either one issue or a standard in which reviewers perform a careful examination of the work product prior to a joint review session held to resolve the matter in focus. Informal Walkthrough: an informal technique in which the business analyst runs through the work product in its draft state and solicits feedback. Reviewers may do minimal preparation before the joint review session. Desk Check: an informal technique in which a reviewer who has not been involved in the creation of the work product provides verbal or written feedback. Pass Around: an informal technique in which multiple reviewers provide verbal or written feedback. The work product may be reviewed in a common copy of the work product or passed from one person to the next. Ad hoc: an informal technique in which the business analyst seeks informal review or assistance from a peer. 71 Elements of a review - participants Participant roles involved in any particular review depend on the objectives of the review, the selected technique, and any organizational standards that may be in place. In some situations, a supervisor or manager may be one of the reviewers because of their expertise. In these situations, the moderator is careful to avoid adversely affecting the level of frankness of other participants or inappropriately affecting decisions of the team 72 36  19/09/1444 73 Strength Can help identify defects early in the work product life cycle, eliminating the need for expensive removal of defects discovered later in the life cycle. All parties involved in a review become engaged with the final outcome; they have a vested interest in a quality result. Desk checks and pass around reviews can be performed by a reviewer at a convenient time, rather than interrupting work in progress to attend a meeting. 74 37  19/09/1444 Limitations Rigorous team reviews take time and effort. Thus, only the most critical work products might be reviewed using inspection or formal walkthrough techniques. Informal reviews by one or two reviewers are practical in terms of the effort required, but they provide less assurance of removing all significant defects than using a larger team and more formal process. For desk checks and pass around reviews it may be difficult for the author to validate that an independent review was done by each participant. If review comments are shared and discussed via e-mail there may be many messages to process, which makes it difficult for the author to resolve disagreements or differences in suggested changes. 75 Risk analysis and management Risk analysis and management identifies areas of uncertainty that could negatively affect value, analyzes and evaluates those uncertainties, and develops and manages ways of dealing with the risks - it involves identifying, analyzing, and evaluating risks. Failure to identify and manage risks may negatively affect the value of the solution. Where sufficient controls are not already in place, we develop plans for avoiding, reducing, or modifying the risks, and when necessary, implementing these plans. Risk management is an ongoing activity. Continuous consultation and communication with stakeholders helps to both identify new risks and to monitor identified risks 76 38  19/09/1444 1. Risk identification Risks are discovered and identified through a combination of expert judgment, stakeholder input, experimentation, past experiences, and historical analysis of similar initiatives and situations. The goal is to identify a comprehensive set of relevant risks and to minimize the unknowns. Risk identification is an ongoing activity. A risk event could be one occurrence, several occurrences, or even a nonoccurrence. A risk condition could be one condition or a combination of conditions. One event or condition may have several consequences, and one consequence may be caused by several different events or conditions. Each risk can be described in a risk register that supports the analysis of those risks and plans for addressing them. 77 78 39  19/09/1444 79 2. Risk analysis Analysis of a risk involves understanding the risk, and estimating the level of a risk. Sometimes controls may already be in place to deal with some risks, and these should be taken into account when analyzing the risk. The likelihood of occurrence could be expressed either as a probability on a numerical scale or with values such as Low, Medium, and High. The consequences of a risk are described in terms of their impact on the potential value. The impact of any risk can be described in terms of cost, duration, solution scope, solution quality, or any other factor agreed to by the stakeholders such as reputation, compliance, or social responsibility 80 40  19/09/1444 81 While an enterprise may have a standard or baseline risk impact scale, the categories like cost, effort, and reputation, and the thresholds may be adjusted to consider the potential value and the level of risk that is acceptable. Typically, three to five broad categories of level are used to describe how to interpret the potential impact. The level of a given risk may be expressed as a function of the probability of occurrence and the impact. In many cases, it is a simple multiplication of probability and impact. The risks are prioritized relative to each other according to their level. Risks which could occur in the near term may be given a higher priority than risks which are expected to occur later. Risks in some categories such as reputation or compliance may be given higher priority than others. 82 41  19/09/1444 3- Risk evaluation / assessment The risk analysis results are compared with the potential value of the change or of the solution to determine if the level of risk is acceptable or not. An overall risk level may be determined by adding up all the individual risk levels. 83 4- Risk treatment Some risks may be acceptable, but for other risks it may be necessary to take measures to reduce the risk. One or more approaches for dealing with a risk may be considered, and any combination of approaches could be used to address a risk: Avoid: either the source of the risk is removed, or plans are adjusted to ensure that the risk does not occur. Transfer: the liability for dealing with the risk is moved to, or shared with, a third party. Mitigate: reduce the probability of the risk occurring or the possible negative consequences if the risk does occur. Accept: decide not to do anything about the risk. If the risk does occur, a workaround will be developed at that time. Increase: decide to take on more risk to pursue an opportunity. 84 42  19/09/1444 Risk response Once the approach for dealing with a specific risk is selected, a risk response plan is developed and assigned to a risk owner with responsibility and authority for that risk. In the case of risk avoidance, the risk owner takes steps to ensure that the probability or the impact of the risk is reduced to nil. For those risks which cannot be reduced to nil, the risk owner is responsible for monitoring the risk, and for implementing a risk mitigation plan. 85 Continuous risk identification / assessment The risk is re-analyzed to determine the residual risk which is the new probability and new impact as a result of the measures taken to modify the risk. There could be a cost-benefit analysis done to determine if the cost and effort of the measures reduces the level of risk enough to make it worthwhile. The risks may be reevaluated in terms of the residual risk. 86 43  19/09/1444 Strengths Can be applied to strategic risks which affect long-term value of the enterprise, tactical risks which affect the value of a change, and operational risks which affect the value of a solution once the change is made. An organization typically faces similar challenges on many of its initiatives. The successful risk responses on one initiative can be useful lessons learned for other initiatives. The risk level of a change or of a solution could vary over time. Ongoing risk management helps to recognize that variation, and to re-evaluate the risks and the suitability of the planned responses. 87 Limitations The number of possible risks to most initiatives can easily become unmanageably large. It may only be possible to manage a subset of potential risks. There is the possibility that significant risks are not identified. Challenge in assigning probability and impact 88 44