BA07 - The BA Facilitator

Summary

Duration: 1 day
CDUs (Continuing Development Units): 7
BABOK Compliance: BABOK Release 2
IIBA Endorsed Curriculum

Description

Learn how to be an effective facilitator in structured Facilitated Meetings, with a focus
on their use by the BA to brainstorm and elicit requirements to verify requirements artifacts  This course provides guidelines, tips and practical experience facilitating these highly effective group sessions.

Why Attend this Course?

The BA Professional is often called on to initiate, plan and facilitate requirements workshops. This course provides the training and experience in the ‘soft skills’ needed to fulfill this role.

Audience

• Senior BAs
• Other BAs and PMs tasked with facilitating requirements-gathering workshops

Prerequisites

• None

Class Format

Trainees begin by learning rules, guidelines and tips for facilitating requirements meetings in a BA context. (see content below). Learning is reinforced by directed workshops, using an integrated case study that provides trainees
with experience in handling common challenges. Over the course of workshops, trainees take turns playing facilitated meeting roles; sample meeting deliverables for the case study are also provided.

Content

• Definition and goals of a facilitated meeting

• Who initiates a facilitated meeting?

• Types of a facilitated meetings involving the BA

• Checklist for Justifying a Facilitated Meeting

• Roles, Responsibilities and Controls in the Meeting
> Executive Sponsor
> Facilitator
– Checklist: Key personality traits of a successful Facilitator
– Tips: Basic facilitation skills and techniques
> Scribe
– Checklist: Key abilities of a Scribe
> Primary Participants
> Advisory Participants
> Analyst
> Observers
> Standards Liaison

• Tips: How to handle responsibility with – and without – authority

• Types of questions to ask

• List: Examples of open-ended questions

• List: Examples of Affirmation Statements

• Tips on negotiating with people at various levels

• Preparing for the meeting: Expectation Check Lists
> Checklist: Personal Expectations
> Checklist: Meetings Expectations
> Checklist: Approvals Expectations

• List of Open-Ended Questions to use with stakeholders

• Types of Questions: The 5 “P” Questions (with examples)
> Probing
> Personal
> Political
> Planning
> Pointed

• Types of Participants and tips for dealing with them

• Group Dynamics: Pitfalls and how to prevent them

• Checklist: 10 top items to consider when planning and executing facilitated meetings

• Handout: “Cheat Sheet” with the Noble Path – an overview of the BA process, focusing on the questions to ask and artifacts to produce as the project progresses

• Case study: At least ½ of the first day is devoted to practicing facilitation skills on a case study. Trainees are encouraged to bring in a real-world case study. For those not able to do so, the course also provides a sample case study with sample solution.

This course addresses the following BABOK knowledge areas and tasks:

Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring

The course provides guidance and hands-on experience in the following aspect
of conducting stakeholder analysis: identifying stakeholders.

Elicitation

The course provides experience and guidelines in preparing for and conducting
a facilitated meeting elicitation event (requirements workshop).

Requirements Management and Communication

The course provides guidance and hands-on experience in the following aspect
of managing solution scope and requirements: Conflict and Issue Management.
The course provides guidance and hands-on experience communicating requirements within facilitated meetings (used for requirements workshops and structured walkthroughs) and provides guidance and hands-on experience developing communication skills (an underlying competency for this task.)