What Shoveling Snow Can Teach Us About Business Analysis

Most of you probably don’t know (or necessarily care) that I live and work in the panhandle of Texas.  However, the panhandle area just got hit with a pretty good blizzard requiring me to shovel my driveway.  I say “pretty good blizzard” because I grew up in North Dakota, and what passes for a blizzard and shuts down businesses and schools in Texas is just a minor inconvenience in North Dakota.  I digress. As I was shoveling, a thought struck me that shoveling snow was a very good analog to performing Business Analysis.

The Right Tool for the Job

One thing about shoveling is that you need to use the right tool for the job.  You can not use any old shovel.  If you try to use a normal flat bladed shovel like you would use in soil, you will be shoveling for a long, long time.  There is a reason snow shovels are wider and hold more material.  More importantly, depending on the type of snow on the ground, you may need different snow shovels.  For instance, a plastic shovel works well on powdery or even wet snow, but it is almost useless for breaking up the icy layer underneath.  A metal shovel works best for those icy layers.

The right tool for the job holds true in Business Analysis as well.  A class diagram will likely be jibberish to the end user.  A Use Case Scenario and Use Case Diagram is a better tool for non-technical types.  Also, a System Requirements Specification is the wrong tool to put in front of the Executive Sponsor.  You will be better off with a shorter, more global tool like a Vision Document.  You may or may not use the tools described, but you should be conscious of the tool you apply to the situation.

Scope is Important

In general, it’s a good idea to get agreement on the scope of the project.  If your friend asks you to come help him/her shovel, you may ask what you are shoveling.  If he/she says a Walmart parking lot, you may either want to decline or find a snow plow.  If you are shoveling a driveway, like I was, it’s a good to have a general idea where the driveway ends and the grass begins.  If you don’t know, you could end up driving the shovel into the grass causing unnecessary damage to your lawn or sprinkler heads.

Again, in Business Analysis, scope is important.  If the scope of the project is too broad, you may have to find ways to narrow it or split it into multiple projects delivered in iterative fashion.  If the scope is narrow enough, you may still want to clarify boundaries to ensure you will be able to stay on track.

You Have Your Choice of Methods

There are two basic methods for tackling the job of shoveling snow.  First, you can wait until it stops snowing, and shovel all the accumulated snow.  Second, you can shovel frequently while it is still snowing so that the accumulation of snow never gets very big.

The two methods mentioned for shoveling translate pretty well to Business Analysis requirements gathering methodologies.  First, you can take waterfall type approach and accumulate all the requirements into a document and consider them complete.  Second, you can take a more iterative or agile approach by gathering those requirements you need at this time, and you can gather more requirements at a later time as needed.

NOTE: For those Business Analysts that have never had to shovel snow, consider yourself lucky.  If the analogy eludes you because of your great fortune, I apologize.

Tagged as: Business Analyst, Business Analyst Career