| Date: | 19 Mar 2015 |
| Where: | Edinburgh |
| Venue: | Lloyds Banking Group (formerly Scottish Widows) Port Hamilton 69 Morrison Street Edinburgh EH3 8BW |
Strategy: The elephant in the room
The words "strategy" and "strategic" are much maligned in many organisations. Unfortunately, the word "strategy" is sometimes used to describe lofty, impractical, long-winded and cloudy documents that are rarely read and collect dust. A gap between strategy and execution can emerge, with different stakeholders and departments heading in their own direction. As BAs, we often get caught in the cross-fire!
It doesn't have to be like this!
In reality, having a clearly articulated strategy is crucially important for organisational success. A clearly defined strategy helps organisations achieve focus and can make project selection easier. It can help speed up decision making throughout the entire organisation, and ensure everyone is aiming for the same destination. As business analysts, gaining an understanding of our organisations' strategies is key - we can help ensure that our programmes, projects, requirements and solutions are aligned. Not only this, we may be involved with shaping or defining organisational, project or or business unit strategy. Other times, we might need to tactfully challenge the direction an initiative is taking. The BA toolkit includes a range of practical and useful strategic tools, and this is an area in which we can add significant value to our organisations.
In this presentation, Adrian Reed explores strategy through a business analysis lens. He'll explore:
Adrian Reed is President of the UK chapter of the IIBA, and a true advocate of the analysis profession. In his 'day job', he works as Principal Consultant at Blackmetric Business Solutions, where he provides business analysis consultancy and training solutions to a range of clients in varying industries.