The end of the year is almost upon us! In this post, I’ll be looking back at the past 12 months and reflecting on the highs (and occasional lows!) of 2023.
I’ve been keenly aware this year of the value of the relationships in my life. In both my personal and professional worlds, I’ve been in quiet awe of the kindness, generosity, and support shown by people to me and to others. So before I get into examining my year, I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has inspired me throughout the year with their care and compassion!
Stepping down from the IIBA UK board
I recently finished my 2-year tenure on IIBA UK’s board of directors. I really enjoyed my time in the role of Communities Director, and it’s done wonders for my confidence as a leader and for (massively) expanding my network in the business analysis community. I’m really proud to have developed two great teams of volunteers, and to have delivered such a great programme of events for members.
You can read about more about my reflections here. I’m staying on as a volunteer within the UK Chapter’s ‘Wales + Southwest’ team, so I’ll still be very involved in organising local and online events.
Our profession and the BA community
Largely due to my role with IIBA UK, I’ve been really involved with the business analysis community. As well as hosting weekly drop-in discussion groups, I’ve had loads of conversations with fellow BA professionals in 2023 about every aspect of business analysis. I was also fortunate to attend this September’s Business Analysis Conference Europe in London. More thoughts on that here! Through all these interactions, I feel I’ve got a really good feel for the state of the BA profession and where it’s headed.
Artificial intelligence (and particularly Generative AI) have loomed large this year, and I’ve taken my first steps into using Chat GPT. While we’re not quite at the point of being able to use AI to define requirements or construct a business case, the tools available today already appear to offer value in supporting BAs in their work. There are still a number of challenges to address before we’ll all be using Generative AI day-to-day – and I don’t see it replacing business analysts quite yet – but it’s clearly a topic our profession needs to get clued-up on quickly.
I’ve been sharing my experiences and ideas about business analysis for a while now, both here on this blog, and in discussions with fellow BAs. However, this year I found myself in the spotlight on a number of occasions, including sharing my “wisdom” about BPMN process modelling in a webinar to IIBA members, and being interviewed by Thando Jacobs for his ‘Inside Business Analysis‘ podcast. They say it’s healthy to stretch one’s comfort zone! I don’t think I foresee a career as a ‘thought-leader’ though – I’m far happier helping my peers to share experiences and to generate ideas. So don’t expect that book any time soon…
The ‘day job’ in 2023
All of my Better Business Analysis work in 2023 has been with organisations in other countries. I’m seriously wondering if I need to add ‘international’ to the name of the company!
I’ve been working with some brilliant clients abroad, and have really enjoyed working with their people. I was lucky enough to fly out to Israel from some on-site work in the summer. While it was only a brief visit (with limited time to explore), it was really great to interact with people face-to-face again – even if I did feel a little rusty facilitating workshops with actual sticky notes on an actual wall!
I’ve also been fortunate to partner with some brilliant fellow consultants again in 2023. While I do enjoy the freedom and empowerment that comes from being a one-man-band, it’s great to work alongside talented, smart, fun people that bring their own expertise and insights.
Client engagements have included operational and process reviews in a law firm finance function (something within my comfort zone) and examining patent filing and protection processes (completely new to me!). While the subject matter varied massively, the approach and techniques involved were pretty similar. Both involved a lot of conversations, questions, and active listening. Both required a lot of process analysis and distillation of information to draw out insights. And both demonstrated the need for sensitivity to organisational culture and the perspectives and concerns of different stakeholders. Finding solutions and ideas that ‘fit’, and actively working with stakeholders to understand what will or won’t work, have been key.
2024 and beyond
Increasingly, I’ve been reflecting on my personal values and how these are reflected in the work I choose to take on as a consultant.
Much of the demand for business analysis stems from a desire to make things “more efficient”. Outside of the public sector, this often translates to “more profitable”. While I’m clearly happy for companies to pursue healthy profits, there are a number of other drivers I’d like to see feature more prominently in my work in 2024: creating more jobs; making work better for people; developing better products and services for customers; building more resilient, compliant, and ‘fit-for-the-future’ organisations; reducing harms to the planet and those around us. Aiming for these things can also result in making things “more efficient”.
Organisations already want to do these things, and many of them come up as “additional benefits” in the work I do with businesses. But I’d like to see them in the foreground, and will be looking at how I can pursue engagements with specific goals in these areas in the coming months.
In the meantime, I wish you all a safe and happy Christmastime, and a wonderful New Year!