Keeper Of Responsible Decisions

In my first LinkedIn Newsletter I spelled out what Modern Analysis looks like, and discussed the Dos, Don'ts, and context of the follow Modern Analysis musts:

• Customer Focus
• Facilitating Decision Making & Problem Solving
• Experiment
• Collaborate Differently
• Your Actions Matter
• Own Your Craft
• Always Be Learning
• Keeper of Responsible Decisions

In the last issue, I focused on how important it is to “Always Be Learning”.?

In this issue, we look at how when being an analysis professional, you are also the keeper of responsible decisions.? You may or may not be the decision maker, but you facilitate the process and own leading a group through navigating the inputs, risks, and timing of decisions. Some decisions the stakeholder group may or may not know they need to make.

Analysis is all about decisions and decision making!? It is about helping leaders and teams make decisions big and small.? From big decisions about what projects, products, and features to invest in to the smallest details about the decisions on what options the user can select from on within an order process that then get coded into a mobile app or website screen.? Sounds like a “requirement”?? Yes, many decisions we facilitate as analysis professionals are “requirements”.? We are facilitators of decisions, big and small.? These decisions are decisions that create change, change for the business operations, and change for customers.? These decisions need to be strategically, operationally and customer value aligned.? The analysis we enable aligns strategic, operational and customer value decisions.??

Without good analysis, leaders and teams typically do not have the inputs, data, context, and risk considerations to make good decisions.? We experience this when waiting on decisions or in frustration when it is difficult to get a group to make a decision.

__________________________________________________________________________

Do you ever feel like leaders are stalling on making decisions??

Frustrated that you seem to wait and wait for leaders to make decisions??

Do you see teams making decisions that just don’t make sense??

__________________________________________________________________________

This is common for analysis professionals to experience, and yet can be better!? We can analyze and communicate the context, risks, and considerations to the right people, at the right time, and the right level of detail to help expedite decision making, and get better decisions made that result in less rework!

DO: Make sure decisions get made whether you have the authority or not. Have a bias for action assuming a decision is made, communicate your intention, and ask for a decision. When moving forward without a decision, communicate your approach, and risks of not moving forward.

DON'T: Wait for others to tell you what to do and wait for them to make decisions.? Provide others with your context and reasons for a decision needed, and your path forward in the absence of a decision.

CONTEXT: Top-performing analysis professionals have a relentless drive for progress and outcomes. They identify decisions that need to be made, know who is responsible to make decisions, and they tee up decisions for decision-makers. They make decisions clear and facilitate decisions making with the needed information to get decisions made fast. This includes getting the right information at the right level of details about the decisions to the right people, having the right conversations, and reframing the decision as needed to continue making progress.

__________________________________________________________________________

Modern Analysis Values To Be? “The Keeper Of Responsible Decisions”

Bias for Action: A bias for action does not mean demanding that big decisions get made at any cost and with urgency. It is about making progress, and doing things like:

• Seeking to understand what information is missing for the decisions to be made, and going after getting that critical information
• Planning and executing experiments with users, data, technology, etc… to help fill in missing inputs/information and help others be more confident in decisions
• Analyzing and recommending small steps forward, or smaller decisions that can be made, in making a decision
• Sometimes, making a “temporary” decision for the group or leader, and communicating the path forward and options to change the decision going forward.??

Cost of Delay: The “cost of delay” is the risks and cost of delaying a decision.? Facilitating this to a shared understanding can help a group move through indecision.? Your analysis and understanding of this concept and the various details and context you are in will help hugely!? It will help the leader, yourself, and/or a group balance urgency with risk and move forward.

Last Responsible Moment: The “last responsible moment” is about knowing how long we can wait to make a decision.? Facilitating and understanding this is critical to knowing when we can take the time to get more clarity and certainty in the inputs to a decision to reduce risk.? Helping yourself, a leader, and/or a group realize that there is ambiguity and no rush to make a decision can be huge!? Even better is when you can reframe a decision into a small decision for now, and the bigger one can wait.

__________________________________________________________________________

What are some steps you can take to cultivate good decision making?

• Be intentional about thinking through what decisions need to be made
• Track each decision and things like:
• Who is the right person to make the decisions (you, a group, or someone else?)
• Who needs to have input into the decision?
• Who is impacted by the decision?
• What is needed for the decision maker (data and context)?
• What is the right timing for the decisions to be made?
• What are the risks of making the decision too soon, or too late?
• Reflect and communicate the variables in play and get others on board with your approach to big decisions
• Use a “fist of 5” to gage decision making readiness: https://www.lucidmeetings.com/glossary/fist-five

__________________________________________________________________________

Want to learn more skills to align modern analysis and help elevate your career?

Continuously learn modern analysis skills with me in two ways:

My LinkedIn Learning Courses ?- Ten courses all about business analysis, and agile analysis.

BA-Cube.com ?BA-Cube is a unique membership site with business analysis learning content, Live Events, and Mentoring! Our live events and mentoring make the learning real and go deep, making your real work come to life with the new learning. 7-Day Free Trial and a special offer for 15% off membership (use code?LI-Newsletter15).?Join us in our community of hundreds of analysis professionals to elevate skills and performance.

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you click my links and make a purchase.

Angela is passionate about helping organizations and professionals modernize analysis practices. Angela has been working to modernize analysis practices for over 20 years with a focus on innovation, collaboration, and lean analysis techniques to keep teams moving forward!