Project manager route or business analyst?

[Bluebird]

Speak for yourself please!

When the item being delievered is a piece of software (with or without associated hardware) that is going to be sold to end customers (commercial or consumer) then everybody on the project needs the "IT" to be right.

No amount of "internal process changes" will change the fact that the delivery is going to be a "box capable of doing X, costing Y pounds".

tim

What I was trying to say is that a BAs scope is not just about software and systems implementation - BA's get involved in process improvements and solutions that don't involve hardware or software of any nature.

[aussielong]

Absolutely correct developers can produce products in isolation, however how many products can you afford to produce in the hope that you meet a business need with a market large enough to pay for the development investment?

One of the reasons that developers get the "cowboy" epithet from the business is because ad-hoc development like you described rarely meets the business requirements and so the business ends up footing the bill for an unsuitable solution. With proper agreed requirements a developer has a specific target to aim at and add value to. Good requirements need the skills of Business Analysis to produce.

This sounds great in theory. But we all know how often we get complete and decent requirements to develop off.

The problem is, I don't want the BA to do my thinking for me. I like to work out what is required by talking to the business, not be told - that's half the fun

[Bluebird]

This sounds great in theory. But we all know how often we get complete and decent requirements to develop off.

The problem is, I don't want the BA to do my thinking for me. I like to work out what is required by talking to the business, not be told - that's half the fun

so you want to be a BA & a developer?
what happens if the business just wants to change the way it works and re-engineer the process without altering the it systems it may or may not use?

[DimPrawn]

Really quick thread, if you could pick would you go down the project manager route or business analyst? Would love to know what some of the experienced people on here think.

Just get a job you bloody layabout!

[Torran]

Ok so my topic has gone right off the mark, anyone care to take it back?

yes but the discussion here is actually how it works in real life.

Absolutely agree with the comment on Stakeholder management. Most of issues that arise are from poorly managed expectations and bad communication within the project.

[Bluebird]

Ok so my topic has gone right off the mark, anyone care to take it back?

I think it was answered in the 2nd post.

You start off as a BA or Developer and then move to PM after several years experience.

Best route would be to go from Dev to BA then PM, giving yourself a good all round grounding of SDLC.

[TykeMerc]

This sounds great in theory. But we all know how often we get complete and decent requirements to develop off.

The problem is, I don't want the BA to do my thinking for me. I like to work out what is required by talking to the business, not be told - that's half the fun

Your "fun" costs money as a PM with a finite budget that's a luxury I can't afford. The requirements gathering process should always be as inclusive and complete as possible and reviewed frequently. Where possible the software developers should be included in the requirements gathering phase, but that's not always possible as the development staff may not even be assigned to the project at that point.

The single biggest cause of failed projects in my experience is poor requirements definition with a bad Business Case as a fairly close second.

Back to the original question, with one exception I've not met a worthwhile PM with less than 5 years of senior experience in one of the other project disciplines i.e. technical or business analyst, support, implementations, development, risk, change or business user expertise. Intelligence and drive can substitute a bit, but nothing beats experience when a project doesn't go exactly to plan and any real PM will tell you projects almost never go to the original plans.

[aussielong]

so you want to be a BA & a developer?
what happens if the business just wants to change the way it works and re-engineer the process without altering the it systems it may or may not use?

CCFC Kick to Kill

[Bluebird]

CCFC Kick to Kill

is that cobol?

[aussielong]

Your "fun" costs money as a PM with a finite budget that's a luxury I can't afford. The requirements gathering process should always be as inclusive and complete as possible and reviewed frequently. Where possible the software developers should be included in the requirements gathering phase, but that's not always possible as the development staff may not even be assigned to the project at that point.

The single biggest cause of failed projects in my experience is poor requirements definition with a bad Business Case as a fairly close second.

Now you've started me thinking maybe I should bail out of dev work and go the BA route myself!