Hi Everyone,
Yes I am that product guy!
Today I couldn’t resist sharing a conceptual framework that I recently happened to revisit. Before I do that let me ask you something: How often have we as Business Analysts been asked to “Put on the Product Manager hat”? How often do we align with what we do at a tactical level to the “What, Why, Who” of a solution that we are working on to deliver?
I am sure these questions do stare at our face at one point or the other. So how can we start thinking about the bigger picture? How can we know what we do meets the expected standards and is complete. Do we have a north star or sort of a model that can help us establish both a foundation and a path forward.
Introducing the Business Analysis Core Concept Model ™ (Source BABOK), a popular framework that defines 6 core concepts fundamental to the practice of Business Analysis. This framework helps us take a step back and ask ourselves few powerful and fundamental questions around these core concepts when we are working on a product/solution.
The 6 core concepts covered in the BACCM Model™ are : Needs, Changes, Solutions, Stakeholders, Value and Context.
The BACCM™ framework encourages us to think and ask these questions at every stage of product /solution development life cycle:
What are the kinds of CHANGES we are doing?
What are the NEEDS we are trying to satisfy?
What are the SOLUTIONS we are creating or changing?
Who are the STAKEHOLDERS involved?
What do stakeholders consider to be of VALUE?
What are the CONTEXTS that we and the solution are in?
Thinking and re-evaluating our approach by asking these questions while delivering our solution can help us bring us much closer to the product than we are today.
Take Away : Just starting to think around these questions while working on the next project might help us assess the future value of the product or solution scope.
Side note: This framework ties in with the definition of Business Analysis (as defined in BABOK):
“Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders within a context.“