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Skills

Strength

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Project Management

T-Shape Skills for

Business Analysts A report base d on res earc h conducted wit h the

Bus ine ss Analyst com munity .

V1.0 Copyright © Brian Simpson 2018

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T-Shape Skills for

Business Analysts

July 2018

2

INTRODUCTION

This report outlines the results of a wide-scale analysis of skills used by Business Analysts involved in business and IT change. The outputs presented are a snapshot of the skills being utilised in the 2017-2018 period within UK organisations.

Workshops were conducted with 100 Business Analyst leaders from organisations based across the UK and representing a range of sectors. The research forming the basis for this report was gathered at three events:

 Workshops at the BA Manager Forum (London, May 2018) with 80 Business Analyst leaders in attendance

 Think Yorkshire (Leeds, October 2017) with 10 Business Analyst leaders in attendance

 An event at Lloyds Banking Group (Manchester, February 2018) with 10 Business Analysts in attendance

The objective of the exercise was to identify the skills and capabilities that were most used by Business Analysts working in Waterfall and Agile methodologies. Participants worked in small groups to identify and prioritise skills, with the resulting information compiled into a single picture.

The participants formed fourteen groups, with eight focussing on Waterfall skills and six on Agile skills. Groups comprised 5 to 10 people.

The groups were first asked to identify:

 Core Business Analysis Skills: Those skills they considered to form the basis for the Business Analyst discipline. These are generally accepted as specialist skills.

 General Skills: Those skills which were considered essential to the Business Analyst role but more generic, i.e. it is reasonable to expect other roles and disciplines to develop those skills too.

 Skills Associated with Other Roles: Those skills which are usually core to a different role or discipline, but where some knowledge is considered useful to Business Analysts.

Once skills were identified, the groups conducted a

voting exercise to emphasise which skills they felt to

be relatively more or less important. The resulting

scores for each skill were used to create heat-mapped

T-models for Business Analyst skills.

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CONTRIBUTING BA TEAMS

The Business Analysts involved in this exercise

represented a broad range of skills, business sectors

and experience of applying Business Analysis skills and

capabilities. The majority of participants were

experienced Business Analysts in senior positions and

able to meaningfully comment on the value and types

of skills being used in their organisations.

The organisations represented included private and

public sector organisations, charities, education,

government departments and independent

contractors working in Business Analysis. A full

breakdown is provided later in this report.

WATERFALL vs AGILE EXPERIENCE

There was a broad split between Business Analysts

who had experience of working in Waterfall

environments (approximately 60% of the participants)

and those with experience in Agile environments

(approximately 40%, mainly with a Scrum

background).

A very small number of participants did not consider

themselves to work in either Waterfall or Agile

environments, but their ways of working were more

closely aligned to Agile. For the purposes of this

exercise their views have been incorporated into the

Agile results.

BA ROLE VARIATIONS

There was also a broad variation in the types of

Business Analyst roles represented in the exercise,

including IT Business Analysts (i.e. those with a closer

alliance to the technology), Systems Analysts (those

with significant technology knowledge and design

skills), Business BAs (those with a closer alliance with

their business stakeholders) and Function Leads

(those who manage BA communities of practice).

Figure 1: Example Waterfall Ideas Board

Figure 2: Example Agile Ideas Board

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THE T-SHAPE SKILLS CONCEPT

The T-shape concept was first proposed by David Guest in 1991

1 . The T-shape is described as having

two elements.

 A vertical part, representing the core, specialist experience of the individual – the capabilities and skills that make them a specialist in their field.

 A horizontal part representing the broader skills the individual possesses, which allow them to take on other roles and work with different parts of their organisation.

The T-shape concept was further developed in 2001

by Morten Hansen and Bolko von Oetinger 2 who

proposed a T-shaped management model. They

argued that the most effective company executives

had both a deep core of specialist knowledge of

organisational management (the vertical part of the

‘T) and a broader, general knowledge of their business

that allowed them to share knowledge and help other

parts of their business to become more effective (the

horizontal part of the ‘T’).

Hansen and von Oetinger also stated that managers

must exist with the tension that the two branches of

the ‘T’ shape and move effortlessly between them.

1 ‘The Hunt is on for the Renaissance Man of Computing’,

The Independent, 1991

2 ‘Introducing T-Shaped Managers: Knowledge

Management’s Next Generation’, Harvard Business Review, March 2001.

The concept of the T-shape skills profile has since

been applied to a number of roles and many

variations of the concept have been proposed.

In its current form the T-Shape model allows

individuals to consider which skills are core to their

role (the vertical branch) and which skills are general,

or from outside of their core role (the horizontal

branch). The skills on the horizontal part of the ‘T’ are

those which allow the individual to move effectively

into other roles on a temporary basis and to share

their experience more widely across the team.

Other extensions of the T-shape profile have also

been proposed including the ‘Pi-shape’ (an individual

with two deep specialisms) and the ‘Comb-shape’ (an

individual with three or more deep specialisms). This

exercise focussed on the Business Analysis specialism

only and consequently the results are presented as a

T-Shape model.

THE NEED FOR T-SHAPING

Functional specialisms, where deep pockets of

expertise focus on narrow tasks, are a significant

cause of inefficiency. Individuals may be trained and

even given tools like contracts and service catalogues

to defend the boundaries of their role. Consequently

they may refuse to do work which is outside of a

narrow remit – even if that work creates value and is

‘the right thing to do’.

In place of functional specialisms, Systems Thinking 3

promotes a focus on working on what matters and

adds value. Instead of constraining the work, it frees

individuals to do what is right. That might mean

working outside of usual processes, and even

developing skills outside of an immediate role.

The T-shaped skills model promotes a similar idea,

where individuals with broader skills are able to adapt

and deliver value in the face of a greater variety of

demands.

3 See Vanguard – Command & Control vs Systems

Principles. vanguard-method.net/library/command-and- control/control-and-control-vs-systems-principles/

Core Skills

Broader Skills

Figure 3: The T-Shape Skills Model

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EVOLUTION OF SKILLS PROFILES

The skills profile for Change professionals is constantly

evolving and numerous models for skills have been

proposed. The T-shape is a step on the path to

developing specialist skills in more than one role.

Generalists are individuals with a range of skills and

experience but no defined specialism. They tend to do

parts of all of the jobs required in change but their

experience may be high-level in all areas.

Generalists can evolve into Specialists, who have

formed a deep specialism in a change skill-set.

Specialists have built deep vertical experience, but in

a narrow field, to form an ‘I’ shaped skills profile.

Specialists are quite common in Waterfall

environments where individual roles have little

overlap and work within closely defined parameters.

As specialists start to develop broader skills, outside

of their immediate specialism, they become T-Shaped.

The demand for T-Shaped change professionals is

much greater in Agile, for example in Scrum Teams. A

Scrum team typically has between 3 and 9 people and

must contain all of the skills to perform effective

change. For this reason, the ability to spend some

time working outside of an immediate role (using skills

in the horizontal part of the ‘T’) is highly valuable.

Those who have developed two deep specialisms

might be considered to have a Pi-Shaped skills profile.

In this case they can move between two specialisms

quickly and adeptly, while possessing other skills that

allow them to spend time performing roles for which

they have a small amount of expertise.

A further evolution of the model is the Comb-Shaped 4

profile, where the individual has mastered three or

more specialist skills sets. These profiles are highly

valuable and indicative of adaptable change

professionals with a growth mindset, able to develop

and shape their skills to meet new challenges.

4 Kent Beck’s description of ‘Paint Drip People’ offers

another perspective on this concept.

COMB-SHAPED

GENERALIST

SPECIALIST

T-SHAPED

PI-SHAPED

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HOW TO USE THIS MODEL…

The ‘T’ models outlined later in this report are

designed to generate thought and discussion about

the development of Business Analysis and associated

skills in individuals and teams. They represent a snap-

shot view of the skills being utilised across a broad

range of industries and may provide a useful

comparison when considering the development of

your local BA capability.

Using this report:

 Review the skills for the method that you are working in (Agile or Waterfall) and assess whether there are any key skills missing from your personal or team profile that would be beneficial to develop.

 Start with the higher-emphasis skills on the model as these are likely to be more frequently used.

 Identify learning activities to help you achieve the desired skill level

 Identify opportunities to practice your new skills and help embed the learning

 If you are transitioning from Waterfall to Agile ways of working, consider both models. Look at the shift in emphasis for certain skills and any new skills you may wish to acquire

These models are not a replacement for industry skills

models, but can provide a useful experience-based

view that can be considered alongside formal

frameworks.

… AND WHAT TO AVOID

The models in this document are not a target for all of

the skills an individual BA should possess. They are an

aggregate picture of Business Analyst skills across

many individuals and organisations at a point in time

and not intended as a line management tool for

judging Business Analyst competence.

Each Business Analyst will have a different skill profile

that evolves over time and this document does not

propose a standard set of skills that all Business

Analysts must possess.

Finally, as these models represent a snap-shot view of

useful skills, they do not include all of the new and

emerging skills that may become prevalent in the

Business Analysis discipline in coming years.

Awareness of industry trends in analysis is a useful

overlay to both this model and existing industry skills

frameworks.

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EXPLANATION OF THE T-MODEL

DIAGRAMS

The T-model diagrams in the following sections

highlight all of the skills identified as important to

Business Analysts in the workshops. The diagrams are

split into 3 sections in this format:

 The vertical section contains the core skills and capabilities that define the BA role.

 The lower half of the horizontal bar contains the general skills that are useful to Business Analysts

 The upper half of the horizontal bar contains the skills normally associated with other roles that a BA may find useful.

Each skill on the diagram is colour-coded along a

Green to Red spectrum. This is the ‘heat map’

element of the diagram, with green skills (placed

more centrally on the diagram) representing the skills

which were considered to have greater emphasis, and

red skills (placed towards the edges of the diagram)

considered to be lower emphasis.

For accessibility and non-colour printing purposes, the

score associated with each skill has also been added

to the diagram, with scores towards 10 representing

the skills which were considered to have greater

emphasis, and scores towards -10 considered to be

lower emphasis.

A high-resolution PDF copy of each diagram

accompanies this report and is suitable for A3

printing.

C O

R E

GENERAL

OTHER ROLES

Figure 4: Structure of the T- model Diagram

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T-Model for Waterfall

Business Analysis Skills

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T-MODEL FOR WATERFALL BUSINESS ANALYSIS SKILLS

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WATERFALL MODEL BREAKDOWN: CORE BUSINESS ANALYSIS SKILLS

A summary of the core Business Analysis skills identified within Waterfall change models.

The highest emphasis core skills for Waterfall Business Analysts

include some of the basics that most Business Analysts learn during

their careers and which are covered heavily in BA training

programmes.

These include Requirements Elicitation (the activities involved in

defining requirements through interaction with stakeholders) and

Requirements Management (dealing with baselining and change

to requirements) with Business Process Modelling, Traceability,

Requirements Documentation and Requirements Validation all

scoring highly. Each of these is a traditional part of the key BA

skillset and the model reflects that position.

Also showing high emphasis are Business Analysis Techniques,

Business Analysis Planning and Requirements Prioritisation.

Non-Functional Requirements, traditionally an area of difficulty

within Business Analysis, was also given a higher score,

emphasising its importance.

Moderate scores were given to traditional Business Analysis skills

such as Functional Requirements, Functional Specifications and

Business Case development.

Use Case Modelling is a widely used analysis skill but surprisingly in

this model User Stories also features. User Stories are more

traditionally aligned to Agile methods and are a different way of

expressing what needs to be delivered by programmes of change.

This may be indicative of Agile working practices being adopted by

Waterfall projects, or perhaps a broader skillset being adopted by

Waterfall BAs.

Lower emphasis skills that were seen as part of the core skillset included Visio Software (a Microsoft tool used

widely by BAs for business process modelling). Test Case Reviews also had a low emphasis, reflecting their relative

importance against the large set of common BA skills named in this part of the model.

Two techniques for representing ideas and information graphically – Rich Pictures and Mind Mapping – also

scored at the lower end in this section.

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WATERFALL MODEL BREAKDOWN: GENERAL SKILLS

A summary of the general skills identified as valuable to Business Analysts within Waterfall change models.

The higher emphasis general skills in Waterfall are

dominated by communications and inter-personal

skills such as Stakeholder Management,

Questioning & Challenging and Facilitation, as well

as solution-oriented skills such as Critical Thinking,

Design Thinking and Problem Solving.

Highest emphasis, however, was given to

Knowledge Transfer, another inter-personal skill.

A large selection of moderate emphasis skills were

identified by the Waterfall groups, crossing areas

such as personal development (Developing Others,

Coaching & Mentoring), project skills (Feasibility

Assessment, Software Development

Methodologies and Risk Analysis) and personal

skills (Behavioural Awareness, Decision Making and

Emotional Intelligence).

Few skills with a low scores were identified in this category, however among the moderate-to-low emphasis skills

were Research & Horizon Scanning (identifying trends and predicting future change), Industry Domain

Knowledge (understanding the business domain outside of the immediate organisation) and Lean & Six Sigma

(process improvement and defect elimination techniques).

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WATERFALL MODEL BREAKDOWN: SKILLS CORE TO OTHER ROLES

A summary of the skills usually associated with other change roles that were identified as valuable to Business

Analysts within Waterfall change models.

For Waterfall BAs, lower emphasis was given to

many of the skills core to other roles. None were

given significantly high emphasis, indicating low

overall value being placed in these skills.

Knowledge of Infrastructure Operations was given

a high priority, possibly indicating that many BAs get

involved in infrastructure IT change.

Training Development (creating materials and

processes for user/customer training) also scored

highly.

A range of non-core skills were given moderate

emphasis by the groups.

These included a variety of skills associated with

typical Waterfall project roles, such as Testing and

Test Analysis skills, Project Management, Project

Planning and Service Introduction.

IT Architecture, Business Architecture and

Enterprise Architecture were also given moderate

importance.

Among the lower emphasis skills were several relating to Testing activities, including Defect Analysis, Test

Support, Test Execution and Defect Management. There is no indication why these skills had lower emphasis

than general Testing and Test Analysis skills.

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T-Model for Agile

Business Analysis Skills

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T-MODEL FOR AGILE BUSINESS ANALYSIS SKILLS

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AGILE MODEL BREAKDOWN: CORE BUSINESS ANALYSIS SKILLS

A summary of the core Business Analysis skills identified within Agile change models.

The highest emphasis core skills for Agile Business Analysts include some of the basics that most Business Analysts learn during their

careers and which are covered heavily in BA training programmes.

These include Requirements Elicitation (the activities involved in

defining requirements through interaction with stakeholders),

Functional Requirements and Non-Functional Requirements

(understanding and structuring the requirements that define new

processes, functions and performance within a system) and

Business Analysis Techniques (a series of tools and techniques

used by BAs to complete analysis tasks).

Agile-specific activities such as Backlog Prioritisation (the

structuring and ordering of User Stories to be delivered in Agile

sprints) and Epic & User Story Writing (creating and structuring

Agile requirements artefacts) also appear in the model with a

higher emphasis.

Moderate emphasis was placed on skills such as Traceability

(mapping requirements from source through to delivery). This

activity is much more inherent in Agile processes rather than being

the standalone activity it often appears as in Waterfall projects.

Data Modelling and Data Analysis are skills becoming more

prominent in digital transformation activities. Agile skills such as

Personas (creating models for customers of a system to help

better understand their behaviours and needs) also appear with

moderate emphasis.

Few of the Agile Core skills are given a particularly low emphasis, however two skills fall into the lower end of the

spectrum.

Peer Reviews (the action of reviewing colleague documentation and outputs for quality purposes) have a lower

score, perhaps because the number of formal, written outputs can be lower in Agile and quality checks are only

conducted where critical.

Organisational Design (creating team structures and defining roles) also appears with a slower score, perhaps

because the nature of smaller-scale Agile deliveries means that a focus on larger-scale changes such as re-

organisation of teams is not featured in work as often as it is in traditional Waterfall projects that deliver over

longer periods.

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AGILE MODEL BREAKDOWN: GENERAL SKILLS

A summary of the general skills identified as valuable to Business Analysts within Agile change models.

Central among the general skills for Agile Business

Analysts are an Agile Mindset (the ability to think

and work within Agile principles).

Agile Methodologies, Time Management and

Critical Thinking also feature as high-emphasis

skills, particularly important in environments

require rapid decision making and have change

delivery occurring over short repeatable sprints.

Some of the essential soft-skills such as Facilitation,

Stakeholder Management, Questioning &

Challenging, Collaboration and Negotiation also

feature strongly.

The skills with moderate emphasis contain many of

the capabilities required for successful Agile

working.

These include Prototyping (rapidly creating working

models for learning purposes), Behaviour Driven

Development (understanding desired customer

outcomes with a view to improving customer

experience and accelerating testing) and Systems

Thinking (a holistic design approach that focuses on

the interactions of the parts of a system).

While many of these techniques can equally be

applied in Waterfall, they are commonly aligned

with Agile change delivery.

Few skills appear with a low emphasis in the part of the model. Those with lower scores include Roadmaps

(longer term delivery plans for systems), which perhaps have a lower emphasis in Agile due to the frequent

changes of direction that the approach allows.

Change Management also has a lower score. Agile has Change Management built-in, as anything requiring an

urgent fix or appearing as a new requirement can generally be prioritised to appear in an iteration of the work in

a short timescale. Rather than being considered a ‘change’ it is viewed as a new piece of work in the backlog, to

be prioritised against the others. Consequently there are not the formal change processes attached to these

actions that are often seen in Waterfall.

Microsoft Office Skills feature with low scores. The adoption of Agile creates a shift away from traditional Word,

PowerPoint and Excel documents in favour of new software for capturing project information (see the higher

prominence of Jira and Confluence in this part of the model).

While important, Developing Others (setting and delivering training and upskilling) scores lower than Developing

Self (taking personal ownership for development) and Coaching and Mentoring (a less formal way of developing

others which ties in more strongly with self-development).

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AGILE MODEL BREAKDOWN: SKILLS CORE TO OTHER ROLES

A summary of the skills usually associated with other change roles that were identified as valuable to Business

Analysts within Agile change models.

No skills in this part of the model have a significantly

high emphasis. Featuring with positive scores are

User Interface / User Experience (skills to design

systems and interfaces with the best user

experience in mind).

The Agile skillset of Product Owner also appears

with a higher score. Product Owners have

responsibility for the backlog of work on

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