What’s Next for Jimmy: From Business Analysis to Outcomes Engineering

As part of redoing my website I had to re-read all my articles to make sure that the content was migrated correctly, to clean up any errors, and generally just to check that I still stand by the content. All of them.

I decided to do it. My theory was that I must have gotten better at writing over time, so the later articles presumably would have fewer errors and issues. I figured that as my enthusiasm for the editing project waned, I would be getting to more recent articles which needed a lighter touch. But this is beside the point.

Re-reading everything I’ve written, from start to end, was fascinating.

With fresh eyes I could see how all the bits fit together into one kind of lumpy thing. Points are reiterated in different ways throughout the articles, and there’s far more of an overarching plot than I had realised.

It all started with me asking: Hey, Business Analysts — where are you?

The Missing Business Analysts: Why BAs Are Rarely Seen At The Top is the very first article I wrote when I started Jimmy. I know it isn’t the first published, but it was the first one written. And because it was the first, I recall spending a simply stupid amount of time on it. I agonised over the writing, the tone, the content, the conclusion, and the supporting images. Everything. It is objectively some of my poorer writing (sorry about that), but there’s more heart and soul in that one article than many others combined.

Because it wasn’t just an article, it was a mission statement. I wanted to acknowledge the problem that I saw — that business analysis wasn’t valued or understood — and quietly to promote my version of a future where business analysis (and the Business Analyst) adds the value that I know it can.

Since then, pretty much all of my writing has been in service to this mission: Finding better ways to do business analysis by doing it, and helping others to do it too.

I also wanted to write about my own experiences because there is a huge delta between what I read about online, and what I experience day-to-day. I can only assume that there’s a ton of Business Analysts out there all using SWOT daily and happily rummaging through theirBABOK, but that isn’t me or any of the Business Analysts with whom I work.

I know we do good work, so why aren’t there any stories about us?

The narrative online felt incomplete to me. I remember feeling worried that I was actually doing everything wrong because my reality didn’t match the reality I read about. I didn’t want anyone else feeling that.

And that’s pretty much all Jimmy was ever envisioned to be: a vehicle for an alternative viewpoint in amidst the noise.

Until now.

If the missing analysts article asked, Why aren’t we valued at the top?, then It’s not you it’s me concludes my quest, a conclusion summarised as: Oh, right, yeah. This is why.

I’ve decided: I’m promoting the wrong thing. I’m solving the wrong problem. I’m flogging a dead horse. All of this is for nought. The mission is dead.

So what’s next?

But first, and if you’ll indulge me, I want to outline my rationale for turning the page.

I’m not sure that you have noticed, but things around us are accelerating. War. Genocide. The rise of the idiot billionaire. Oh, and also, AI, machine learning, the gig economy, SaaS, a complete rewrite of where the commodity and bespoke lines exist on a Wardley map, etc. What you would build only five years ago, you’d buy off the shelf today (and have options). That’s true for most internal business products.

This means that it isn’t just the role that has changed, but business analysis itself. How you do analysis for SaaS products is different from how you do it for a bespoke build. You calculate total cost of ownership on fundamentally different numbers. And the delta between what is promoted by what is ostensibly our professional body (the IIBA) and what is needed is now so vast that even the brains behind the BABOK are directly calling it out.

Which is kind of a relief because it means I can say it publicly, too. What is needed now is not what was needed then.

The thing about creating a standard is you have created a standard. Standards have inertia. Kevin Brennan calling out the IIBA for not having evolved the BABOK caused a card carrying member of the IIBA to say:

That’s an amazing statement. I sat with it for a while. No doubt? Really? None at all? Zero? Not even a tiny smidge? Hell, I barely reserve that kind of unconditional belief for my partner, let alone a body of knowledge!

It’s also just patently absurd. It has been ten years. In that time we’ve seen the rise of AI. We’ve seen product peak (and start to wane if you want my reckons on the topic). SAFe happened. Salesforce happened. Gosh, Trump happened. You’re saying nothing could be tweaked? Seriously?

That’s the problem with the IIBA — and in fact with any professional body that focuses on certs. To work, it needs to create a kind of religion. It needs to certify experts in the religion. It needs an inner circle. It must have evangelicals to sell it. The rest of us stand outside the church and exchange meaningful glances (and occasionally roll our eyes).

Unless you create and welcome discourse, you create an exclusive club, and it’s difficult not to adopt a conservative mindset. But as a result, things freeze up, get set in concrete. You circle the wagons. Hold a defensive position. Change steadily slows to a stop.

Even if I’m frustrated by the current state of affairs, positioning myself in opposition to someone or something is a dumb idea. Working against is it’s own kind of defensive position. How can I improve if I’m always looking backwards?

And no, this isn’t a self-indulgent and roundabout way for me to tell you that I’m closing my laptop and calling time on everything. Quite the opposite! I’m jumping out of the pond and calling bullshit on this: Bullshit on business analysis being the solution and bullshit on promoting Business Analysts as the answer.

All answers are contextual, and there is a plethora of them.

I don’t want smaller and smaller roles. I don’t want to become a PO (eye roll). I want a different future. And I sort of suspect that you do, too.

So instead of giving up, I’m doubling down. So what if I’m not a real Business Analyst? What’s to stop me from changing the label on the tin?

Titles are tricky. When they work, they signpost what you do and make it easy for people to understand what your scope is, and the perspective you bring. When they don’t work, then they hem you in and encourage people to put you into a box. Yes, most of my background is in the business analysis space, but as I’ve outlined above, business analysis comes with baggage. The title has become a cage.

But that didn’t stop me panicking after realising that the BA title no longer fit.

I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but I’ve done a lot of writing on business analysis. So, without that label, what was all of this? gestures widely But once the panic subsided, I found it quite eye-opening. And fun. And freeing!

I didn’t realise that I was being cramped by the box. Neither had I noticed how the declining respect for the role was limiting me.

So, when a member of my team joked last week that I wasn’t a real Business Analyst (because I was failing to decipher the gist of a security audit question that had circular logic), I didn’t stress. I didn't stress because I know that organisations still need internal consultant roles: people who get stuff done and who can navigate the complexity while facilitating good decision-making.

I’ve attributed a lot of responsibility to IIBA here, and then threw some shade. But if you’re claiming to be the body for business analysis professionals, then I think you should be up for it.

But I don’t really believe that the IIBA — even if they issued more up-to-date definitions and standards — is the answer. As the rate of change accelerates, we need more nimble approaches, more conversation, and more community.

In New Zealand, Sophie Chen started answering questions about her transition to a BA career. Her desire to help others achieve what she had done spurred her to start a group, BA Career. In just a couple of years she and a crew of volunteers have built a brand, a mission, and a service that helps people to engage with the business analysis profession. They’ve built a community.

Now, Sophie didn’t need permission to do so. She didn’t need endorsement. She doesn’t need to align to some arbitrary standard. She is helping people and providing something that they wanted and/or needed, so they turn up to her events. That’s product-market-fit right there. And it’s not just Sophie! In Otautahi, Vaughan has been successfully running a BA community for several years.

When we outsource our thinking to an industry body, we lose ownership. When we sit around and wait for someone else somewhere else to solve our problem, then we lose agency.

For myself, I want to be the best Outcomes Engineer that I can be. I want to deliver great things for my clients. I want to do the best possible business analysis that I can and to help others to do the same. Sharing, talking, debating, nattering, writing — that’s what this has all been in service of. I see myself as part of the wide collective of people who do these complex middle-person type roles, who glue stuff together and keep things moving, who see past the work breakdown to the value.

In my head, the answer isn’t a new or competing body or an updated standard. It’s a better, more open, more diverse conversation about how stuff gets done. It’s everyone sharing what worked and what didn’t. It is us — the collective — learning from each other and pushing ourselves to do better, be better. If I imagine great, then I imagine an open source model for a standard, driven by the community.

That’s the world I want to be a part of. And that’s why I’ll write another article next month on something nerdy. Because that’s what I want Jimmy to contribute to.

I hope you’ll be there to read it.

At the risk of ending on a dramatic, somewhat revolutionary note, I was reminded of this great quote today, from one of my favourite authors and from my favourite of her books, The Dispossessed:

So … I’m Hannah and I’m an Outcomes Engineer. I’m also the founder of and author behind Jimmy. And now that we have that sorted, How can I help?