Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Another thing to be aware of is not mixing levels of management within a
single group. Make sure that everyone in a session is at the same peer level. It
can be difficult for people to share openly if their boss and their boss's boss are
present during the session. The second-level managers do not have a problem
because their most critical report shows up every Monday morning in their
e-mail. However, it may take the business analyst all weekend to pull the data
and prepare that report for delivery.
NOTE
There are often immediate benefits to having a group of key individuals
together for this type of session. For example, one person may share a frustration
about the inability to get to a specific set of data, and another person will speak
up that such information is immediately available. Usually, there are still challen-
ges that need to be addressed, but sometimes an immediate need can be met,
even if it is in a manual fashion.
Project Team Participation
There may be multiple representatives from the project team in attendance. The
more who can participate in the process, the better. However, be sensitive to
the total number of people in the session; try not to overwhelm the interviewees
with too many team members. If the project team is large, consider taking
turns. This enables each person on the project team to have the opportunity
to learn how the sessions are conducted and hear firsthand what is being
shared. Observing other skilled interviewers is one of the best ways to develop
interviewing skills. It is also a good idea to let the interviewees know in
advance the number of team members who will be in the session, especially
for the individual interviews.
TIP
One person should be designated as the lead interviewer. One person
should be designated to take notes. All others are silent observers. This enables
the session leader to follow a complete train of thought without interruption.
Another benefit to having other team members sit in on the sessions is
the opportunity to meet these critical business participants. Someone may
have worked for years in IT without having met these important business
representatives.
Interview Tips
Other logistical details can improve the effectiveness of the interview process,
including the following:
Send out invitations, perhaps even from the executive business sponsor.
Draft a list of potential questions to initiate discussion.
