Tools and Toolkits
One of the jobs of a business analyst (BA) is to supply their client with useful information. Information that allows the client to achieve their goals. BAs do this using a combination of knowledge, experience and a ‘personal toolkit’. This ‘toolkit’ is built up through their experience and training. There are formal tools of the trade such as specific documentation methods like UML or business processes like PRINCE2. There are also informal tools that are ways of thinking about tasks that support the BA and the client in reaching their objectives.
Here are some examples of informal tool types:
- General: thinking structures, ToLoPoSoGo, 6 Hats method…
- Objectives: prioritisation methods, output definitions, understanding other people’s viewpoints…
- Organisation: lists, mindmaps, ways of sorting and prioritising, brainstorming…
- Information gathering: more lists, data gathering methods, question techniques, checklists, PESTLE analysis…
- Creativity: random word, provocation, lateral thinking…
- Decision making: networks, trees, priorities, RED model, SWOT analysis…
- Etc…
Those are just a sample of the tools that are available. A well-travelled BA will know what to do and what to deliver based on what they have done before. The ability to be able to consciously choose the right tools for a job can make a BA much more effective. The rest of this document discusses a good general tool for a BA toolkit. It can be applied to most thinking tasks and can produce very worthwhile results.
The ‘ToLoPoSoGo’ Thinking Framework
‘ToLoPoSoGo’ is a 5 stage framework developed by Edward DeBono. It provides a general structure for approaching business tasks, problems and issues. As well as being a useful standard tool, you can also use it where it may not immediately be obvious how to proceed.
Each of the stages has a 2 letter mnemonic to make the process easy to remember and apply.
You can see the diagram is drawn as a set of boxes in an ‘L’ shape.
- The vertical boxes ‘To’, ‘Lo’, and ‘Po’ are about gathering information.
- The horizontal boxes ‘So’ and ‘Go’ are about making decisions and taking action.
The purpose of the framework is to help ensure that the thinking is useful and supports action and movement.
We will now look at each stage.
1) To – Where do we want to get to?
This stage of the process is about knowing what we want from the thinking. What is the goal? For example, do we want:
- A solution to a problem
- A set of options
- A document stating the risks for the project
- A business case for a change to a system
Priorities
In order to decide the objective we may need to think about priorities:
- How should we prioritise the issue?
- Would anyone else’s priorities differ from ours and should we take that into account
- Is there something else I should put in front of this?
- Is there some part of the problem I should address first?
- Should I break the problem up?
Outputs
It is important that there is a specific output from the thinking. That we have a result at the end. For example, what should the outcome of the thinking be?
- An action plan
- A discussion document
- A simple list of things to discuss
- An agenda for a meeting
- An official project document
Examples are:
‘The purpose of our thinking is to decide on an approach to changing the ticket format. The output is an action plan for starting the change process.’
‘The purpose of our thinking is to arrive at an initial risk list for the project. The output is a risk analysis document that we will circulate and use as an agenda for part of the project meeting.’
2) Lo – What do we need to look at?
In this part of the process, we collect the information we need to consider as part of our thinking. We are getting a better ‘map’ of where we are and what we need to know.
Information Gathering
- What factors do we need to consider? (For example, think about the PESTLE analysis categories: P for Political, E for Economic, S for Social, T for Technological, L for Legal and E for Environmental.)
- What do we know?
- What do we not know?
- Who else is involved?
- What is the context? Is it a project task, an emergency, a meeting preparation, a procedural matter?
This information is usually collected as a set of lists. We can use a mindmap to organise and update the lists as we go along. A mindmap makes it very easy to jump around our set of information and review it.
3) Po – What are the possibilities?
Here we examine the possible alternatives, directions, options and solutions.
- Are there alternatives to the current process?
- How is it done elsewhere?
- Is there an alternative technology, application, piece of software?
- Are there similar processes we could learn from?
We can use any creative technique such as random words, lateral thinking, changing perspective etc.
The output of this part of the process is a set of possibilities that we can analyse to decide what we should do.
4) So – So what are we going to do?
At this stage, we decide what we need to do to achieve our objective.
We may create our output if we have enough information.
We may need to evaluate and make some decisions.
We may need to review our options
We may decide that more thought or information is required.
Again, we can use thinking tools to help with this stage of the process:
- SWOT analysis (S for Strengths, W for Weaknesses, O for Opportunities, T for Threats)
- Prioritisation
- Evaluating other people views of the options
- Evaluating the consequences of the options
- Scoring the options
Once this stage is complete then we know what we have achieved from the thinking and what the thinking will deliver.
5) Go – Go and do it
At this stage, we produce our output from the thinking process. We take action.
We have already collected relevant information, analysed it, produced the options and evaluated them to decide how to proceed.
We document our results in whatever format is appropriate and proceed to use the result of the thinking exercise.
The important point is that there is a tangible result from the thinking. We have a better view of the situation.
Time Well Spent
This tool enables a BA to approach thinking tasks in a way that ensures that their time is well spent. There is an output that the client can see and use. You can apply the structure when you are not sure how to proceed. As we have said, the minimum you will get is a better view of the situation, ‘a better map’.