Jul
24
Extensions to the BoK
July 24, 2006 |
It’s a little early to really start worrying about what I’m going to be doing once the BA BoK is complete. I will have to one day, though–I’ve been elected to a two-year term and that will probably be extended by a year to ensure that the IIBA Executive doesn’t all turn over at once. So, I thought I’d throw out ideas here for feedback.
My first idea is to develop a Product Management extension to the BA BoK, in much the same way that PMI has done for program and portfolio management. It strikes me as a natural approach. Product Management and business analysis have a lot of overlap, but I think that product management is a little broader in scope as it has to cover marketing a solution to an external audience. A seperate extension strikes me as a reasonable compromise. Besides, since my career seems to be taking me in that direction anyway it’d be useful to me.
What do you think?
Comments
3 Comments so far
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There is a lot of overlap in the skills of BAs and Product Managers. And while both do analysis and look at ROI, needs, and opportunities, there is one very significant distinction. A BA (from what I’ve seen) is typically focused on a single client/deployment/project. A product manager is focused on the needs of a market - finding those things that are common across customers - with a goal of developing product features that have value to multiple customers.
From a skillset/toolbox standpoint, an extension to the BABOK would make sense. However, I don’t know if the benefits of the distinct strategic/philosophical difference would be reduced by building off the BABOK for product managers.
Not really an answer, but another piece of data to consider. I don’t know how I feel about it yet.
Thanks for the feedback, Scott.
I agree with you that product management requires a different viewpoint even if the skill set is similar. Any extension would have to address that to be successful.
Hi there,
In our company (IT outsourcing) we have a named role for people who find customers by technically impressing them and then do preliminary analysis. This role is: “Pre-sales Manager”. It is a bit similar to the product manager role Scott has mentioned before.
Cheers,
P