How The Use Of Visual Models Will Significantly Improve The Quality Of Your Requirements

Why Should You Use Visual Models or Modelling Techniques in Business Analysis?

There are many reasons but, for business analysts, there is one compelling reason which I would like you to consider.

One of our biggest challenges is making sure we have all the requirements. Most of us have experienced that moment when we realise late in the project that there are requirements missing. This realisation might come from a conversation with a stakeholder about what they assumed they were going to get when the project delivers.

One of the biggest risks is unstated or tacit requirements. Your stakeholders don’t necessarily realise everything that they need – they make assumptions, forget things or simply don’t know that you didn’t realise something was required and forgot to check when reviewing your requirements.

Visual models are brilliant at bringing out tacit requirements

If you show a stakeholder a prototype (which looks a bit like the final solution) they will immediately tell you if any steps have been missed because it stands out like a sore thumb to them.

Show them a list of discrete, textual requirement statements and it is a lot harder to spot any gaps.

So that’s why I believe visual models are an essential part of your BA toolkit.

Of course, this is not the only reason! They are also a great asset because:

• You can communicate complex subjects with a well-crafted picture;
• They allow you to look at the problem or requirements space at different levels of detail (Business Model Canvas shows you the entire organisation; a process model shows you a process which may span many different business areas over a long period of time; a prototype shows you what one person does at one point of time with a digital device);
• People learn and understand in different ways so it is helpful to communicate the requirements in different ways.
• I find that any problem I am tackling in business analysis (or business in general) is only a day or two away from being drawn up as some sort of picture. Once I have drawn the picture then everyone understands!