Appreciation of effort motivates stakeholders to overcome obstacles and fit a solution to their organization’s needs.

Business analysts appreciate the time, energy, and attention stakeholders put into discovering their organization’s needs and ensuring solutions meet those needs. Likewise, stakeholders appreciate solutions that meet or exceed their organization’s needs.

Click a title to see excerpts

Recognize Value with Appreciation (Key Story)

Recognize Value with Appreciation excerpts:

• Emily acknowledges Katherine's appreciation. She felt like she could share her concerns. "What if the problems I pointed out to the team cost us the deal?"
• The project manager continued, "Our review found that your competitors had technical problems that they either minimized or did not disclose at all. We need a partner we can trust, and appreciate Emily's direct honesty, as well as her impressive technical skills. We will unanimously recommend your technology to our executive task force." Emily looked astonished. Katherine shook her hand and held it to show her appreciation. Katherine expressed her gratitude to the team. "We look forward to a productive partnership," she said. Katherine and Emily's company won the business and began a great relationship with their new customer.
• Show appreciation for efforts that overcome obstacles and resistance to reach goals.

Develop Trust While Developing a Solution

Develop Trust While Developing a Solution excerpts:

• Now Emily is meeting the team to hold a retrospective for the prototype project, where they will review what went well and what they could improve for the next project. The Project Manager leads the meeting, expressing appreciation for delivering the prototype and showing specific cases where the team overcame difficult challenges. The Project Manager regrets missing the original deadline, pointing out that the prototype was not viable by then. He emphasizes they realized that only because Emily delivered the news of technical problems before the original deadline. He expresses appreciation for Emily's honest assertiveness on behalf of the team.
• The senior executive in the meeting congratulates the team on delivering the prototype. She expresses her appreciation for their extra efforts to make it happen, sharing stories of those who went above and beyond what was expected. She turns to Emily and says, "Emily you have gone beyond making the prototype successful. You earned our respect and more importantly, our trust. You always came through for us, even alerting us to problems we didn't want to recognize. In the rare case where you didn't have an answer to our questions, you found the answer and made sure we got it. You were always honest with us. We feel like you're truly part of our team, as committed to our success as those who work here. Thank you so much, Emily!" Emily thanked the executive. She had never felt so appreciated.

Gathering Intelligence for Discovery

Gathering Intelligence for Discovery excerpt:

• The more George works with you, the more engaged he becomes with Marketing Cloud. He recognizes the value his experience brings to the new solution. You express appreciation for all his help. He looks forward to working with you through discovery and implementation.

Discovering the Details, Step by Step

Discovering the Details, Step by Step excerpt:

• While acknowledging their appreciation, another case occurs to you. If the guest’s phone does not unlock the room, the app should call maintenance, or anyone who can open the door. You clarify how to handle it with these steps:

Dealing with Stakeholder Conflict

Dealing with Stakeholder Conflict excerpt:

• The customer service VP requests a meeting with the account manager. She wants to increase the scope of the project to offer a high-quality, consistent customer service experience for their customers around the world. She joins the regional managers in appreciation of your efforts toward realizing that vision.

Developing Firm Skills

Developing Firm Skills excerpt:

• There Must Be a Better Way
  • A team member whispers to the manager how Purposeful Architects seems too good to be true. The manager acknowledges the comment and turns to the representative. She asks the representative about tracking sophisticated metrics, such as a donor’s capacity and inclination to increase donations. The representative asks how they would get the data for the metrics while clarifying the terms. The manager answers her questions as much as she can. The representative offers some approaches while stressing the need to fill gaps in understanding. The team expresses their appreciation for Purposeful Architects’ preparation, attention, and demonstration of what they offer.