The biggest frustrations are being asked for many (sometimes unrelated) data points just in case they are needed, and being asked for them just as the campaign/big senior leadership report/product launch/deadline is due.
I’ve found scheduling a scoping session helps with building requirements but have struggled with being asked for data at the last second?
Beyond pushing back with ‘the team needs xx days notice as we have a significant backlog’. How do you encourage a culture of giving the analyst team time to create the code, review the code, test it’s doing what they think it needs to be doing?
All sounds very familiar Helen! Over the years I've tried pretty much everything in an effort to ward off those horrendous, last minute, "give me everything right now" requests.
Setting expectations that requests have to come in xx days before they are really needed takes time to bed in but has been useful.
I don't think there is any substitute for building up personal relationships with your major stakeholders though. Having a strong working dynamic, really helping them when you can and being upfront about why something can't be done right away goes a long way to getting some respect for the process and lead times necessary for good outputs.
Obviously every business still has it's assholes who will disrespect you, your team and your process whenever they feel like it but dealing with them is another matter entirely :-D
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Great post, I can definitely relate to this.
The biggest frustrations are being asked for many (sometimes unrelated) data points just in case they are needed, and being asked for them just as the campaign/big senior leadership report/product launch/deadline is due.
I’ve found scheduling a scoping session helps with building requirements but have struggled with being asked for data at the last second?
Beyond pushing back with ‘the team needs xx days notice as we have a significant backlog’. How do you encourage a culture of giving the analyst team time to create the code, review the code, test it’s doing what they think it needs to be doing?
All sounds very familiar Helen! Over the years I've tried pretty much everything in an effort to ward off those horrendous, last minute, "give me everything right now" requests.
Setting expectations that requests have to come in xx days before they are really needed takes time to bed in but has been useful.
I don't think there is any substitute for building up personal relationships with your major stakeholders though. Having a strong working dynamic, really helping them when you can and being upfront about why something can't be done right away goes a long way to getting some respect for the process and lead times necessary for good outputs.
Obviously every business still has it's assholes who will disrespect you, your team and your process whenever they feel like it but dealing with them is another matter entirely :-D