Article based on PMBOK 4 recommendation of project management; this article gives insight in difference between role of Project Manager and Business Analyst.
Project manager and business analyst both are important and key role for any project. Both of these role share many responsibilities so some get confused about what differentiate in their roles. Difference lies in their accountability. Project manager is accountable for successful completion of project which is measured by if objectives of project have been achieved. Business analyst is accountable for the product scope of the project which is defined correctly and delivered.
Project manager lead the team for all aspect of the project (scope, schedule, cost, quality, human resources, communication, risk and procurement and their appropriate integration) while business analyst lead the team for the product scope.
A project can survive without business analyst but it cannot without project manager, main differences are:
1. Project manager is responsible for both project and product scope while business analyst is responsible for product scope.
2. Project manager is responsible for project change management while business analyst responsible for requirement change management.
3. Project manager is responsible for project risk management while business analyst is responsible for product requirement related risk management.
4. Project manager is responsible for project communication and business analyst is responsible for requirement communication.
A business analyst serves to the project manager and plays a partner role with project manager in following areas:
1. Project definition, objectives, risk and scope for product
2. Obtain & maintain consensus on solution
3. Business, stakeholder, solution requirements
4. Estimates for BA activities
5. Management of significant number of stakeholders
Both work together with emphasis on working smart and moving fast. Project manager is focused on all the aspects of the project so there is a need who is focused only product requirements definition, management and delivery as product scope is the foundation of further project and product management. So if project manager is involved in other activities even then correct product scope definition will not be overlooked.
Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that the product is delivered to the customer on time and within budget. The Business analyst is responsible for ensuring that the product is built according to the requirements and is built correctly. This difference in focus is the reason that having both roles on the team is critical. The product will be built correctly, according to requirements, on time and within budget!
Fundamentally, the project manager manages project resources (human resources, suppliers and cost) and the business analyst manages the business stakeholders. Business Analyst reports to the project manager on his or her progress on the tasks in the work breakdown structure (WBS) in relation to requirements. Usually at the beginning of the project the Project manager and Business analyst work very closely together and often work on the same tasks.
Later as the project gets going, they each focus on their particular responsibilities and talk frequently to share their progress. Excellent project managers and Business analysts work hand-in-hand to make the most of each other.
Both roles also have an ongoing dialogue with the technical team members: the business analysts working with the technical architects to design a solution, the project manager watching the progress of the team and adjusting the plan as decisions are made.
Environment where I am working agile methodology is used and product owner and business analyst roles are shared.
Seema Sonkiya
The article looks nice on discriminating the roles of BA and PM. I have the clarity on the roles, since I have played role as BA and now as PM.
ReplyDeleteThanks Seema! I welcome your articles, those are eye-opener on many aspects and areas of IT functions.
Thanks Manighanda Raaja for such a wonderful comments!!
DeleteSeema, I have worked as both a project manager and a business analyst. I agree with most of your points regarding the different tasks each role plays, however, I disagree with the statement that a project can survive without a BA, but not a PM. I have seen projects fail horribly due to the fact that it was determined that a BA was not necessary. This was due to the analysis that the BA typically provides for assessing impact was not performed. At the same time, I have seen projects that were completed without a PM or a BA and it was completed successfully.
ReplyDeleteThe factors that should determine if the roles are necessary include:
size and complexity of the project
# of groups involved (multiple development teams, QA, infrastructure, Architecture.. etc)
If the project is small, not complex and involves only 1 group - I have seen the development manager act is the BA, PM, and QA role for the project and it went well. This assumes the development manager understands the expectations of the roles/responsibilities/tasks for each area.
If the project is a medium/large/x-tra large and/or involves multiple teams - I don't see how you cannot have both. As soon as you add moving parts, it is critical to have analytic skills to assess upstream/downstream functionality/solutions and that points to the BA. At the same time, because there are more resources to coordinate, it is essential to have a PM. In any case, if you do not have a PM or BA assigned to the project - the only way it can be successful is if another team member assumes the roles/responsibilities/tasks that the particular roles plays
I wasn't sure what was meant regarding the BA task of "Management of significant number of stakeholders".
And the only other point I feel it is important to communicate is that the assessment of the PM is responsible for the overall success of the project. I have heard that statement made time and time again and I truly believe that is a myth. My feeling is that the team as a whole is responsible for the overall success. I have seen countless articles published with regards to project failure is tightly tied to poor requirements, development needing too much detail for requirements, or missed testing (performance, regression, etc.) that QA should have performed and didn't either due to lack of time or not identify the type of testing was necessary.