Barriers to Listening

There are many barriers to listening. These barriers prevent the listener from accurately interpreting the intended message. Identify your barriers and work to eliminate them. One barrier is filters. An individual’s brain processes each new piece of information through filters that have developed since childhood. You may not be aware of the filters that influence your ability to hear an intended message. Filters are based on prejudices, beliefs, values, attitudes, past experience, interests, and fears. For example, if you have had a bad experience with a person of a particular nationality, you may be predisposed to anticipate negative experiences with other people of the same nationality. Become aware of your filters. Try to determine how they were developed and how they influence your thinking. Improve your communication skills by recognizing your filters and their effect on your ability to listen. In addition, be aware that other people also have filters. Listen for these and be aware of their impact on your intended messages.

Another barrier to listening is lack of interest. When a BA is not curious or interested in learning about an SME’s business area, his or her body language and behavior will reveal the lack of interest. Lack of interest by the listener is interpreted by the speaker as a lack of interest in him or her as a person. Determine why you are not interested. Are you feeling tired? Are you distracted by unrelated problems? Do you think that you already know what the speaker is telling you? Once you determine why you are not interested, you can correct the problem. Listening is committing. Decide you will get something of value out of the conversation.

Preconceived ideas can also be a barrier to listening. Preconceived ideas and thoughts are almost always present when dealing with a familiar topic or person. The tendency is to selectively listen for what you expect to hear. You may screen out information that doesn’t meet your expectations. If you have worked in the business area being analyzed, you risk missing important information because of your preconceived ideas. Although having some previous knowledge of the business is helpful, it can also be a hindrance. You may not reconfirm specific information because you think that you already understand it. You may also fail to probe for differences between what you already know and what the SME is telling you. Keeping an open mind rather than relying on preconceived ideas is critical to eliciting requirements that are clear and complete.

Be careful not to formulate responses or follow-up questions while an SME is still talking. When you allow your mind to jump ahead to your next comment or question, you may be missing valuable information. Try to stay open and actively listen until you hear the entire thought. Paraphrase the message back to the SME to be sure you heard it all. Actively take notes on the information being provided. Once the SME has finished, take a few moments to compose your response and follow-up questions. The SME will appreciate the fact that you were focused on listening while he or she was talking.

Another barrier to listening is finishing statements for others. This will diminish an SME’s desire to continue to communicate with you. Finishing other people’s sentences is a habit that can be broken. If you become aware of this habit, work to break it by listening for periods and question marks from the SME. The SME will pause when he or she finishes a thought, and this is the opportunity for you to respond. If you have a hard time keeping silent, drink water while the SME is talking. Try to count to three once the SME has paused

Table 7.1: Phrases That Lead to Requirements
Words or Phrases	Possible Requirements Component
If . . .	Business rule
Sometimes . . .	Conditional business rule
Of course . . .	Assumption
It would be nice . . .	Unnecessary or low-priority requirement
Hopefully, envision, imagine, would like	To be solution possibilities/ideas
Existing, current	As is procedures and processes
Only when . . .	Business rule, possibly a security issue
Quickly	Performance requirements
Not	Business rule
Always, never	Mandatory business rules
When . . .	Business rule
Save, store, capture, write down	Data

to ensure that he or she has finished and allow yourself to gather your thoughts before responding. Use body language like nodding and eye contact to help the SME finish his or her thought.

Dispersed teams may amplify these communication barriers. Refer to Chapter 2 for suggestions on working with dispersed teams.