Nationality/Cultural Differences

When you are assigned to a team with members in a different country or from a different cultural background, do some research to learn about communication differences. As businesses become more global, there is universal recognition that working with people from other cultures presents unique challenges. There are many resources to help a BA get familiar with basic cultural differences. Visit Web sites or take a class to learn the basics about the country where your stakeholder resides. Find out when national or religious holidays occur, because they may affect stakeholder availability. Find out about working hour norms (e.g., if people put in overtime after work or on weekends or if working on a Sunday is completely unacceptable).

If you are able to travel to your stakeholders’ country, read travel books to learn as much as you can about the history and current issues of the country. Be prepared to meet people with the customary local greeting (i.e., a handshake or bow). The more you know about the customs and habits of your stakeholders, the faster you will build relationships and establish lines of communication. Offer to explain your customs and history as well. Working with people from other cultures is a great opportunity to learn, so allow your natural curiosity to facilitate project success while also enriching your personal experience.

Language Differences

Most global organizations standardize on one language for their internal business communications. If the BA and a stakeholder do not speak/know a common language, a translator must be employed to manage all communications. This is rare, but when necessary adds both cost and time to the business analysis process.

More often, the project team members will share a language but some team members will be more fluent than others. Those for whom English is a second language, for example, often have a smaller vocabulary than native speakers. They may also have an accent, which makes understanding them more difficult.

As early as possible, talk with each stakeholder to listen for vocabulary usage and accent. If you determine that one or more stakeholders are less fluent, plan more time for elicitation sessions and follow-up communications. If possible, exchange written communications (e.g., e-mail messages) as soon as possible to assess writing skills. Often, people who have learned a second language in school are better able to communicate in writing because pronunciations are not involved. Choose your communication techniques based on your assessment of each stakeholder. Having an agreed-upon set of terms that are used consistently (see Chapter 6 for a discussion of the glossary) will also help to make project team communications effective when there are language differences.

Using Team Collaboration Tools

A BA working with team members who are located in another geographic area will benefit greatly from using collaboration tools. Working with people at remote locations is very challenging. The more adept you can become at managing information across distances, the more successful you will be. There are many very sophisticated online collaboration tools. As with requirements tools, the tool is less important than your ability to use it to increase your team’s productivity.

Planning the use of collaboration tools is critical. Don’t just start a meeting, log into a tool, and try to start documenting requirements. Plan ahead, as you would do for all meetings and information gathering sessions. You should be able to answer the following questions before you begin a working session:

• What is the reason for the meeting?

• How many people will be involved?

• What are we trying to accomplish?

• What is the deliverable?

• How will it best be created, during the meeting or afterward?

• What type of collaboration tool is appropriate?