Recycled Bullsh-IT

If I said Mentalist to you, I expect you would either think of a mind reader of the Derren Brown ilk, the TV series of that name, or what Alan Partridge called his stalker… In fact, you would probably take it as an insult to be thought of as a Mentalist as none of the images is particularly comfortable; they all imply a voyeuristic tendency.

The reason I bring this up is that there has always been a fascination with trying to guess what is going on the minds of the people in front of you. This is particularly apt when you are trying to square the Product Owner’s fantasy behind you with the users’ reality in front of you.

Most people do things the way they do because that is how they have always done them. Typically, they have many irritations and frustrations, usually caused by poor management and crap technology. So, when you come along to understand and document their requirements, you will sit in bewilderment as the Product Owner and users describe their conflicting needs leaving you with a Drunkard’s Walk of a task/case/epic/saga.

You start panicking as you realise how difficult making sense of it all is going to be. And any hope of modelling a usable story is in tatters, as you try desperately to remember what “good” looks like while you are rapidly losing the will to live.

However, it needn’t be like this. Good business analysts are effective at empathising with their victims (sorry, users) to understand why people behave the way they do. Top class analysts can use a variety of observational skills to identify the roots of the behaviour and are able to work out what their users are thinking. They scrutinise the individuals, their desks, the working environment, the colleagues in the office, the interactions with their managers and other staff either side of the process step they deliver. They listen to the words used, the tone of voice when describing specific pains, and examine the subconscious body language that tells you the state of mind behind their conversation.

If you can do all this, you are in the Mentalist category, to be respected by the impressed management, and feared by the superstitious staff who will truly believe that you can read their minds. Ruling out psychic powers, you can acquire these impressive skills either through improving your attention to detail or getting trained in the specific portfolio of observational & communication techniques that are required.

Those wishing to taste the dark side can enrol on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) courses, where you will learn the sinister arts of verbal and non-verbal manipulation. But beware! You will never be the same again and may wish to become a sales exec or lobbyist…

John “You Are In My Power” Moe