“It’s Complicated, We Are Not Going to Do That" - Best Practices for Business Analysts

As a business analyst or product owner, you might have heard this phrase from your stakeholders. This phrase can come from:

• A business owner who is not willing to change one of the existing processes.

• A solution architect who is not ready to make changes to the existing system.

• A team member who is not willing to address an existing issue.

Here are several important things to recognize when working with such reactions:

1. This phrase doesn’t mean that the item in question will never be changed, improved, or discussed again. The discussion may need to be postponed, allowing time to revisit it later.

2. This phrase reflects the perception of one individual. Treat this perception with respect. It shouldn’t be ignored; instead, work on understanding the root causes behind the statement.

3. This perception is formed by the individual’s thoughts regarding the existing situation. Verify this situation or requirement with other sources of information: other stakeholders, historical records, observations, etc. Use different methods to elicit the information you need and form your perception based on facts.

4. Document the reasons behind the stakeholder's resistance and plan to follow up on this discussion. This ensures that the concern is acknowledged and can be revisited when circumstances change or additional information becomes available.

One mistake that can be made is assuming that the refusal to discuss or change something is permanent, never revisiting the issue, and then analyzing all future requirements and functionalities based on the assumption that the original request will never be fulfilled.

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