Against Alleged Goal Conflicts

Scott Sehlhorst, over at the Tyner Blain blog, published an article arguing that Business Analysts must remain aware of goal conflicts between actors in order to choose which actor's goals will be supported, over  against the other, within solution design.

Promoting goal conflict into the solution design is exactly the wrong course of action

It is the role of the Business Analyst to surface apparent goal conflicts. But instead of transferring those goal conflicts into the solution design, an excellent Business Analyst will seek to resolve the apparent goal conflicts.

Eli Goldratt argues that all conflicts within a system are a result of mistaken assumptions. The Logical Thinking Process in general, and the Conflict Cloud tool, in specific, provide Business Analysts a tool for understanding the apparent conflict at a much deeper level, in order to resolve it.

Any promotion of apparent conflict into solution design is the result of a lack of imagination, lazy analysis, or myopic thinking.

Sehlhorst's Vending Machine Example

I strongly suspect Sehlhorst's Vending Machine example is fallacious. He assumes that customer utility looks like this:

Most desired soft drink > Water > All other soft drinks

Settling this particular point would require customer data, however, my experience is that when I want a soft drink, I'm wanting to drink a soft drink, NOT WATER.

Leaving that aside, he also fails to examine related supply chain assumptions, such as the effect on profitability and customer satisfaction from implementing technology and process that ensure lines of soft drink are always available. For example, implementing technology whereby each vending machine phones home once per day with counts of sales and remaining stock levels, together with a modified procedure for scheduling deliveries, top-ups and stocking levels, could very well evaporate the apparent conflict.

The AT&T / Optus iPhone Tethering Example

Sehlhorst then raises the decidedly more complex example of AT&T considering charging a fee for tethering over and above the fee for the data plan. This is topical in Australia as well as in the USA, as Australia's Optus is reportedly considering the same ploy.

In Australia, the iPhone is available from three of the four major carriers, and will be available from all of them in July 2009. At the launch of the iPhone 3G in Australia, Optus offered the lowest rates and the best financial deal for its customers. As a result, it gained the leading share of iPhone customers in Australia.

Unfortunately for Optus and its customers (including yours truly), Optus failed to invest sufficiently in its 3G data network, causing the Optus network to be the world's slowest iPhone 3G service.

Now Optus is reportedly considering adding the tethering charge to discourage greater use of its data plans.

Sehlhorst considers a couple of parameters that may be positively affected by AT&T's reported consideration of this charge. But the apparent conflict in goals between the companies and their customers have emerged due to myopic, short-term thinking by AT&T and Optus. Their executives have failed to fully appreciate long-term brand and customer value.

Optus gained my entire family as a customers in mid-2008 purely because of their iPhone offering. The incredibly poor download speed, the gaps in 3G coverage, the pricing of additional monthly data packs above the level at which data packs are sold to purchasers of 3G cards, and now the possibility of this gouging of its customers for tethering access, have eliminated any chance Optus will retain me and my family when our iPhone contract finishes in 2010.

Vodafone Australia have impressed me by offering network speed at least double Optus', charging data on the iPhone at the same pricing level as data on 3G cards, and offering tethering at no additional cost.

I would strongly suspect Optus is lowering their long-term outlook through this sort of myopic behaviour.

When should Business Analysts translate goal conflicts into solution design?

An excellent Business Analyst's priorities will be to:

1. Surface apparent conflicts.
2. Analyse the apparent conflicts for resolution strategies.
3. If BA analysis alone cannot identify the resolution, seek out additional information and perspectives within the organisation. A facilitated session could well be useful here.
4. Present multiple resolution strategies to management prior to committing to a solution design.

The only time a Business Analyst should translate an apparent conflict into a solution design is when an organisation's management itself is myopic enough to be committed to organisational inertia.

There is no such thing as a conflict within a system, merely mistaken assumptions. --- Eli Goldratt

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Pierre Hardy’s shoes – Are You Prepared to Wear
What would you say at the first sight of seeing this picture? Will you ask if many shoes were abandon in a construction field? I think so in my first sight, too. But in fact, it was not a construction field. It was a fashion label boutique. Saying that you might know whose boutique it was because it was with such distinguished styles. Yes, it was Pierre Hardy’s boutique.
Pierre Hardy was born and raised in Paris. He studied dancing while majored in fine arts in Ecole Normale Supérieure. From 1983 to 1990, he taught in The Theater School, Rue Blanche. In 1985, he worked as an illustrator for magazines. From 1987 to 1990, he worked as designer in Christian Dior and Hermes. In Dior, he designed women shoes collections and men’s shoes in Hermes.
In 1999, he established his own fashion label and named it after his own name. At the same year, he released his first Women’s shoes collection for the spring and summer. In 2002, he started his men shoes’ line and bag collection. And last year he was employed as the Creative Director of fine Jewellery division while running his own label. So until now, the main designs of Pierre Hardy were shoes and handbags.
He recently released his collection for the coming 2011 season. For every season’s collection, Pierre would create an image as reflection of the collaboration with M/M Paris. Next is the image of 2011 summer.
Image of 2011 Summer

I really do not understand what the Images mean. Let’s look at his shoes for 2011 summer, we may know a little about the meanings.
Men’s Shoes

Women’s Shoes

The styles of these shoes are very special, no matter the shapes or the match of colors. The lines of the shoes do not seem to be very smooth but a little hard-shelled. That was Pierre Hardy’s styles. It seems to be constructing a building while designing a pair of shoes. The style was different and cool. Are you prepared to wear a pair of shoes like these?