2 mindsets
The two foundational mindsets for success as a Business Analyst and Product Manager
Time and again, we’ve heard this term mindset in the context of business analysis and product management.
“Business Analysis is a mindset”. “Product Management is a mindset”, we’ve all heard this.
But, what exactly is mindset?
Cambridge dictionary defines mindset as a person’s way of thinking and their opinions.
Truly so, Business Analysis and Product Management are both a way of thinking. Are they not?
There’s a science part to BA and PM — a step by step, structured approach to business analysis and product management.
And there’s an art part — where you get to bring your individuality and creativity in how you execute the said approach.
Two Scenarios
One — imagine this problem.
I imagine this is a problem in most cities in India.
For instance, in Bangalore, when you drive at night, you’d definitely have faced (or caused 😉) the menacing high beams problem
Almost everyone drives with their high beams turned on. The lights are so bright that they can pierce holes into your retinas.
Does this problem exist in your city? Let me know in the comments.
What would you do in such a situation? How would you solve this problem?
Well, if you are like me, you would drive around initially ignoring the lights for some time. And then, you roll down your windows to gently tell, implore and beg other car drivers to turn off their high beams. Later, you escalate. You raise your voice to order them. Finally, and this always happens to me, you scream at and threaten them.
Does this solve the problem? Absolutely not.
How would you really solve this problem?
Pause a bit here, and think about it. How would you solve this problem? Maybe jot down your solutions in the comments.
Done?
Okay. Now, how would a business analyst or a product manager solve this problem?
Herein lies the first mindset: Never jump to any solution without fully and deeply understanding the problem.
A BA/PM would first ask the question WHY.
Why do people turn on their high beams?
- In the city, where there are enough and more street lights, why do they need high beams?
- In a city that is so globally infamous for terrible, bumper to bumper traffic, why does one need high beam?
- In a city, where the average speed of traffic is a pathetic 18 kmph, why would anyone need high beams?
All the solutions you jotted down earlier may work or may be not. You can’t be sure. Because, there is no solving this problem without getting to its root causes.
And to get to the root causes, you must talk to the stakeholders — drivers of vehicles on high beams, drivers of vehicles not on high beam, police who control traffic, pedestrians, experts on this subject. You may need to observe behaviour, classify drivers in some way, study research done in the past.
It’s not easy. It is hard work.
Maybe that is why people take the easy way out: They jump to a solution that ends up being knee-jerk reaction. Like this premier Indian educational institution’s solution to another serious problem. 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Any solution that does not address the root causes is not a solution. So,
Mindset #1 — what appears at the surface is a symptom. Never solve for a symptom. Always look for the root causes. Solve for the root causes.
Two — here’s another.
Metro trains have come to become a lifeline in many cities. New Delhi got its Metro network in 2002, and ever since, it has continuously grown its tentacles beyond the National Capital Region (NCR).
Given the population of India, it is anyone’s guess how crowded Metro stations can get, especially during peak hours. In spite of all the ticketing facilities to reduce delays at the station, there was one acute bottleneck area in almost all the Metro stations — the entry gates, where passengers have to ‘touch’ their smart cards or tokens to open the gate flap and gain entry.
The problem: During the peak hours, it was observed that every entry gate would routinely have very long lines.
The problem solving process: DMRC, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, commissioned a study to determine the best course of action to solve this long lines problem. They observed passenger behaviour across several stations. They did small experiments like increasing the number of gates and observed the results.
The solution: At the end of the process, the study recommended a revolutionary solution: open AFC gate system.
In the open gate Auto Fare Collection (AFC) system, the UX for passengers almost remains the same with an important twist. The gate flap remains open…always. The passenger ‘touch’ their token/smart card as usual, and if it is valid, the passenger simply walks through. The gate closes only in case of an invalid token or tailgating.
That’s it. That simple.
The open AFC system^^ was implemented in stages starting 2017.
Apart from almost doubling the throughput of the gates and halving the line length, this solution brought along many additional advantages: maintenance costs on the gates plummeted with an increase in Customer Satisfaction (because passengers felt a sense of trust in them by DMRC) to name a couple.
Can one copy-paste this solution?
Now, here comes the tricky part about mindset.
What if NYC or Paris or London copy-pastes this solution? Surely the problem of long lines exist even here. The root causes also may be very similar.
Could the open gate solution work in these cities too? May be or may be not.
I wager it might not, because of rampant jumpers (people jumping the gates to avoid buying tickets).
Delhi had factored jumper-prevention mechanisms already into their design of the stations (human security at the gates, which is quite inexpensive in India) from the beginning. That didn’t change in the new Open AFC gate system.
So, here is my point about mindset #2
Mindset #2 — no matter how similar the symptoms are, or even the root causes, the solution that works in one context may not work in another.
Why? Because the circumstances may be different. The stakeholder personas may be different.
Summary
In summary, the two mindsets for Business Analysts and Product Managers are:
- Never jump to any solution before nailing the root causes of a problem.
- Never blindly copy-paste a solution no matter how similar the root causes.
^^ Is the Open AFC System still operational in Delhi? I couldn’t find any evidence to the contrary. Please add your comments if you know something.
