The world is evolving at pace – and businesses are facing more and more problems that don’t come with a standard playbook. While there are still problems with clear solutions (we still need new payroll systems and the like!), the really important problems tend to be novel – and in this space a different skillset is required.

Having worked in consultancy roles over the last decade I have been focused increasingly within this ‘novel’ space, taming the big-hairy-undefined-problems; but I have been doing this under various labels that don’t differentiate clearly the special skills required to navigate in this space. Being described as ‘the Business Analyst’ on a project is a start – but this falls short in articulating the actual role that I play in Projects and Programmes.

‘Beyond BA’ is my term for a new discipline that moves beyond the traditional Business Analysis craft – specifically focusing on working in the world of ‘highly-undefined’ and strategic problems.