Why Does a Project Need a
Project Manager and a Business Analyst?
Similarities, differences and how they work together
Barbara Carkenord,
President, B2T Training
he best way to guarantee
T success of any type of project is
to have a strong, experienced
Project Manager and a strong,
experienced Business Analyst. These two
individuals, working together from the
beginning of the project, set the stage for
success by accurately planning and clearly
defining the expected outcomes. Both
roles are necessary because they are each
responsible for a different set of tasks and
they each possess a set of skills that
complement each other.
The two roles are closely tied, but
exactly what are the similarities and
differences, and why does a project need
both? In many organizations, one
individual is being asked to play both
roles. This article discusses the importance
of assigning different individuals to each
role to ensure project success.
Why Does a Project Need a
PM and a BA?
Having both a Project Manager (PM)
and a Business Analyst (BA) is critical to
a project’s success. Each role provides
specialized capabilities that make the
difference between whether a project
succeeds or struggles. PMs and BAs each
have unique skills and knowledge areas
that, when used together, produce a high
quality product. They both want the
project to be successful and want to
satisfy their customer – the Executive
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Sponsor. They both understand the
ultimate goal of the project – to meet the
project objectives. They each work on
their own tasks within the project to
achieve these objectives. There are some
areas of a project where the PM and BA
work together or serve as a back-up for
each other. There are many other areas
where the two individuals diverge and do
very different types of tasks.
The PM is responsible for ensuring
that the product is delivered to the
customer on time and within budget.
The BA is responsible for ensuring that
the product is built according to the
requirements and is built correctly. This
difference in focus is the reason that
having both roles on the team is critical.
The product will be built correctly,
according to requirements, on time and
within budget!
Working Together
So how do the PM and BA work
together to make the project a success?
Fundamentally, the PM manages project
resources (people, money) and the BA
manages the business stakeholders. The
BA reports to the PM on his or her
progress on the tasks in the work
breakdown structure (WBS) in relation
to requirements. Usually at the beginning
of the project the PM and BA work very
closely together and often work on the
same tasks. Later as the project gets
going, they each focus on their particular
responsibilities and talk frequently to
share their progress. Excellent PMs and
BAs will work hand-in-hand to make the
E X P E R I E N C E
most of each other’s strengths.
It is the healthy tension between the
PM and the BA—the PM pushing to
move forward and the BA cautiously
wanting to gather just one more detail
before going forward—that makes the
combination so successful. They are
inter-dependent because their goals are in
conflict.
At the beginning of the project there are
areas of overlapping responsibilities such as
project scope definition, development of
the project statement of purpose, project
objectives and identification of business
The Project Manager
• Is usually the first person
assigned to the project.
• Is responsible for planning the
project and ensuring the team
follows the plan.
• Manages changes, handles
problems and keeps the project
moving.
• Manages people, money and risk.
• Is the chief communicator of
good or bad news to the Business
Sponsors and IT Management.
The Business Analyst
• Is usually assigned to the project
after it has started.
• Is responsible for bridging the
gap between the business area
and IT.
• Learns the business inside and out.
• Essentially serves as the architect
of effective business systems.
• Is viewed inconsistently across
the industry in regard to job title,
definition and responsibilities.
Page 1 of 3
 risks. A strong PM will utilize the analysis
skills of the BA to make sure that the scope
is feasible and well defined.
As requirements are gathered,
analyzed and documented by the BA, the
PM is closely involved, reviewing the
SKILLS COMPARISON - SIMILARITIES
Project Manager
• Strong communication skills
• Understanding of the SDLC
• Negotiation/consensus building
• Strong interpersonal and client
management skills
requirements and adjusting the plan as
necessary. The PM also reviews the
decisions made when the BA and
technical architect design the solution.
Typically the PM reviews all project
deliverables at a high level looking for
project adjustments and issues. The BA
reviews all project deliverables that are
related to requirements, solution design
and testing; looking in detail to make
sure that the business needs are being
addressed.
During the project both the BA and
the PM will maintain a relationship with
their “customers.” The BA is the advocate
for the business area and the PM will
report project status and work to resolve
issues. Both roles also have an ongoing
dialogue with the technical team members:
the BA working with the technical
architects to design a solution, the PM
watching the progress of the team and
adjusting the plan as decisions are made.
When One Person Performs
Both Roles
There are many projects where one
person is assigned to act as both the PM
and the BA. This is common and
probably appropriate on small projects or
when the organization is short staffed.
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Unfortunately, it is also common in
organizations where there is a lack of
understanding of the BA role and where
the expectation is that business analysis is
just another task a PM performs.
For the individual playing this dual
Business Analyst
t t t t
t t t t
• Strong communication skills
• Understanding of the SDLC
• Negotiation/consensus building
• Strong interpersonal and client
management skills
role, the challenge is to be aware of the
conflicting focus and to try to act in one
role at a time. You may find you are
having disagreements with yourself, and
it may be helpful to have a fellow PM or
BA listen to your internal debate to try
and help you make decisions. Be aware
that you probably have a preference for
one role or the other and you may find
yourself neglecting the tasks of the role
that you enjoy the least. If you prefer
doing PM work, you may miss
requirements. If you prefer doing BA
work, you may allow the schedule to slip
or forget to direct your team members.
This situation is further complicated if
SKILLS COMPARISON - DIFFERENCES
Project Manager
• Ability to see the “big picture”
for the project
• Directs the project team
• Helps people (project team)
get things done
• Ensures the product is delivered
on time, within budget
• Removes issue barriers
• Manages project change control
• Manages the Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS)
• Possesses management skills
Q U A L I T Y
you are also assigned to other project
responsibilities (i.e., you are also the
technical architect) or assigned to work
on other projects. Your project schedule,
budget and product quality may be
affected. Be sure to plan for adequate
time needed to do both jobs effectively.
If you find yourself in this situation
frequently in your organization, use your
excellent communication skills to heighten
awareness regarding the conflicting roles
to your managers. Make management
and your project team aware of your
conflicting responsibilities and challenges
associated with them. Seek help in
managing the schedule and help to
gather and document the requirements.
If possible, try to minimize involvement
on other concurrent projects. We cannot
always have the ideal situation so make the
best of what you have and communicate
the issues as clearly as possible.
Dynamic Duos
When assigning PMs and BAs to a
project, executive management should be
aware of the importance of this dynamic
duo. Their success depends on their
respective experience, knowledge and skill
sets. The results will vary depending on
the individuals selected.
Business Analyst
t
t
• Detail-oriented
t t
t t
• Listens to people (SMEs)
• Helps SMEs describe how and
why they perform tasks
t
t
• Ensures the product is built right
according to the requirements
tt
tt
• Identifies business issues
• Manages requirements change
requests
t
t
• Performs requirements-related
tasks in the WBS
t
t
• Possesses investigative skills
Page 2 of 3
E X P E R I E N C E
 If a strong PM is assigned to work
with a weak (inexperienced, unskilled or
insecure) BA, the requirements gathering
and analysis tasks may be rushed and
important requirements may be missed.
The PM will be pushing for the project to
progress and the BA will not be strong
enough to convince the PM that complete,
accurate requirements are critical to project
success. This may result in rework late in
the project when the missing requirements
are identified. Rework may result in
schedule and budget overruns.
In the opposite situation, if a weak
PM is assigned to work with a strong
“Project management is the
application of knowledge, skills,
tools, and techniques to a broad
range of activities in order to meet
the requirements of a particular
project. Project management is
comprised of five Project
Management Process Groups –
Initiating Processes, Planning
Processes, Executing Processes,
Monitoring and Controlling
Processes, and Closing Processes –
as well as nine Knowledge Areas.
These nine Knowledge Areas center
on management expertise in
Project Integration Management,
Project Scope Management, Project
Time Management, Project Cost
Management, Project Quality
Management, Project Human
Resources Management, Project
Communications Management,
Project Risk Management and
Project Procurement Management.”
A Guide to the Project Management
Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide),
- Third Edition
BA, too much time may be spent in
requirements gathering and the project
will fall behind schedule. BAs want to get
every single detail, 100% correct before
moving forward and if the PM lets the
BA try to accomplish this virtually
impossible task, the schedule will be
jeopardized. Also, if the PM does not
strictly enforce the change control
procedure, BAs may allow business
people to add more and more
requirements resulting in “scope creep”
and project delays.
Obviously, the worse case situation is
a project with a weak PM and a weak
BA. No matter how involved the subject
matter experts are, and how good the
technical team is, this project is
guaranteed to fail without strong
leadership and clear requirements.
Therefore, the best case situation is a
project with a strong PM and a strong
BA. Assuming the rest of the project
team is competent, this project will be
well run and the end product will be of
the highest quality. There is a great
balance between thorough requirements
gathering and project progress. The
project will be on schedule and meet the
expectations of the Executive Sponsor.
How to Achieve Specialized
PM and BA Roles
Professional organizations like the IIBA
and PMI are working to promote the
career progression of PM and BA roles.
Companies should recognize the
importance of each role by giving them
appropriate job titles, job descriptions,
evaluation criteria and making sure that
individuals in each role have the
appropriate skill set. Training and cross
training is important because a successful
BA understands what the PM does and
an excellent PM understands the role of
the BA.
In summary, all projects need business
analysis and project management skills.
The PM and BA roles intersect and
support each other. Some of the skills
required by these two individuals are
similar but many are different.
Cooperation results in project success. n
“Business Analysts are responsible
for identifying business needs.
The Business Analyst is
responsible for requirements
development and requirements
management. Specifically, the
Business Analyst elicits, analyzes,
validates and documents business,
organizational and/or operational
requirements. Solutions are not
predetermined by the Business
Analyst, but are driven solely by
the requirements of the business.
Solutions often include a systems
development component, but
may also consist of process
improvement or organizational
change.
The Business Analyst is a key
facilitator within an organization,
acting as a bridge between the client,
stakeholders and the solution team.
Business analysis is distinct
from financial analysis, project
management, quality assurance,
organizational development,
testing, training and documentation
development.”
IIBA.com

B2T Training has specialized in business analysis training for over 15 years. We offer Business Analyst training that focuses on proven skills and
techniques to define and scope the business problem, elicit and analyze requirements, document the requirements, model the requirements,
and follow through with the development of business requirements test plans to ensure the project has met its defined objectives.
Our training is offered nationally and on a limited international basis. Most of our classes are taught onsite and are tailored to the unique
environments of each organization. Public classes are also available in various cities around the US.
CEO, Executive VP, Sales/Marketing President VP, Business Development
Tina Joseph Barbara A. Carkenord Angie Perris

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