Being a Value-Focused Business Analyst

• To understand the context of value and value management – a frequently missing connection.
• To understand how approaches to pursuing value have evolved over several decades.
• To learn where BAs fit in project and product environments, including Agile ways of working.
• To understand the unique role and opportunity for BAs in strengthening organizational alignment.
• To learn how to define value in the context of BA work.
• To learn how AH Consulting's engagement process uses BA practices and artifacts to make value and alignment tangible.

Hartley, also known as the "hat lady," began her professional journey as a pioneering woman in technology, starting as a programmer in the mid-1970s. Over the next 20 years, she worked with commercial software companies – from startups to established businesses – leading people, shaping methodologies, and connecting technology capabilities to business needs.

In 1997, Anne founded AH Consulting to bridge business and technology. Her work has evolved around a consistent purpose: helping leaders and teams create the clarity and alignment needed to solve problems and deliver meaningful value.

Today, that work is grounded in Unified Value Management™ – connecting how value is defined, delivered, and realized. Through Frameworks for Success™, she helps leaders and teams co-create a tangible, shared definition of what needs to exist, how it should work, and the outcomes it should enable – whether the focus is an operating model, a product, a service, or an organizational capability.

That perspective is at the heart of "Being a Value-Focused Business Analyst": looking beyond requirements and deliverables to clarify purpose, connect the work to customer and business outcomes, and help ensure that what gets created delivers value.

Anne's Favorite Business Analysis Technique:

Visual modeling – especially mind maps, RACI models, workflow/process maps, SIPOC, and context diagrams. I like techniques that make the big picture visible and create structured, tangible artifacts that people can use to build shared understanding.

Anne's Favorite Local Restaurant:

Merritt's Grill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is a definite favorite – perhaps the best BLT on the planet! My husband and I go there often for BLT lunches and the relaxed atmosphere.

Anne's Fun Fact (Not related to Job/Profession):

I have a wall of hats! Hats are purposeful, make life interesting, and seem to uplift others. You can never have too many, although I do have a couple of seasonal favorites. They're my protective roof – rain or shine!