AI is reshaping how we live and work. This session explores how we make thoughtful and ethical choices in the use of AI and some of the key questions that we should consider surrounding this.  

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand the risks and concerns regarding the use of AI.
• Recognise UK and EU principles, regulations and standards regarding the use of AI.

The business model canvas, developed by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur and Tim Clark supports the development of shared and holistic understanding of the components within an organisations business model.  

Key takeaways:  

At the end of the session, you will:

• Know the structure of the business model canvas.
• Understand how the business model canvas can be applied.  

Customer Journey Maps are a technique for visualising and exploring the experience of service users. They identify service touchpoints and interactions, and are used to analyse perceptions, and emotional responses across the end-to-end service journey. Poor experiences can be identified and analysed to reveal opportunities for improving the service.

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand how Customer Journey Mapping can be used to understand the experience of service users.
• Know how a Customer Journey Map is constructed.
• Understand how to identify pain-points or service enhancement opportunities.

This session is based on the doctoral research from Dr. Carlos Pullen-Ferreira. During the session we will delve into the concepts of gossip and resistance to change. Changing how organisations view and use gossip is essential when delivering organisational change.

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand the concepts of gossip and resistance to change.
• Understand why these concepts are important.
• Gain insight into Informal Networks and how can they be used.

The growth mindset is increasingly recognised as an essential trait of effective change practitioners. This session will explore how adopting a growth mindset can transform how individuals and teams tackle challenges, give feedback and approach learning.  

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand the difference between a ‘fixed’ and a ‘growth’ mindset.
• Explore real-life examples and experiences of the impact of the growth mindset.
• Understand why having a growth mindset can positively impact outcomes.

On occasion, stakeholders have opposing perspectives or priorities. Navigating these situations effectively can be challenging. This session explores examples of situations that require negotiation and will explore a selection of techniques that can be used to support navigation of these.

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Appreciate generic causes of conflict.
• Understand the difference between distributive and integrative negotiation.
• Know the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict mode technique.
• Gain tips on how to deal with conflict.

The importance of resilience in the working life of the business analyst is increasingly becoming recognised. Attendees will reflect on the challenges faced, personal learnings and traits of resilient people. Importantly, discussion will focus on the use of easily accessible approaches and strategies that can be adopted to build an effective resilience toolkit.  

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand why resilience is important
• Gain insight into practical approaches and techniques that can be used to build resilience 

This session explores smart thinking, identifying some of the thinking traps that we may fall into, offering practical advice and explaining techniques used to think smarter. Areas to be covered include:  

• Bias.
• Perception and attention.
• Fast and slow thinking.

Key takeaways:  

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand common thinking errors.
• Be able to identify practical tactics to help overcome thinking errors.

Data is more than just numbers on a spreadsheet or a report – it’s the fuel behind well informed decisions and organisational outcomes. This session will focus on why data matters and how you can build confidence in talking about and using data at work.  

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand why data is important.
• Understand basic terminology related to data.
• Understand basic terminology related to data to help build confidence in talking about data. 

Voice of the customer analysis enables situations, services and products to be viewed from the customer perspective. The ‘zone of tolerance’ technique supports voice of the customer analysis and consequently informed and customer centric decision making.  

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand the concept of ‘voice of the customer analysis’
• Gain insight into the application and use of the ‘zone of tolerance’ technique

User stories are an increasingly popular and useful technique for the definition of requirements. The definition of acceptance criteria alongside individual user stories aids with enhancing their quality and provides a foundation for both scenario analysis and testing.  

Key takeaways:

At the end of the session, you will:

• Know the relationship between user stories and acceptance criteria
• Appreciate the benefits of using the gherkin approach for the creation of acceptance criteria
• Understand the gherkin syntax for defining acceptance criteria

Value co-creation is a concept that suggests that value is ultimately determined by the customer or user of a product or service. To ensure that value is realised, we need to work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure that the solutions are used effectively and ultimately realise value expectations.  

Key takeaways:  

At the end of the session, you will:

• Understand the concept of value co-creation and why it is important
• Know the 3-step approach for value co-creation
• Gain practical tips on how to apply value co-creation to your work