Meetings open with "reports are wrong" and "the system is hard to use"—two hours later, no action items. Business analysis meetings should reverse the order: first align definitions—which delivery date, which inventory count today; once aligned, assign actions—who changes which documents by when; log system defects in the product backlog, not in decision time. Start with systems and the meeting becomes a vendor critique; start with definitions and actions and systems learn what to fix.
Arguing numbers without shared definitions is measuring the same thing with different rulers.
Lock the Three-step Agenda
Ten minutes lock definitions (metric dictionary projection). Thirty minutes on exceptions and actions—each with an owner. Remaining time may raise systems. After the meeting, publish definition version and action list; next week review closures only.
- Definition disputes undecided in meeting go to data owners offline—no voting in the room.
- Ban personal Excel duels—project only the official screen.
- System complaints over five minutes—facilitator returns to actions.
Systems Last Is Not Ignoring IT
The XYN digital intelligence system embeds metrics beside documents to reduce definition wars. Analysis meetings still follow order: operations before features. Features then get cleaner requirements—not a basket of emotion. Short meetings mean stable definitions; long meetings mean the meeting is still the dictionary.
Send this month's one-page definitions before the next meeting. Anyone starts a parallel definition—invite them to request a dictionary change offline, not rewrite the agenda live.
