By Larissa Raga

The Cape Town region hosted a Lean Coffee with a twist on Thursday, 27 February 2020.  In order to mix it up they held a Lean Ice-Cream at the Creamery in Seapoint.  Yes, you heard it first: Lean Ice-cream ☺. The venue was relaxed but the conversation was constructive.  Battle stories and lessons learnt were shared over not-your-average ice-cream, because as business analysts we don’t want to settle for average. 

The Creamery’s focus is on the quality of ingredients and they put a lot of care and thought into making something delicious that people can enjoy.  In the same way we as business analysts put a lot of care and thought into the products that we deliver.  Here are other qualities that business analysts and The Creamery share (extracts taken from The Creamery blog):

• Responsible for figuring out just how to capture flavours (requirements).
• We’re proud of the product we’re creating.
• Allows for a lot of input and individuality when you’re making suggestions.
• Training is important.
• Giving customers the best experience.
• Being pragmatic and a problem-solver.
• Strength, resilience, and discipline.
• It’s a skill and all skills must be learned and developed.
• You need to be precise in order to make a good coffee (deliver a good product).
• There isn’t a lot of room for error.
• Balance out the flavours (requirements).

One of our first time Lean Coffee attendees and new volunteer, Tebogo, had the following to say about the event:  "I had a great experience and saw the opportunity for growth and plan to reach our target market if we challenge a new person that joins our Lean Coffees to bring a friend to the next one."

It was encouraging to see a number of new faces attending the event and we are hopeful that the IIBA® will become a home for many of these business analysts.  Just as The Creamery is the home of quality homemade ice-cream, the IIBA® is the home for quality business analysts.