Racing against a Porsche: A Business Analysis Perspective on Ebola Virus Disease

Prologue

It was an early Sunday afternoon in August, and I had a meeting to attend. The Maitama-Berger highway (arguably the best motorway in Nigeria) was perfect for speeding and there were few cars on the road, but I kept resisting the thought of driving above my “personal speed limit” despite the fact that I was running behind schedule. Thankfully I had sent a text message earlier to the meeting convener that I might get to the meeting late, which helped me control the urge to speed.

As I was approaching a major intersection on the motorway, I noticed a posh sport car (I initially thought it was a Buggati) driving on the opposite side of the road but getting to my meeting on time was all I had on my mind. In less than 10 seconds, I caught a glimpse of the car (it was a Porsche 911) in my rear mirror (an average car will take at least 2-3minutes to turn at the intersection) and before I could get my eyes back to my wheel the car had overtaken me! Within a split second (and without thinking it through) I decided to see if I could overtake the Porsche, which marked the beginning of my race with this Porsche.

Introduction

In this very competitive world, it is very tough getting a news item onto the global front burner, yet in a period full of many news worthy events, very few people can afford to ignore any news on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Hundreds of lives have been lost, millions of lives have been disrupted, millions of dollars have been earmarked to combat the outbreak, many borders have been closed while many industries are destined for hard times unless a miracle happens soon. As the body bags keep piling up, with researchers and drug companies doubling their pace to find a vaccine or an antidote to this deadly disease, many critical questions are begging for answers, one of which is “Is there anything we can learn from the current EVD?”

The “how” also matters: Why the cost of having 1 visitor might be more than 2 visitors

The late Patrick Sawyer’s trip to Lagos introduced EVD into Nigeria, by that singular act, lives of millions of Nigerians have been put at risk. While on the other hand, two Americans infected with the EVD were recently flown to Atlanta, yet no American’s live was put at risk. The major difference is in “the how” -how these Ebola victims were flown to their destinations. One took a commercial flight; the rest took a specially fitted jet.

Business analysis places as much emphasize on the business process (“the how”), as the deliverable or the result (“the what”). Result is not a perfect indicator of the health of any organization or unit. Profit does not automatically mean that an organization is on the right track, but a loss might give the total picture of what is happening to the organization. The best way to gauge the health of any unit, organization, or nation is to examine their business process (how things are done).

Know Thyself: The changing concept of the world class approach

According to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK©), “the best approach is any approach that brings the best possible result considering the current condition in which the approach is being deployed“. An approach that works perfectly well for a firm in America might spell doom for a similar firm in Nigeria. The best way to know the best approach is to conduct an “Enterprise Analysis”.  Enterprise Analysis describes the business analysis activities carried out to enable an organization:

• Analyze its business situation in order to fully understand business problems and opportunities.
• Assess the capabilities of the enterprise in order to understand the change needed to meet business needs and achieve strategic goals.
• Determine the most feasible business solution approach.
• Define the solution scope and develop the business case for a proposed solution.
• Define and document business requirements (this consist of the business need, required capabilities, and solution scope and business case).

The performance of all enterprise analysis activities are governed by the business analysis plan and a properly thought out business analysis plan which produces an enterprise analysis result that paints a true picture of things to the discerning and without it we might just be treating EVD with heavy doses of salt!

Conclusion

I am sure there are a million and one lessons we can learn from the current EVD and I am hoping that at least this will compel our health authority to improve on our capability (as a nation) to deal with major health situation and see reason(s) to strengthen our ability to detect and contain “viral terrorism” at our nation’s borders.

Epilogue

Keeping up with the Porsche was a tall order for me as the car’s center of gravity is lower than mine. O two or three occasions I caught up with the car at intersections on the highway, but it took this Porsche few seconds to literally disappear. While I had to negotiate bends on the road carefully (with my leg on the brake pedal), the Porsche seemed to fly without showing its brake light. After 15 minutes (or thereabout), I admitted that it will take a Porsche engine in my car for me to drive like a Porsche. I stopped racing and went back to driving. I then realized that the awareness of my limitations must alter my preparation, the only way I can beat the Porsche to a  race would be to start racing before the Porsche driver gets out of his bed.

We may all experience the same event, but the different outcomes we get depend largely on “the how”, knowing our limitations and drawing up a good plan to mitigate our limitation.

If it’s not a Porsche, then it can’t race like a Porsche.

By Oludayo Awe