Presented at BA2105, 21-23 September, London.

1. Saboteurs - what can you do
about them?
Dr Liz Calder
Lead Business Analyst
Blue Raccoon
lizc@blueraccoon.co.uk

2. Introduction
 People and Projects
 What does a saboteur look like?
 What effect do they have?
 Why do they do it?
 Different types of saboteur
 What can you do about it?

3. What is a Saboteur?
Someone who wants to do this your project.
Make it
FAIL
Change the
Direction
Blow
it up
Undermine it

4. What is a project supposed to be?
Common Goals Business Change Bright New Future

5. But it's a bit more complicated when
people get involved...
Denial
Resistance
Exploration
Commitment

6. And it's not even that simple...
ActivePassive
Committed
Uncommitted
Players
SaboteursVictims
Spectators

7. How you can tell a Saboteur?
 By what they say
It’s never
going to
work
Yes, I know it’s
out of scope, but
the business
REALLY wants it!
Do we have
the authority
to decide
this?
It’s better if we
just have a little
chat – no need to
write things down
The head of
Department X will
be furious if we do
this!

8. How you can tell a Saboteur?
 By what they do
Avoid
Documentation
Ignore the
things they
are supposed
to do
Spend hours
working on
‘fringe’ issues
Focus on other
people’s
shortcomings
Haggle over
precise
wordings of
minutes etc.

9. Why do they do it?
 Because they care about something – just not
the same things as you.
 It could be
 Their job
 Their career
 Their position in their group
 Their expertise
 Their visibility and profile

10. Sabotage is not the same as
disagreement
Open and honest discussion, including raising
difficult issues, is good in a team
Deliberately throwing
spanners in the works, is
not…

11. Are saboteurs effective?
Yes, if you let them be – They care
• Persistency & consistency win over the majority
over time
Can you ignore them?
• Sometimes yes, on the whole – I really wouldn't
advise it.

12. Effect of Saboteurs
 When is it good?
 When it highlights something you hadn't thought of
 When it makes you clarify the message about the
need for change
 When is it bad?
 When it makes you angry
 When it has you fighting fires you never knew
existed
 When it prevents other people hearing about a
change they need to know about

13. How do they affect you, as a BA?
You think you have identified all your stakeholders
– you haven't
You think you have all your requirements – you
haven't
You think you know when you hit your ROI – you
don't
You think you can start testing – not quite yet....

14. Where is your Saboteur in the
organisation?
Inside TeamOutside Team
Seniority
I
M
P
A
C
T

15. Saboteurs I have known
 People fall into patterns of behaviour
Type
1
Type 2
Type
3
Type
4
Type 5
Type
n
Judge
Controller
Stickler
Avoider
Restless
Hyper Vigilant
Hyper Achiever
Positiveintelligence.com
Insecure Person
Lazy Worker
Personal Enemy
Evil Sceptic
Enlightened Sceptic
Techie Enthusiast
Coding.able.nu

16. Smaug
Sitting on top of its pile of treasure…
Image from http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/dec/09/brief-history-dragons-smaug-hobbit-tolkien

17. The Wicked Witch of the West
With the flying monkeys doing their bidding
“Fly my pretties, fly”
Image from http://www.animationconnection.com/view/CP-1467-my-pretties

18. The Shoemaker’s Elf
You come in, in the morning, and everything has
changed…
Image from http://filipinobook.com/the-elves-and-the-shoemaker/

19. What can you do ?
 First and, most importantly, put yourself in their
shoes
 Most people aren’t deliberately making trouble.
I feel like I am being left
behind
We’ve always done it
this way, it could be
dangerous to change
The people I am
satisfying have more
impact on my career
than the customers of
the project

20. Then you can devise a strategy!
Approach Suitable For
Ignore them.
• The easy, low effort solution!
Only really suitable for people with
low levels of influence, who are not
part of your project team.
‘Love Bomb’ them and turn them.
• It is easy to avoid dealing with
people you view as being difficult.
• Regular interactions help keep
people on board
People inside or outside the project
team, who are feeling overlooked or
out of the loop.

21. Some may require more effort
Approach Suitable For
Closely monitor them. People not doing the tasks assigned
to them and not delivering against
their commitments
Turn them
• Help them focus on how to
manage the change rather than
how to avoid it.
• Highlight where their skills and
experience add value to the work
of the team
People, inside or outside the project,
who are challenged by, or feeling
fearful of the change.

22. Others require significant effort
Approach Suitable For
Thwart them
• Don’t rely on people doing things
agreed in conversation.
• Document all agreed actions and
any decisions reached.
• Use and refer to these records
regularly
People who ‘mis-remember’ or
forget discussions.
Technical enthusiasts who are more
interested in the toys they can play
with than the delivery to the
customer
Get rid of them
• They aren’t happy, you aren’t
happy. It would be better if they
were on a project they could get
behind.
• Can require delicate and/or
difficult conversations
Senior or very influential people
inside the team.

23. Conclusion
 From time-to-time you will come across
saboteurs
 Don't ignore them and hope they'll go away
 Don’t get angry
 Try and work out why they are behaving like
they are
 Address the issue

24. Thank You
Liz Calder
Lead Business Analyst
Blue Raccoon
lizc@blueraccoon.co.uk