About Laura

I’m Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg and I host Bridging the Gap to help professionals start and advance their business analyst careers. I believe that good business architecture and business analysis are the cornerstone for successfully leveraging IT to drive value to organizations.

I started this blog in September 2008 after 7 years working in a variety of “bridger” roles, transitioning from QA Engineer, to Business Analyst, to Business Architect and director of an Enterprise Solutions group. I am currently an Independent Consultant, Mentor, and Author as part of Clear Spring Business Analysis, a consulting company I founded to help organizations realize their best ideas.

I am based in Denver, Colorado, where I enjoy camping and hiking in the mountains.

To get in touch, use the form on the Contact page.

Find me on various social media networks:

• Linked In Profile: I respond to all emails and connection requests.

• Twitter:  I tweet primarily about my work as a BA consultant, tips for being a bridger, building a consulting business, and blogging. Not familiar with Twitter? Read this post.

• Meetup: I attend local events to learn new things and meet new people.  Let me know if we’re attending the same event so we can meet personally.

• Facebook: Fan Bridging the Gap on Facebook to get the latest updates and participate in discussions.

Upcoming speaking engagements:

• Ongoing: “Being A BA Series — Your Career” – IIBA Call-In Show, 2nd Tuesday of each month
• September 21: “BAs Can Be Difficult People,” IIBA Denver Chapter
• September 23: “Discovering and Communicating Your Value as a Business Analyst“, BATimes Webinar
• September 28: “Becoming a Promotable Business Analyst,” BAWorld Denver
• October 5: “Advancing Your Career by Increasing Your Perceived Value, Wisconsin BADD
• October 5: “BAs Can Be Difficult People,” Wisconsin BADD

Prior speaking engagements:

• August 16: “Optimizing Your BA Job Search”, Bonus Class for Intro to BA Course
• June 17: BAs Can Be Difficult People, IIBA SE Michigan Chapter
• December 15: Panelist on IIBA Business Analyst Career Panel – The BA Career Path: Becoming, Being, Building.
• October 6: Panelist on Industry Throw Down — BA World, Denver
• October 5: BAs can be Difficult People — BA World, Denver
• September 22: Creating a Top-Notch Business Analyst Resume — IIBA Webinar
• August 30: Interviewee on independent consulting / entrepreneurism with Brian Schwartz at BoulderNET
• March 12: Reverse Engineering Testable Requirements, SQuAD semi-annual conference
• February 2009: Requirements Management Panel, SQuAD monthly meeting

And I’m active in the following organizations:

• The International Institute of Business Analysis — Product Manager of the Career Center
• IIBA–Denver Chapter — Vice President, Marketing
• TiE-Rockies – member and mentee

You can also find me writing and podcasting about business analysts across the web:

• Article on ModernAnalyst, “What is a Senior Business Analyst?“
• Interview on PMStudent, “Becoming Promotable“
• Guest blog post on PMStudent,”Does your PM job include BA work?“
• Article on Modernanalyst, “Are you results-oriented?“
• Guest blog post on PMStudent, “How not to choke your business analyst”
• Article in BATimes, Think “I” instead of “We” when talking about your Business Analyst Career
• Interview with the Business Analyst Podcast on “Becoming a Business Analyst“
• Article in IIBA(R) newsletter, Professional Networking for Business Analysts (available to IIBA members only)
• Interview with Tom Cagley, host of the Software Process and Measurement Cast
• Interview with Jama Software about Requirements Management
• Interview with Jonathan Babcock of Practical Analyst about publishing my latest ebook.
• Article in Executive Brief about How to Repurpose your Technical Staff
• Guest blog post on the Requirements Network about Determining the Perspective of a Hiring Manager
• Squidoo page on Business Analyst Careers.
• eHow article on How to Start a BA Career.
• eHow article on How to Write a Career-Changing Resume.
• eHow article on How to Start a Business Analyst Practice.
• eHow article on How to be a Contract Business Analyst.