I’ve always been a big proponent of relationships and relationship building as the number one factor, at least in my view, for a successful analyst. They are critical to the work we do and require a significant amount of time and attention to finesse and hone. In my travels away from Bridging the Gap, I [...]
About DougGtheBA
Doug Goldberg is a Senior Business Analyst in the Dallas, TX, USA market. He has 15 years experience as an analyst in application development for financial, health care and technology companies. He has also programmed Java/J2EE for a period of time.
Additionally, Doug is an avid business analyst mentor both online and in-person, a facilitator for CBAP study groups, an active guest blogger, and the current VP of Professional Development for the Dallas Chapter of the IIBA.
Dipping My Toes in Ice Water: a Story of Perseverance
I wanted to share a personal story with each of you. Some of you already know it; some of you will be told anew. The reason I’m sharing it is that I am aware that many of you struggle to figure out what to do to get ahead in your careers as aspiring or experienced [...]
Help a BA! How Do I Market Myself as a Contractor?!
One of our older posts to Help a BA!! had our reader asking the following… I started off as an IT BA putting together functional specifications and detailing user-interface screens. Later, moving companies, I worked as a Business BA undertaking requirements facilitation, BPMN process mapping as-is, to-be, covering Lean/Six Sigma practice. I then moved into [...]
Are You Suffering from 9-5 Apathy?
Greetings fellow BAs. As you know, I’ve written before about how you are in control of your own career, progress, destiny, whether you wear matching shoes to work, etc. I’ve been thinking for a while about a new blog post and keep coming back to this topic, but don’t want to rehash the same ole’ [...]
Why Terminology is Important
We ask the questions that people having been avoiding for years while they were trying to look smart. I read an article today from our respected colleague, Yaaqub Mohamed about the importance of data analysis as part of a good analyst’s tool belt. Well that is not exactly how he put it, but you get [...]
Help a BA! Is there a place for business analysis in a non-profit organization?
Reader question: My past 25 years of work experience has been in the not-for-profit sector, in both program work as well as various IT roles. A part of this work that I have enjoyed very much is when I have had the opportunity to help the organization I was working for to improve its processes [...]
Help a BA! Should I Move from Process Improvement to Business Analysis?
Reader Question: I was a project manager for 25 years, but for the past 4 years I have been involved in software QA and Process Improvement as a consultant for CMMI and other standards. I’ve been giving serious thought to moving towards a BA emphasis in my career, returning to earlier roots as a systems [...]
Help a BA! How Do I Propose a Business Analyst Role in My Firm?
Reader question: I work for a software firm similar to Bloomberg that develops and sells financial analysis software. I am product specialist and consultant hybrid. I do several tasks similar to that of a Business Analyst (BA) but we are not BAs since we only support the product and not help build the product. After [...]
You don’t have to give up your day job to influence how BAs are perceived
To set the stage for this post, I want to say that I volunteer on the Board of Directors for the Dallas IIBA Local Chapter. As the new year has started, I find myself wondering what I can do to better reach out to get members excited enough about their profession to enjoy coming to [...]
Help a BA! What can a BA in the Print Media World do?
A reader writes in…. I am a software designer with 2 yrs experience in developing web based applications for a large software house. I am looking to further my career in Business Analysis. I have a keen interest in print media as well. Business Analyst have a very important part to play in IT but [...]
Help a BA! How do you resource balance business analysts and project managers?
Reader question: A co-worker (BA) and I (another BA) have been asked by our CIO to provide a ‘best practice’ or recommended ratio of Business Analysts to Project Managers. We currently have 7 BAs and 17 PMs which seems skewed, but none of us know what a better ratio should be. Have you done any [...]
Help a BA! Design and requirements? Pshaw!
Reader question: There is an ongoing debate over elements in a requirements document that could also be considered design. For example, screen mock-ups, file layouts and content. Which belong in a requirement document and which don’t? Doug’s answer: The reader is correct in stating that this is in an ongoing debate and I’m going to [...]
Web 2.0, Enterprise 3.0….Brain 0.1….What is all this stuff?
As we proceed in the trenches through requirements deep dives on various projects, it’s easy to forget where we are in the universe of change. The world around is proceeding with all kinds of new technology, thought processes and methods to make sense of what we are doing as human beings. In a narrower realm, [...]
Requirements prioritization – what’s the point?
When I decided to write about prioritizing requirements, I figured that there were enough articles out there….and very good ones at that…to not warrant yet another “how to” blurb. An aspect we don’t hear about quite so much is understanding the value of prioritization. As analysts, many of us work in an environment in which [...]
Taking care with your digital footprint
Ahhhh…the trials and tribulations of life on the Internet! A while back, I wrote an article about learning lessons from mistakes. I have another one to add to that list that I recently learned with the help of a peer who had my best interests at stake. Building a presence on the Internet has become [...]
Help a BA! Must a BA Always Align with an IT Organization?
A reader writes in with the following problem…. I have a position as a business analyst, in the IT department.. but my question is I’m not an IT person like I haven’t studied IT .. I’m helping with some inventories, testing, reporting. And I’m doing well so far (actually great like my manager always says [...]
How Do I Define a KPI for a Business Analyst?
Reader Question: Hi, My manager asked me to define KPI for the business analyst job. I’ve tried do to some research but everybody seems to have a bit of a problem around this. Do you have any ideas from where to start? Finding a Meaningful KPI for a Business Analyst Trying to measure what appears [...]
How to Become an Accessible Manager
I was recently asked by my manager to provide a little input about what it means from an employee’s perspective to be an accessible manager. My input is to be used to help bring some direction into some planned efforts by my organization to address things proactively to ensure maintenance of good employee morale. As [...]
Survey results in! Reading business analysis books tops the list
A recent question to Laura spawned a survey to capture how we professionals invest in ourselves. The previous article is here. The survey is in and the results have been tabulated. The first question dealt with employment status and of the 39 responses to the survey, over 82% show to be employed, gainfully or not. [...]
Help a BA! How do I prevent overlooked issues and project mishaps?
The following question came to us and opens the door to exploration of communication techniques that prevent issues on projects…. As an enterprise BA, I inquire and engage team members to determine the thoughts behind the project (not just elicit requirements, etc.). In a contract I head with a NY firm, project meetings included those [...]
