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DougGtheBA

Diary of a CBAP Seeker: Learning methods for absorbing the BABOK

March 10, 2010 by DougGtheBA

Dear Diary: After immersing myself in multiple methods to try to absorb the BABOK content, I am only a few weeks away from sitting for the exam. As I continue to struggle to acquire all the content that I think I will need to know. I’ve definitely learned some lessons about what to do and [...]

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Diary of a CBAP-Seeker: Facilitating study groups to explore the BABOK

February 10, 2010 by DougGtheBA

Dear Diary: After the CBAP class I took, my instructor, Linda, offered to open some time in her web meeting utility for us classmates to have a study group to review the material. This informal start has blossomed into a full virtual study group that has members from across the globe. The insight from many [...]

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Diary of a CBAP Seeker: Making sense of the BABOK

January 13, 2010 by DougGtheBA

Dear Diary: The application is now finished and after having it reviewed a couple of times by an official CBAP, I’m waiting on the results to return. I’ve documented over 11000 hours for the committee to pick and choose from for acceptance, so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Reviewing the BABOK in the [...]

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To truly help a customer, one must hear what they need

December 9, 2009 by DougGtheBA

When was the last time that you spoke with your customer at length about the things that are most important to them? When was the last time you asked yourself what you thought the customer might say to you if this question were posed? If you have been waiting for the most recent defect log [...]

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Diary of a CBAP-Seeker: Facing the CBAP application

November 11, 2009 by DougGtheBA

Dear Diary:
“This new CBAP® Certification may be my ticket to a more rewarding career. If I can just pass the test, I’ll have those letters at the end of my name and it may give me the edge in the resume selection/search process. I think I can pass the test with enough preparation, but [...]

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Diary of a CBAP-seeker: taking stock of my business analyst experience

October 21, 2009 by DougGtheBA

Dear Diary:
“I’ve been an analyst for a long time now and have finally come to the decision that I don’t want to be just an analyst. I want to be a really good analyst. I’m no longer satisfied with taking the word of someone else as to why things are done a certain way. I [...]

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Painful Lessons are Really Opportunities to Learn

October 7, 2009 by DougGtheBA

I’ve been collecting, consolidating and conjoining the data from several lessons learned sessions over the last year. My organization is trying to execute some trend analysis over time to see how things are going. That, however, is not what I want to write about, it’s just the trigger. When we were young kids, there was [...]

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Do you have the key business stakeholders involved in your project?

September 23, 2009 by DougGtheBA

If customers are not receiving what they ask for in a project deliverable, what causes that? Where would everything fall apart to the point that requirements were not being carried out through implementation? Chances are the analyst may have had an incorrect or partially incorrect set of key stakeholders providing input to the requirements.
When regarding [...]

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New online CBAP study group to start October 19

September 22, 2009 by DougGtheBA

Editor’s Note: You may have noticed a recent focus on new BA training.  I’ll be continuing to present educational opportunities to you as I find high quality, cost-effective opportunities. Learning from your peers is a great way to become a better business analyst. I have heard great things about Doug’s current study group and [...]

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Making it Work Between Business and IT: There’s No Such thing as Their Problem [guest post]

June 17, 2009 by DougGtheBA

The last couple of posts about the collaboration between Business and IT have revolved around the active reaching out from one side or the other to engage the other team. Much of the commentary described problems with regard to different teams communicating poorly, which resulted in poor understanding of the total picture. Resolutions to these [...]

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