From the category archives:

Communication

Business analyst tips for addressing communication issues, facilitating discussions and meetings, and improving written, verbal and visual communication skills.

Help a BA! Where should I locate my new BA? With the developers or with the product manager?

March 8, 2010 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Reader question:
If the Product Manager and the development team are located in two different states, where should the BA reside?  I am in a very tough position right with hiring a BA and my development team is in another state. Where should the BA reside to best help the team? Should they be with [...]

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Building trust

December 16, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Trust is all about vulnerability.  It’s about being open about who you are and why you are. It’s about avoiding that all-too-human tendency to side-step around our failures and hide our weaknesses.  According to Patrick Lencioni in Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, vulnerable people are able to voice key phrases such as “I [...]

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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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10 lessons in effective IT communication

November 30, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Being a great business analyst is fundamentally about communication. We communicate in meetings, through elicitation, via email, and through our requirements specifications. Verbal and written communication are key competencies for the successful business analyst. I’ve collected together some past lessons on communication.
I’m sharing 10 lessons from the archives on communication.
Communicating with business stakeholders
1. Always remember: [...]

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Managing chaotic situations by building “the list”

November 18, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

I’ve been receiving a lot of emails lately asking for my help from business analysts in rather chaotic environments. Sometimes these BAs have good formal training, so they know how things *should* work and are dismayed at how things actually work in their organization. Oftentimes they shoot down the path of their first project with [...]

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Set the stage for more effective meetings by establishing context

October 26, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Oftentimes our meetings have bad endings because they have bad beginnings. If people are confused about the scope of the project, the purpose of the meeting, or their role in the meeting, they will probably not participate effectively. As a business analyst starting a requirements session, even a 1-2 hour meeting, you can do a [...]

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How do your stakeholders see your beer can solutions?

October 12, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Please indulge this second diversion into the world of Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Although this book really has nothing to do with business analysis, it has everything to do with how we approach technology and as I read it I keep seeing our profession in a new light.
In the latest [...]

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How to interrupt someone in a meeting

October 5, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Meeting facilitation is definitely more art than science. I’ve developed some good habits that reduce the changes of getting caught by surprise, but no amount of preparation will outwit an unknowing or deliberately talkative stakeholder. And even with the best techniques you can get caught tongue-tied.
In response to a post about managing multiple conference call [...]

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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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Giving positive feedback to your business stakeholders

August 24, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

Some stakeholders are just better at helping us do our jobs. While some people carry on and get distracted by any sort of new, cool idea that makes its way into your conversation, others stay focused and even help you stay focused and on track. Some people start explaining things in the middle of a [...]

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