Helping business analysts become leaders and advance their careers.
From the category archives:
Part of preparing for requirements elicitation is identifying questions. You definitely want to avoid securing valuable stakeholder time only to be lost about what questions to ask! Some stakeholders will talk your ear off, but others need to be led through a conversation. Regardless, I’ve found that preparing a list of requirements questions helps me [...]
{ 10 comments }
Every once in awhile I stumble across an article from another profession that just floors me in terms of how relevant it is for business analysis. Earlier this week, an email landed in my inbox from a sales productivity consultant, Steve Parry, who was kind enough to offer me an hour of his time via [...]
{ 1 comment }
In my last post on Bridging the Gap, I introduced some key concepts for planning virtual meetings: Consider the focus of the meeting or workshop; Minimize duration & maximize value; Involve everyone – create a collaborative spirit among those who will participate. With these themes in mind, your distributed team’s discovery, design and planning activities can [...]
{ 3 comments }
Last week I was re-reading the BABOK chapter on “Elicitation”. Doing a deep-dive into the BABOK is part of my professional development plan to ensure I’m making the most of each project opportunity that comes along and also part of my initial phase of CBAP-preparation. For the most part, the Elicitation knowledge area seemed like [...]
{ 18 comments }
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 [...]
{ 4 comments }
In my last article, I explained why I don’t see any benefit in moving beyond the term “requirements” when describing the key activities performed by a business analyst. My point was that business requirements and solution requirements represent the logical progression toward establishing a solution for an identified business need. This article from Practical Analyst [...]
{ 18 comments }
As business analysts, we talk a lot about gathering or eliciting requirements. In some situations, business stakeholders simply don’t understand what’s possible because their view of technology is limited by the current capabilities or by what a rogue developer told them was “impossible” a few years back. As business analysts take on increasingly strategic roles [...]
{ 0 comments }
The initial meetings with a stakeholder can be nerve-wracking. Oftentimes projects come to us for “analysis” with very little detail. It can feel like everyone else knows more and is better prepared. Yet we, the business analyst, own the next step. Especially as new business analysts or business analysts in new organizations who have not [...]
{ 17 comments }
Oftentimes a business analyst gets involved in a project with multiple different business stakeholders with competing views. Before jumping into the analysis of the project or even defining scope, it can be helpful to pull together all the competing requests and categorize them. This activity can help shed light on the nature of the requests. [...]
{ 2 comments }
We all know that meeting notes are important. Some of us live and die by our notes. Some of us loathe getting “stuck” taking the notes. In many organizations, the leader of the meeting must fill multiple roles. You probably created the agenda, are guiding the discussion, and trying to take notes. Having someone else [...]
{ 16 comments }
234 posts
Recently posted: Bridging the Gap eBooks available as door prizes for IIBA and professional association chapters
15 posts
Recently posted: How to become a business analyst when you have an IT background
22 posts
Recently posted: Taking care with your digital footprint
Loading ...
