From the category archives:

Roles and Responsibilities

The role of the business analyst is often unclear. Business analysts hold a host of varying responsibilities and qualifications, making each job position description unique.

Stop the project plan crash. You are the expert.

by Adrian Reed on December 7, 2011 · 16 comments

in Engaging Project Leaders,Roles and Responsibilities,Stakeholder Analysis

Imagine the scene.  It’s 22:30, and an aircraft is preparing to take off for a long haul flight. In the cockpit, the captain and first officer are busy carrying out their final pre-flight checks.  They check the weather, the fuel levels and a whole range of technical dials and indicators.  They start to map out [...]

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What can I learn from Steve Jobs?

by Curtis Michelson on October 13, 2011 · 14 comments

in Communication,Professional Development Strategy,Strategic Business Analyst

There have been a range of reactions to the passing of Steve Jobs. Many people, myself included, have been surprised at the depth of feelings brought up by the loss. Of course, I’m sad for his family and all those who were close to him, and all his colleagues at Apple.  But I’m feeling something [...]

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Why business analysts need to know more than business analysis

by SergeyKorban on September 22, 2011 · 3 comments

in Domain Knowledge,Maturing your BA Practice,Professional Development Strategy

It has become a good habit for me to review the projects completed over the last financial year. The company I’m at has recognized my contribution over the finished year in a very positive way. The business stakeholders expressed their positive feedback and intention to engage me in the new projects in the coming year. [...]

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Enterprise Analysis: Our Mount Everest

by Curtis Michelson on August 18, 2011 · 0 comments

in Business architecture,Enterprise Analysis,Marketing your value,Strategic Business Analyst

Thus far in this series of articles, we’ve surveyed the topographic terrain of Business Analysis from the local hills and valleys, with a tacit assumption of an analyst working at an application or project level and interfacing with things like rules, process, agile development teams, BA centers of excellence, and so on, all towards improving [...]

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Requirements Versus Design: It’s All Design

by Tony Heap on July 27, 2011 · 53 comments

in Requirements Analysis,Roles and Responsibilities

One of my co-authors here on Bridging the Gap recently wrote an article titled Design and requirements? Pshaw!, discussing whether or not it is good practice to include ‘designs’ within a requirements document. I’ve seen this debate before, in various guises, and I’m always a little bemused and confused by it. And here’s the reason: To [...]

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Help a BA! What percentage of BA duties are administrative?

by Michelle Swoboda on July 20, 2011 · 2 comments

in BA-PM Relationship,Roles and Responsibilities

A reader asks: What percentage of a business analyst duties are administrative? Michelle’s response: In my experience, it depends on what part of the project you are in.  If you are in the elicitation, stakeholder analysis and requirements gathering stage, I find I spend a larger percentage of my time setting up meetings and writing [...]

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Help a BA! Is this a business analyst job profile?

by Laura Brandenburg on June 20, 2011 · 6 comments

in Professional Development Strategy,Roles and Responsibilities

A reader asks: Recently I switched my job from product organization to IT company. My domain is insurance which remained the same. My profile in the previous company was to gather business requirement, analyze it, create a functional spec, do impact analysis and feasibility study, test scenarios and own the piece till UAT sign off [...]

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Help a BA! Is there a place for business analysis in a non-profit organization?

by DougGtheBA on May 11, 2011 · 11 comments

in Help a BA,Roles and Responsibilities

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 [...]

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Help a BA! Is Solution Architect a good career path for a business systems analyst?

by Laura Brandenburg on March 29, 2011 · 10 comments

in Professional Networking,Roles and Responsibilities

A reader asks: I have been a developer, and from there moved to doing business analysis. I would call myself a Business Systems Analyst, and love that role. Is becoming an Architect a suitable progression from a BA? I have moved from development to doing business analysis. So, I do understand technology quite well so [...]

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Help a BA! How do you get SAP experience?

by Eric Provost on March 23, 2011 · 2 comments

in Domain Knowledge,Finding a BA Job,Help a BA

Reader Question: Some BA jobs require SAP experience, but how do you get it if you don’t have it? Eric’s Response: Many BA job posts require applicants to have some kind of experience about specific business software, such as ERPs, CRMs or other specialized software.  Although it can be a questionable requirement for a job [...]

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