From the category archives:

Leadership

Leadership as a business analyst takes many facets. Leadership is about enabling others to be successful. We explore the qualities that engender leadership in business analysts.

The Future of Business Analysis: Innovation and Creativity

by Curtis Michelson on October 27, 2011 · 3 comments

in Leadership,Maturing your BA Practice,Professional Development Strategy

I started this series on “Building BA Maturity” back in January of this year and I’ve really enjoyed all the interviews and conversations with so much of the talent and insight in our community.  From Bob Prentiss to Ellen Gottesdiener.  From Peter Johnson to Thea Turray and James Taylor.  I’ve had a blast and learned [...]

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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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Are You Suffering from 9-5 Apathy?

by DougGtheBA on October 12, 2011 · 5 comments

in Positive Attitude,Professional Development Strategy

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’ [...]

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How to avoid project land mines

by Adrian Reed on October 5, 2011 · 7 comments

in Creating alignment,Engaging Project Leaders,Requirements Planning and Management

As a BA, joining a project that has been in force for some time can be challenging.  There are normally a whole host of previous decisions that have been made, and it’s likely that key members of the project team will have already formed a working relationship with each other.  You might not know the [...]

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What You Should Know About Emerging Technologies

by Laura Brandenburg on September 26, 2011 · 5 comments

in Enabling informed decision-making,Professional Development Strategy

While we might all agree that a great business analyst does not need to have technical skills, in the sense that they don’t need to write code or create software programs, in today’s world an awareness of emerging technologies and the capabilities they enable for our organizations is increasing in importance, even if our roles [...]

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A project is like a visiting a city – and some of your stakeholders might need help

by Adrian Reed on September 7, 2011 · 3 comments

in Engaging the Business,Stakeholder Analysis

Have you ever considered to what extent your SMEs and stakeholders understand “projects” and the more broad discipline of “business change”? It’s something that’s rarely talked about, but I recently had an experience outside of work that has led me to re-evaluate the assumptions I make about stakeholders’ knowledge. I’ll tell you my story…. I [...]

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Join Your Distributed Team in Virtual Celebration

by Joan Davis on August 11, 2011 · 1 comment

in Engaging IT,Engaging the Business,Managing Business Analysts

Once upon a time, when the world was young and co-workers shared the same four walls, we celebrated special occasions and important milestones together with games, food, and laughter.    However, for decades now we’ve enjoyed the geographical freedom brought on by digital communication, working anywhere in the world, courtesy of a simple data line or mobile hot spot, and with [...]

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We are all part of the conversation, from inception to design and beyond

by Adriana Beal on August 10, 2011 · 4 comments

in Engaging the Business,Requirements Analysis,Requirements Elicitation,Requirements Validation

In my last post, Help a BA! How do I get stakeholders to focus on business requirements?, I wrote: As discussed above, it’s not only OK, but expected that the business side will be involved in defining the solution that will be built to address a business problem or opportunity. The solution requirements, which describe [...]

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Beware: You get what you measure!

by Adrian Reed on August 3, 2011 · 11 comments

in Business process,Problem Solving

There’s an old expression that says “you get what you measure”.  This may be a little clichéd, but it generally holds true within organizations and processes. It’s human nature to shoot for the objectives that have been set, and it is human nature to pay attention to the metrics which are being measured. If metrics [...]

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Help a BA! How do I avoid appearing meek when starting a new job?

by Laura Brandenburg on August 1, 2011 · 38 comments

in Engaging the Business,Help a BA,Marketing your value

Michelle asks: Could you provide tips to not appear ‘meek’ in interviews and during your first days on the job? When I start a new job I’m usually quiet while I listen and gather information. I am called a sunny person because I smile and talk positively around everyone. So, the context is from other [...]

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