Reader question:
Hi, I am new to the business analyst field. Can anyone tell me the difference between senior BA, Lead BA and Project Manager?
Laura’s answer:
Great question! It’s somewhat difficult to answer because these roles are not defined consistently across organizations and these job titles are often used in different ways. Moreover, business analysis and project management roles often overlap, meaning one person (with the title of “project manager” or “business analyst”) might actually fill both roles.
But, let’s give it a shot.
Let’s start by clarifying the difference between the roles of the project manager and the business
analyst. In essence, project managers are responsible for delivering the solution to a problem. Business analysts are responsible for discovering the problem and determining the solution. For a deeper dive into the business analyst role, check out my post, “What is a Business Analyst?“.
But what about a Senior Business Analyst? We might think of a Senior Business Analyst as someone who solves bigger problems. The responsibilities and expertise of someone with the title of “Senior Business Analyst” vary widely across organizations. Some organizations value expertise (such as industry expertise or product expertise) and so the title of “senior” goes to those who have developed that expertise. Other organizations value general BA competencies and promote BAs to senior based on strong communication and analysis skills and ability to mentor more junior business analysts. Still others recognize those fulfilling enterprise analysis responsibilities as moving into a senior role.
And a Lead Business Analyst? Typically a Lead Business Analyst is responsible for coordinating the efforts of multiple business analysts on a project. The Lead might be a Business Analyst Manager, or they might be the lead on a project without managerial authority over the group of BAs working on the project. Leading a BA effort on a project could involve planning the business analysis effort, determining how requirements will be managed, and reviewing deliverables created by all the BAs on the team for quality and consistency.
This might sound a lot like a project manager, but there is a key difference. While the project manager coordinates the efforts of the entire project team to deliver the solution, the role of the BA Lead is to coordinate the efforts of several business analysts to discover the problem and determine the solution.
Again, these titles are used in multiple ways. Please share the responsibilities you had while fulfilling one of these roles or holding one of these titles!
In my experience the role of Lead Business Analyst has not been limited to those that ‘lead’ a team of BA’s. Although from a few calls from head-hunters this would seem to be the common understanding. A Lead BA may refer to the key BA member of a project team who is ultimately steering the direction of the requirements and delivery alongside the Project Manager and or Product Owner. I am currently filling the role of Lead BA and Scrum Master, working directly with the Product Owner not only capturing and specifying the requirements but coordinating the delivery effort.
Romeo –
Do you find that there a difficult tensions wearing both the BA and SM hats? While I can see convergence between the BA and PO roles, my expectation would be that the BA and SM roles are sometimes pulling in different directions, as BA and PM roles can.
Nick
Hi Nick,
Good question. I’m sure there are situations where wearing BA and SM hats would cause friction but fortunately mine is not one of them. The programme I’m on at the moment has been setup to maximise the time of the BA and PO. Since the latter is also a development manager he does not have the capacity to take on a BA role effectively and thus my role was created to both gather the requirements and manage the delivery. I’ve worked in teams where the roles have been separate but this one doesn’t have the luxury of an additional BA or dedicated PO. However, FYI I’ve had no issues working this way to date – I guess this is Agile
.
Romeo
I have found that the main difference between BA (whatever level you would like to ascribe to them) and PM is that the PM is responsible for delivery of the project – they balance time, money, and resources. BA on the other hand is responsible for delivering the business solution – subtle yet important difference.
These are name tags, most organizations create these roles for fulfilling the self-esteem needs, and as well based on pay scales in the company. You can in a way say that these roles overlap each other and there are no standards that you can set based on the position given.
Hi Laura,
I have been going through your blog , and i must confess i am really thrilled, the dedication and vibes here is awesome.
I am relatively new to business analysis and have been trying to get a second contract role ever since Jan, I have been invited to this job interview, and i have been asked to give a 10 min power-point presentation on Friday 15th march.
Just wondering if you guys could through me some hints on this
“As a business analyst, your influence extends across the whole project lifecycle. How can you go above and beyond an analyst role to ensure your project is delivered? Where do you see the key challenges and how will you overcome them?”
I will appreciate any help you or any other BA guru like you could render.
Thanks in advance.
I find as well the Senior/Lead BA and the PM represent different groups of stakeholders.
If find the PM will tend to have the sponsors interests in mind, these are normally time (as fast as possible), cost (as cheap as possible) and quality (as high as possible). However the Business Analyst will have a wider group to represent, those that the solution will actually impact and will have to use it on a daily basis.
Deji,
For the presentation I would start with what the project life cycle is, do you know which approach the company takes to projects waterfall, agile, both, other? Align your presentation to this.
The next part will depend purely on what they see the analyst role as. You will need to refer to the job description and other information you may have at hand to answer this.
Ed
Hello –
From what I have seen and heard, the titles, and definitions, will vary, depending upon the industry, and the individual company. (i.e. The energy industry is very different from the financial services industry.)
My view is that the PM is responsible for the Strategic aspect – They manage the budgets, people / resources, and the upper management stakeholders / approvals.
The BA is more focused on the Tactical aspect – and they help manage the day-to-day pieces, and can fill-in / back-up the PM if/when needed. In addition, the BA is the go-to person for helping ensure all parts of the team have what they need, and stay on track. (Many times I have been asked “what I am / what do I prefer?” …and my answer is that I don’t care what you call me, as long as it is clean, legal, and I get paid for it!
Joking aside, in my opinion, the BA may wear many hats, BA, SA, Org Change, Communications, UAT, etc. as they are more hands-on while the PM may not be as much.
DSWilson,
I agree that titles and definitions vary widely by organization and industry. However, if we are going to split based on strategic vs. tactical, I think it’s the BA who needs to be strategic as they are responsible for the business problem to be solved and often that can involve executive approvals. (To a certain degree if the PM is responsible for this, they are filling aspects of the BA role.) Many senior BA roles or lead BA roles are not so day-to-day and allow the PM to handle all the non-requirements related issues that come up throughout a project.
Thanks a bunch , Ed. started already
.
In my experience, these roles work together or should. It is also possible to wear all three hats in a particular project depending on how your organization is set up and the size of the project. If you have a short term project, then it would make sense for the BA to cover the PM and senior BA roles.