5 Ways to Avoid Repeating Past Project Mistakes
As a business analyst, you want to create the best documentation and models possible. But focusing too much on perfecting those documents early on is actually a big mistake I see a lot of business …
BA Roles and Responsibilities
The Difference Between Business Intelligence and Business Analyst Roles
It’s all about data these days and in this video, Laura Brandenburg explores the key differences between business intelligence and business analyst roles. If you’re looking for a career that’s high in demand, has immense …
The Difference Between Business Intelligence and Business Analyst Roles
How to Excel as a Lead Business Analyst
Becoming a Lead Business Analyst is a significant step in your career. It means more authority, more responsibility, and more impact. If you’re curious whether or not you are prepared for a Lead Business Analyst …
What is a Functional Analyst?
Looking to take your career as a business analyst to the next level? Wondering how a Functional Analyst role can fit into your career path? There is a lot of confusion in the industry about …
What is the Difference Between a Subject Matter Expert and a Business Analyst?
As you explore job roles, are you curious about the difference between a business analyst and a subject matter expert (SME)? Are you unsure if your skills qualify you as a subject matter expert or …
What is the Difference Between a Subject Matter Expert and a Business Analyst?
Business Architecture: The Ins and Outs with Whynde Kuehn
Whether you’re learning about business architecture for the first time or dreaming of ways to grow your BA career into a business architecture role, my conversation with Whynde Kuehn will help you discover the value …
The Difference Between a Product Manager Role and a Business Analyst
The product manager role and business analyst role go hand in hand. Many product managers get their start as business analysts, and as a product manager, you can expect to work closely with a business …
The Difference Between a Product Manager Role and a Business Analyst
An Introduction to Business Analysis and the Business Analyst Process Framework
One of the most common challenges I see in the business analysis profession is a struggle to help stakeholders understand the value of the BA functions on any type of project, and, quite honestly, gaining …
An Introduction to Business Analysis and the Business Analyst Process Framework
What is the Difference Between a Business Analyst and a Systems Analyst?
I’m often asked about the difference between business analyst and systems analyst roles. In reviewing job profiles, the roles can seem very similar. In this quick video, I describe how both roles are defined so …
What is the Difference Between a Business Analyst and a Systems Analyst?
The Senior Business Analyst – 6 Areas of Responsibility
Are you wondering if you’d be qualified for a Senior Business Analyst position? Or perhaps you’ve been a business analyst for a while, and you are wondering how you can get promoted to a Senior …
The Most Critical Business Analysis Skills You Need to Be Successful as a Business Analyst
Discover the most critical business analysis skills for new BA – including core skills, business analysis skills, soft skills, and skills that can be required for specific types of BA jobs.
The Typical Day of a Business Analyst
Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap, and we provide online business analyst training and certification programs for business analysts who are looking to start and succeed in their business analyst careers. If you …
The Origin of the Bridging the Gap Business Analysis Process Framework
Hundreds of business analysts have learned and applied the Bridging the Gap Business Analysis Process Framework to make their BA work more effective and successful. And I’ve been receiving lots of questions about how this …
The Origin of the Bridging the Gap Business Analysis Process Framework
5 Business Analyst Nicknames
No matter that we business analysts get labeled by an almost dizzying array of job titles, we also can get some fancy nicknames. In the spirit of keeping it light this week, let’s look at …
A Historical Look at the Business Analysis Profession (2009-2014)
While business analysis as a collection of activities has been around for decades, preceding even the introduction of the International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®) in 2004, business analysis, as a discipline, has evolved significantly during …
A Historical Look at the Business Analysis Profession (2009-2014)
The IT Business Analyst – 4 Ways the Job Description is Expanding
While it would be natural to assume that an IT Business Analyst works on technology systems, the IT Business Analyst job description is necessarily expanding beyond the “IT” component and into the “Business” component, and that …
The IT Business Analyst – 4 Ways the Job Description is Expanding
Is There a Place for Business Analysis in a Non-Profit Organization?
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 …
Is There a Place for Business Analysis in a Non-Profit Organization?
Is Solution Architect a Good Career Path for a Business Systems Analyst?
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 …
Is Solution Architect a Good Career Path for a Business Systems Analyst?
Is Project Management the Next Step in a Business Analyst Career?
Reader question: Is it a trend that BAs see the project manager role as a natural progression of the BA career path? I have recently took on a role of a BA Lead and held …
Is Project Management the Next Step in a Business Analyst Career?
What a BA Should Know About the UX Profession: Interview with Patrick Quattlebaum
We are looking for possibilities through the lens of the user. Editor’s Note: This relationship started when I queried on Twitter for some help planning a usability study. Leslie Shearer led me to Patrick Quattlebaum, …
What a BA Should Know About the UX Profession: Interview with Patrick Quattlebaum
The Business Analyst Role Defined
Are you wondering what a business analyst does? Do you find conflicting definition of a business analyst job role in different job descriptions? Or perhaps even among different employees with the same job title in …
Why Do We See Technical Skills in Business Analyst Jobs?
Why do we see technical skills in business analyst jobs? We know that to be a business analyst, you don’t have to be an IT person. But this truth doesn’t resolve what many experience in the job …
Does a Business Analyst Label Themselves as an IT Person?
Reader Question: I just realized that what I love to do and have always done best is business analysis. But I am a civil engineer, have no desire to be in IT. I know I …
Durga Patil on Being a Business Analyst in the Insurance Domain
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. I had the opportunity to speak personally with Durga Patil, a business analyst with L&T Infotech. Durga has been …
Durga Patil on Being a Business Analyst in the Insurance Domain
What’s next? What Careers Can I Explore with My Business Analyst Experience?
Do you ever wonder “what’s next?” on this path you are on? Considering a career in business analysis and want to know what options it will open up for you long term? When it comes …
What’s next? What Careers Can I Explore with My Business Analyst Experience?
Requirements As the Main Focus of Business Analyst Work
Author: Adriana Beal In discussions about the role of the business analyst, it is common to see professionals insisting on the importance of “going beyond requirements” when describing the BA work. These analysts argue that …
Expanding the Business Analyst Role — Good or Bad?
Author: Adriana Beal One of the topics that appear to be on the mind of many business analysts lately is the expansion of the business analysis role. How can a BA make a difference in …