what software should you-learn to become a business analyst?

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If you, have a challenging question about your career, submit it here and we will answer yours just as we are answering this question submitted by a technical writer titled: What Software Do I Learn to Become A Business Analyst? …

Question

How do I learn or get the software knowledge that would make me a business analyst?

What types of software programs will I have to use on the job; and how do I learn these programs in a visual manner without having to refer to textbooks?

Answer:

You do not understand what a business analyst does and because of that you are mixing software jobs (like that of a computer programmer’s) with the business analyst’s job.

This mix-up is quite common because software oriented jobs are more common and better understood than business analyst jobs.

When you think of a computer programmer’s job, the picture that comes to mind is that of a highly skilled technology savvy professional who spends a lot of time building software programs, creating data entry forms and screens, designing websites or even installing desktop applications.

Unfortunately, when you think of business analysts, you also imagine that their duties or tasks are similar to those of computer programmers!

Because of this, you are wrongly associating the business analyst’s career with more software / technology careers like software testing, technical writing or computer programming.

So, in TODAY'S POST, I will contrast the role of a software tester, computer programmer, technical writer and business analyst to bring the point home.

What Does A Business Analyst Really Do?

The primary skills that business analysts use on the job are communication skills
(both written and verbal) unlike computer programmers, whose primary skills are tied to expertise in specific technologies like C#, Visual Basic, Java, PHP.

Business Analysts are highly-skilled or expert at communicating technology requirements with stakeholders, customer, power users or even technical teams (think software developers, software testers, web designers).

The primary communication tools used by business analysts while facilitating the requirements engineering process are Office productivity tools including Microsoft Word (for documenting requirements), Microsoft PowerPoint (for making presentations) and Microsoft Excel.

However, unlike computer programmer jobs, business analyst jobs are not required to be software or technology centered.

Don’t get me wrong!

Some job postings for business analysts require knowledge of software development languages like C# or Java or a software development background.

The business analysts that apply for these job postings are more accurately classified as Technical Business Analysts.

There are several domains or specializations available to business analysts (mortgage, financial, telecommunications / telco, automotive, healthcare, insurance) and technical business analysis is just one of these domains.

Read more about domain business analysts here:

However, the requirements for domain business analysts are not the same as the requirement for becoming a business analyst.

You are a business analyst first before you become a technical / domain business analyst.

So, don’t apply the role, responsibilities and requirements for the technical business analysis domain to all business analyst domains.

Competence or mastery of Microsoft Office Productivity software (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is a requirement for business analyst jobs even when it is not stated on the job posting.

A business analyst who uses Office Productivity software can document requirements with Microsoft Word, make PowerPoint presentations and run what-if analysis using Microsoft Excel.

Focusing on software skills beyond Microsoft Office software makes you more of a computer programmer than a business analyst.

For your information, here are some of the differences between computer programmer jobs and business analyst jobs.

Business Analysts Compared To Computer Programmers

• Business Analysts gather requirements while computer programmers build to specifications.

• Business Analysts document work flows and business processes while computer programmers model and build software programs that follow those workflows or business processes.

• Business analyst are hired for their written and verbal communication skills while computer programmers are hired for their expertise or skills in specific programming languages or technology platforms.

• A computer programmer's work is deeply invested in learning or using technology while a business analyst’s work is deeply invested in understanding, documenting and communicating business requirements.

• A business analyst’s primary software tool is Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint while a computer programmer’s primary software skill is knowledge of Java or C# or Visual Basic or PHP or other programming languages.

• Business Analysts document the requirements or features of software programs while computer programmers build software programs.

• Both the business analyst and software developer are involved with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for different reasons. While the business analyst owns the analysis and documentation of software requirements, the computer programmers owns the building of software programs.

• Read more about the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) here:

I am also going to contrast the role of business analysts with that of software testers and technical writers to bring this home.

Business Analysts Compared To Software Testers

• Software Testers are more hands-on with programming than business analysts.

  Software Testers are more skilled in programming because they sometimes have to write automated tests using scripting programming languages.

  A business analyst should not be required to write scripts or learn programming languages except in instances where they are applying for technical business analyst jobs.

  So, you cannot project the hands-on software skills requirements for software testers onto the hands-on skill requirements for business analysts.

• Software Testers write manual or automated tests that verify that software programs developed by computer programmers were written according to the specifications or requirements documented by business analysts.
• Software Testers have to test or inspect the procedures or functions written by computer programmers.

  For that reason, they may have to learn the basics of the programming language used in creating the software program.

  There is almost no value in business analysts inspecting a programmer’s code or even messing with it because Business Analysts do not have those competencies!

• Read more about Software Tester Careers here:

Business Analysts Compared To Technical Writers

• The skills exercised by technical writers are similar to that of business analysts in some respects.

  Both technical writers and business analysts exercise strong written communication skills.

  However, while a technical writer’s skill is useful for documenting the features of a software program after it is built, a business analyst’s skill is useful for documenting the features of a software program before it is built!

• A technical writer’s primary role is the documenting of existing software features, business processes, etc.

  Because of this, a technical writer may have to learn specific software programs (apart from MS Word or PowerPoint) to help them with create technical documentation like Help Files, Software Manuals, etc.

  The technical writing industry is such that job postings require knowledge of specific software documentation tools.

  However, this must not be confused with the software requirements for business analysts.

  Business Analysts are not technical writers and the business analyst’s job does not require knowledge of specific software programs apart from the ubiquitous (Microsoft Office, MS Word, MS Excel or MS PowerPoint).

• While the technical writing industry is componentized along the lines of software documentation tools (Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Frame Maker, Adobe Acrobat, Quark Xpress, Corel Ventura), the business analyst industry is segmented along the lines of domain specialization (financial, utilities, web / user interface (UI) business analysts, etc.).

• Read More about Technical Writer Careers:

What Does It Really Take To Become A Business Analyst?

The requirements for business analysts’ jobs are primarily documentation, requirements analysis and communication (both written and verbal).

While it is common for a business analyst to spend his / her time, preparing PowerPoint presentations, taking meeting notes using Microsoft Word or writing Use Cases in plain-old Microsoft Word, it is common for a computer programmer / software tester / technical writer to spend the same amount of time coding new program features / documenting bugs / documenting the features of a software program.

A business analyst must be 100% comfortable in his / her role as a communicator, presenter, leader, facilitator or analyzer without feeling the need to learn more software tools!

How To Get Hired For A Business Analyst Job – Case Study

Some time ago, I was hired to help an Information Technology (IT) director put together a software development team for a financial software project in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.

In that role, we posted a senior business analyst job opening and then started interviewing qualified business analysts.

The business analyst I interviewed and recommended got the job because she did something different from the other business analysts who applied for the same job.

She walked into the interview with a bound, spiral document that showcased the comprehensiveness, thoroughness and versatility of several business documents she had created for one automotive client in the Greater Saint Louis region.

She did not get hired because of what she said at the business analyst job interview or because of the software experience listed on her resume.

She got the business analyst job, by showcasing her hands-on business analysis skills.

What differentiated her was a compilation of various types of business analysis documents she had worked on for an automotive client in the Greater Saint Louis area.

The financial client hired her as an Information Technology (IT) business analyst for a financial software project because they connected with the hands-on, visual depiction of her business analysis skills exemplified by her Microsoft Word based portfolio.

My final advice?

Don’t approach the business analyst industry based on how the software testing, technical writing or computer programmer industries work.

Remove false associations between the business analyst’s role (primarily written and verbal analysis or communication of requirements) and the hands-on skill requirements for software testers, technical writers or computer programmers.

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Write Better Requirements

Why Do We Need Better Requirements?

The following article is a frank, open and surprising discourse on why we need better requirements.

According to Standish or Gartner reports and other case studies, nearly “two-thirds of all IT projects fail” because of poor requirements and other causes.

Why Do Projects Fail?

Consider that a project fails when it overruns the budgeted allocation of resources, time or money or fails to deliver the intended business requirements or value.

Some teams are so deep into this, that throwing more money, people or extending the shipping date is their default solution to scope creep, budget overruns or project failure!

But project failure doesn’t have to become the norm for you.

With this in mind, the following post on “Why We Need Better Requirements” is designed to help business analysts, project managers, web managers or technical leads make a case for preventing project failure by gathering better business requirements.

1. The True Cost of Fixing Bad Mistakes

   Gathering better requirements helps avoid fixing issues further down in the project when mistakes are guaranteed to be more expensive.

   Consider a product feature that is not developed to the customer’s specifications because of incomplete requirements documentation.

   The incomplete requirement is left to an open or wide interpretation from each member of the development team.

   Depending on when the improperly coded requirements are discovered; (development, software testing or production), the cost of fixing these defects is guaranteed to be much higher than the cost of gathering, validating or documenting the complete or correct requirements at the project’s inception!

2. The Opportunity Cost of Missing Requirements

   Discovering requirements late results in delays to the project or in shipping products that don’t meet or fall below the customer’s expectations!

   This results in missed market opportunities, unhappy customers or an improper allocation of resources, time or money.

   Why because, it costs more money to retool your product at later stages of the product development cycle than at inception.

   And regardless of what you do, you will be late to market or reduce your customers positive experiences of your product.

3. The Cost of Working Incorrect Requirements

   Perhaps, you’ve worked on a project where requirements are dispensed as favors because the Requirements Analyst lacks the authority or training to validate requirements properly.

   This is the practice where requirements are imposed on the project team without meeting the business case or scope.

   The cost of such a practice is that the project resources (people, money, time, infrastructure) are high-jacked to satisfy a few egos to the detriment of the organization’s strategic objectives, goals, missions or success!

Making The Case For Good Business Requirements

Note that when it comes to executing projects successfully you will always have the constraints of time, money or resources (people).

And regardless of who you work for, your project cannot be handled as if your organization has an infinite supply of these inputs.

So gathering incorrect, poor or wrong requirements will result in the improper allocation of resources and at the same time increase the risk of project failure.

Armed with this, don’t be a doormat, make a proper case to your management, stakeholders or project advisory team on the need or strategic importance of gathering better business requirements.

Action Plan: How To Gather Better Requirements

I’ve shown you why gathering better requirements matters and explained how you can make a case for sound requirement management practices at your organization.

Here is how you can help your organization adopt a better requirements management practice.

• Empower your Requirements Analyst

  Hire a capable requirements analyst for your project and then empower the resource to do their job.

  Adding a Requirements or Business Analyst to your team without empowering the resource is a practice in self-deception at best.

  So don’t start down that part, if your organization is not ready to rally behind their Requirements Lead.

• Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way!

  Your Requirements or Business Analyst is there to help your project or organization succeed, so don’t make that resource into the enemy!

  Educate your stakeholders, management team or customers on the benefits of following a sound, documented requirements management plan.

  Find a champion who can lead that effort … then follow your chosen leader or get out of the way!

  The Requirements analyst’s job is not to dispense requirements as favors but to be a custodian of the organization or customer’s strategic vision, aspirations or expectations.

By understanding, communicating, leading or championing better requirements practices, you reduce the risk of project failure and help your organization achieve a better Return On Investment (ROI).

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Requirements Management Skills In Demand

Is Requirements Management Helpful?

If you work in an office where requirements management is a low priority, an afterthought or a process imposed by senior management, you may begin to lose sight of the value that requirements management offers.

In between chasing down your stakeholders for interviews, wrestling with your use cases or managing conflict and corporate politics, you may decide to abort what sometimes seems like meaningless meetings or endless paperwork.

What you may not know is that the reason you’re chasing down stakeholders or having so much trouble gathering requirements is that you don’t have an effective Requirements Management framework in place.

Because Requirements Management is really not an afterthought and unless you step out of your busy schedule to learn what works and what doesn’t work in requirements management … the cycle of difficulty, ineffectiveness or project failure is guaranteed to continue!

Why Requirements Management Is A High Priority For Business Analysts

If your project lacks an effective Requirements Management plan, you can do your team or manager a favor by learning how to implement one.

This is important because an effective requirements management plan will help you deliver the right product, technology or business solution and stand you in good stead at the performance review.

The risk of Information Technology (IT) project failure is so high that taking the time to understand, model or validate what needs to be built is a high priority for any professional business analyst.

If your requirements management plan is weak, you risk not understanding the business problem or turning out a poor solution.

So, whether you’re gathering or analyzing requirements, it is just as important to focus on the process that you are using to develop your requirements as it is to focus on the requirements themselves.

The good news is that a lot of thought has been put into the process of gathering and creating good requirements.

The Requirements Management Plan

These thoughts have been gathered and structured into a discipline known as Requirements Engineering or Management.

Requirements Management encompasses the activities of defining a solution’s requirements, Eliciting, Analyzing, Specifying and Validating business requirements.

Requirements Management encompasses activities and deliverables for establishing Requirements Baselines, Change Control and Tracing Requirements.

Having an effective requirements management plan will also help you define:

1. Which members of your team are performing what requirements activities

2. When requirements activities will take place

3. What the details and steps of each requirement activity are

Having all of this formally defined will help your team deliver the right product or solution.

Having a good requirements management plan will also improve your teams ability to build or deliver the correct requirements on time and within budget.

The ROI for Effective Requirements Management

An effective Requirements Management plan will also help your team be more productive or produce excellent correct, complete, clear, concise, consistent, relevant, feasible and verifiable requirements.

Keep in mind that your Requirements Management plan may need to be customized to your projects, organizational constraints or corporate culture.

Remember that effective Requirements Management results in better business solutions … which is a hallmark of successful business analysts.

Requirements Management is one of several business analysis courses offered at the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training.

A complete end-to-end Business Analysis training is traditionally expensive because you pay for multiple business analysis courses on UML, Use Cases, Requirements Management, etc.

In addition, these courses are sometimes split into beginner, intermediate or advanced classes which you have to pay for individually.

What if you could get your “Use Case Training”, “UML Training”, “Requirements Management Training” and more by attending just one class?

What if you could get all these Business Analyst courses for a fraction of the traditional cost? … Here is how to to do just that.

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Questions for Agile Business Analysts

In response to the post: Is a Project Manager or a Business Analyst Career, a Better Fit for You?, a reader sent in the following comments about his experience as an agile business analyst.

In both Iterative and Agile methods, the BA is (or should be) involved with requirements gathering, project communication and facilitation, translating technical and business jargon, holding development to the business needs during the execution phase through Alpha Testing, demos, walk-throughs and issues management.

• BAs often write the Test Cases and, surprise the Test Scripts when the project doesn’t have QA resources.

• In the implementation phase, the BA acts as a Level Two Support contact to triage user issues.

• Then the BA and the PM begin negotiating the features/repairs list for the next spring or iteration.

My question to you is, what has been your experience as a business analyst working on an agile or iterative project?

• Do you have all your requirements ready before you start development?

• Do you have to write test cases or test scripts?

• How do you collaborate or work with testers?

• How do you collaborate or work with project managers?

• What are your challenges or pitfalls?

• Which project or requirements management tools do you use?

• What are your best practices?

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How To Choose the Right Career?

The following question was submitted by a reader who needs help with choosing between a business analyst and a project management career.

If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to submit your question as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader’s question below!

If you enjoy reading this post, please be sure to … Share this Post with Friends

Here is the Reader’s Question: Should I Change Careers To Business Analysis Or Project Management?

Hello,

I am interested in making a career change from working currently in customer service in a bank to becoming a business analyst or a project manager.

My educational background is a degree in Banking and Finance and I have over 8 years experience working in the Treasury department of a bank.

Can you advise which would be my best choice?

Here is the Answer: How To Decide Between a Business Analysis and a Project Management Career

Hello,

I can certainly help you understand the differences between a project management and business analyst career.

You will be able to decide on your ideal career, after weighing all the pros and cons that I will list in the rest of this article.

The Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Manager

The Project Manager is often considered to be the first point of contact for the project and is solely responsible for the project’s success or failure.

Please note that this is an important distinction between the project manager and business analyst’s duties, roles or responsibilities.

This distinction means that you have to be wired a certain way or learn to take full responsibility for the outcome of your projects without making any excuses!

• This also means that as the project manager, you will be responsible for overseeing all the phases of a software development or information technology project unlike a business analyst who is tasked with gathering requirements at the inception or beginning phases of a project.

• Another important distinction is that, as the project manager you will also be responsible for establishing time-lines or ensuring that your projects are completed on time and under budget.

• Finally, the Project Manager allocates resources to a project, monitors significant milestones as the project progresses and manages risks and costs to ensure that there are no budget overruns.

To achieve these goals, the Project Manager works with a correct or comprehensive set of customer requirements provided by the business analyst.

This last statement means that the Project Manager has to collaborate or depend on the Business Analyst’s requirements elicitation and management skills.

If this collaboration works out well, then the correct and complete set of project requirements are provided to the software development or information technology project team … if not, then the project is doomed from inception!

The Roles and Responsibilities of a Business Analyst

1. Like the Project Manager, the Business Analyst also spends most of the time working with end users, stakeholders or management.

2. Unlike the Project Manager, whose attention is all over the phases and tasks of the Project, the business analyst focuses mainly on the requirements for the project.

3. Because the business analyst is tasked with gathering requirements, he or she ends up focusing on the minute details of what the end user wants, documenting requirements with very detailed reports that measure goals and outcomes, validating requirements or communicating requirements in precise ways to developers using tools like User stories, Use Cases and UML

In essence, the Business Analyst ends up bridging the technical or business communication gap between the software development or project implementation teams and the management, executive or business teams.

What are the similarities and differences between a Project Manager and a Business Analyst’s Job?

There is a good deal of speculation and confusion on the 2 roles leading to the assumption in some circles that project managers can gather requirements or that business analysts can manage resources!

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Each of these is a rigorous, methodical discipline that may share some body of knowledge with the other, but are functionally, completely different.

1. Project Managers manage all the resources assigned to project and they carry the final authority on who does what. They usually have the ability to hire or fire resources and for delegating tasks or responsibilities.

2. Business analysts on the other hand, manage the business, end-user, customers or stakeholder requirements and in reality, they report to the project manager, just like the software developers, testers or any other resource assigned to the project.

3. Both business analysts and project managers understand the software development life cycle, both of them serve as points of contact for the project and both of them communicate with management or stakeholders.

4. Both of these are also responsible for accurately defining the scope of the project.

However, even here, there is still a qualitative difference … while the business analyst is concerned with the minutiae of the requirements, the project manager is focused on the big picture, and on delivering a project that fulfills the requirements under schedule and on budget.

On this last point, I would like to stress that in an ideal world, there would be no adversarial relationship between a project manager and his/her business analysts because like any successful leader knows, “war is worn by wise counsel” and the business analyst is the project manager’s wise counsel.

Another key difference between these 2 roles is that at the onset of a project, the business analyst implements feasibility and cost/benefit analysis studies before the project manager is even hired!

Finally, I would also like to add that, while the business analyst is concerned with the quality of the finished product … the Project Manager is concerned with managing the process of producing the product.

Is a Project Manager or a Business Analyst Career, a Better Fit for You?

So how do you decide which of these two (project management or business analysis) is the better fit?

If your personality type is such that you have a singular focus on completing projects with a “big picture” view of the process from beginning to end, then the Project Management career may be the better fit for you.

If on the other hand, you enjoy working on details with business users, customers or management, analyzing problems or defining solutions, documenting or communicating problems and solutions, then a Business Analyst career may be the better fit for you.

This post was written in answer to a question submitted by a reader on how to decide between becoming a project manager or a business analyst.

If you have a question, be sure to post it here as a comment or submit it to: [Ask IT Career Coach].

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Business Analyst Role In Data Warehouse Projects

The Business Analysts Role In Bringing Data Warehousing To Your Office

Today’s business executives spend a ton of cash on data warehouse projects because that is a big, key, strategic business initiative; the success of which weighs heavily on their minds.

Data warehousing is important because it saves or aggregates information in a manner that allows executives, management or office users to make strategic business decisions faster, better and more easily!

No More Silos In The Workplace

Data warehousing is critical to business success because it presents a way for executives or management to view or manage their corporation as a whole unit instead of in silos.

What data warehousing offers decision makers is the ability to break out of departmental information silos and see the big picture.

One of the key objectives facilitated by business analysts in data warehousing roles is that of bridging the gap between enterprise databases (marketing, finance, inventory, customer relationship management, etc.) so that decision makers or office users can ask questions or get a comprehensive, 360 degree insight across corporate / departmental databases with one query or question!

Introducing OLAP, Business Intelligence (BI) Or Data Warehousing To Business Analysts

Business Analysts assigned to data warehouse projects may be surprised to know that traditional, day-to-day relational (online transaction processing (OLTP)) databases are not optimized for querying or reporting of data for business or decision making purposes.

Databases that are actually optimized for data analysis, reporting and business intelligence are known as Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) databases.

So, another key benefit of data warehousing is that it provides decision makers with real-time business intelligence at optimal speeds through the used of OLTP systems.

Finally, Data Warehousing is important from the standpoint of facilitating forecasting trends or getting performance metrics for the entire organization.

Data warehousing provides senior management with intelligence required to see the company’s performance from a 30,000 foot level instead of being buried under a mountain of data at sea level.

Will The Real Enterprise Business Analyst Stand Up Please?

Organizations implementing business intelligence or data-warehousing projects are looking for a significant boost in their business intelligence or decision making capabilities.

Savvy business analysts pulled into data-warehousing / BI projects would fare well to keep this at the back of their mind from the git-go!

So, here are some key roles for business analysts in data warehouse projects

• The Data Warehouse Business Analysts role includes helping the business team identify key opportunities for boosting revenue, increasing sales, decreasing operational costs or achieving some other important organizatioinal or business objective.

• The Business Analyst bridges the gap between the business or executive management office and the data warehousing / BI Implementation Team.

• The Business Analyst identifies the business intelligence needs of the organization. This includes eliciting BI requirements from executives, managers or office users and then working with the data warehouse project team to identify, define or implement these business requirements.

The Enterprise Business Analyst Role In Data Warehousing Projects

Data warehousing projects are all about building, integrating, analyzing or reporting on large, complex, corporate databases.

So, Business Analysts working in such domains will be well-advised to fortify their database skills as that is the real-world domain or context of data warehousing.

Because of the strategic importance or the scope of data warehousing / business intelligence (BI) projects, the business analyst typically functions as a key member of a larger data warehouse project team.

The data warehouse project team may include the Project Manager, Data Modeler, Data Architect, Data Analyst , Tester, Report Writer, Database Developer and last but not least … the data warehousing / business intelligence (BI) business analyst.

With that in mind, here are the business analyst’s roles in the context of an enterprise data-warehousing project implementation team.

• Management Role: working with executives, management or the business team, the business analyst identifies the gaps in corporate intelligence / reporting capabilities.

• Data Analyst Role: working with data analysts, the business analyst identifies, understands and documents the sources of data discrepancies or gaps in business intelligence.

  The actual work of identifying data sources may be assigned to the data analysts or Extraction, Transform Load (ETL) developers while that of documenting or modeling the data transformations assigned to a business analyst comfortable with creating data models.

• Data Modeler / Data Architect / Database Developer Role: The business analyst works with the data modeler, data architect or database developer to create the logical or conceptual data model.

  The business analyst also validates that the data model meets business requirements before it is implemented.

The Data Warehouse Business Analyst Skill Sets

The enterprise data warehouse business analyst is not your traditional business analyst. so, here are some of the skill-set requirements for business analysts in a data warehouse project.

• The business analyst needs a thorough understanding of Extraction, Transform and Load (ETL) processes.

• The business analyst also needs a strong understanding of the logical database design process, data modeling, data-mart design and a good understanding of OLAP compared to OLTP systems.

• The business analyst needs to be comfortable with the business intelligence tools used in delivering corporate intelligence to decision makers which may be as simple as a Microsoft Excel-based Business Intelligence (tool).

• The business analyst also needs a good understanding of data warehousing terminology as well as the corporate data being analyzed by the business.

  In other words, familiarity with the data is important whether one’s eliciting requirements from the business team or validating data models and ETL processes with the Data Warehouse implementation team.

Bringing Business Intelligence (BI) To The Office

An increasing number of organizations are either planning or implementing BI projects with the objective of improving the quality of corporate intelligence available to decision makers.

As a business analyst, it’s your duty to assist your organization with their BI / Data Warehouse endeavors.

You can achieve this by learning as much as you can about databases, data warehousing, business intelligence, data analysis and decision making processes.

The data warehouse business analyst job description includes a cross-functional suite of skills in Relational Database Development, SQL Query Writing, Data Analysis and Business Analysis.

You can get more information on this from both the Data Analyst Boot Camp and the Business Analyst Boot Camp.

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The Agile Business Analyst

The Agile Business Analyst plays a key role in facilitating conversations between stakeholders, quality assurance / testing teams, customers, subject matter experts (SMEs) and software developers in an incremental, iterative fast-paced product development environment.

So, who is the Agile Business Analyst and why should business analysts who are already comfortable with the process of eliciting requirements in a traditional product development environment be concerned about becoming more agile?

Introducing The Agile Business Analyst Role

The Agile Business Analyst’s role includes facilitating communication, reducing the reliance on extensive documentation and reducing the length of the feedback loop in product development projects.

1. Collaborative - The Agile Business Analyst works closely with software developers, stakeholders, project managers and software testers and relies less on comprehensive requirements documentation at the inception of the project.

2. Flexible and Adaptable - Unlike a more traditional software development project, an agile business analyst expects and welcomes changes in requirements. Being Agile means that changing requirements is not made difficult because of extensive documentation, communication cycles or change management processes.

3. Just In Time Requirements – An Agile Business Analyst knows what is the right amount of requirements documentation to gather for a development cycle or iteration.

4. More Face to Face Meetings – Because the Agile Business Analyst focuses on less documentation and more face to face meetings or interviews with stakeholders, software developers or testers, Agile Business Analysts make use of more User Stories and less Use Cases for documenting requirements.

5. Iterative Development – And unlike requirements management practiced in a traditional waterfall software development life cycle, the agile business analyst only focuses on gathering, analyzing or validating the requirements needed in each iteration.

Between The Agile Business Analyst and Traditional BA

So, the Agile Business Analyst focuses on the deliverables for each iteration to o facilitate a faster development process.

Another key difference with agile business analysts is that they work with software testers or quality assurance professionals to elicit Test Cases directly from User Stories instead of from Use Cases.

Because Agile Business Analysts rely on face to face meetings and in-person communication, they work better in teams where the developers, stakeholders, project managers and testers are located in the same place and are committed to being involved on a continuous basis through the life time of the project.

The Agile Business Analyst gathers just-in-time (JIT) requirements through intense collaboration with customers, customer advocates, software architects, stakeholders and software testers.

Why Are We Not More Agile?

Traditionally, a business analyst is expected to gather all the requirements for a project at the beginning. These requirements are then shared with the Project Manager and Stakeholders as a static, fixed or immutable set of requirements.

This type of requirements gathering is common in product or software development project that make any or all of the following assumptions:

1. Business Analyst – The business analyst can gather, analyze, validate and specify all the requirements at the beginning of the project and before a single line of code is written.

2. Project Manager – The project manager needs to have a complete set of requirements to facilitate accurate project planning.

3. Software Tester / QA – The software tester needs to have a complete set of requirements before creating a test plan and user acceptance or QA tests.

4. Software Architect – The software architect needs to design the entire software system at the beginning of the project befor e a line of code is written.

5. Computer Programmers – That computer programmers need to receive an extensive and complete set of requirements preferably in Use Cases format before they start coding.

   Traditional software or product development projects also assume that for developers to create a working product, they need to be told in detail, every basic, alternate path and exception flow through the system.

6. Customers – That customers have a mind, wants, needs and desires that can be completely known at the beginning of the project through extensive requirements gathering and documentation.

   This also means that once the customer’s requirements is gathered or documented, it will not change during the life cycle of the product or software development cycle … at least not without extensive negotiation, documentation and signing-off.

The Role of The Customer Advocate

But is this true? Can the customer’s mind, needs, wants or desires be known and documented completely at the beginning of the project?

Does setting the customer’s requirements in stone assure a better product, a more satisfied customer and increase the chances of project success?

1. The needs of today’s customers are not set in stone. Far from it, the very process of gathering customers requirements can change what the customer wants.

2. The marketplace is always changing and product features become less important or even irrelevant in short periods of time.

3. The practice of planning projects or designing entire software systems completely, at the inception of a project is fraught with risks, estimates and guesses.

   This practice often leads to more software features that are out of touch with the customer’s needs and more project failures.

   Considering that so many projects planned this way fail, Business Analysts need to consider utilizing more agile communication skills to supply requirements when they are needed.

Unlike the traditional business analyst who works from the assumption that requirements once signed off on are fixed in stone or immutable, the agile business analyst plays the role of a customer advocate by assuming that requirements can and will change during the life cycle of the product development effort.

The agile business analyst welcomes changes in the customer’s requirements because they reflect what the customer really wants and not what was documented.

In doing this, the agile business analyst elevates the customer’s needs above the needs for more documentation.

The agile business analyst understands that there is always some uncertainty in the marketplace, so the planned features of a product or software application cannot be set in stone!

The agile business analyst understand that software developers do not need to have 100% of a product or project’s requirements extensively documented using Use Cases before they begin coding.

So the Agile Business Analyst relies more on communication, presentation and facilitation skills than written documentation in communicating with software / product developers.

Today’s constantly changing marketplace requires the Agile Business Analyst A customer advocate who elevates the customer’s needs above that of extensive requirements documentation!

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Six Sigma Business Analyst

The Six Sigma career path intersects or shares a number of tools, processes, goals and techniques with the business analyst career path.

So, in this post I would like to introduce you to the … Six Sigma Business Analyst.

Ask IT Career Coach

This post answers the question submitted by a business analyst who is enrolled at the business analyst boot camp.

If you have a question or challenge, be sure to send it using: Ask IT Career Coach and we will answer it for you, just as we are answering the question below!

Here is the question submitted by the Business Analyst Boot Camp Participant …

Hi Kingsley,

I had applied to a BA position and … and the response was they were looking for people …. who had Six Sigma certifications.

Is the 6 Sigma now the new minimal benchmark for getting a BA job?

If so, I’d better get cracking on it.

What’s involved?

cheers

What Is Six Sigma To Start With?

Six Sigma is a business management discipline that seeks to improve quality by removing the causes of defects, errors or variation in manufacturing and business processes.

Six Sigma uses quality management, statistical and business analysis methods to empower six sigma professionals designated in martial arts like terms as black belt, green belt and yellow belt.

Each Six Sigma project uses a sequence of steps to achieve quantified goal (cost reduction or profit increase) critical to a customer of the business process under consideration (cycle time, safety, delivery, etc.).

Six Sigma was originally designed to eliminate defects in manufacturing processes, but it is now widely applied to other business processes as a tool for improving the quality of a business process.

How Is The Business Analyst Involved In Six Sigma?

I have given you a pretty good picture of what a six sigma business analyst does. Now, I will answer the question of whether Siz Sigma is the new minimal standard for getting a business analyst job.

• Who Is The Six Sigma Domain Business Analyst?

  Six Sigma is one of the business analyst domain career paths.

  You are not required to become a domain business analyst or to become a six sigma business analyst.

  However, if you decide not to specialize in a business analyst domain, you have to master the skills required to become an IT Business Analyst.

  However, before you decide to become a six sigma business analyst, you need to get a good understanding of your skill sets, internal and external business environment.

• Do You Have A Statistical / Quality Management Background?

  You can decide if a six sigma business analyst career path is good for you by taking a look at your educational background, training, work experience or skill sets.

  If you already have some statistical and quality management background (I gained mine as a management trainee in Procter & Gamble), you may find that becoming a six sigma business analyst is a logical decision for you.

  If you do not have this backgound, then you have to factor in the cost of learning statistical and quality improvement from scratch.

• Can You Meet Internal Customer Expectations Using Cross Functional Business Analysis Skills?

  I don’t recommend that you evaluate becoming a six sigma business analyst solely from the point of view of … “what’s in it for me!“

  Because the Six Sigma Methodology emphasizes the very opposite … that you focus on meeting your customer’s needs, wants or requirements.
  

  So, you may start by asking yourself this question: will my customer’s needs be better met if I become a six sigma business analyst?.

  Sometime ago, I functioned as the IT Director for an Electronics Manufacturing Firm in the Midwest. One of my customers was the Quality Assurance Director who I assisted with improving the quality of the plant’s electronic components.

  In this role, it would have made sense for me to become a six sigma business analyst, considering that one of my major internal customers was the Quality Assurance director.

• Can You Meet External Business Requirements With Six Sigma BA Skills?

  Finally, you may also approach becoming a six sigma business analyst by reviewing the business analyst hiring trend in your city.

  This makes sense especially in a situation where you are out of work and you have no internal customers to satisfy.

  However, you also need to make sure that six sigma business analyst skills is in higher demand than IT business Analyis skills or some other BA domain!

  This matters because mis-interpreting the demands of employers or hiring managers can have a serious consequence on your career. So, don’t make conclusions for a couple of interviews. Apply for more jobs, analyze every business analyst job in your city and make then make an informed decision.

The technique that I used in answering this question is taken from a business analysis tools known as SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis teaches you among other things to match your strengths and weaknesses against opportunities and threats in your internal and external environment.

I will be bringing out more information on using SWOT Analysis in Decision Making in a Soon Coming Post

This post answers a question submitted by a business analyst looking at transitioning into the six sigma business analyst role. Be sure to leave your comments or questions at the end of this post and I will answer it for you.

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This question was submitted by Merry who wants to know “how to become the best business analyst in a competitive business analyst job market.”

If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask it as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering Merry’s questions below!

Here is Merry’s Question on Becoming The Best Business Analyst

Hi

I recently graduated from university with a BSc degree in Computer Science. I am now doing a Business Analyst Internship at an IT company in RSA. My contract with the company is expiring in the next four months.

My greatest concern now is how do I go about finding the perfect position that meets my qualifications,skills and experience. The other challenge is that hiring managers or companies themselves are looking for people who are highly experienced and I only have one year experience.

As I was reading some of the articles published here, I learned that you say people should not aim at getting Junior Business Analyst positions as employers are not really looking for Junior Business Analysts.

Now my questions are with the little experience that I have and still need more exposure in this field(IT Business Analysis) what kind of positions should I apply for? and which steps must I take in order to become the best business analyst and for me to be considered for Business Analyst positions?

Thank you for your time. Looking forward to your response

Regards

How to Stand Out in a Crowded Business Analyst Job Market

In a competitive business analyst job market, only the best business analyst candidates will succeed.

So, here are a few things that you may do to become a stronger or better business analyst:

1. Learn more about business analysis – become the best business analyst by getting a well-rounded in-depth understanding of core BA subjects.

2. Improve your presentation or communication skills – employers hire business analysts with strong verbal communication skills.

   Click here to join your local Toastmasters club for one of the best communication skills training programs … it costs next to nothing!

3. Become a better business writer – one of the senior business analysts I interviewed and recommended, got the job on the basis of her strong documentation or writing skills.

   Click here to join a training program like the business analysts boot camp which incorporates a lot of hands-on business analyst documentation or writing projects.

4. Make your resume stand out – your resume or cover letter is the first point of contact with potential employers.

   There are two simple but effective things that can improve your business analyst resume immediately:

   • Incorporate your personal brand into your resume and do not present a chronological but boring list of previous business analyst jobs.

   • Use an appropriate layout and format your resume to make it attractive.

   • Use the correct verb tenses and tailor your resume for each job description.

   • A poorly written or formatted resume signals weak business writing skills, so learn how to write your resume properly or hire someone to do it for you.

   • Resume writers charge as much as $600 and if you have to re-write your resume for each business analyst job, the cost quickly adds up.

     Click here to use the limited-time discount code: resumeONEX for up to two (2) resume rewrites.

5. Get a lot of hands on experience – employers are not comfortable hiring business analysts without strong hands-on experience regardless of their certification or academic qualifications.

   The demand for hands-on experience is so strong that college graduates are now paying for internship services!

   Click here to read how college graduates are paying for internship opportunities.

   So, do whatever it takes to get hands-on business analysis experience through training, volunteer, internship or personal leadership projects.

   Unlike some training programs, the business analyst boot camp incorporates hands-on projects, assignments and activities at no extra cost.

   So, for a limited-time, you may click here to register at the current low price.

6. Become a Leader In Your Industry – don’t depend only on your resume for a job.

   Employers now research potential candidates on social networking sites. So, if you don’t have a well-crafted personal brand, you’re letting employers make up their mind before you have a chance to tell your story.

   Learn how to establish your personal brand or tell your story by reading this now;

7. Prepare in advance for your business analyst job interview – start preparing for your business analyst job interviews several months ahead.

   Use business analyst practice tests to memorize, understand and recite the correct answers to potential interview questions.

   Click here; to read how scientific studies prove that using practice tests or quizzes boost retention, memory and recall.

   Note that the business analyst boot camp incorporates quizzes or practice tests as part of the process.

8. Don’t be so narrow minded, get some technical skils - employers are hiring for broader skill sets in a bid to cut down costs.

   What that means is that business analysts are increasing being asked to demonstrate technical or programming skills.

   Broaden your skill sets by learning SQL, relational databases and HTML. If you’re brave enough, learn some computer programming.

   If your objective is to get a business analyst job, then give employers what they want and don’t be insisting that technical skills are for programmers only!

   Currently there is a 2 for 1 promotional discount which allows you to register for any technical training program at no additional costs … don’t miss it!

The reality is, “you have to work hard at standing out in a competitive job market“!

I have made this easier by explaining what employers are looking for, so, the rest is up to you.

Remember that the market doesn’t lie. Don’t invest time on how to circumvent business analyst job descriptions. Save time and effort by giving employers what they want.

This post answers a question on how to become the best business analyst in a crowded job market.

If you have a question or a challenge about your career, post it as a comment and I will answer it for you!

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How To Answer Business Analyst Job Interview Questions

I’ve taken dozens of IT job interviews with various IT departments ranging from small IT shops to Fortune 500 IT departments to non-profits to consulting firms to staffing or recruitment agencies!

I’ve been interviewed and hired for both management and non-management IT positions. I’ve personally interviewed, hired and also coached IT Professionals who’ve gone on to wow their interviewers or ace the IT positions they wanted.

I’ve been in several situations where to get the next consulting assignment, I interviewed with several firms and also received multiple, competing job offers!

I’ve been in situations where firms competed for my services by trying to hire me away or by going out of their way to impress me with pretty good offers.

I’ve been hired for high visibility IT jobs in large organizations with just one single phone interview … and without going through a face to face interview.

I’ve taken more IT interviews than I care to count … closing and getting job offers 9 times out of ten.

I’ve even taken and aced phone interviews while driving and while on vacation.

I’ve been interviewed by a team of not one single person but a team of professionals several times during my career and sometimes without any warning and still wowed the team of interviewers without any additional notice or preparation!

As far as IT job interviews are concerned, I’ve been there and I have been there and I’ve done it.

I Have Something To Say

I have a lot to say about job interviews and I’m asking you to learn from me, so that you can truly be the master of your own fortune.

Are you are ready to be all you can be, break out of your personal limitations and experience the success you want?

Begin by learning how to your business analyst job interviews”.

Are you teachable and open to learning? If you are, read the rest of this article on How To Ace Business Analyst Job Interviews.

Boost your Business Analyst Job Interviews Using The Scientific Method

If you are looking for a scientific way to boost your Business analysis skills or ace your Business Analyst job interviews, start using practice tests.

Research has shown that practice tests or quizzes improve retention, recall or understanding.

Research has also proven that workers who study and take quizzes have better long-term recall than their colleagues who study without taking quizzes.

Don’t use practice tests only in preparation for certification exams because they are useful for much more than that!

Practice tests or quizzes are effective for improving Business Analyst skills, retention or recall which helps you ace your Business Analyst job interviews!

Let’s go ahead and review how you may used practice tests to improve your skills or advance your Business Analyst Career or get a Business Analyst job.

Use Quizzes to Ace Business Analyst Job Interviews

Quizzes or practice tests are effective because they mimic the question and answer format of Business Analyst job interviews.

In Practice Tests, the Quiz software usually presents random questions to you, rates your answers as correct or incorrect and then displays correct answers for your benefit!

Practice Tests simulate Business Analyst job interviews by presenting the different types of questions interviewers ask including Single Choice, Multiple Choice or Open-ended interview questions.

In a Business Analyst job interview, the potential employer will ask a question and then review your answers for correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness.

Lack of correctness (wrong answers), promptness (slow responses) and comprehensiveness (not enough details) may cause you to lose your Business Analyst job interview or give you a bad rating!

So, how would you prepare for your next job interview using this new information?

Start by using practice tests which can;

• Present potential Business Analyst job interview questions in random order

• Rate answers to single-choice, multiple-choice and open-ended interview questions … so you get used to answering them in interviews

• Present the correct Business Analyst job interview answer with additional explanations so you familiarize yourself with the correct answers

Use Quizzes to Sharpen Your Business Analyst Job Interviewing Skills

Practice tests actually improve your ability to remember or recall correct answers in your interviews.

Use them extensively to prepare for your interviews weeks or months before you need a job!

Practice tests are effective because you answer a set of questions multiple times until they sink in and become second nature!

How Sharp Are Your Business Analyst Skills?

During your Business Analyst interviews, you are evaluated based on the correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness of your answers.

Correctness:

Your answers are evaluated based on how precise or correct they are. Even when the Business Analyst interview questions are open ended, your answers are still evaluated as correct or incorrect.

You impress your interviewer when you can answer most or all of the questions you’re asked correctly. Not getting your facts straight or not knowing your material will certainly cost you the interview!

Promptness:

You are evaluated based on how quickly you respond to Business Analyst interview questions.

The quicker you are in responding to Business Analyst interview questions, the sharper your skills are perceived to be.

So, you lose points when you take too long to answer a Business Analyst question and you gain points or credibility, when your answers are quick or instinctive.

Comprehensiveness:

Your interviewer evaluates your Business analysis level of knowledge when you answer a Business Analyst question.

So, a comprehensive, detailed or factual answer will score more points than a sketchy, skimpy answer.

When you are asked a Business Analyst question, you really need to wow your interviewer by demonstrating that you have more than a superficial understanding of the topic.

You need to do this by giving the correct answer promptly and comprehensively (with as much detail as the time you are given permits).

How To Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Correctly

Business Analyst Testing Software programs present a list of Business Analyst interview questions and then evaluates your answer to each question as either true of false … which helps you identify the correct answers.

You need to study each answer’s explanation, understand why it is correct and why the other answers are not correct.

You also need to attempt the same question several times until your answers are consistently correct.

Practicing with Business Analyst Testing Software will help you respond back promptly, correctly, comprehensively in a live Business Analyst interview.

How to Answer Business Analyst Interview Questions Promptly

Because practice questions are presented in a quiz software, you have a reliable way of recording, tracking or monitoring your training sessions and improvement.

Your ability to answer Business Analyst interview questions promptly is a function of your familiarity with the question or topic.

As your level of familiarity with Business Analyst questions increases, your promptness in answering also increases. So, practice taking Business analyst interviews using Business Analysis Testing software

In this article, we discussed how to boost your skills and ace your Business job interview using a proven scientific technique.

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Ask IT Career Coach

The fundamentals of earning an income is rooted in the exchange of goods, services or skills and having an 8 to 5 job is just one way of doing that!

This post answers the question of what to do when you can’t get a job! posted by a reader (Kintu Vicent) who is inquiring about “how to earn an income as a business analyst without regular employment!“

If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask it as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader’s question below!

Please, send this post to your friends using the “Tell a Friend” Button button below. You earn points or cash each time you refer an article to your friends using the Tell a Friend Button.

Here is the Question:

dear sir/madam,

i am an african youth living in Uganda (east african country).

i would like to be a good entreprenuer (small scale business owner) but also having a profession both beneficial to my own businesses like procurement and logistics and side by employment inorder to accumulate more capital to invest in my projects.

i have the following to ask you.

can you give some sophisticated business ideas a business analyst does?

rather than being a consultant or contract personel ,how better can a business analyst creat his own employment to face the global challenge of un-employment.

best regards,

looking forward to hearing from you.

High Un-employment Rate

The un-employment rate in the United States is at a 26 year high! and other countries are also experiencing dramatic spikes in un-employment. So, business analysts and other IT professionals need to consider alternative or non-traditional career paths for earning a living“.

First, Prepare a Strategic Plan Using SWOT Analysis

You create your own employment by using SWOT ANALYSIS to elicit alternative career paths or prepare competitive services for the business analysis marketplace.

You have to consider your strengths relative to the business analyst market place because you only get paid for what you can do well compared to others and you have to consider business analyst career paths strategically because you may be thinking in a box.

By thinking outside of the box, you begin to see opportunities that were hidden because of self-imposed mental constraints or limiting beliefs!

Alternative Career Paths for Business Analysts

Let me introduce three career paths for business analysts who don’t want to work a regular 8 to 5 contract or full-time business analyst job.

1. Business Analyst Blogger Career Path: You may become a blogger for the business analyst blogosphere!

   To become a business analyst blogger, you need a computer, a word processor and an internet connection.

   You can live anywhere in the world as a business analyst blogger because your clients are easily discoverable on the internet.

   There are several ways of monetizing your blogging income streams and you need to choose a profit model that best suits your blogging goals.

2. Freelance IT Business Analyst Consultant Career Path: You may become a freelance IT business analyst consultant!

   As a freelance IT business analyst consultant, you may specialize in requirements analysis, requirements modeling and documentation, Use Cases, UML or Data Modeling for Software Development Projects.

   As a freelance IT business analyst consultant you may also setup shop virtually and work remotely for clients that need your services.

   You will need a more sophisticated marketing plan so you can discover or engage the types of clients that will be needing your out-sourced business analysis services.

3. Freelance Web Business Analyst Consultant Career Path: You may capitalize on the opportunities created by the strong demand for web skills by becoming a freelance web business analyst!

   As a freelance web business analyst, your services may include helping companies align their web investments with their business goals using your superior business analysis skills.

   As a freelance web business analyst, You may also decide to help companies analyze how customers use or interact with their websites or help elicit business requirements for web analytics projects.

   If you have developed strong quantitative or analytical skills, you may also help business leaders take advantage of hidden opportunities in their clickstream, search, survey or web usability data.

The alternative career paths listed above are just a tip of the iceberg … there are more!

If you need help with eliciting alternative career paths or preparing a competitive service for the market place, feel fee to contact us.

Career Paths for Business Analysts

Kintu, it is possible to create your own employment as a business analyst without working a traditional 8 to 5 job.

Begin by using SWOT Analysis to discover what you are good at and then create a competitive offering for the business analyst marketplace!

This post answers a question posted by a reader on “how to become a freelance business analyst!!

If you have any Question about your career, Post IT as a comment on this page and I will be sure to answer it for you!

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What Are The Most Valuable Business Analyst Skills?

One of the toughest challenges facing business analysts today is building the domain experience required for business analyst jobs.

Acquiring business analyst domain experience from scratch is hard because you need to get a job before you can build domain expertise … yet no-one will give you a job without that required domain experience!

This post however discusses how to get around the business analyst domain experience required for business analysis jobs.

What is Business Analyst Domain Experience?

Business analyst domain experience is the hands-on business skills or domain knowledge acquired by working in specialized industries like automotive, banking, insurance, telecom, utilities or working for business units such as customer relationship management, finance, sales and marketing.

Business analyst domain experience is gained by solving business problems for a specific industry or business unit and it can’t be gained by taking certifications exams or by learning business analysis concepts like Use Cases or Requirements Modeling.

In other words, business analyst domain experience is gained by getting your hands dirty with work in an industry or by solving real-world business problems for a business unit.

Don’t Confuse Your Business Analysis Skills With Domain Knowledge!

There is a difference between your business analyst skills and your business analyst domain experience.

Your business analyst skills (like Requirements Elicitation, Use Cases, UML etc) are the techniques or tools used in solving business problems.

They are skills that serve as the means to an end. The end being the business problems or challenges facing your industry.

What Is The Value of Domain Business Analysis Skills?

A business analyst transitioning to a new domain starts out with little or no domain knowledge and then builds up the industry knowledge over time.

That is the reason why some of the most senior business analysts in an organization are those who started out first by learning the ins and outs of their employer’s business before they took formal training.

Businesses value domain business analysts because their knowledge is not easily transferable and because they know how to run or operate the business units efficiently.

This is perhaps another reason why it pays to work in an industry for a while instead of hopping from one industry to another.

When you transition to a completely new business analysis domain, you will have to prove yourself as if you are just starting … even though you may be an experienced business analyst!

When is Business Analyst Domain Experience Needed?

Transitioning From One Business Analyst Domain to Another: Business analysts transitioning from a domain like the automotive or auto-finance industry to another domain like healthcare or telecomms have to build their business analyst domain experience completely from scratch.

Transitioning From One Country to Another: Business analysts transitioning from one country to another may have to re-establish their domain experience.

New domain knowledge is needed because businesses operate under different laws, regulations, customs and economic climates across national or regional boundaries.

So, potential employer want to be sure that re-locating business analysts are intimate with the customs or ways of doing business in the countries that they are hired

How Do You Build Business Analyst Domain Experience?

If you have already developed domain experience by working in an industry for several years, what you need is not more domain experience but this comprehensive training on the techniques and practices of business analysis.

On the other hand, if you don’t already have business domain experience and you are open to gaining experience in frontline industries or domains, click here.

Here is how it works:

• You Become a Domain Specialist: In the The Business Analyst coaching program, you are encouraged to specialize in a few business analyst domains so you can achieve a reasonable level of mastery or competency within those domains.

  The industries that we are focusing on right now are those that show the strongest promise for hiring or those that are cutting-edge or the frontline of the economy.

  Contact us to see if this will be a good fit for you, OK?

• Become a Leader: The goal of the Business Analyst Coaching program is to get you networked with businesses and peers in your industry through extensive study, practical handson work and industry networking.

  Instead of just sensing your resume around waiting for someone else to hire you, learn how to the gain the recognition or attention of your peers and hiring managers using social media networking or branding.

Just remember that you can solve the challenge of acquiring business analyst domain knowledge by specializing in frontline domains, solving real-world business problems and then marketing your profile or brand continually using social media.

If this sounds like something you will be interested in doing, contact us for more information or learn more about business analysis coaching here.

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healthcare business analyst career path

This question was posted by a Healthcare Business Analyst looking for work!

If you have a Burning Question or a Challenge that you need help with, be sure to ask your question as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering the question below!

If you find this article helpful then share it with your friends using the “Share This Post” Link.

You provide valuable information or advice to others each time you use the Share This Post Link.

Here is the Question:

Hi Kingsley,I like your articles and posts and look forward to a good advise from you on the following :

The toughest challenge for me is to get back into Business Analysis after working for just less than 2 yrs where my domain was government sector projects and a dash of incomplete healthcare knowledge.

I ‘m neither a fresher nor an experienced guy with very less domain exp. I mostly get healthcare projects ( since my last project was on health care domain) where my knowledge is inadequate and companies do not want to employ me for the same.

How can I bag such jobs when the domain knowlege is lacking? or how can I convince that my BA skills are good enough for the new domain?

I am not sure what additional skills I need to gain to be employable.Should I gain any technical knowledge or do IIBA certifications?

Please advise.

Thanks 

Here is my Answer:

Sri:

I’m glad that you enjoy reading my articles and posts. I would be glad to answer your questions for you.

Here are my thoughts on what you need to do to get back in the game.

1. Learn How To Get A Business Analyst Job Without Applying For Any

2. Learn How To Ace Business Analyst Job Interviews

3. Get More Business Analysis Domain Experience

How To Get More Healthcare Business Analysis Domain Experience

The main issue facing your business analysis job search based on feedback from employers is inadequate healthcare domain experience.

You need to address the lack of business analysis domain experience directly by looking for more informal or formal work in the healthcare industry.

Don’t side-step the main issue by working on getting more educational qualifications because you won’t get more healthcare business analysis experience that way!

You need to either get more healthcare business analysis domain experience or perhaps start all over with a new business analysis domain!

If you decide to continue with the Healthcare Industry, then you will be building on your previous healthcare business analysis domain experience.

If you decide to start over with a new business analysis domain, you may be able to get additional business analyst hands-on experience more easily or quickly.

You also have the option on working on getting business analysis domain experience in more than one industry!

For example, you may increase your chances of getting a business analyst job by getting business analyst domain experience in sales or marketing or customer relationship management (CRM) domains in addition to the healthcare domain.

So, evaluate the availability or accessibility of domain experience in the healthcare industry compared to other industries or expose yourself to additional domains besides healthcare.

Regardless of which business analysis domains you choose, do not try to bypass the lack of experience issue … be sure to address it directly in your actions

Learn How To Ace Business Analyst Job Interviews

It is possible that you are not getting hired because you are not putting up a compelling presentation at your business analyst job interviews!

You may possess the minimal business analysis domain experience required for a healthcare business analyst job and still not get hired because of weak presentation or interviewing skills!

A business analyst may get a job where another business analyst else with more experience, skills, training, certifications or educations fails because job interviews are subjective!

So, you must work on improving your business analyst interviewing skills so you cover all your bases!

“Click here for more Information on How To Get Through Business Analyst Interviews“

Learn How To Get a Business Analyst Job Offers Without Applying For Any!

It is actually possible to get health care business analyst job offers without actively soliciting for them.

Assuming that the job search process is a marketing process, you are better off getting employers to call you with job offers!

The problem with the traditional methods of job searching is that everyone who is out-of-a-job is probably doing the same thing! To get a job you have to do more than everyone else!

So my advice is that; you have to raise the bar higher by getting employers to notice you or call you with business analyst job offers!

Now, that is quite possible and I am going to show you how!

The way to get employers to notice you is by becoming a leader in the healthcare business analyst domain or any other domain that you prefer!

How To Become A Leader In The Healthcare Business Analyst Industry!

The best way to get a healthcare job is by becoming a leader in the healthcare business analysis domain!

Becoming a leader in the healthcare business analyst domain means that you do the things that gets you noticed in the healthcare business analysis domain.

When you become a leader in the healthcare business analyst industry then employers are more likely to call you with job offers and your resume is guaranteed to stand out in any pile of business analyst resumes!

We have a program that coaches you on how to stand-up and be noticed! . IT helps you “Become a Leader”.

In that program you are shown or coached on “how to become a leader or gain recognition in the IT marketplace!“

Sri, feel free to ask for more information by contacting us or by posting a comment, question or reply below!

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Ask IT Career Coach

This question was posted by a Business Analyst in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.

If you have a Burning Question or a Challenge that you need help with, be sure to ask your question as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering the question below!

Please, send this post to your friends using the “Tell a Friend” Button button below. You earn points or cash each time you refer an article to your friends using the Tell a Friend Button.

Here is the Question:

Hi,

I am looking to go into My first Business Analyst role, I have had a mixture of responses from people here in the United Kingdom (UK).

Some are saying that the market is bad for entry level Business Analysts and some say its good.

Is there any one that could give me advise on what I should do and how I should market myself?

Here is my answer to the question on “getting an entry level business analyst job in a good or bad job market“:

1. Do not begin or opt-out of the business analyst job search because of the state of the job market.

2. Do decide to search for a business analyst job because you want to be a business analyst.

Your decision to become a business analyst or search for business analyst jobs should be based on an interest or dis-interest in becoming a business analyst and not on factors beyond your control like the condition of the business analyst job market.

Stephen Covey in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People mentioned that proactive people do not worry or focus on factors over which they have little or no control … instead they focus on their “Sphere Of Influence” … those factors or circumstances over which they can exercise control.

So, do not focus or worry about the condition of the Business Analyst Job Market.

Keep your focus on becoming a business analyst and making an effective search for a business analyst job by:

1. Deciding if you want to become a business analyst by comparing your strengths to the demands of the business analyst profession

2. Finding out how to get a business analyst job regardless of the condition of the business analyst job market

Do You Want To Become A Business Analyst?

Take the first action within your control by first learning the roles, responsibilities or duties of a business analyst.

Next compare what you have learned about the day to day challenges or the life of a business analyst to what you know about your own abilities, likes or strengths.

Finally decide if you want to become a business analyst based on all the information you’ve gathered.

There are several articles on this website that will help you make an informed decision on becoming a business analyst

Here are some articles on the topic of becoming a business analyst:

• how to become a business analyst

• how to become a contract business analyst

How Do You Effectively Plan The Business Analyst Job Search?

You need to make an effective plan for finding business analyst jobs because making that kind of plan is within your control or sphere of influence.

Make an effective plan for becoming a business analyst by improving each of the following areas that impact your business analyst job search:

1. Business Analyst Cover Letter

2. Business Analyst Resume

3. Business Analyst Job Search

4. Business Analyst Job Interviewing Skills

5. Business Analyst Hands-On Working Experience

6. Business Analysis Domain Experience

7. Business Analysis Skills & Knowledge

The point here is that job searches fail because they are weak or improperly planned and not because of the condition of the business analyst job market!

Here are some articles on the topic of creating an effective business analyst job search plan:

• How to Get an IT Business Analyst Job

• How to Get Business Analyst Job Interviews

• How to Get Through Business Analyst Interviews

Finally, I want to say that basing decisions about a beginning a career you like … on the job market condition is fundamentally flawed because of two reasons:

• You cannot not wait till the business analyst job market is good because the market will be saturated with “Me-Toos” or everyone who wants to get a business analyst job because they hear that the market is also good!.

• You cannot also delay applying for business analyst jobs when the business analyst job market is bad because others will also assume that the business analyst job market is bad. Applying when the business analyst job market looks weak is actually good for you because you will have fewer competitors then!

So, think positively, focus on factors within your control and remember that if you think that you can become a business analyst … you can!

This post answers a question posted by a reader. If you have a Question, Post IT as a comment on this page and I will be sure to answer it for you!

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Top Paying Skills in High Demand

Use Cases skills are in-demand for documenting or communicating the functional requirements of a system

Use Cases skills are employed in product design roles, software development or architecture roles and are among the most sought-after skills for business analyst jobs

Why Use Cases Training for Business Analysts?

Here are some of benefits of Use Case training for business analysts:

1. Use Cases are effective for documenting the business processes, requirements (business or system), features and functionality of a system. So Use Cases skills are needed at the problem analysis or requirements gathering phase, software design or development phase or testing phase

2. Because Use Cases lie at the heart of many software development processes, Use Cases skills are in-demand for business analysts or software developers. Use Cases skills also play a principal role during requirements analysis, business process improvement, software testing, quality assurance and architecture

3. Use Cases are effective for improving the requirements practices of software development teams or Information Technology (IT) teams and using Use Cases effectively can lead to improved product quality.

   When Use Cases are used in documenting or presenting the requirements of a system, the software development or IT team ends up with a better understanding of the system under consideration or development.

   Because Use Cases are written from the user’s view point in non-technical, implementation or jargon free language, the entire team including stakeholders, users, developers, testers and business analysts communicate or collaborate better resulting in improved product quality and a more efficient process

How To Learn Or Master Use Cases Quickly

The The Business Analyst Book is the e-book that provides you with a blueprint for learning business analysis or studying business analysis on your own. It is the teach yourself business analysis book.

If you prefer step by step, in-depth, video training from Business Analyst instructors, then the The Business Analyst Boot Camp is the right place for you.

The Business Analyst Boot Camp includes a complete set of business analysis videos, business analysis quizzes, business analysis handson projects and personalized business analysis coaching. The Business Analyst Book now includes select business analysis training lessons and business analysis quizzes adapted from the business analyst boot camp. So, now you are given access to select business analyst boot camp training material when you get The Business Analyst Book

Bonus Use Cases Training Now Included In the Business Analyst Book

The Business Analyst Boot Camp includes Use Cases quizzes, Use Cases video training and hands-on Use Cases projects. The Use Cases quizzes helps you master Use Cases in a shorter time and also prepares you for Business Analyst Job Interviews. The Use Cases quizzes are also designed to improve your comprehension, recall and retention of the Use Cases video training sessions.

However, we are now adding one of the Use Cases quizzes from The Business Analyst Boot Camp to The Business Analyst Book for past or current buyers of the book.

Included in the bonus Use Cases lessons for all owners of The Business Analyst Book are:

• A Bonus Use Cases Lesson Summary: The bonus Use Cases Lesson is a downloadable electronic lesson that summarizes a Use Cases video presentation from The Business Analyst Boot Camp.

• A Bonus Use Cases Quiz or Use Cases Practice Test:  The bonus Use Cases Practice Test or Quiz is adapted from the Use Cases video presented at The Business Analyst Boot Camp. The bonus Use Cases training comes with a private, secure, personal log-in to our web-based training portal or learning management system (LMS) and a Use Cases quiz that you may use to perfect your understanding or mastery of some Use Cases concepts.

How To Learn or Master Use Cases

The way to learn Use Cases quickly is by repeatedly practicing your Use Case skills until they are second nature. That is exactly what the bonus Use Cases training and Use Cases practice tests will do for you.

To learn more about how quizzes or practice tests help you develop mastery or competency, click here.

Learn Use Cases By Doing – Get Hands On Use Cases Experience

Note that in the Business Analyst Boot Camp, you are also presented with projects where you apply the information gained from watching the Use Cases video towards solving situations or problems similar to those facing you on the job!

Who Gets The Bonus Use Cases Training?

The bonus Use Cases training will be delivered to all buyers (past, current or future owners) of the The Business Analyst Book.

Note: that if you are subscribed to The Business Analyst Boot Camp, then you already have access to the complete set of Use Cases video training, Use Cases practice tests or quizzes, business analyst mentoring or coaching and hands-on Use Cases projects and this announcement does not affect you

How Do You Get The Bonus Use Cases Training?

Go to this link and place an order now for The Business Analyst Book and you will be given access to both the bonus Use Cases Training and the bonus Use Cases practice tests or quizzes

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How To Achieve In Your Career

I am dedicating this article to answering a question posted by an independent contract business analyst. If you have a question or challenge about your business analyst career, post it as comment at the end of this article and I will answer it for you:

Here is the question posed by the independent contract or consulting business analyst:

… I got hired by a consulting firm. I was under the impression that I was with a company with a team-oriented environment. By this I mean that I thought I would be working with project teams etc.

I shortly realized that the company operated much like a ‘body shop’- I was put on contracts on my own. I shortly realized that I was operating almost like an independent contractor.

I read your article on independent consulting and lets just say that was my role but with very little experience. I have survived this environment … but now Im exhausted cause I never feel “caught up”. Im trying to make a career plan, but with the last few years I feel like I have lost the vision…??

I think I’m looking for some mentorship/direction…!

Here is my answer to the challenge facing the independent contract business analyst:

Not All Business Analyst Job Offers Are Good For You!

Years ago … in the middle of the last tech crisis when all tech jobs were gone, I was living in Madison, Wisconsin and had 3 job offers to choose from. One of the job offers was a full-time job offer from a consulting firm.

The full-time job offer looked good on the surface. I was new to Madison, Wisconsin, the job offer promised me a steady source of pay, zero bench time, a career path, a competitive salary and lot’s of opportunities to grow my career!

However, I did some research on the job offer and here is what I came up with:

Business Analyst Consulting Jobs Cloaked As Full Time Job Offers

Doing due diligence on the company and full-time job offer, I asked the interviewer, how many hours I would be working on a full-time basis?

The answer really surprised me … I was told anywhere from 55 to 60+ hours or as much work as it takes to get my work done!

That is when the first alarm bell went off … you see it is not uncommon to be asked to work a 45 hour week. But to work a 60 hour week, indicates a 12 hour work day! That sounded unusual for a full-time job offer.

Full-Time vs. Contract Business Analyst Salary, Wages and Compensation

Then I asked my second question .. How would I be compensated for the extra hours I would be investing in the position?

At that point, the interviewer paused and then answered that it depends on how the company does at the end of the year. If I do very well, I may get a bonus, etc. So, I did a quick mental calculation. Working 20 extra hours per week, 80 hrs. per month equates to 1,000 overtime hours. I then realized that in a true or real contracting position, I will be getting between $25,000 to $75,000 for that extra amount of overtime work!

How To Evaluate Business Analyst Contract Or Full-Time Job Offers

1. Are You Compensated Fairly? Are you working for a business analyst consulting firm that hires you as a full-time employee and then sends you out to work an extra 15 to 20 hours in overtime pay for a promise of end of year benefits, compensation adn a better life? If you do, are you then compensated at the end of the year at a rate commensurate or better than what you get paid … if you work those overtime hours as a contract business analyst?

2. Are You Trained To Do Your Business Analyst Job? If you work for a business analyst consultancy, you will be thrown into whatever work your employer finds. Employers are not that picky when it comes to accepting work from clients because they need to pay bills as well .. and I know this because I have been on the receiving end of both, first as an employee and then as an owner of a consultancy firm! However, an exceptional employer would give you work that is challenging but does not lie too far outside your skill sets without re-training you.

   The challenge here is that you if you work as an independent contract business analyst, you are really in control of your own career and your own destiny. By this I mean that you can pick and choose the contract jobs that match your skill sets or that you are trained to handle. If you work as a business analyst for a business analyst consultancy, you may not be able to choose the assignments that match your background, skills, training and aspirations. You have to depend on your employer to make that choice for that.

   If you find yourself working for a business analyst consultancy and being placed on projects that you are not prepared to handle, here is a quick solution:

   • Get More Hands-On Business Analysis Training: You can take a look at the core skills required to perform the projects frequently assigned to your business analyst consultancy. Find the overlapping skills that are needed for the majority of projects, and then ask your employer for training on those skills
   • Research Your Business analyst Job Offer Before Getting Hired: In my story, I asked the consulting firm, a few questions to determine if the position being offered was a good fit! I had three job offers and each of them paid better than the offer from the consulting firm. However, that is not the reason why I did not accept the job offer from the consultancy. I realized during the interview that the business consultancy firm was asking me to invest about 1,000 hours per year in overtime labor without a fair compensation plan. For the plan to have been fair, my base pay should have factored in all those extra over-time hours or I should have been offered an hourly pay after 40 to 45 hours of full-time work.

Is Your Business Analyst Job What You Signed Up For?

So, here is the action plan. You need to evaluate if your current business analyst job is a good fit for you … career wise! You are probably feeling over challenged about your current business analyst job because you knwo in your heart that it’s not quite what you signed up for!

You are missing the feeling of belonging to a real business analyst team. That is because your business analyst consultancy moves you from one project to another and from one client to another … because that is how consultancies generally operate! If you are lucky, you get to stay on one client or project for a long-time and build relationships with team members … but that is an exception and not a rule.

However, in a real full-time business analyst position where your employer is not a consultancy, you will have a much better chance to build relationships with team members, work as part of a team versus working in a solo fashion!

Also, why it is true to say that most business analysts need some form of training to do their job … since the range of required skills is generally wide, business analyst consultancies and business analyst contractors may need even more training … because they are expected to bring an expert set of business analysis skills to each client engagement!

What Is The Challenge Facing Your Business Analyst Career?

I hope I answered your question. If you have any question or challenge about your business analyst career, go ahead and post it as a comment at the end of this article and I will be glad to answer or solve it for you!

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Do You Want To Become A Contract Business Analyst?

I am writing this post to answer a question posted by a business analyst on “How To Become A Contract Business Analyst”.

If you have a question or challenge about your business analyst career, post it as comment at the end of this article and I will answer it for you as well

Here is the question on how to become a contract business analyst.

Having recently started in my first permanent position as a Business Analyst, I find the toughest challenge for me currently, is getting up to speed with the systems I have to analyse and develop (Risk Management and Finance Systems).

Now, 5 months later, I am thoroughly enjoying my BA role and tasks.

However, I am considering moving into a contracting position. The primary reason would be for the money.

My fear however is that I would be moving into a contracting position prematurely and having read some of the posts in this string above, it seems that BA contractors have to be highly skilled.

Perhaps I should firstly ensure that my general BA skills are a lot more refined before putting myself into a position where I am required to be a specialist …

Any ideas?

The big question is, how does a hiring manager determine the skill level of a contract business analyst?

Is that determination based on the experience, number of years in the industry, certifications, educational qualifications, recommendations on LinkedIn or perhaps the quality of work the business analyst can perform?

How To Become A Contract Business Analyst

It may shock you to find out that contract business analysts can earn up to 50% more than full-time business analysts with the same skills, experience and training.

The specifics of how much more you can earn as a contract business analyst depends on the company that hires you and how good you are at negotiation.

Some companies pay at the bottom of the pay range for full-time business analyst careers while others are at the higher end of the pay range based on a business analyst salary survey.

However, even though contract business analysts are paid much more, they are required to be highly skilled, competent or expert business analysts at what they do!

That is fair, isn’t it, when you look at it from the Manager’s perspective.

The Hiring Manager who pays a contract business analyst’s salary has to pay an additional premium or bonus to a staffing or recruiting firm for hiring that additional skill level.

With this in mind, the total cost of hiring one contract business analyst may end up being up to two (2) times the salary paid for one full-time business analyst.

The manager who hires a contract business analysts has to have a good justification for paying those additional costs.

• Business Analysis Skills

  The contract business analyst has to be highly skilled at what they do.

  If they are not that skilled, then they wouldn’t last long on a contracting gig, because hiring managers would not want to keep them on the project without getting a quick and immediate return on their investment.

  And really the surest way to justify the skill level and salary of a contract business analyst is by producing a high quality and amount of work every time.

  In other words, contract business analysts have to wow clients by solving business problems quickly and by demonstrating strong competency at routine business analysis tasks like Use Case or Requirements Documentation.

• Business Analysis Experience

  The contract business analyst has to be highly experienced at what they do.

  This does not necessarily mean that a contract business analyst must have 10 years of experience or anything like that, but that when it comes to specific skills like Use Case Documentation or Requirements Elicitation, the contract business analyst is expected to have a breadth of experience that can only be gained by exercising those skills in several business situations in the past.

  In other words, clients don’t want their contract business analysts to use them for learning since they are expected to be experts or highly skilled professionals!

  Hiring managers think that they have already paid for a high expertise level so they want to start reaping dividends, the moment you work in through their door as a contract business analyst.

• Business Analysis Education

  The contract business analyst has to be highly informed, trained or educated in business analysis because managers don’t expect to find gaps in the knowledge areas of their contract business analysts.

  Gaps may be tolerated in their full-time business analyst employees but not in contract business analyst jobs.

  So, you need to be at the top of your game and that includes having the requisite knowledge to get your job done quickly, excellently and without any issues.

In the end, only you can tell you whether you can make the jump to becoming a contract business analyst.

The rewards to being a contract business analyst can be really good.

You get paid a lot more ($45 to $55/hr. or even more) and you get to work on a lot of fast-paced projects where your leadership skills can be fully utilized.

However, you will also have to be highly skilled, knowledgeable and experienced to succeed as a contract business analyst.

And you must be able to perform, produce results quickly or prove to everyone that you are worth your hire!

Finally, note that becoming a contract business analyst does not depend on how many years of business analysis experience you have but on how sharp your skills are!

If you have any question or challenge facing your business analysis career, go ahead and post it as a comment at the end of this article and I will address it for you.

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Effective Requirements Elicitation Techniques

What is Requirements Elicitation?

Requirements elicitation is the process of identifying the sources of requirements for a new system and obtaining those requirements from those sources.

Potential sources of requirements include users, documents, regulators and even legacy software code.

Requirements elicitation is a crucial part of the Requirements Gathering, Documentation and Analysis Process.

It is a critical business activity that requires the focus of a skilled business analyst.

Regardless of the elicitation techniques you choose or how you implement those techniques, you need to do whatever it takes to understand the real needs of your customers.

There are several requirements elicitation techniques available to you as a business analyst.

Keep in mind that your choice of techniques will depend on your comfort level or familiarity, the complexity or nature of your project as well as the stakeholders you are talking to.

Be advised that each requirements elicitation technique has its advantages and disadvantages and that there is no one technique that works for every situation.

With this in mind, you may want to consider gaining mastery of several different elicitation techniques so that you can successfully draw out your stakeholder needs.

Plan your Requirements Elicitation

Create a plan first before starting out on your requirements elicitation activities. Planning your elicitation activities ensures that you:

1. Understand your stakeholders.
2. Use the right elicitation techniques for each stakeholder or stakeholder group.
3. Accurately prioritize the stakeholders and assign the right level of involvement.
4. Allocate adequate time and resources to the requirements gathering activities.
5. Adequately prepare the stakeholders for the elicitation sessions.
6. Gain the trust and cooperation of your stakeholders.

Here is a list of Requirements Elicitation Techniques

Brainstorming

Brainstorming sessions are used to let the stakeholders come up with creative ideas or new approaches to a problem

Workshops

Workshops are facilitated meetings with multiple stakeholders.

Interviewing

Interviews are in-person, one-on-one meetings where the business analyst asks questions so he or she can draw ut more information from the stakeholder.

With an interview you can quickly obtain a lot of requirements from one person. However, you still need to examine those requirements to make sure they do not conflict with other stakeholder needs.

Surveys

Surveys are used to gather information anonymously from the stakeholders.

Documentation Review

This is the process of obtaining requirements from written documentation such as manuals.

Prototyping

This is the use of partially finished versions of the software that have been created to help validate requirements.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups are group interviews with potential and / or actual users where the business analyst discusses issues or questions or obtain information from the stakeholders.

Focus groups are a collaborative technique that lets you gather a lot of information. It includes a measure of brainstorming which is good when the users don’t know what they really want or need from the system.

Observation

Observation is when the business analyst watches the users performing their daily tasks and asks questions about their tasks or work.

This technique gives you the advantage of actually seeing what users are doing at their work as opposed to what they tell you they are doing.

Observation helps the analyst develop a real understanding of the user’s on the job issues.

A skilled business analyst should be comfortable or conversant with choosing using the right elicitation technique for each situation.

If you are not familiar with using some of these elicitation techniques, consider signing-uo for the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training and increase the value you bring to your organization by learning how to elicit complete, correct, consistent, clear, concise and feasible requirements.

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Entry Level Business Analyst Job

This article is in two parts. You are currently reading part one and you may click here to read part two of the article.

What should you do when you decide you want to become an IT Business Analyst?

You may have been a software developer, data analyst or even someone who has never worked in the Information Technology industry at all.

Perhaps you have an MBA or other business degree, but you have an interest in technology and you think IT Business Analysis is something you’d like to try your hand at.

Here are the steps that you can take from where you are to becoming a business analyst without taking a lifetime to switch your career.

First, Determine That Business Analysis is Your Dream Job

The first step is to make an informed decision that Business Analysis is your dream job. Ask yourself why you want to become a business analyst.

What is it about the career that you like?

What are the personal traits that you will be free to express as a business analyst?

Don’t choose to become a business analyst because of the money or the lack thereof.

Some people never go after their dream job because they think it won’t make them wealthy.

Being fulfilled in your career and fairly comfortable financially is much better than being wealthy and unhappy.

In addition, when you pursue a career that is in alignment with your passions, values and personal goals, you are more likely to become financially secure.

Going for your dream will require your commitment and investment of time and money, so you need to be sure that you are ready financially and mentally to pay the price.

If you are thinking about becoming a business analyst, evaluate the characteristics and skills that are necessary for being a good one.

You can always get training for your technical skills, but here are a few personal traits and skills to consider:

• A good business analyst is good at and enjoys communicating.

• You’ll need to be organized and able to manage large amounts of input and information coming to you from lots of different sources.

• Are you curious and flexible? Do you enjoy learning new things on a continuous basis?

• Do you handle conflict well? Can you be calm when others are not?

• Can you handle conflict on behalf of others? On the job as a business analyst, you will have to be arbitrator, negotiator and peacemaker all rolled into one.

• Are you willing to learn new technical skills such as gaining a good understanding of the software development process?

• Do you enjoy learning new business concepts?

• Do you enjoy research?

• Can you help people understand new concepts? If they don’t understand it one way, do you have the skills to reword your explanation?

Take Action Now

Once you’ve decided that Business Analysis is the dream job for you, you need to laser-focus your time and energy and give everything you have to achieve your goal.

To achieve success in any endeavor, you have to apply effort and hard work.

Business Analysis is no different.

The role of the business analyst is not an “easy” IT job

It requires skill and dedication to do a good job.

Be prepared to stay the course and don’t bail out too soon.

Be patient and hang in there and you will be amazed at the results.

Stop talking about become a business analyst someday and begin to work on your dream now. Just start taking lots of action.

Take your dream out of Never Land and make it concrete by setting a timeline for your goal.

Create timeline for your goal. A goal without a deadline is just a castle in the air.

Click Here to Read Part Two of this Article

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Gathering Requirements

It is common knowledge that the biggest reason for IT project failure is poor requirements. If the requirements that the developers are working from are wrong, incomplete or otherwise inadequate, that project is doomed to join the 70% of IT projects that fail every year.

So why not simply gather good (SMART) requirements? Ask any business analyst and they will tell you that the biggest problem they face is getting users to tell them what they really want out of a new system or process. Why? The reasons are varied. Sometimes it appears that users simply won’t communicate what they really want. Sometimes it appears that the business analyst is asking all the wrong questions. Sometimes it appears that the users change their minds all the time.

The truth is that the users usually don’t know what they want. Most times their requirements are hovering around in their minds in an incomplete or even inconsistent state. It is the task of the business analyst to partner with the users and stakeholder to wade through the ambiguity to discover the evolving requirements.

Requirements Elicitation and Discovery

The process of extracting, drawing out, obtaining and then negotiating the requirements for a new or changed system or business solution is called Requirements Elicitation, but still popularly referred to as requirements gathering.
Requirements elicitation is crucial to the success of any project. It is also a challenging and intensive process that relies on a lot of involvement from the business analyst as well as the stakeholders. As a business analyst, you and your team will have to motivate stakeholders to work with you to describe the business solution.

Requirements Elicitation Techniques

One of the keys to success in the requirements elicitation phase of any project is to have a wide range of elicitation skills and techniques at your disposal so that you can pick the right technique for developing the right requirements. Some excellent elicitation techniques are:

• Brainstorming
• Elicitation Workshops and Discovery Sessions
• Interviewing
• Surveys
• Documentation Review
• Interface Analysis
• Prototyping
• Focus Groups
• Observation
• User Task Analysis
• Documentation Study

Choosing the Right Technique for Every Situation

Interviewing is a very effective way of obtaining high-level needs and constraints that may affect a solution, but it is not appropriate for generating new ideas or suggesting fresh approaches to the solution. In the latter case, brainstorming would be the right technique.

Learning New Elicitation Techniques and Skills

To be an effective business analyst, take the time to master the requirements elicitation techniques that are available to you. This way you will be better able to serve your team and stakeholders better during the elicitation process.

The Business Analyst Boot Camp curriculum covers all of the requirements elicitation techniques listed and others not discussed here. The Boot Camp training on elicitation skills covers what the techniques are, when to use them, how to use them, and how to conduct each type of elicitation session. You will explore and learn ways of employing the techniques, as well as the proper timing and situations in which the elicitation techniques are most effective.

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