How To Earn Significantly More Money, When Your Career Hits a Plateau!

Have you you reached a plateau in your career?

If you have, consider becoming a contractor.

As a contractor, you may earn significantly more money (20% to 50% more) and you will find more challenging work for your skill sets.

In this post, I will show how you to minimize the risks while maximizing the benefits of being a contractor so that you end up with significantly more money in your pocket!

Is A Contracting Lifestyle Right For You?

Contractors actually have a corner on the market because they have better, more up-to-date skills, better job exposure, more hands-on experience and better marketing skills which leads to more (and not less) job stability.

Contractors have a refined sense for making money because being a contractor is one step removed from being a business owner.

Contractors focus on learning marketable skills and on staying ahead of the technology curve because the best paid contractors have the sharpest, most marketable skills.

Being a contractor, involves striking a balance between the false sense of security that regular, full-time employees are sometimes lulled into and the fear that sometimes overwhelms business owners.

Contractors also have access to full medical, dental and 401K plans just like regular, full-time employees.

So, my question to you is: have you considered becoming a contractor?

Here are some of the signs that your career has hit a plateau:

• You are not being challenged at work: you have not worked on a project that challenges or stretches you for a long time
• Your skills have stagnated: your skills have stagnated because you no longer work on leading / cutting edge projects
• You have lost your sense of direction: you spend more time dealing with corporate politics and less time getting results
• You are not getting any recognition: you can’t seem to move up in your career or earn more money regardless of how hard you work
• You have a boring job: you dread going to work because you job is boring … boring … boring!

If have been affected by any of these situations, there is good news for you.

Becoming a contractor can lift the ceiling on your salary or provide you with more challenging work, without causing you to lose the best benefits of a full-time, permanent / regular job.

Here are some tips to help you create a successful contracting career

TIP #1: Build Your Contracting Career Around Marketable Skills

Analyze your local economy to find out the sectors that are hiring. Based on these sectors, you can figure out the type of contracting experience that is going to sell.

Note: One industry that hires professionals from all sorts of backgrounds is the “Web Development Industry”.

TIP #2: Manage The Longevity of Contracting Jobs

Contracting positions should be six months or longer. I would advice you to stay away from contracting jobs that are less than 6 months because they are just too short to get anything useful done.

When you hear that a contracting gig is less than six (6) months, you may need to walk away, because that kind of job may come with a lot of pressure to perform or a lot of stress.

Focus on long-term contracting jobs, except if you are starting from scratch or you are willing to work any job, just to succeed.

On the other hand, contracting jobs that last 1, 2 years or more are desirable because they offer just about as much security as regular, permanent, full-time jobs.

Contracting jobs have longevity. They may not last as long as full-time, permanent jobs but they last long enough to be meaningful!

TIP #3: Bill A Lot More!

How do contractors handle the shorter employment periods? They bill a lot more!

Assuming that as a business analyst contractor, you earn $65,000 (USD) or £41,675 (British Pounds).

When you become a contract business analyst, you may earn anywhere from 20 percent ($13,000 or £8,345) to 50 percent ($32,500 to £20,800) more .. without changing your career or going to college for a masters or post-graduate education!

Now, that extra money should not to be invested in your lifestyle, buying a bigger house or more cars. Instead, it should be put away in a savings, retirement or investment account because you will need it!

Contractors have to account for down-times. A down-time is the time between projects, contracts or jobs when a contractor is looking for the next gig, assignment or project.

Contractors may encounter down-times in between their assignments which last up to a month or longer.

A business-savvy contractor will use down-times to learn new skills or sharpen existing skills.

As a contractor, learning a new (marketable) skill or sharpening an existing skill, means that you will encounter less and less of a downtime and that you will be paid more money because you always bring the best skill-sets to your projects!

So, it is not uncommon to see contractors, earn 50% more than their full-time contemporaries because they have better, more marketable, sharper skills!

TIP #4: Contractors Don’t Have To Travel

Contrary to popular opinions, contractors are not really required to travel except when:

• They don’t have marketable skills and because of that, have to travel to different locations to get a good job
• They choose to travel because they like being on the road even though there are contracting jobs that do not involve traveling.

Keep in mind that the majority of employers will disclose any traveling requirements before you are hired.

I won’t advice that you to bring up the question of traveling except if it’s mentioned in the job posting or interview.

If traveling is mentioned, be frank and tell the employer during a face to face job interview, that you don’t want to travel because of personal or family commitments.

Contractors do not have to travel. So, if you find yourself traveling excessively, you either have the wrong skills or you are in the wrong job.

TIP #5: Contracting Does Not Negatively Affect Your Credit

As a contractor, you actually have a full-time job and your bank, financial institution or creditors can call your staffing company and verify your employment history or salary just as easily as if you were a regular, full-time employee.

If you are working for yourself, or you are billing the employer directly, you may have a tougher time getting credit because you are self-employed.

However, most contractors are employed with a staffing agency, so they really have a full-time, regular job just like everyone else.

Getting loans, credit or financing for a contractor is usually just as easy as getting credit for a full-time employee because contractors earn a lot more money and they probably have more savings, which means that their credit is just as good.

TIP #6: Manage Your Contracting Profile

Let’s say that you use the same staffing agency all the time, then your employment history / profile will look like that of a full-time, permanent employee even though you change clients often, because you are still employed with one staffing company.

However, if you change staffing agencies every time you change jobs, your work profile will look less stable and that may negatively affect your employment profile during a job interview or a credit check.

Fortunately, you have a good measure of control over which staffing agency you work for.

For starters, make sure that you work with a recruiter that you like and then stay in close communication with that recruiter throughout the life of your project.

Money Making TIP:Get your recruiter to start looking for new projects at least six (6) weeks before the exit date or the ending of your project and you will be able to transition from one job to another with zero or little down-time.

TIP #7: YES, Contractors Must Be Highly Skilled

Contractors are the most skilled, knowledgeable and experienced professionals on a project. That is why they are paid all those big bucks.

Being a contractor does not mean that you have spent a lot of years in the industry. It does not mean that you have more formal education or more certifications than your regular, full-time colleagues.

You do not need a post-graduate degree, an MBA or a computer science background to become a contractor because college education does not parallel the functional skills required for success in Information Technology jobs.

Being a contractor does means that you are performance minded or that you are obsessed about achieving results.

Read this post titled: “Can You Perform, Prove It!”

This post was written in answer to a question posted by a business analyst

This question was submitted to “ASK IT Career Coach” by a business analyst looking for advice on how to become a contractor.

If you have a challenging career situation, be sure to [Submit A Question] using our Free, Amazing, [Ask IT Career Coach] – Ask A Question Service.

For more information, read this post titled” Do You Want To Become A Consultant?”

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

[Ask IT Career Coach] is a Career Advice Newsletter for Information Technology (IT) professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, data analysts, database developers, technical writers, project managers and software testers.

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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What Courses Do You Study To Become A Business Analyst?

You may start a business analysts career by taking some of the courses discussed in this post.

Keep in mind that for business analysis careers, soft skills count as much or in some cases even more than hard skills.

So, don’t make the classical rookie mistake of focusing on the hard skill requirements to the detriment of your soft skills!

The list of formal, informal or college courses that you may study for a business analyst career include:

1. Study computer science & information technology courses in college because that will help you relate to the coding or testing that takes place on information technology / software development projects.

2. Study Systems Analysis courses as they may help you get a better idea of how different networking, hardware & software systems are integrated into one functional Information Technology (IT) department.

3. Take Technical Writing and Business Communication courses because a key part of the work that you perform as a business analyst is communicating business problems or solutions.

4. Study business management courses as they will help you understand understand strategic and tactical business goals and objectives or see things from a management, stakeholder or business perspective.

   Keep in mind that not only do business analysts work in Information Technology (IT) departments, they also work in specialized business domains like Accounting, Finance, Sales and Marketing, so taking business courses can be helpful.

5. Take conflict resolution, interpersonal, communication, verbal, presentation, negotiation, public speaking and leadership courses.

   While these sort of skills are not traditionally taught as part a formal college class, you can gain the required information from textbooks and audio material on bookstores like Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

The courses that you may take to become a business analyst may be divided into formal (business / technical) or informal (interpersonal, communication and leadership) skills.

So my friend, now you know what you may study to succeed as a business analyst … do do something with this information

Thanks and Best Wishes

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Project Sponsors, Servant Leaders?

Having good or effective project sponsors is one of the ways you can prevent project failure which is a real problem considering that nearly two – thirds of projects fail!

The project sponsor is not the business analyst even though the project sponsor helps the business analyst in gathering requirements and the project sponsor is not the project manager even though the project sponsor helps the project manager deliver a successful project.

It is the project sponsor’s job to ensure that the project team (project manager, business analysts, and team lead) have the technical or operational resources they need and that the project is aligned with the strategic needs of the organization.

For your project to succeed, it needs the backing of preferably one project sponsor, who is also a senior-level or management executive.

In this post, I will review the project sponsor’s role in helping your team deliver it’s project successfully.

1. The Job of the Project Sponsor in Securing Financial Capital

   The project sponsor helps secure the project’s funding at inception and at at different points in the project life cycle based on significant scope changes, milestones, deliverables or some other criteria.

2. The Job of the Project Sponsor in Hiring Team Members

   The project sponsor approves the addition of new team members, facilitates their hiring or transfer from other departments and their full-time or part-time allocation to your project.

   The project sponsor has the authority, which the project manager may lack, to negotiate with other department managers, C-level executives or upper management for the additional talent, infrastructure or resources needed to complete the project on time and under budget.

3. The Project Sponsor’s Job As a Cheerleader

   Internal Champion: The project sponsor has to be one of the biggest cheer-leaders for the project or team. In that role, the project sponsor encourages, motivates and inspires the team members, so that they can overcome the obstacles facing them.

   External Champion: At the same time, the project sponsor takes responsibility for both the success and failure of the team and defends, champions or acts as an advocate for the team in senior management meetings.

The primary motivation of an effective project sponsor, is the desire to serve the organization and the team or see the project to success as long as it’s aligned with the company’s strategic goals.

In the time tested tradition of servant leaders, project sponsors must be eager or willing to let the team members take credit for their work and not be the type of leader who succeeds by throwing others under the bus!

Is Your Project Sponsor A Servant Leader?

• The project sponsor does not schedule or manager the team’s resources on a day by day basis or on a task by task basis.

  The project sponsor just secures the team members / resources and then makes them available to the project manager or team lead.

• The project sponsor does not throw the team members under the bus because he/she is the primary champion of the project and the team.

  The project sponsor has to be a real-leader, someone who knows how to create trust by rewarding the team based on merit and not based on favoritism or internal politics.

• The project sponsor’s goal is not to be seen as a hero or to use the project or team members to advance his/her own political goals.

For your project to succeed, you need a management level executive who is a servant leader … someone who inspires, leads, motivates by serving others.

Servant leaders lead by developing their team members first before they advance their own careers.

The career of a servant leader is built on helping others succeed and not on succeeding at the expense of team members!

Discussion Questions

Based on this post, answer the questions below:

• Does your project have a project sponsor?
• Is your project sponsor a servant leader?
• What is your experience working with servant leaders vs. working with leaders who put their personal interests and agendas first?

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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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Business Analysts Learn Computer Programming

Are database development, computer programming, data analysis or web development required skills for Business Analysts?

Perhaps you’ve seen, heard about or applied for jobs asking for a broad or seemingly impossible range of skill sets?

Like those job descriptions for business analysts requiring computer programming skills or those for PMP Certified Project Managers with 5 years of software development experience!

This post addresses “how to bridge the gap between business analyst skills and unfair job descriptions written-up by Information Technology (IT) departments”

Bridging The Gap Between Business And Information Technology (IT) Careers

I would like to know if Business analysts are expected to know more about programming.

I attended a job interview last week and the interviewer was hesitant to consider me for the post of business analyst (BA) as i have no coding experience.

Do i need to know about database design, structure etc for me to be a good BA?

All along in my previous projects the database design, architecture and technology were decided by the technical team and DBA’s and i come into the picture as BA only after everything has been finalized.

But i was a Junior (jr.) BA and now im applying for the position of senior BA and people point out my lack of coding experience.

“Here is the answer to the challenges created by business analyst job descriptions which are worded to include programming and database skills”!

1. Looking from the business analysts (job seekers) perspective, you may be tempted to say NO.

   You may also argue that computer programming tasks should be left ONLY to software developer job descriptions.

2. Looking from the perspective of employers, recruiters or hiring managers, you may say YES because business analyst job descriptions are just a means to an end!

   For employers or hiring managers, the end is always the same (the job that needs to be done) … and job descriptions are just a means to achieving that!

So, which of these two perspectives (the employers or the job seekers) is the right one?

1. The employer who only cares about getting work done and will use any job description to achieve that end or …

2. The business analyst who feels overwhelmed by requirements for computer programming skills on business analyst job descriptions?

To this question correctly, we need to understand the roots of the conflict! So, let’s take a look at the source of gaps between IT Job Descriptions and Business Analyst Careers.

Introducing The IT Business Analyst

• The Information Technology (IT) Business Analyst Role Is Slowly Coming To Maturity

  As the roles of the computer programmer, database developer and systems analyst matured, the “IT Business Analyst” role evolved to fill analysis and requirements tasks left out of software development roles.

• The Accidental Business Analyst?

  As software development teams improve their requirements management or software development processes, some computer programmers begin picking up the requirements gathering and analysis tasks left undone by their team members.

  These Accidental Business Analysts are usually computer programmers or systems analysts with strong people, communication, business and requirements management skills who transition into or assume the role of the IT Business Analyst.

Some employers have not achieved a separation between “IT Business Analyst Roles” and “Computer Programmer Roles” in their minds.

For these employers, the distinctions between IT Business Analysts and Computer Programmers are a superficial play on words … hence the business analyst job description written-up to include computer programming languages!

So, back again to the question; “should a business analyst learn computer programming languages or acquire database development skills”?

• Are You Looking For A Business Analyst Job?

1. If you’re not looking for a business analyst job then you don’t need to learn computer programming (except if your employer mandates it).

   If you’re really that secure in your current business analyst job and know for a fact that you won’t be looking anytime soon … then you may argue that programming is not for business analysts

2. If you’re looking for a business analyst job and you want to go the extra mile for prospective employers, then go-ahead and learn some computer programming!

   It’s really the attitude that matters because job descriptions are not intended to be perfect and in the employer’s eyes, they’re just a means to an end.

   Put Yourself In The Employers Shoes for a moment and you will begin to see that it’s not personal. The employer only wants what’s best for the company and if they’re so inclined, you may help them by learning some computer programming!

Give Employers What They’re Asking For

I strongly believe that you should give employers what they want instead of wondering about the fairness or correctness of business analyst job descriptions!

1. Perhaps, you feel overwhelmed by the requirements for computer programming or database skills in business analyst job descriptions.

2. Or you feel that it’s unfair to expect business analysts to perform programming tasks

Get a clue, if you’re not the one hiring, then your feelings are irrelevant!

In today’s competitive job market, you will fare better by addressing the employers concerns because if you don’t, someone else … who is more hungry or desperate than you will!

Another business analyst who wants to provide the required programing services will get the job you need!




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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!

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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!

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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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The discussion of requirements elicitation tools and techniques rarely seems to include a discussion of the best way to document your findings.

Lifehack has written an insightful post on How to Take Notes like Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison’s diary contains five million pages and is maintained as an important part of the United States historical record. Two of the criteria for Edison’s record system are crucial to the Business Analyst:

Item #3 -The Records must be Rearward-looking. Basically, you should always keep requirements traceability in mind as you take notes.

Item #4 – The System must be Searchable. You need to be able to retrieve the information you need quickly. This means you should avoid audio taping and video taping as means of recording your findings. The time it will take you to review the tapes is a huge waste of time.

I recommend the software Evernote for your searchable note-taking needs. It allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.

If you’re a die-hard handwritten note taking business analyst, you may want to read Jonathan Babcock’s Business Analysis blog post on The Cornell Method of Note-taking.




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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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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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Requirements Engineering, Top BA Skill

When 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.

If you have a poor requirements elicitation or management process, you risk not understanding the business problem you are trying to solve or turning out a poor product.

The cost of Information Technology (IT) project failures has become so high that one can no longer ignore the fact that business analysts need to invest a good amount of time into understanding what they intend to build.

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

These thoughts have been gathered and structured into a discipline called Requirements Engineering.

Why Adopt An Effective Requirements Engineering Framework?

However, business analysts may not benefit from Requirements Engineering best practices in organizations where requirements management is perceived as a process imposed by the higher-ups or seen as an afterthought.

In between chasing down stakeholders for interviews, wrestling with use cases and models or managing conflict and corporate politics, the requirements engineering process may end up being treated as meaningless meetings or just paperwork.

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

Unless you break the cycle by doing research on what works and what doesn’t … the cycle of difficulty and ineffectiveness may be guaranteed to continue.

If your company does not have a Requirements Engineering framework, you can do your manager a good turn by implementing one for your team!

The fact that you do this certainly can’t hurt during your end of year performance review

What Does Requirements Engineering Mean To A Business Analyst?

Basically, Requirements Engineering encompasses all the activities and deliverables associated with defining a product’s requirements.

Think of Requirements Engineering as the software development methodology applied to requirements.

Requirements engineering includes requirements development and requirements management.

Requirements Development encompasses the activities and deliverables for Eliciting, Analyzing, Specifying and Validating requirements.

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

What Is The Value of Requirements Engineering To Your Organization?

Having a requirements engineering framework for your team will help you answer these questions:

1. Which member of your team is performing what requirements activity?

2. When will a requirements activity take place?
3. What are the details and steps of each activity is?

Having all of this formally defined will help your team reach its intended business goals.

Having a good requirements engineering process in place has been shown to have significant effect on a business analyst’s ability to develop correct requirements on time and within budget.

The best Requirements Engineering process to follow will be the one that makes your team the most productive and that produces excellent (correct, complete, clear, concise, consistent, relevant, feasible and verifiable) requirements.

As you develop a requirements framework, take into consideration your environmental constraints, corporate culture and the nature of the projects you are engaged in.

After defining your requirements engineering process, you must follow through and execute on the defined steps so that you can create a good product.

Where Does A Business Analyst Learn Requirements Engineering?

Take a moment now and add the knowledge of Requirements Engineering to your belt because it can only help make you a better business analyst.

Requirements Engineering is one of the several courses taught at the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training.

Traditional Classroom Business Analysis Training tends to be expensive because you have to pay for each core business analysis course like UML Training or Use Case Training or Requirements Engineering Training.

So, with class-room based training, you may end up paying for an “Introduction to Use Case” Class and an “Advanced Use Clase” class etc. just to get a complete A – Z “Use Case” Training.

That is in contrast to the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training where you get all the Use Cases + Requirements + UML Business Analyst Training and more … in one program

So why don’t you enroll now and complete all your business analysis training in one program?

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