Skip to main content
BATimes_Mar29_2023

Does Your Personality Define Your Business Analyst Approach?

We all have personality; it is what comprises us as individuals and human beings to present ourselves in our personal and professional lives. Whether our personas experience duality separated by self-promoted boundaries, or the personalities of work and life are balanced as one big personality. But when you reach down into this core sense of self, a philosophical question came to mind when originating this piece: does our personalities define our business analyst approach? It is notwithstanding that I have little to no current, existing or previous knowledge in the realm of psychology, but it is worth chewing on the thought for a minute to examine it from a philosophical perspective. This core question begets more questions:

– If personality does affect the BA approach…then how?
– Is it the way we approach traditional standards or is it the manner of how we execute?
– How do we relate to our stakeholders to elicit requirements, validate them, overcome objections, and comprise the entire business analysis plan?

The unseen correlation between two independent variables became almost dependent immediately upon further self-analysis: personality does define our business analysis approach, right? Generally, speaking, I argue the point that it does. Genuinely think about how you interact with your stakeholders, how you go about performing your day-to-day, and even long-term, duties as a business analyst. Are those not influenced in which your persona, professional, personal, or combined, is presented when doing so?

 

Advertisement

 

For example, an extroverted personality with a deep mindfulness to detail would take the time to build the relationship with their stakeholders and those working on a project with them, but in significant detail to ensure nothing is missed. While this can be both beneficial and negative, this is an oversimplified example, of course and does not encapsulate every personality type; and yet it sufficiently illustrates the point made. Think of yourself and how you collaborate with stakeholders: what type of persona are you showing up as?

Applying that personality, however you summarize, influences the approach you have to business analysis. Do you go “by the book” and like to stick to the facts and in a Waterfall methodology? Or do you prefer to have projects take on fluidity and a more Agile perspective? It all boils down to personality…and you, as a business analyst, take the reins to own it. Neither personality nor approach is perfect but understanding this about us as professional individuals working with myriad backgrounds in our line of work, will only tap into our potential.

We may never know the extent of that potential, as there may not be enough time nor resources to perform the adequate studies over multiple fields related to understanding this eccentric analysis. But we can penultimately, begin to understand that in which we personify ourselves as human beings, personifies how we operates in the field of business analysis, and beyond.


Jake Thompson

I have been in the role of business analyst since September 2020. I previously worked in a financial institution's retail banking division following my undergraduate studies and earned my Master in Business Administration (MBA) while doing so. I have learned a plentiful amount while being a BA but also am opening to learning. I strive to take realistic topics and apply them to my role and be able to share that experience with others. In my spare time, books are my incredibly favorite hobby, among traveling, hiking, and occasionally writing.