Analyst’s corner digest #20
Top stories published in January — February 2024
Hi there!
Another year has started with a lot of great articles in our Analyst’s corner. What is a better way to come back from the Christmas break and into the work routine than reading a bunch of thought provoking pieces on business analysis? :)
In this issue of Analyst’s corner digest we’ve got the articles about:
- AI and its implication on business analysis: fresh ideas about prompt engineering for business analysts, how the BA career may look like (now that AI is here), how AI affects economic growth, and why interpersonal skills still matter in the age of Large Language Models. We’ve also got an attempt at understanding if AI could evolve to dynamically reconfigure business processes and policies in pursuit of better outcomes by continually redesigning itself.
- Requirements elicitation: we will learn how the use cases are still relevant in the age of agile, the importance of requirements traceability, and best practices in requirements analysis.
- Career as a business analyst: why all product owners need to be business analysts (but not the other way round), how to become a hero or a villain as a products owner, and navigating your career roadmap as a business analyst or data scientist.
- Software development: the two final parts of Replacing Legacy saga, and a fresh view on software development practies.
- Data analysis: a series of articles on regression analysis, hypothesis testing and a case study of using R and Tableau.
Enjoy the reading!
— yours, Igor
https://www.analystscorner.org/
Requirements elicitation
1) Use Cases: The Business Analyst’s Best Friend
by Karl Wiegers
I like use cases. There, I said it, and I’m not sorry. Use cases have fallen out of fashion in recent years, being largely replaced by user stories on agile projects. The two techniques can coexist and complement each other, however.
Use cases offer several advantages that user stories lack. This article describes some of the many benefits that use cases can provide and why every business analyst (BA), product owner (PO), and software development team should include them in their tool kit.
2) Links in the requirements chain
by Karl Wiegers
Software changes that seem simple often have far-reaching impacts, requiring changes in many parts of the system. Change impact analysis is easier if you have a road map that shows where each requirement was implemented in the software. Requirements trace (or traceability) information documents the logical links between individual requirements and other system elements: other requirements of various types, business rules, design components, code objects, tests, help files, and so on.
3) 5 Best Practices for Requirement Analysis
by AnalystHub
Consider a scenario where a team is developing a new mobile app for online shopping.
Without proper requirement analysis, the app might lack critical features, leading to a frustrating user experience. By employing use cases, the team can envision various user interactions — from browsing products to making a purchase.
This detailed analysis ensures that every aspect of the shopping experience is considered, leading to a successful and user-friendly app.
Artificial Intelligence
1) AI & Exponential Economic Growth
by Gabriel Botsie
Cathie Wood was one of the event speakers, her topic — Why AI will spark exponential economic growth.
As background, Cathie is the CEO and CIO at ARK Invest, a firm she founded to invest and research disruptive innovation technologies. According to Wikipedia, at their peak in 2021, ARK Invest held $50 Billion in assets.
My takeaways from the talk…
2) Why Interpersonal Skills Matter In the Age of Large Language Models.
by Gabriel Botsie
Last year was a hectic year with new large language models and capabilities. It started with text to text, progressed to code, image, audio, vision and towards the end of the year — video.
A well designed prompt yielded an array of outputs and formats.
As Business Analysts we’ve more options to elicit requirements, document them, towards solution development.
3) Pioneering AI Frontier: Dynamically Reconfigured Business
by Fabrício Laguna
What would a world self-regulated by AI look like? Would it be scary or something worth dreaming about? This article explores some positive aspects of this scenario.
In the first two articles of this series on the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI), I explored the possibilities and challenges of using applications with natural language interfaces and access to integrated knowledge bases. In this third and final article of the trilogy, I will discuss how AI could evolve to dynamically reconfigure business processes and policies in pursuit of better outcomes by continually redesigning itself.
4) Using Large Language Models for New Project Preparation and Planning.
by Gabriel Botsie
The post outlines how Large Language Models can be utilised by Business Analysts preparing for and planning new projects. It explains the “empty page” problem, provides prompt template use cases, a call to action and a link to a template download.
5) Unleashing LLM Potential: Prompt Engineering Techniques for BA Tasks
by Karthick TVM
LLM is part of Generative AI (GenAI), which generates plausible text outputs. GPT is an LLM that is popular today, and GPT-3.5 is the foundation model for ChatGPT’s free version. Similarly, Gemini is the foundation model for Google Bard.
Besides the myriad of applications being explored, LLMs are being considered as a tool for boosting workforce productivity.
6) Re-Imagining the Business Analyst Role. Now that there’s Generative AI.
by Gabriel Botsie
The Business Analyst origin story started in the 1940’s.
The position was created from the existing System Analyst role, after the realisation that aside from technical and domain skills, an understanding of the business and business actors was also required.
Initially the focus for Business Analysts (BA) was software engineering, later expanding to include all business model operations.
Nowadays, BA’s can be found in multiple industries. Their titles may vary e.g. — Business Intelligence Analyst, Product Owner — however, the emphasis on business value persists.
Career as a Business Analyst
1) How to become a top-tier IT business analyst in 2024?
by Attila Evanics
As an IT Business Analyst, you have to listen, monitor, observe, understand, analyze, present and learn.
If you want to be a top-tier IT business analyst (but it is the same for EVERY career path around the world), you have to learn constantly, and still, sometimes that is not enough to succeed.
2) The Business Analysis Roadmap — Navigating your Growth as a Business Analyst.
by Obi Nwokedi
Not exactly a roadmap, but more of a Business Analyst knowledge, tools and skills learning mind map, but I just think roadmap sounds better, so I’ll stick with it!!
So I had these entry level business analysts I’m currently mentoring over the holidays, I was drawing up a learning plan. However my list of required skills and knowledge areas simply kept growing. I then thought to find an appropriate tool and map it all out. Below is the output from that.
3) 2024 Path to Data Science Mastery: A Comprehensive Blueprint for Aspiring Data Scientists
by Nilimesh Halder, PhD
In the digital age of 2024, data scientists have emerged as pivotal players in extracting insights from an ever-growing ocean of data. This comprehensive guide is designed to navigate the journey towards becoming a proficient data scientist.
4) Business Analyst and Product Owner: What is the difference?
by Fabrício Laguna
Navigating the complexities of roles in product development, especially understanding the distinct functions of a Product Owner (PO) and a Business Analyst (BA), can be challenging. Recently I shared the following post with a shout-out loud on LinkedIn and this went viral revealing significant interest and confusion regarding these roles.
5) YouTube Channels to Improve your Domain and Technical Skills.
by Gabriel Botsie
YouTube is the 2nd biggest social media site after Facebook, with 2.7 billion active users and 500 hours of video uploaded per minute. There’s a wealth of content, across multiple subject areas.
In this post, I’ve picked out a handful of channels I regularly view to “top up” domain, technical and soft skills. It’s by no means a definitive list, it’s subjective for Business Analysis use cases.
6) The Product Owner: Superhero or Villain?
by Sergiu Pocan
Leo Tolstoi said in the opening line of Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. The same can be said for teams and product owners.
When the team is successful it’s because the product owner behaves in a specific way and has a particular set of skills. These product owners are like superheroes. Unfortunately, there are many ways in which product owners can fail their teams and products. These product owners are like villains.
In this article, we will look at how product owners can succeed and the different ways they can fail. And what you can do in these situations.
Building Software Products
1) Replacing Legacy — Parts 4 & 5
by Ilya Zakharau
Two last parts of Ilya’s story about replacing legacy:
2) Beyond Best Practices: The Art of Rethinking in Software Engineering
by Christian Del Monte
In the ever-evolving landscape of software engineering, the ability to rethink and adapt isn’t just an asset, it’s a requirement. Inspired by Adam Grant’s highly regarded book “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know,” this article explores the critical importance of rethinking in the context of software engineering.
3) The Journey Beyond Traditional Customers
by Raihan
In the intricate dance of business strategy, the spotlight often fixates too heavily on the stage of constant competition.
While competition is undoubtedly a vital element, it’s time to look broaden our perspective and venture into uncharted waters, exploring a strategic approach that goes beyond the conventional boundaries.
Let’s delve into this fresh perspective that holds the key to unveiling new opportunities and untapped potential.
Data science and Statistics
- Unveiling Logistic Regression: A Vital Tool for Classification in Machine Learning using Python, by Nilimesh Halder, PhD
In the realm of Machine Learning (ML), Logistic Regression stands as a fundamental classification algorithm. Despite its name, logistic regression is not a regression but a classification model. It’s particularly well-suited for binary classification tasks — predicting outcomes in two possible states. This comprehensive guide delves into logistic regression, outlining its principles, applications, and demonstrating its implementation in Python. - Simple Linear Regression Explained: Understanding the Fundamentals from a Statistical Viewpoint using Pytho, by Nilimesh Halder, PhD
Simple Linear Regression is a statistical approach to modeling the relationship between a dependent variable and a single independent variable. - Mastering Hypothesis Testing: A Comprehensive Guide for Researchers, Data Analysts and Data Scientists, by Nilimesh Halder, PhD
Hypothesis testing is a fundamental technique in statistics, used to determine if there is enough evidence in a sample of data to infer that a certain condition holds for the entire population. This method is pivotal in both research and data analysis, forming the backbone of scientific discovery and data-driven decision making. - Decoding Bayesian Statistics: A Modern Approach to Understanding Uncertainty and Prediction, by Nilimesh Halder, PhD
Bayesian statistics represents a paradigm shift in the way we approach probability and data analysis. Unlike traditional frequentist statistics, which interpret probability as a long-term frequency, Bayesian statistics view it as a measure of belief or certainty based on available information. - Understanding Population and Sample in Statistics: Key Concepts for Accurate Data Analysis, by Nilimesh Halder, PhD
In the realm of statistics and data analysis, the concepts of population and sample are fundamental. Understanding the difference between these two is crucial for accurate data interpretation and research validity. - Bellabeat Case Study on User Activity with SQL & Tableau, by Amit Kumar
I conducted a casе study using thе R languagе and Tablеau. In this study, I thoroughly еxplainеd the analysis process. If you’rе intеrеstеd, you can chеck it out for a morе in dеpth undеrstanding.
Other articles
- The Power of Holistic Innovation, by Raihan
In the bustling landscape of commerce, it’s often the case that complementary products and services hold the key to unlocking untapped potential within our businesses. - Mastering Pricing Strategies, Crafting Experiences, and Buyer Value, by Raihan
Beyond the fierce battleground of competition lies a strategic symphony that encompasses buyer utility, user experience, and astute pricing maneuvers.
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