Analyst’s corner digest #11
Top stories published in Jan — Feb 2023
Hi there!
The year started strong with a few things happening in the world of business analysis and IT — and we were lucky to have a few very interesting submissions in our corner. A lot of articles on business analysis career development, BA tools & techniques, Agile, AI and Enterprise Architecture this time. Plus as a bonus some curated lists of books recommended for product managers, BAs, and architects. Enjoy the reading ;)
Business analysis career articles
1) What is a Business Analyst? — One of the most googled question about BAs
by Bhavini Sapra
When I was conducting extensive study on this fantastic mediator analogy, “The Business Analyst,” I recall having this common and nagging question in the back of my mind👇🏻
“What are these group of people, to whom we are referring as Business Analysts”?
And, yes, now I can understand the pain of others who are riding on this same bridge.
2) My 7 tips for becoming a good BA
by Mahi Ismail
Elicitation, documentation, validation, adaptation and stakeholder conflict mitigation are all things I never thought I would get myself into when I decided to shift careers and become a business analyst just over a year ago. Despite working with similar concepts theoretically in
academic research, experiencing them in the industry felt extremely unfamiliar.
3) Getting certified as a Business Analyst
by Obi Nwokedi
It is not necessary to be certified as a business analyst in order to work in the field. There are no specific certifications that are required in order to become a business analyst. However, obtaining a certification can be helpful in demonstrating your knowledge and skills in the field, and may make you more attractive to potential employers.
4) Business Analysis 101
by Pragati Sinha
As a business analyst, I often get questions from young professionals on LinkedIn about breaking into the field. But 8 out of 10 times, they actually are looking for advice on breaking into business analytics.
Business analyst, systems analyst, BI analyst, process analyst, change manager, and so on. We use these titles almost interchangeably these days.
5) How to keep evolving as a software business analyst?
by Pushkar Anand
I often felt a sense of catching up in the role of a business analyst (BA), a kind of impostor syndrome. Do I know enough about the domain? What do I need to learn more about the technical side of things, or the newer trends and processes? This has often led to some kind of anxiety while searching for a new job or trying for a new role.
6) How to survive a day as a business analyst?
by Bhavini Sapra
You’ve completed all the online training, gained all of the knowledge, are well-versed in all aspects of business analysis, and have done everything in your power to comprehend the so-called BABOK 100 times.
And “Hurrah!” You have been offered a position.
You’ve been working at your new job for almost a month now, and you’re still sitting at your desk wondering, “What should I do?”
7) Project Manager vs Business Analyst — a role mix-up or an identity crisis!
by Bhavini Sapra
I remember, when I almost figured out what a BA actually does, that was also the time where I confused it with a PM role.
And, to be honest, sometimes they both look extremely familiar in their day-to-day activities, which is a pretty frequent scenario for a person who is new to this field.
Let’s take a closer look at their distinctive jobs before delving further into their similarities and differences.
8) What do business analysts and rockstars have in common?
by Jamie Toyne
Well quite a lot actually. I’m not saying we’ve all got the swagger of Liam Gallagher, or the Ziggy Stardust fashion sense of Bowie. Nor do we all play guitars, or know our way around a recording studio (although some do). And I’d confidently say, none of us are going around with diva-like demands, or are smashing up hotel rooms. Most likely we’ll be littering the walls with post-its, hand-written using Sharpies.
But, there are many aspects of being a rockstar that BAs do share in common. So much so, that at Herd Consulting — we refer to ourselves as a rockstar business analysis consultancy.
Here’s our top 5 reasons to convince you that good business analysis really is rock ’n’ roll
BA skills, tools & techniques
- People don’t simply “gather” requirements, by Karl Wiegers: Requirements aren’t lying around waiting for the business analyst to collect them. Requirements elicitation is a more accurate term.
- Top BA skill — communication, by Obi Nwokedi: Communication is one of the most important skills for a business analyst to possess, as it allows them to effectively convey their ideas and recommendations to a wide range of stakeholders.
- Top BA skill — creative thinking, by Obi Nwokedi: Creative thinking is one of the most important skills for a business analyst to possess, as it allows us to approach problems and challenges in innovative ways and come up with solutions that may not have been immediately apparent.
- User stories vs use cases, by Swati Pitre: User stories vs use cases! Which one to use? Which one to use when? Which one is better? Which one is more suited for my project? What if I choose one method over the other?
- What is a Target Operating Model (TOM)?, by Obi Nwokedi: A Target Operating Model helps align and optimize the business’s operations to achieve its strategic objectives. Business analysts play a crucial role in designing the TOM by gathering requirements, analyzing data, and recommending changes to the current operating model.
- Why modeling is an essential business analysis technique, by Karl Wiegers: Drawing diagrams of business problems and software systems is a powerful aid to requirements development.
- BA techniques — prioritization, by Obi Nwokedi: Feature and user story prioritization is important for business analysts in a development project for several reasons. There are different types of prioritization efforts required for product development.
- BA techniques — The Three Amigos, by Obi Nwokedi: The Three Amigos is a collaboration technique used in agile product development to ensure that a shared understanding of user stories or requirements exists among the team.
- How big is that change request, really?, by Karl Wiegers: Inadequate impact analysis of change requests can lead to surprises. Software surprises are rarely good news.
- People don’t simply “gather” requirements, by Karl Wiegers: Requirements aren’t lying around waiting for the business analyst to collect them. Requirements elicitation is a more accurate term.
- People don’t simply “gather” requirements, by Karl Wiegers: Requirements aren’t lying around waiting for the business analyst to collect them. Requirements elicitation is a more accurate term.
Agile
1) The child and the bike — an Agile story
by Sergiu Pocan
A while ago I was working on a new software project. I had a product owner that was an expert in the business domain. But he never worked with an agile software development team.
I had to explain how the agile process works. I also had to explain that he will get the application in increments that might not look like the end product. At least not at first. But it’s a good thing.
So I went to look for a metaphor to illustrate this.
2) A product owner’s guide to product discovery
by Basak Erdogan
Product discovery is the process of understanding the customers’ problems and needs, and validating the ideas of the product team for solutions before starting development. Hence, it plays an important role in helping product teams to decide what features to prioritize, what to buy and what should be built, while keeping product excellence intact.
Teams can often find themselves in a dilemma: “should we buy a third-party service to have additional functionalities in our product?” or “should we build the service internally ourselves and avoid additional costs?”
Enterprise Architecture
- Enterprise Integration Architecture Patterns, by Shashi Sastry: IT systems interact and therefore integrate for the same reasons as people. In the enterprise, we are concerned with the interaction between technological systems and the humans involved in business processes.
- What is IT Architecture?, by Shashi Sastry: After writing many blogs and articles about architecture, I realised I needed to explain precisely what architecture is. It was remiss of me as some may need to know, and others may be curious. I am describing it here. Let’s look at architecture’s origins, value, definitions, disciplines, methods, artefacts, governance, and profession.
- Importance of Community of Practice health checks, by Herd Consulting: Years ago at work, before this was all neatly defined, I think I used to muddle through and never really understood what I was missing. I was, sort of, happy but there were things that bothered me — niggles and doubts and something that was just ‘… missing’ and that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I understand now that in many places where I’ve previously worked, we didn’t have a healthy culture/community.
Artificial Intelligence
Two amazing stories by Fabricio Laguna:
- Will Artificial Intelligence take my place?: I don’t know what impressed me the most in the last month, the number of people and conversations I participated in where the online Artificial Intelligence platform ChatGPT was talked about, or the characteristics of the platform itself.
- Chat GPT as a tool for business analysis: In this article, I demonstrate how it is possible to use Chat GPT as an assistant (or helper) in executing business analysis tasks based on a case study that deals with developing an application by a startup. You will see artifacts produced by an AI from instructions and questions that a business analyst would ask his stakeholders.
Curated reading
Thanks folks!
