The business analysis digest #37 is here!
Hello there! Welcome to the Business Analysis Digest #37, with the best business analysis and related topics articles of August 2023. This time, the digest is rich with case studies, practical advice, and lots of advanced materials. Enjoy!
Business Analysis Articles
15 Tips for Outsourced Software Development Success by Karl Wiegers
I would love to start August’s digest with another great article by Karl Wiegers. In this piece, Karl offers invaluable insights into achieving success in outsourced software development he distilled from 50 years of experience in engineering, valuable for all roles, including business analysts.
The article highlights essential tips for effectively managing outsourced projects, emphasizing the importance of clear communication, well-defined requirements, and a collaborative mindset. The paper underscores the significance of building solid relationships with the team and fostering a shared sense of ownership. It also delves into risk management, quality assurance, and the critical role of project documentation.
By focusing on these tips, we can navigate the complexities of outsourced development and ensure the successful delivery of high-quality software products. This comprehensive guide is a valuable resource for anyone involved in outsourcing software development.
The customer is NOT always right by Karl Wiegers
This article is an excellent reminder that “the customer is always right, but from their perspective” and offers a more nuanced perspective. It highlights the importance of discerning between customer feedback and genuine solutions, suggesting that not all customer requests align with their goals. While customers provide valuable insights, mindlessly following their every request can lead to inefficiencies and derail long-term objectives. We should strike a balance, prioritizing customer feedback that aligns with their core mission while diplomatically handling situations where customer requests may not be the best course of action. Keep reading to find out more about what Karl Wiegers thinks on the topic.
System vs. Solution: What’s the Difference? by Yulia Kosarenko
This article delves into the fundamental difference between a system and a solution in the context of business analysis and product management. It clarifies that a system is a broad, holistic view of an organization’s processes, technology, and people. At the same time, a solution is a specific answer to a problem within that system. Yulia emphasizes this distinction’s significance in streamlining project planning and requirements gathering and gives more details on each aspect.
Common ERD Mistakes by Yulia Kosarenko
This insightful article probably highlights all the common mistakes business analysts make when creating Entity-Relationship Diagrams – ERDs – which also apply to UML Class Diagrams. Yulia discusses the importance of accurate data modeling, pointing out missing entities, vague relationships, or overly complex designs. By addressing these common pitfalls, the article provides valuable guidance for domain and data modeling.
Stakeholder Alignment by John Davidson
Originally created for project managers (but definitely usable by other roles as well), this article delves into the critical aspects of stakeholder alignment. It explores the definition of stakeholders, alignment, and ten rules of aligning stakeholders. Going through the rules, the article emphasizes the pivotal role of ensuring that all parties involved share a common vision and understanding of project goals. The piece also stresses the potential pitfalls of misalignment.
Internal Product Management is Hard. How to Mitigate This? by Caspar Mahoney
This insightful article explores the nuances of internal product management, shedding light on the challenges and strategies required for success. There are a few key points that are highlighted in the article.
For example, the author discusses the difficulty in measuring benefits and value in internal product management. Unlike commercial products with revenue targets, internal products often deal with more complex, indirect measures. The importance of proxy measures, such as reducing errors in a sales team’s work, is stressed, demonstrating how these can indirectly impact broader organizational outcomes. The article also discusses the common issue of missing user needs, emphasizing the importance of continuous discovery techniques to prevent this. It underlines that understanding the problem or adding value should precede working on the solution.
In conclusion, this article provides valuable author insights for internal product managers, emphasizing the need for clear measurement strategies, user-centric product development, and a mission-driven team to ensure success.
Underlying Competencies
The 10 Most Common Types of Work Meetings (and How to Run Them Well) by Simon Ash
This insightful article explores the ten most common types of work meetings and unveils strategies to lead them effectively. The author delves into the essence of each meeting type, shedding light on their unique purposes and challenges. Starting with a clear breakdown of the main meeting types, the article guides readers through essential concepts, providing actionable tips for success. From the classic brainstorming sessions to decision-making gatherings, the author underscores the importance of tailoring meeting structures to specific goals.
How To Determine if You Are Ready for a Leadership Position? by Vinita Bansal
This article provides invaluable insights into evaluating your preparedness for a leadership role. It emphasizes the importance of self-assessment in the context of career growth and progression. At its core, the article guides you through crucial indicators that signal your readiness for leadership. With clarity and simplicity, Vinita Bansal highlights the crucial attributes and skills necessary for success in such positions.
Speaking English so non-native colleagues understand by Josh Lamar
This article delves into the challenges non-native English speakers face in international workplaces and offers practical strategies for improving communication. Josh Lamar emphasizes the importance of fostering an inclusive and understanding environment. The main idea centers around enabling clear communication among diverse teams. It explores the impact of language barriers on collaboration and suggests methods to overcome these obstacles.
UI / UX / CX / Accessibility
6 great examples of UX research emails by Rosie Hoggmascall
This article spotlights six compelling examples of UX research emails, illustrating the power of well-crafted communication in user-centered design. It underscores the significance of clear and engaging correspondence in gathering valuable insights. The central theme revolves around constructing UX research emails that resonate with recipients. It delves into the creative strategies used in these examples to ensure active participation from users.
Designing Accessible Text Over Images: Best Practices, Techniques, And Resources. Part 1 and Part 2 by Hannah Milan
In this two-part article series, Hannah Milan explores the art of creating accessible text over images for web and mobile app content. These practices not only elevate accessibility but also maintain the visual appeal of your design. Prepare to explore the nuances of design adjustments, such as text placement, size, and background choices, while emphasizing actual text for accessibility rather than text embedded in images.
In the second part of the series, Hannah Milan thoroughly examines various techniques for achieving accessible text over images in your content. Such methods include framing pictures, employing soft-colored gradients, optimizing text styles and placement, and more.
Writing Good Survey Questions: 10 Best Practices by Matt Brown
This article explores essential best practices in survey design, offering valuable insights. The primary focus is on survey design principles that enhance the quality and relevance of collected data. It outlines critical considerations, such as question structure, response options, and survey length, to ensure the effectiveness of your research efforts. The article also emphasizes on crafting surveys that yield meaningful data and actionable results.
Lean UX & Agile: Study Guide by Anna Kaley
A study guide from NN/g, created in 2022, is now revised! The new version provides valuable insights for engineers seeking to elevate their knowledge in using UX practices within Agile workflows.
The guide is structured into sections covering critical aspects of UX integration in Agile, including user research, ideation, design, product backlog inclusion, iterative design and delivery, retrospectives, and managing Agile challenges. Each section addresses specific challenges and provides resources, articles, and videos to support UX practitioners in navigating these hurdles effectively.
Scrolljacking 101 by Sara Ramaswamy
Scrolljacking, a recent design trend, involves altering websites’ typical scrolling pace or direction. However, this can disrupt user expectations, control, and freedom. Businesses considering scrolljacking should weigh its benefits against usability risks, cognitive load, and user efficiency.
Scrolling is a fundamental interaction that allows users to explore content beyond the screen height. Scrolljacking, while trendy, poses significant challenges in usability testing, affecting user control, discoverability, attention, efficiency, and task success. The article covers the essence of scrolljacking, why scrolljacking is used, and usage best practices. It encourages businesses to prioritize user experience and usability when implementing scrolljacking to balance aesthetics and functionality.
Upcoming business analysis events
🗓️ 06.09, 6 PM CEST. Communication, Engagement & Influence: Honing Three Key BA Skills.
BAs tend to be natural communicators, but we’ve probably all experienced situations where stakeholders just don’t seem to listen. Meetings are held, decisions are made, but a week later, the same issues are raised yet again. Why is this? Is it possible that sometimes we don’t make enough of an impact? Communication, engagement, and influence are key antidotes to this problem. In this practical presentation, you’ll hear:
- How the trio of communication, engagement, and influence are crucial
- How communicating facts alone isn’t enough: It’s all about the story…
- How engagement starts by being engaging
🗓️ 07.09, 6.00 PM CEST. EXPLORE IT OUTSOURCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS ANALYSTS!
As you know, I am totally into sharing knowledge about business analysis in all forms available. I am constantly looking for opportunities to do so, and here is another one for you! This time, I invite you to the journey during which we will explore the life of a Business Analyst in IT outsourcing 😎
Having a lot to share from outsourcing, in-house development, and helping product startups, I would like to talk about the expertise business analysts in NIX have received over the years and our professional benefits from working with international partners. As Head of the Business Analysis Team, with 10+ years of experience “in the field,” I would happily share the experience of 100+ business analysis experts on their behalf. 🤩
🗓️ 07.09, 7.30 PM CEST. Back to the Feature – A Practical Guide to Iterative Analysis with Stuart Mann.
The agile manifesto tells us to value “working software over comprehensive documentation,” but how can we practically apply this value without sacrificing quality and rigour? How can we ensure that our requirement providers and analysts connect with our coders and testers to deliver fast, reliable value? How do you solve the analysis conundrum and eliminate the “documentation handoff” that plagues many teams?
In this presentation, Stuart Mann will cover how teams can use feature hypotheses to write just the right amount of documentation, methods to split features into the smallest possible chunk of value for iterative analysis, how to get fast feedback on outcomes, and how an innovation day can change the paradigm and move us to documentation-less development.
🗓️ 14.09, 8 PM CEST. Essential Requirements Practices.
Many big books on software requirements and business analysis recommend dozens and dozens of practices. They’re all useful in appropriate situations, but it’s daunting to try to remember—let alone implement—the whole set consistently. However, every project should perform 20 core requirements activities. These lay a solid foundation for success and help teams efficiently and effectively elicit, analyze, specify, validate, and manage their requirements. These practices are valuable for both traditional and agile projects, regardless of the kind of product you’re building.
This presentation identifies those 20 core practices and drills down into several of them. They can help project and product teams understand the business problem, engage the right participants, articulate effective solutions, communicate information among stakeholders, implement the right functionality in the right sequence, and adapt to change. Do you have to perform all 20 of these on your project? Maybe not, but you’ll feel less pain and get better results if you do.
🗓️ 27.09, 10 PM CEST. The Rock Crusher: Mastering Agile Backlog Management.
Join other BA experts for an engaging webinar featuring the authors of the book, The Rock Crusher. Steve Adolph, Shane Hastie, and Ryland Leyton will delve into the world of agile backlog management, sharing their insights and expertise on how this essential tool can transform your organization’s agility and productivity. In this Q&A-style session, they will address some of the top questions surrounding backlog management, providing valuable guidance on unleashing its power and simplicity in modern agile environments.
🗓️ 04.10, 8 PM CEST. Harnessing the Power of ChatGPT for Effective Requirements Management.
What is the impact of ChatGPT on Requirements Management? Join Asif Sharif, CEO, Modern Requirements, and Shihan Fernando, VP of Sales, Modern Requirements, to see how you can turn Azure DevOps into a powerful requirements management solution and leverage ChatGPT’s cutting-edge AI capabilities. Get insight into how it supports your quality analysis, requirements elicitation, test case generation, and more.
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