Archive for December 2008

I’ve been in recent contact with several individuals who have been complimentary about the site.
I’d just like to say thanks for your positive feedback as it it unsettling when you don’t receive any feedback and causes you to doubt yourself.
Anyway, the comments came from:
Robert Halligan, Managing Director of Project Performance International who included a link to one of [...]

 
In this article, I’ll be discussing some other requirements gathering methods that complement use case modeling and should be used to ensure your requirements gathering goes swimmingly (see Use Cases - an Introduction for more on use case modeling).
In particular, I’ll be mentioning storyboards, wireframes and prototypes.
I’ll also cover what level of quality and detail you should [...]

 
This is a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.
I am on my holidays now and have just returned from a quick visit to Lapland with my 5 year old daughter which I cannot recommend enough.
She had a lovely time and was just the right age to enjoy the whole [...]

I have been  pondering recently on the importance of adaptability for a business analyst.
Definition of adaptability
It seems to me that adaptability is a key skill of a business analyst because no two projects are alike. It’s not possible to apply a template approach to every project situation with which you are confronted.
However, I looked up synonyms for [...]

This article puts use cases into context by exploring where they sit within a project. Various methods for validating them within the wider context are also discussed.
It also discusses what other techniques can or should be used in conjunction with them.
If you want to see the how a project fits into the larger context of [...]

 
The SME can either be the cause of success or failure for a business analyst so they must be handled very carefully.
In this article, I’ll introduce a certain type of SME who is passionate and loves to dive into the detail.
I’ll also explain how this was beneficial but needed to be managed on a recent project engagement.
I would also [...]

This article covers requirement quality or
what does a good requirement look like? 
how we can measure the quality of a requirement?.
It also explains the context of requirements and warns against over use.
If you would like an introduction to Requirements Engineering - see Requirements Engineering - an introduction
Word of warning
Although our end goal is a quality set of [...]

This site is intended to serve business analysts and this article will provide you with the helicopter view (i.e. very high level view) of business analysis, covering all the key areas very rapidly. You can then choose which areas you want to explore further.

If you want to know which articles already exist, just look at [...]

This article describes the structure of a use case in some depth and introduces other important use case concepts.
Use case narrative

In Use Cases - an Introduction, it was explained how the use case, in essence, describes the interaction between an actor (or category of users) to achieve a goal of observable value.
The narrative must provide [...]

Non-functional Requirements
There is some dispute regarding the use of the term non functional requirements and whether it is the correct term. However, it is in common use and serves a recognised purpose. In this article it is used to describe general characteristics and properties that are required. They are non-functional in the sense that they [...]