In this post, I’ll use the challenge of enhancing the Be a Brilliant Business Analyst community to bring to life some of the common business analysis concepts and tasks. Houston we have a problem Soon after I launched BABBA I received direct contacts from members of the community asking for help with specific challenges. I […] Read more »
How to plan your career goals and make them happen
At the end of last year, I attended a Vision Day which to give me a kickstart for 2016 by helping me imagine where I wanted BA Mentor to be at the end of 2016 and building the foundations to making it to happen. It was a very inspiring session and really helped me bring […] Read more »
Communicating the value of the business analyst – part 2
This is the second post where I would like to communicate the value of business analysis in plain English. This animation is intended to make sure the business is changed in the right way by considering all possible solutions. The business analyst should avoid rushing to a solution when the benefit has not been fully […] Read more »
Communicating the value of the business analyst – part 1
In this and the next few posts I would like to communicate the value of business analysis in plain English. I cannot overstate how important it is to be able to communicate your value quickly and effectively to all of the people you work with. I knew that I had cracked it when when my […] Read more »
Building and maintaining a good working relationship with the project manager
The BA’s relationship with the project manager has been much discussed. I’d like to share my views on some of the critical components of a good relationship, drawing on my experiences, some of which have been learnt the hard way! Starting out When you first start on a project, it is important to focus on […] Read more »
Your workshop toolkit
I’ve been running a series of requirement gathering workshops recently which reminded me about the ‘physical stuff’ you need to have in place to make your workshop run well. I have also tried out some techniques that use some new tools which I’d like to share! (by the way, I won’t be covering all aspects […] Read more »
Managing stakeholders and learning to accept uncertainty
At the IIBA UK conference this year there were some important messages from two of the key note speakers which helped me reflect on my work as a business analyst. Most people crave certainty (and don’t like risk) Caspar Berry, the professional poker player, talked about what he learnt about uncertainty from his career as […] Read more »
SWOT analysis (a subscriber’s contribution)
Jackson Hille tried and failed to find a guide on completing a SWOT analysis for his work with startups. So decided to complete his own guide and contacted me to offer to share it with other readers of Business Analyst Mentor. The following is Jackson’s introduction: As a business analyst, one is often tasked with […] Read more »
How the use of visual models will significantly improve the quality of your requirements
I’ve been planning my analysis approach recently and have been recommending the use of visual models to support the business analysis effort. It seemed like a good time to revisit this subject to explain what they are and why they will make a sigificant difference to the quality of your work. What I mean […] Read more »
Managing unpredictability in the world of the BA
When I speak to inexperienced or aspiring business analysts I worry that they are hoping to find a simple process that any business analyst can follow which works in any situation. In my experience there are many approaches that you can adopt but there is no one universal approach that works in all situations. That’s […] Read more »