As someone who may be non-technical and have the role of a business analyst you may find yourself working outside of the information technology and engineering department and be more involved in business departments and responsible for identifying areas of improvement in process, organisational, people or informational related issues.
You may feel excited regarding the opportunities of being a non technical business analyst – but at the same time feel a little bit overwhelmed. After all, you don’t have a technical background like most of the other business analysts at your company.
But don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many business analysts start out in non technical business analyst job roles and go on to be extremely successful. The key is to focus on honing your skills and building your knowledge base. With a little hard work, you can absolutely develop and increase your skills and technical knowledge.
Overtime as you develop in your role you may find yourself in more IT related projects and need to develop further skills to understand the ways of working from a product delivery perspective so that you can communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical staff.
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Challenges of a Non Technical Business Analyst
One of the most common challenges faced by non-technical business analysts is a lack of understanding of technical jargon. This can make it difficult to communicate with technical staff and understand their needs.
To overcome this challenge, it is important to take the time to learn about common technical terms and familiarise yourself with the basics of information technology.
Another challenge faced by non-technical business analysts is a lack of industry knowledge. This can make it difficult to identify areas of improvement within an organisation.
To overcome this challenge, it is important to stay up to date on the latest industry trends and developments. Additionally, attending conferences and networking events can also help you gain valuable insights
Non Technical Business Analyst
I was reflecting on how impenetrable the role of the non technical business analyst can be to a newbie.
A non technical business analyst may find themselves working outside of the IT department and working closely or within business departments. The non technical business analyst may find themselves involved in process improvement projects looking to understand, refine and improve on the business operations.
A non technical business analyst may also over time find themselves working on strategy type projects or on projects that are doing business transformation or developing target operating models (TOM).
So skills required by a non technical business analyst tend to be more business focussed, having skills and techniques in organisational design and process modelling.
There are plenty of roles and opportunities for a non technical business analyst and plenty of areas and tools and techniques to develop and work on to broaden the business analyst career path.
When you consider the wider the elements of change process, information, process, information and technology (POPIT) 
a non technical business analyst can work work various non technology related projects or change.
We used to have no single definition for a business analyst so it was open season for anyone to decide what the BA should do (and that hasn’t gone away completely!).
Have you ever felt that you are too flexible such that whenever an unusual job needs doing on the project, it comes your way because everyone else’s role is so well defined?
Now that we have one definition of the BA role in BABOK, the problem should be starting to disappear shouldn’t it? Well, yes, but if you are new and you start reading BABOK, it is very easy to get confused and lose sight of what your responsibilities are. There is a very good definition of the role but it is still a little ambiguous and doesn’t give you a really solid list of responsibilities to answer the important questions such as:
Am I fulfilling my responsibilities on this project (and, therefore, being of value to the business)?
Non IT Business Analyst Job Description
So what is on your list?
To help support me with a non IT business analyst job description – I took this as a justification to come up with a list which is shown below and should act as that important point of reference for the non technical business analyst:
- Understand the business need;
- Agree how to meet the business need to achieve the best results for the business;
- Ensure requirements are understood by business stakeholders to ensure they are complete and correct;
- Ensure requirements are suitable to ensure delivery of a solution that meets the business need;
- Ensure the business need and requirements will be met by the proposed solution;
- Ensure any risks and issues that arise from the solution are understood and accepted by affected stakeholders.
I’m sure that you are reading this and saying what does he mean by xxx and but you’ve missed out xyz. But I have focussed this for a business analyst who is non technical.
However, I’ve found it useful to check back with this list at several points during the project to make sure I am offering all the value that I should. And if I’m not delivering that responsibility I can ask myself ‘why not?’ and do something about it.
As an aspiring BA, does it make sense? I wanted to make sure it was jargon free.
I’ve also found it useful using industry standard business analysis templates.
Technical Business Analyst
More and more I’m seeing job adverts for a technical business analysts. Predominately these roles have started to appear as the agile ways of workings have evolved. These roles tend to focus on working with agile scrum teams and require skills such as writing user stories.
I have also seen the technical business analyst role appear in the banking / finance industry there the roles sometimes appear to be more hybrid sometimes a hybrid of a business analyst and project manager or a hybrid of a business analyst and someone who has the skills to interrogate systems more often than not using skills such SQL.
Historically, the technical business analyst used to be found in the information technology department. They are recognised for their ability to combine business knowledge with system analysis skills. They have a strong technological background.
However, they utilise technical know-how to develop commercial solutions rather than focusing simply on applying technology to identify issues and come up with innovative technological answers.
It is critical for a technical business analyst to have business knowledge and understanding of system analysis in order to be considered successful.
Sometimes a technical business analyst is required to do an impact analysis on a system or product; or be required to understand and interpret data structures; or involved in systems integration work and to detail specifications.
These skills require an understanding of technology, an element of technical analysis and design and the ability to work with architects and developers. So understanding each others vocabulary is important for shared understanding and developing ways of working together.
The technical business analyst will become more involved in detailing functional specifications or user stories depending on the ways of working of the organisation.
A technical business analyst will need to consider more the domain that they are working on compared to a non technical business analyst.
Which ever job description that you see what is core or important is the core skills of business analysis. Organisations will always extend or blend roles to suit their purposes or their own interpretation of how roles play out in their projects and programmes.
It is important to think beyond the job title and ensure that you continue to develop yourself whether you get certified or undertake some recommended business analysis training.
Steps to Develop as a Non Technical Business Analyst
Here are some tips on how to improve as a non-technical business analyst so that you can develop into other (technical) areas:
- Stay up to date on the latest industry trends in business analysis;
- Attend business analysis conferences and networking events;
- Get involved in business analysis professional organisations;
- Read business analysis industry-related publications;
- Be an active member of business analysis online communities and forums.
Stay up to Date on the Latest Industry Trends in Business Analysis
As a business analyst, it is important to stay up to date on the latest industry trends. This will help you identify areas of improvement within an organisation and develop plans to address those issues.
Attend Business Analysis Conferences and Networking Events
Attending conferences and networking events can also help you gain valuable insights into the latest tools and techniques in business analysis plus an opportunity to learn from other experiences.
Additionally, attending conferences and networking events can also help you build relationships with other business analysts and professionals in the industry.
Business Analyst Mentor is business analysis conference partner to a few events around the world.
Get Involved in Business Analysis Professional Organisations
The professional business organisations such as the IIBA and PMI host meet-ups and webinars with their members. In many cases being involved contributes to professional development units (PDU) to stay up to date on business analysis certifications but it also encourages continuous development and growth.
As a business analyst, it is important to get involved in professional organizations. This will help you stay up to date on the latest industry trends and developments.
Read Business Analysis Industry-Related Publications
As a business analyst, it is important to read industry-related publications to stay up to date and gain insights into the thoughts and opinions of other business analysts and professionals in the industry.
The IIBA as a Business Analysis Digest of business analysis articles from around the web.
Be an Active Member of Business Analysis Online Communities and Forums
As a business analyst, it is important to be an active member of online communities and forums and help you build relationships with other business analysts and professionals in the industry.
Business Analyst Mentor has a Business Analysis Facebook Group that you are welcome to join.
Conclusion
In many ways and especially in today’s organisation compared to a few years ago it makes no real difference whether your technical or non technical business analyst. A business analyst should always widen their skill set and learn different tools and techniques.
The business analyst will need to consider learning new ways of working whether lean, agile or approaches that will come in future.
A good business analyst must be an expert in what they are dealing with. They must be fully aware of what their roles in business are and what is expected of them.
There are several important things to keep in mind if you want to be a successful non-technical business analyst:
- Stay up to date on the latest industry trends and developments.
- Attend conferences and networking events can also help you gain valuable insights into the latest industry trends.
- Get involved in professional organisations and reading industry-related publications can also help you stay up to date on the latest industry trends and developments.