Business Analyst Blog with tips, techniques and resources for every BA.
A number of themes stood out in ESI’s Top 10 Business Analysis Trends for 2015, a report prepared annually by ESI executives & subject matter experts.
This post discusses the BA trends in the ESI report in the form of “themes” and suggests ways Business Analysts can prepare themselves to take up the evolving BA role in 2015 and beyond.
Read MoreReady to get started in 2015 with this list of free courses?
edX is a non-profit online initiative created by founding partners, Harvard and MIT, for providing interactive online classes offered by some of the world’s best universities. It has courses from MITx, HarvardX, BerkeleyX, UTx and many other renowned universities.
Read MoreERP projects are notorious for failure. Research has placed ERP failure rates as high as 60% (See Article by John Cummings). BAs are expected to reduce the risk of failure by eliciting requirements that are accurate, within scope, technically feasible...the list goes on. Poor requirements elicitation can easily lead to a failed effort – a very expensive and public one.
Read MoreA Business Analyst is expected to methodically juggle multiple activities and refine his analysis skills simultaneously.
To help you understand more about the spheres into which the job of a business analyst can expand, I have divided them along the following verticals and also explained the typical responsibilities to be carried out in each vertical. Guest Post By Robin, The Business Analyst Job Description.
Read MoreHere's a list of the most popular 2014 posts, as determined by BAL readers.
Read MoreLooking for free Business Analyst eBooks?
This post is a growing collection of free resources you can download for your reference and personal library.
Read MoreThe courses listed here provide the knowledge needed to recommend effective business solutions, manage stakeholder relationships, cope with stress on the job and assume leadership positions.
Read MoreYour choice of whether or not to use prototypes should depend on the complexity of the domain and the tendency of requirements to change. Imagine an architect trying to explain how a structure as complex as a building will look without a drawing.
Read MoreProcesses where input have to be received from preceding steps are extremely prone to bottlenecks. Bottlenecks can cost the company time, money and valuable customers. Customers will switch to faster competitors if they do not get their products on time. If tasks sit for days in a person's inbox waiting for attention or engineers are constantly waiting to receive product specifications, improvement efforts and projects will suffer.
Read MoreSomeone asked me an interesting question recently. She wanted to understand the role of a business analyst in a startup. Here is my response:
Read MoreIn reality, the intended results of the brainstorming session do not always see the light of day. In some cases, the ideas are left to fester until the initial enthusiasm fizzles away, leading to a failed effort.
So, what is the missing link?
Read MorePicture this: You have just finished a brainstorming session and are left with a huge pile of post-it notes to work with. You know some of the ideas will never see the light of day. How do you go about finding, “the one”?
Read MoreI particularly like the Six Thinking Hats Technique because of its practicality and relevance to analysts. When you apply this technique, you gain a well-rounded view of all the major aspects to a situation by evaluating it from different angles.
Read MoreDealing with difficult stakeholders is in fact, no different from dealing with difficult people. This article sheds light on 5 major tactics you can employ to ensure you get a stakeholder to cooperate or at least, prevent him or her from derailing your project completely.
Read MoreBusiness Analysis is the culmination and interplay of diverse skills. This article covers 3 essential skills every business analyst should have.
Read MoreA Business Analyst can be compared to a Swiss army knife. Do you know what brought the Swiss army knife to life and subsequently to market?
Its innovative nature.
Read MoreOne common area of confusion when mapping business processes is the difference between a process and a procedure. The 2 words, process and procedure, are often used together in different contexts. Though similar, they differ in the level of information they convey.
Read MoreIn documenting procedures, it's easy to evade the many possible wrong turns. This article sheds some light on how to document a business procedure in an accessible and understandable manner.
Read MoreAs to methods & techniques, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Read MoreWithout undermining the importance of experience and intuition, the days of relying exclusively on them are over. Big data has the capacity to revolutionize current ways of thinking, how businesses are managed, how quickly businesses respond and the benefits they are likely to gain from exploiting the opportunities that come with big data.
Read MoreThis business analyst blog contains practical insights into business analysis, software testing and business process management. I will be sharing business analyst tips, CBAP Certification tips, lessons learnt and insights into all the things I've learnt during my BA career.
