The community of business analysts in the United States and abroad is taking notice of their impact on the world economy. Not long ago, the idea of a business analyst was new – sitting on the border of technology and business, sharing lunch with both ‘geeks’ and ‘suits,’ and creating value with only the uncanny ability to collaborate between these corporate cultures. These collaborative colleagues will continue to develop alongside, and in between, new technology and new business. The growing popularity of agile methodologies and visual modeling software motivated me to put together this deck of five simple steps to a future focused business analyst.

Much of my research in the business analyst kingdom has led me to believe that the majority of these individuals would do more if they could. In other words, given the opportunity – a good business analyst would talk to the client, write the requirements, build – implement – and test the software, and then provide support to the client for years to come. (Ok, so maybe less credit is due – but you get the point.) Since this magical persona does not exist and may never exist, we can at least give them the tools to delve further into application development. Visual modeling - the ability to visually convey business processes and logic in a manner that both business and IT people can understand - is one such tool. Take it a step further, and allow these business analysts to deploy their models as a living, breathing, application – and you’ve turned a corner in business analyst evolution.

So, to the eager business analyst who wants to get ahead of the game:

• Think Big.
• Think Balanced.
• Be Marketable.
• Use Visuals.
• And most of all: Think Agile.