I am a Business Analyst with an experience of over 2 years in industry. I ahve just changed job and I am the first Business Analyst in this company. To me, it seems like becasue it ahs become a trend to hire Business Analyst so companies do it but they dont really know what should they expect from a BA and whether they aheva requirement for BA in the company or not. I have tried sharing my experience but now I think the company doesnt need a BA but just someone to oversee that everything is happening.
I think, most companies think a BA is only supposed to be gathering requirements and making BRDs and then pass on the requiremetn to technical team to develop the system. I don't know what should I do because its making me confused. please advise if anyone has any solutions.
I too feel that many companies out there are not entirely sure what they expect nor what they want from a BA. In some cases, I have seen BA's brought in simply to push an agenda and jump over gates IT have put up.
However Business Analysis is a very broad term and can encompass a number of different things and each organisation have different use for BA's. The trick is being able to determine what functions an employer will expect of a BA during the recruitment stage. However most importantly you would need to understand what you see the role of BA being and then being able to determine if you are match for the job.
Another common problem I have also found, is that most of my managers have no idea how develop Business Analysts. I.e. struggling to develop a personal development plan.
My advice would be to highlight this to your boss, and if they do not require the skills you would like to carry out - move on.
Good luck
I completely agree with you and it scares me because I can't see a future and moving on with another role is no guarantee of overcoming this. I sometime feel it was a wrong career choice made.
Thanks for your comment and really appreciate it.
Sukriti
Don't give up so easily.
You are the one in control and the sole person responsible for your career. You need to push and make things happen.
What is it you actually want to be doing as a BA? Some BA's are happy to do those tasks and usually at a junior level but also looks like you are carrying on some PM duties. You may want to re-brand yourself e.g., process engineer, enterprise architect. I tend to grill my employers at interviews with questions, do not be afraid to do this. You really need to understand what duties they are looking for to be filled by the role.
Another point to consider is that your company maybe a little pre-mature in BA, try and educate your stakeholders on what your role is, more often than not stakeholders in such organisations do not really understand your worth and that is simply their lack of education. You may also want to develop a form of BA framework, take it to your boss in a business case form that clearly highlights the benefits of implementing such a framework.
Best of luck!!
Hi Sukriti,
If you are the first BA in your company, it's probably not surprising that they don't really know what a BA can do or should do. This is a great opportunity to take on a leadership role in building a BA practice in that organization, if you like that kind of challenge. To take this forward, I would offer the following suggestions:
My last suggestion if you decide to proceed is to view the process of building BA best practices as an evolution, not a revolution. You won't change the company overnight, but you can learn a lot and take a lot of satisfaction in making your contribution to company growth and improvement - even if that sometimes seems slower than you might want.
Best of luck, and let us know how things go.
Sandy
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