Business Analyst Community & Resources | Modern Analyst

Reinventing the Annual Member Survey: A Business Analyst’s Role in Delivering Actionable Insights

Pulkit Singhal — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 02:38:00 GMT

In a competitive and rapidly evolving financial landscape, understanding member needs is vital to maintaining strong relationships and delivering meaningful value. Yet for many institutions, especially those with legacy processes, collecting structured member feedback can be surprisingly underdeveloped. This was the case at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBank Chicago), where — despite its extensive engagement with member institutions — the Bank had never before conducted a structured, enterprise-wide Annual Member Survey.

Recognizing the need for a formalized feedback mechanism, the Bank launched an initiative to design and implement its first-ever Annual Member Survey, leveraging Salesforce as the foundational platform. As the Lead Business Analyst, I was responsible for envisioning, architecting, and orchestrating this new capability from the ground up.

This initiative ultimately became a defining example of how strategic business analysis can create net-new organizational capability, not just improve existing processes.

The Challenge: Creating a Strategic Feedback Framework from Scratch

Unlike most process-automation projects, this effort did not begin with an existing workflow to analyze or improve. Instead, the Bank faced a unique challenge:

No prior survey process existed
No historical data or response structures were available to benchmark against
No distribution, tracking, or reporting mechanisms had been established
No governance model existed for how results should be consumed
Stakeholders possessed varying assumptions about what the new survey should accomplish

This meant the project required not only systems expertise but also conceptual design, stakeholder alignment, and strategic framing.

My Role as Lead BA: Designing a New Enterprise Capability

The absence of an existing process meant that Business Analysis would shape the entire direction of the initiative. My responsibilities included defining the business problem, creating the process architecture, establishing data structures, and ensuring Salesforce could support a sustainable and scalable survey model.

1. Establishing the Vision and Framing the Purpose

Through interviews and collaborative workshops with Member Strategy, Sales, Analytics, and Leadership teams, I led discussions to answer foundational questions:

What insights should the Bank gather annually?
How should “member satisfaction” be defined in measurable terms?
What KPIs would create genuine value for leadership?
How should results be tied back to member institutions in Salesforce?

This work produced the Bank’s first Survey Vision and Strategy Framework, guiding all subsequent design decisions.

2. Building the End‑to‑End Survey Workflow in Salesforce

Because no prior workflow existed, I architected a brand‑new process designed around clarity, automation, and scalability:

Designed the survey creation and distribution model
Built logic for survey-to-member linking
Defined the response-collection data structure
Modeled the end‑to‑end visibility lifecycle, including assignment, participation, reminders, and results
Ensured dashboards would give leadership real-time insights

The process not only captured survey responses but also embedded insights directly into the Bank’s member management ecosystem.

3. Translating Ambiguity Into Clear, Actionable Requirements

Given the lack of precedent, requirements had to be derived through deep analysis rather than comparison. I authored:

Detailed user stories
Acceptance criteria
Process maps
Data models
Reporting definitions

This documentation became the foundational blueprint for developers, testers, and end-users — eliminating ambiguity and creating shared understanding.

4. Leading UAT and Validating a New Capability

Because the Bank had never conducted a survey like this, UAT required additional rigor:

I designed test scripts covering every stage of the survey lifecycle
Trained business stakeholders on how to test a process that was entirely new
Triaged defects and clarified user expectations
Ensured the system was intuitive and future-proofed

Through this, the Bank gained confidence not just in the technology, but in the process itself.

5. Supporting Rollout, Adoption, and Governance

Beyond system delivery, I worked closely with:

Member Strategy teams to formalize interpretation of results
Analytics teams to align on scoring and reporting methodologies
Change management teams to ensure smooth onboarding
Salesforce admins to embed long‑term maintainability

This ensured the survey became an annual, repeatable, institution-wide capability—not a one‑off project.

Conclusion: This project shows that Business Analysts are not just process improvers—they are capability creators.By clarifying needs, defining strategy, architecting processes, aligning teams, and ensuring quality, the BA function enabled FHLBank Chicago to establish a powerful new insight mechanism that will shape strategy for years to come.

The Annual Member Survey is now more than a project deliverable.
It is a permanent intelligence asset for the Bank — built on a foundation of Business Analysis leadership.

How to Write Business Analyst Resume

Sarahzain — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 10:52:00 GMT

Business analysts must have an up-to-date, visually appealing resume to be able to stand out from the competition. A strong business analyst resume should accurately reflect your skills, experience and qualifications while also highlighting your accomplishments and successes. We will provide invaluable advice on how to build a strong, effective business analyst resume that will help you land job interviews and get noticed by recruiters.

Tailor your Resume to the Job Description

Build your experience around the job posting your companies are recruiting for to ensure your resume interests the employers looking for candidates like you. Look at the job postings to discover the skills the employers desire in a candidate and examine your qualifications. Then, highlight those skills and qualifications in your resume.

For example, if the job description calls for experience in data analysis, make sure to include your experience with data analysis prominently in your resume. If the employer is looking for experience in a specific industry, make sure to highlight your experience in that industry. Tailoring your resume to the job description indicates that you are well suited for the job and raises your chances of receiving an interview.

Use Strong Action Verbs

Use strong action verbs In the resume, incorporate action verbs to demonstrate your expertise and accomplishments, making your resume stand out among other applicants. For example, instead of saying "responsible for managing project timelines," say "determined to follow milestones to ensure the project was completed on time." Some other strong action verbs for business analyst resumes include:

Analyzed

Identified

Implemented

Streamlined

Optimized

Facilitated

Collaborated

Communicated

Using strong action verbs can make your resume more engaging and help you stand out to potential employers.

Quantify your Achievements

Employers want to see concrete examples of how you've contributed to previous roles. To make your achievements stand out, quantify them whenever possible. For example, instead of saying "improved project efficiency," say "improved project efficiency by 25% through streamlined processes."

Quantifying your achievements shows that you're results-oriented and can provide tangible benefits to the company. It provides a characteristic aspect to your resume and helps you stand out from other applications.

Highlight Relevant Certifications

Business analyst certifications can be an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise and dedication to your career. If you have any relevant certifications, make sure to include them in your resume. Some common certifications for business analysts include:

Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)
PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)
Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP)
Six Sigma Green Belt

Highlighting your certifications shows that you're committed to your profession and have invested time and effort into developing your skills.

Keep it concise and Focused

Finally, it's important to keep your resume concise and focused. To make your document less lengthy, it is suggested to confine decision makers to one or two pages. When highlighting your work experience, ensure that your statements are clear and concise and employ lingo that a layman is generally familiar with. Avoid using jargon or buzzwords and refrain from including abstract information that may not be obvious to a reader.

Business Analyst Resume Example

Name: John Doe

Contact Information:

Email: john.doe@email.com

Phone: (555) 555-5555

Summary:

Highly detail-oriented data analyst who has improved business processes through analyzing complex data sets. Skilled in project management, requirements gathering, and data analysis. Skilled communicator who enjoys collaborating with cross-functional teams to assemble project objectives.

Work Experience:

Business Analyst

ABC Company

January 2019 - Present

Conduct data analysis to identify trends and insights that drive process improvements.
Create progress reports to indicate when you will fulfill various project deliverables.
Work with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and QA engineers, to guarantee that your requirements align.
Prepare project documentation for complete and accurate documentation, including project plans, requirements documents, and test plans.
Present findings and recommendations to senior management and stakeholders.

Business Analyst

XYZ Corporation

May 2016 - December 2018

Analyzed customer feedback and sales data to identify opportunities for process improvements.
Collaborated with product managers to develop requirements documents and prioritize product features.
Worked with developers and QA engineers to ensure that product features were delivered on-time and meet customer expectations.
Conducted user acceptance testing to ensure that product features were functioning correctly.
Led weekly status meetings with stakeholders to provide project updates.

Education:

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

University of ABC

May 2016

Skills:

Data analysis

Project management

Requirements gathering

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical documentation

Presentation skills

Agile methodology

This is just one example of a business analyst resume. Depending on your specific experience and skill set, your resume may look different. However, the key is to highlight your skills, achievements, and relevant experience in a way that stands out to potential employers.

Conclusion

Crafting a great business analyst resume can be a daunting task. However, by following the tips provided in this article, you will be able to create a strong and comprehensive resume that will help you stand out among other applicants. Be sure to tailor your resume according to the position and company you are applying for, highlight your skills and accomplishments, include relevant keywords, and keep the content concise. With these concepts in mind, you will present yourself as well-suited for general manager of any local business.

Author: Sarah
I am Sarah, a certified career advisor and consultant with over 8 years of experience helping professionals and students achieve their desired career goals. I specialize in providing one-on-one coaching to help individuals identify their unique skillset, build their network, create an effective resume, and prepare for job interviews. My goal is to guide my clients in making informed decisions about their careers while empowering them to take ownership of their professional development. My services are tailored around each client's individual needs as I understand that there is no one-size fits all approach when it comes to developing a successful career path.

8 Ways to Be a Badass Business Analyst Employee

Paul Crosby — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 14:23:00 GMT

Being a badass isn’t about intimidation or trying to be something you simply are not. It’s about knowing who you are and using your strengths to drive forward. So let’s look at a few of the ways to be a badass in business:

1. Passion for Your Craft Is a Powerful and Infectious Energy

Showing passion for your work in always willing to learn more and explore new ideas in your profession shows you are a badass. A badass isn’t afraid to learn something new about their craft. Always be willing to step up to the plate and show what they are good at performing. Sitting back and doing just the expected is not the badass way. If you are amazing at drawing diagrams, then use them frequently in your work.

A few years ago I was managing several projects. Things were not going all that well on these projects, and I knew something needed to be done to get them on track. Holding up the schedule and pointing at it wasn’t solving the problems we were facing. I decided to explore different approaches and ideas by contacting others outside the company for their advice and doing a little reading up on handling scope problems in projects. I learned a lot of scope management techniques as a result of that exercise and was able to apply them to my project. My boss at the time noticed I went out of my way to figure out new approaches, and I was fearless in learning new techniques about my craft. By learning and stepping out to explore new ideas I was able to move the project forward and save the project from failure.

2. Keep Positive

Nobody likes a negative person constantly interrupting, jumping to conclusions and always complaining. Keep a “we can do this” mentality even in the toughest of times. The measure of a badass is in being able to be calm, think clearly and project positive possibilities. When the whole world is crashing down, don’t be the one saying “Well that figures.” Instead be the one saying “This isn’t the greatest situation, but we have some great opportunities here to make positive changes.” See the good in situations where others cannot. Be the person that says “I’ve got a few ideas that might help in this situation, and I would like to bounce a few of them off of you.”

One of the toughest projects I faced was working with remarkable requirements, but a development staff that either didn’t want to or just could not fulfill those requirements with the current system in place. The team quickly got very negative at all the challenges that we were having in development. Everyone’s attitude soured and nothing was getting accomplished. The project was on its way to failure. So I threw a pizza party. My entire team thought I lost my marbles, and it was time to call the men in white coats to pick me up. Pizza does wonders for putting a team in a better mood. I told the team I understood the situation was bad and acknowledged that the company wouldn't accomplish anything without their skill sets. I purposefully turned the conversation from a negative (What is going wrong?) and made it positive (What ideas do you have to make it better?).

This was no easy task. I had to work very hard to move everyone’s attitude toward the positive after months of being in the negative. I was direct in telling them “Nobody wants to work on a negative team – it sucks. What can we do right now to make this team more fun and productive?”. After that hurdle had been cleared, it got easier to involve everyone in making team changes and design changes to the project. I kept telling myself that no matter what happens I will remain positive. The team’s attitude evolved over time. Many team members and company leaders repeatedly said that they could always count on me for being positive and finding solutions to problems.

3. Know Your Craft and Tools

A badass doesn’t just stop learning the basics of their craft or tools. They are constantly expanding their toolset and keep current about their craft. It’s too easy to get comfortable and begin to feel there is nothing more to learn. A badass grabs any opportunity to learn new things.

In my past life, I was at a company where I was pigeon-holed. I did such a good job at data warehousing and reporting that no one wanted to let me try anything new or different. Damn, I was bored out of my mind because every day was the same thing over and over. Sure I was learning new things about data warehousing and reporting, but I never stepped out of that area into other areas. So I forced the issue a bit and shoehorned my way into a call center application. It made sense for me to pursue it because that new system would be feeding the data warehouse. I went a little further than just worrying about data and started moving into user interface design and workflow for the new call center application. It was a great experience to use the knowledge I had in data warehousing and reporting to build better user interfaces and business processes. After the project had been finished, I was seen as being useful in business process as well as data warehousing. The door opened, and I got the chance to work on a whole new set of projects. Don’t be afraid to step out of bounds – you just might be valued for it.

4. Make Life Better for Others

A badass knows that improving the lives of their team members by continuously being focused on improving the way things are done is important. Being innovative to solve problems the team is experiencing in the day to day operations is just as important as solving project problems. Process improvement is powerful. A badass understands it’s not about single glory but helping others to achieve great success.

You always hear “It’s not my job” especially in large companies with well-defined roles. A badass looks for ways to improve the working conditions and tasks their team performs. It can be a simple as creating a library of past project documents that can be reused or finding a new way to perform time reporting that is easier. Whatever it is, a badass is looking for ways to improve processes at every moment and isn’t afraid to suggest well thought out changes.

5. Know Thyself Well

Know thy strengths and know thy weaknesses. A badass is aware of their strengths, and they know their weaknesses and limits. In today’s corporate culture, we focus on weakness. By focusing entirely on weaknesses, performance appraisals have become more like firing squads. A badass knows to play to their strengths and to engage others to help them out with their weaknesses.

There are certain things I have discovered I’m genuinely bad at. Anything that involves molding clay into an object is bound for disaster. Both of my skiing trips ended in an uncomfortable tree hugging. In business I know I’m a driver – be quick, be bright and be gone. It wasn’t until half way through my career that I realized how that impacts others who are not drivers. By understanding how I lead and act, I was able to soften my approach and be more collaborative with others. My driver mentality is a strength that others recognize. I can snow plow through massive amounts of data to give clear direction. I communicate quickly and concisely on projects.

Play to your strengths at all times. If you know you are weak in an area, then go out and find someone who is strong in that area to balance you out. If you get the chance to put teams together, look at each others strengths and weakness to balance them all out. Forget about finding that perfect all around team member without weaknesses. They don’t exist.

6. Don’t Always Say What They Want to Hear

Being a butt kisser or yes man is not the path of a badass. If you are always saying what others want to hear from you, they will never fully trust you because they can’t tell if that’s what you honestly believe or if you are just being a parrot and repeating everything back to them. A badass understands that conflict is part of life, and sometimes you are going to have to say what doesn’t want to be heard.

The trick here is saying it without being annoying or a jerk. If there is an elephant in the room, then say there is an elephant in the room. A badass knows that hiding the obvious doesn’t make it go away but rather gives it greater power. Address it quickly and directly. Forcing the issue is a one-way ticket out the door. Follow the “Toot, Toot and Salute” rule. Bring it up once and if there is no response or disagreement then re-group your thoughts. Bring it up again and if there is still no response or disagreement, then accept it and move forward.

7. Ask Questions, Challenge and Dig Deep

No one likes to be challenged. It puts them on the defensive right away. A badass understands that challenging an idea is an art form and that challenging helps bring deeper understanding and meaning. A badass knows that without asking questions and digging deep, the entire problem cannot be understood fully.

Nobody likes to feel they are being interrogated. Be fearless but considerate in digging deep. Verify your thinking and dig deeper with “Help me understand” questions. Share what you have learned to validate it. Be appreciative of the different perspectives and gather them all up to see the greater picture more clearly. The most significant problems I created for myself was making assumptions and never validating those assumptions. You may not be able to validate or challenge at that specific moment. Write it down, reflect on it and determine if you need to challenge it. Challenge appropriately and thoughtfully. Step back and schedule a challenge at a later time.

8. Lead Even When Your Job Title Doesn’t Say Leader

A badass leads even when it isn’t in their title or role. They had the initiative and don’t shy away from leading in their craft. They don’t wait for someone else to schedule the requirements meetings, they step up to the plate and schedule them.

In the many times, I have played the role of the business analyst I’ve stepped outside my role a bit. I’m probably more comfortable with that then other business analysts in that I have been a project manager. My favorite is when I’m told how long it will take to gather requirements. You know those meetings were without being consulted the project manager has decided how long you as the business analyst will take to gather requirements and complete the design. When I’m in the business analyst role, I often will put together a requirements work plan outlining the steps that will be taken to elicit requirements and build the design. I review it with my stakeholders, project team and sponsors. This runs face first into the project managers desire to create and control the schedule. By gaining common agreement on tasks for the requirements and design process, the schedule can be more reasonably created which in turn helps the project keep to its timeline and budget. Is there a negotiation? Oh yeah – there will be lots of negotiation with the project manager, sponsors, and stakeholders on what will be done and what won’t be done. Step up to leading the task and schedule you will be expected to adhere to for the project.

For more good stuff on business analysis and leadership, check out the blog at Bob the BA.

How Do I Become A Business Analyst?

Trividh Patel, CBAP — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 05:26:00 GMT

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I have encountered ever since I have started training business analysts. Before exploring ‘how’, one should ask ‘why do I want to become a business analyst?’ Is it just because every talented individual want to do it, or you want better opportunity, or for better salary. In my opinion, if you have the necessary skills and business analysis is something you would love doing, only than you shall be a successful business analyst.

The purpose of this paper is to provide practical guidance on skills that you need to acquire to become a business analyst. This paper also highlights certain myths on this subject.

To become a business analyst, you need to

1. Improve your communication skills

‘You can’t be business analyst if you can’t express yourself’.

The role of business analyst mandates excellent communication skills including oral, and written, and much more. A business analyst is expected to effectively express ideas, information and have ability to make oneself understood. S/he should also demonstrate good vocabulary, excellent listening and presentation skills.

Demonstrating such skills starts from your resume and gets noticed in your job interviews. So, if you think that you are lacking in any of these aspects, you should consider seeking professional help and improve.

2. Acquire business knowledge

‘You are wasting everyone’s time if you do not understand what they are talking’.

The role of business analyst also requires understanding the business domain and industry (banking, insurance, telecom etc), and/or solutions (CRM, ERP, COTS products etc) in which s/he is expected to be working or desire to be working. A generalist business analyst may be expected to work in multiple domains but s/he is still expected to have the ability to talk to specialists from that business domain and industry. A specialist business analyst is expected to have thorough knowledge either in the business domain and industry (many times referred as Domain Consultants) or in solutions (many times referred as Functional Consultants).

This knowledge can be learnt theoretically but the practical knowledge can only be acquired by working in the core industry or on projects. So, if you already have experience and knowledge on certain business domain and industry or even solution, make sure you highlight it on your resume. Also, the organization where you are seeking role as a business analyst may or may not give importance to this, or may even relax this to certain extent depending on their requirements. So, depending on where and what area you want to work as business analyst, you need to evaluate appropriate courses that provide such knowledge.

3. Learn business analysis techniques

‘What value will you deliver (as a business analyst) if you can’t define problem, synthesize solution and communicate it to make everyone understand it’.

A business analyst needs to understand people’s concerns and capture their requirements to address their business problems. S/he also needs to specify and model these captured requirements using appropriate business analysis techniques for further analysis, design and implementation of the solution (which may include software applications). These skills are required irrespective of the business analyst role (generalist vs. specialised) or the business analysis approach (waterfall vs. agile). The techniques used by a business analyst to carry out above tasks include elicitation techniques such as interviewing and requirements analysis techniques such as process modelling, business rule analysis, use cases and scenarios, data modelling, non-functional requirements analysis etc.

Most of the organization where you would seek role as a business analyst would expect an experienced (if not, at least trained) person on these techniques depending on their project requirements. So, if you already have experience and knowledge on these techniques, make sure you highlight them on your resume. These techniques cannot be learnt by just reading books or from internet; you need a good mentor to give you a jump start. So, you must identify and learn from a professional mentor who can provide you such knowledge.

4. Enhance your analytical thinking and problem solving skills

‘You can’t be termed as “the analyst” if you don’t have analytical and problems solving skills’.

Skills such as creative thinking, learning, problem solving, decision analysis, ability to see the big picture etc are all required to be an analyst.
Some of these skills cannot be taught but can be consciously enhanced over period of time by solving puzzles, participating in debates and group discussions etc. These skills will help you not only during your job interviews but also while working as a business analyst.

5. Improve your interaction skills

‘It is not only analysis but also about leading and working with people’.

A business analyst is also expected to have good facilitation, negotiation, and leadership skills and at the same s/he is also expected to be a good team player.

You may refer self-help books and articles on leadership, team work, facilitation and negotiations. In your job interviews, you may also be evaluated against these qualities.

Myths

1. To become a Business analyst, you must have a technical (engineering) background

Business Analysis work is (and should be) independent of technology. BAs are not required to have in-depth knowledge or experience in programming, database, networking, etc. It is wrong to expect technical skills out of BAs. It is nice to have technical background as it will help a BA to talk to development team but not must have unless the work is that of a Systems Analyst (who has some overlap with BA roles and responsibilities).

2. To become a Business analyst, you must have an MBA qualification

It is not MBA degree but the skills which are generally found in an MBA helps him/her to become a business analyst. MBA's are expected to have good communication, presentation, interaction, analytical and problem solving skills so they are natural candidates for the role of business analyst. So, a full-time MBA (or even part-time) from a reputed management institute or university helps to get into business analysis relatively easier than without an MBA but a non-MBA too can become a business analyst if s/he has all the needed skills.

3. To become a Business analyst, you must know various business analysis modelling tools

As a business analyst, you should first focus on appropriate business analysis techniques and than on modelling tools. Modelling tools may improve your productivity and efficiency but cannot replace your expertise. After mastering various techniques, you will be in position to compare and select appropriate modelling tools based on your requirements.

Glossary

CRM is the abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management. It entails all aspects of interaction that a company has with its customer, whether it is sales or service-related. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.
ERP is the abbreviation for Enterprise Resource Planning, a system that is used to manage and coordinate all the resources, information, and functions of a business.
COTS is the abbreviation for Commercial off-the-shelf, are the pre-built software or products that are commercially available usually from a 3'rd party vendor, and are alternatives to the in-house developments.

About Author

Trividh Patel, CBAP® has well over a decade of experience in an IT services industry, in various functions such as Business Analysis, Business Technology Services, Presales, and Project Management, primarily in Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance domain.

Trividh has done his MBA from JBIMS, University of Mumbai, and Bachelor of Engineering from VJTI, University of Mumbai.

Trividh Patel can be reached on -
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/trividhpatel

Why Should We Hire You?, Part I

Seilevel — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:49:00 GMT

We look for the best and brightest when hiring for Requirements Analysts and Product Managers. It’s a long and difficult process with many people applying; only a fraction get through the first interview and even less are able to hang in the process as it continues. This has brought great strain to our company: as we expand we simply aren’t able to hire as very few are able to get through our arduous interview process.

Recently, we went to the University of Texas at Austin looking for interns and entry level Requirements Analysts. They asked many questions, mostly along the lines of “what does Seilevel do?”, “what would a typical day look like for me as an RA?”, “what’s the mentoring program like?”, and “what qualities do you look for in a potential new hire?”. I would like to address the last question now, to give the potential candidates out there an idea of what kind of person we look for.

Most importantly, we look for those in whom we see great potential. Can we teach and train this person? Will she be receptive? Is she able to adapt and change to the ambiguous and sometimes difficult environment? Is she smart enough to resolve tasks on her own when others are too busy to hand-hold? To get an outstanding “Yes” on all these questions is the first test to pass. When we talk to people, we want to address these questions indirectly with candidates. This means that we most likely won’t ask these questions in the form as written above, but we probe to elicit answers which give clarity to the aforementioned questions.

People are smart. Sometimes, we want to give a solution to a problem so badly that we neglect to listen to the entire problem. We look for candidates that are patient enough to listen to a whole problem before recommending a solution. As consultants, our clients look to us to solve their problems, so it’s very important that we all know how to listen. Good listening skills include maintaining good eye contact, maintaining attentive posture, and being able to summarize the problem with different words to show you understand what the issue at hand is which also uncovers underlying assumptions.

Gathering requirements includes many hours of asking probing questions to the business in order to gain a clear understanding of what the product needs to do. We want people who instinctively ask the right questions. This is a hard item to teach, so we are looking for those who have the critical thinking skills which enables them to have these types of constructive dialogues.

We want someone who works well under pressure. From school, you’re hopefully used to completing projects or papers with strict deadlines and occasionally working long hours to ensure you get that paper or project perfected. Oftentimes on a client site you will encounter strict deadlines, as each man hour over a deadline is quite costly. We’re looking for those Type-A personalities who know what it takes to get the job done well.

Many people who are Type-A and direct communicators can be considered abrasive. What’s the difference between being a direct communicator and being abrasive? We look for those who can communicate with all kinds of people without offending them, which entails being able to change how you say things to suit the recipient. In the US, if a topic is misunderstood or lost in communication, it’s the speaker’s fault, not the listener’s. We look for candidates who grasp this concept. These people can explain the same topic using different words or methods, which better suits the listener.

Prioritization is a must have. When you have a paper for English, a SWOT analysis for marketing, a business review for accounting, and a program for comp sci all due in the same month, what do you do? How do you prioritize? What comes first and why? We always have several hands pulling at our limbs, asking for time in meetings, reviews, documentation, etc. Getting it all done and ensuring client happiness is a delicate art.

My last tip for the day is to ooze confidence! Can you present in front of a room of 20 executives and the CEO? Probably not. (And it may not be a worry here, either!) However, you should be able to speak your intelligent and prepared opinion in a meeting with stakeholders. Don’t be afraid to speak up, with a caveat: as long as you know what you’re talking about. (However, you can always talk it over with another consultant if you are nervous!) As consultants, clients look towards us for answers. We need to study the issue and propose a solution, often on topics in which we may not have formal training, but our logic can trump that issue.

Many of these skills are difficult to teach someone, which is why we look for the candidate who is the right “fit”, meaning that they already possess these baseline soft skills which we can then build upon with requirements knowledge. When preparing to interview, be sure to have prepared situations that you have personally experienced which would demonstrate your capacity to fill these characteristics we look for. Look for Part II of this post next month where we will discuss critical thinking skills necessary to become part of our team.

Are you looking know someone who is? Check out our positions:

http://requirements.seilevel.com/blog/

http://www.seilevel.com/careers/

“So, what do you do for a living?”: A BA/Product Manager’s guide to surviving cocktail parties

Seilevel — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:52:00 GMT

By Jhulgan

I used to dread hearing the question, “So what do you do for a living?” This was often usually asked by a family member or other acquaintances not familiar with the software development lifecycle, IT, or business processes in general. For business analysts, product managers, and other software requirements types, it’s difficult to give an answer without being convoluted or sounding like Tom Smykowski:

This great post expresses a similar insight beautifully, but many of us struggle with good, one-sentence responses to what it is we do everyday in simple English. I thought I would plagiarize some ideas that I’ve heard from colleagues over the years and compile them here:

“We help businesses figure out what software they need to build to solve business problems.” This is a personal favorite of mine that I stole from Marc (who posts under mtalbot on this here blog). It’s especially relevant to IT consultants/contractors. Just about everyone knows what software is, and a lot of people understand that just about every business runs on some sort of software to solve business problems.
“We help communicate the business needs of a system in a language software developers understand.” A variation of this is, “We translate from business to geek”, although I am less fond of the second version because it veers into Smykowski land.
“We make sure the right software is being developed at the right time, for the right people.” The emphasis here is on the right software. This response is nice because it allows you to segue adeptly into a discussion about business objectives.
“We help the business get the most value out of their development dollar.” This response stresses the fact that you are not just a scribe or secretary writing things down, formatting them, and delivering them to the development staff. You are helping make the tough decisions on which features to cut and which bugs to fix, and quantifying those decisions in terms of dollars and cents.
“We work with the business to find the appropriate scope of a software development project and ensure that what is built is what the business expects.” Whenever I am asked the dreaded WDYDFAL question, this is what almost immediately comes to mind. Sometimes I fill in the details of working with pictures to help model current business processes (and desired business processes).

So how about all of our readers? What answers have you come up with? Do you dodge this question altogether, or do you sound like a fumbling Smykowski? Hopefully we can all help each other find good answers to this question. After all, you never know when you’ll be in a meeting with “The Bobs” and the pressure will be on!

You can check out our other blog posts here

BA Careers - Domain knowledge versus analysis skills

Miles Barker — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:44:00 GMT

I've been thinking a lot recently about the value of the BA, and BA recruitment - at all levels.

A common question that comes up is "Do I need to have experience in Industry X/Domain Y to work as a BA in that industry/domain?"

In a nutshell:

Is it like that now? Yes.
Should it be like that? Probably not.
Who can change it? Us - as BAs, managers and recruiters of BAs, and as candidates.

A lot of my thinking crystallised after a Thoughtworks breakfast meeting, about the challenges of modernising an infrastructure for selling train tickets (this is way more complex than you might think!) and seeing parallels with my work. Equally importantly, the CIO of the client co (David Jack of thetrainline.com) had a great track record of applying sound IT management in some very, very different industries.

Often, talking about "Industry X" is a slightly lazy shorthand for a bunch of more abstract things about challenges, approaches, and thinking.

I think some of the key determinants are the nature of a business or domain, e.g.

Is it B2C or B2B?
Is the process tightly constrained by market norms?
Does the "customer" (internal or external) directly interact with the system or business process you are working on, or with a service that is supported by it?
Are the system's users finite enough in number for a representative sample to be dealt with directly during the requirements process?
Are the users or Customers specialists themselves, or generalists/the general public?

and so on.

I know one BA who works (with great success) in the field of Adult Social Care:

B2C
Customer interacts with a service supported by his processes/systems
Customers/users can be sampled directly
Customers/users are specialists in their profession but generalists with regards to systems or process re-engineering.

So what his job is actually about is finding innovative ways (e.g. ethnography) to help professionals and their clients discover true requirements and create new processes to deliver those more effectively.

So I could tell you that "I'm a specialist in Securities Clearing and Settlement and Collateral Management". Or, I could tell you "I specialise in state-driven transactional processing, specifically in consolidating legacy processes and systems into service-oriented models that are sufficiently abstracted to support common processing regardless of product nuances or multiple B2B interface designs, in a time-constrained environment".

Now, which sounds more portable? And which tells you more fully what skills I have?

Of course, there ARE some cases where true domain expertise IS essential, typically those with some combination of highly specialised content AND time pressure AND stakeholders whose time is (genuinely) too valuable to spend "teaching" the BA. I'm reminded of pharma - the 2009 European BA Conference included a particularly memorable talk by Astra-Zeneca's Chris Marshall on the challenges of being BA in the blue-sky research space, where they are almost all ex-scientists themselves.

But most of the rest of the time, it's because things aren't documented or modelled, or aren't standardised, or aren't innovative.

I think we want to be more than just Subject Matter Experts with a BABOK veneer. Personally, I've learned the most and been most innovative when I've deliberately moved out of my comfort zone.

When we're in our comfort zone, we take a lot of what we know for granted
When we move out of our comfort zone, it's often easier to to get clarity without being bogged down in details

And we shouldn't forget, that if we just stick to the same domain and the same group of insiders, innovation will be much harder to come by. Banking sometimes feels like a merry-go-round with people coming in an implementing basically the same idea that they have at their last three employers. Which is fine if your aspirations extend no further than playing catch-up....

So what can we do about it?

1. Improve our in-house BA environment maturity, with properly modelled and documented domains, standard Use Case libraries, etc. so as to make the transition of non-specialist BAs easier.

2. As BA managers, open our eyes on recruitment based on skills and values, rather than knowledge, and phrase our job Specs accordingly

3. Build our BA teams focussed on ideas sharing and creativity

4. As BAs, revise our thinking and our CVs along the lines outlined above.

To be clear - I'm not saying that no-one in a team/project needs specialist knowledge - just that not everyone does - and that there are distinct advantages to mix and match teams and career mobility that we are currently (mostly) missing out on.

What do YOU think?

I will be leading a "BA Career Path and Qualifications" panel discussion on this and many other topics at the Business Analysis Conference Europe in London on 27-29 September 2010 - see http://www.irmuk.co.uk/ba2010/

Miles Barker

Professional Development Director of the UK Chapter of the IIBA

milesicbarker@gmail.com

The Business Analyst Podcast # 009: How to Become a BA and Getting Interviewed for the Role

Michiel Erasmus — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:29:00 GMT

Today I want to know more about recruiting a junior business analyst. My interview is with BA recruiter Guy Beauchamp who himself is a BA and former BA recruiter.

Podcast: How to Become a BA and Getting Interviewed for the Role

Please introduce yourself, your previous work experience and what you are doing now?

I've been cruising various forums and many people have good tertiary education but lack the experience to be hired as BA. It’s a classical problem where to gain experience you need to have it.

1. How i got started was explained in a previous podcast. How would you advise anyone without a job and no job experience to get started?
2. What is your background, did you start out straight out from school as a BA?
3. Before being a BA, did you have a chosen clear goal of becoming a BA, or did you allow nature to run its course?
4. What major realizations assisted you in your career to become a BA?
4.1 When do you know a process is good?
5. Most people including myself function doesn’t have any example Sr. BA's to work with, let alone a mentor/coach. What’s your opinion about getting a BA coach? Various people on internet are offering their services. Personally I think it’s a great way to hook up with a coach. Would it be of any help to a school leaver?
6. I know someone in 3rd line systems support at a major bank in London City who would like to become a BA. He has various technical accreditations such as: Windows server admin, ITIL certification, PRINCE2 Foundation certification. However, being a BA is something he feels is out of reach. Recruiters only contact him for that type of work. What could he do to market himself in another way to recruiters?
7. Is there perhaps one book / podcast / resource which lists or displays information about becoming a BA?
8. I'd recommend a school leaver to take a few BA-job ads, then take the job requirements into a spreadsheet and match each requirement skill against your own perceived skill. So if the requirement is to distill Use Case Models, then ask yourself: can I make a UCM? How does one get to a UCM. Or, if they ask skills to meet with stakeholders, apply the same logic. Guy, can you add something to that?
9. Let’s get over to a recruitment question. The situation is the client wants to have a web portal built to sell sunglasses. At the moment he has a sunglasses shop in a street. His requirement is to have a BA analyze process, decide on a technological solution and recommend go/no-go. He didn’t ask any levels of experience he wants a BA. You are the recruiter. There are a load of starters out there.
9.1 How would you select someone for this situation?
9.2 Would you give a starter a chance?
9.3 Say someone has read 10 books related to BA about making UCM, requirements analysis, read the IIBA Book of Knowledge etc. but zero practical experience. Would he be even invited?
9.4 What things/qualities do you in general look for in a BA?
9.5 Which factors are, in general, the downfalls of most applicants, or why would they be rejected?
10. What’s the most common beginner’s mistake in a BA interview?
11. Let’s assume a bigger project. The client wants to hire 3 BA's, and the team consists of QA, multiple developers.
11.1 How does that change the dynamics of your interview?
11.2 Would you have the same type of interview as for the 1-man project?
12. Do you ever encounter people who try to answer interview questions as if they read it from a internet website? What would you recommend in preparation to a candidate?
13. Are your interviews geared towards HR issues such as communication skills, cooperatively working in team, or are you mostly into hard BA skills?
14. Not all my BA interviews are going well. I sometimes tell that i have mentoring, or offline help and advice. Is it a good thing to admit that you are learning, or is it better to pretend you know it all done it all been there done that?
15. What’s the use of programming experience, or background as a sysadmin at being a BA? Would it hurt to not have such background?
16. Getting back to earlier, i got started in BA without formal university training, and no domain knowledge. I think soft skills and being proactive is essential for being a BA! Would you suggest any formal university training to be BA? Is domain knowledge important for your clients?
17. What would you advise someone who is working a banking front office desktop support, with knowledge & experience money markets, trading derivatives, Austrian economics who would like to break into the BA? He has ITIL foundation, and prince2 foundation certification. Recruiters only contact him for desktop support, what must be changed in the C.V. to get non-tech direction functional designer or starter BA.
18. Thanks, we came to the end of the interview.
19. IIBA certification.

Guy, I noted you are form the website smart-ba.com. Can you tell me about your courses? How can people contact you? Are there any things you would like to mention about yourself..? THANKS for your time!

Guy Beauchamp’s Contact Info:
Website: http://smart-ba.com

Podcast: How to Become a BA and Getting Interviewed for the Role

Michiel Erasmus
You can find more such podcasts at http://thebusinessanalystpodcast.blogspot.com/

Raising the bar in Business Analysis and Internal Consulting

SmartProjects — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:55:00 GMT

Internal Business Analysis and Consulting teams are increasingly recognised as playing a vital role in delivering successful projects. More and more they are contributing to complex and strategic projects and performance expectations from executives are getting higher.

Are you interested in improving Business Analysis and Internal Consulting capability in your organisation?

I would like to share with you a new released video about "Raising the bar in Business Analysis and Internal Consulting".
It offers suggestion on what you can do to better prepare and develop your team and outlines a four-step approach to assessing and baselining your team's capability.

Business Analyst Community & Resources | Modern Analyst

Reinventing the Annual Member Survey: A Business Analyst’s Role in Delivering Actionable Insights

How to Write Business Analyst Resume

Tailor your Resume to the Job Description

Use Strong Action Verbs

Quantify your Achievements

Highlight Relevant Certifications

Keep it concise and Focused

Conclusion

8 Ways to Be a Badass Business Analyst Employee

How Do I Become A Business Analyst?

Why Should We Hire You?, Part I

“So, what do you do for a living?”: A BA/Product Manager’s guide to surviving cocktail parties

BA Careers - Domain knowledge versus analysis skills

The Business Analyst Podcast # 009: How to Become a BA and Getting Interviewed for the Role

Raising the bar in Business Analysis and Internal Consulting

Top 10 crazy question to ask a BA in an Interview