Entries for the 'Soft Skills' Category

» Do you want stakeholders to trust you?

(254 Views) (2 Comments)

Do you want to be an effective BA? The first step is to make the key stakeholders trust you. As I wrote in my previous post it is the first step in establishing yourself when you're the only BA in your organization. When I joined and sat down for my first meeting with the project team not only was I met with stares of host...

Posted by: Lee Grinberg, CBAP, PMP

» Applying Agile principles to requirement analysis

(494 Views) (0 Comments)

Background The Agile methodology originated within the software development industry. Since its inception in 2001 – Agile has expanded beyond an initial developer-centric community – to being embraced by multi-discipline teams working across numerous industries. The antecedent of Agile within IT was the Waterfall methodology. The Waterfall framew...

Posted by: Ryan Thomas Hewitt

» Are you the first and only one?

(289 Views) (1 Comments)

Are you the first and only Business Analyst in your company? If so, you know how hard it is to survive while doing your job and bringing about organizational change. If not, you may be frantically thinking "How do I get out?!". This post is to share my experience in how to not only survive but thrive! I joined a mid-size company...

Posted by: Lee Grinberg, CBAP, PMP

» What Every Business Analyst Can Learn From Journalism: The Art of Intelligent Questioning

(1446 Views) (0 Comments)

"Garbage in, Garbage Out" - To elicit accurate requirements, the business analyst must learn to ask the “right” questions “the right way”. The manner in which questions are delivered and the composition of these questions have a direct impact on the usefulness of the responses we receive. If your questions are properly and thoughtfully fra...

Posted by: Stephanie Famuyide

» Feedback cycles, meet deadlines. NOT good bedfellows

(1926 Views) (0 Comments)

Its quite a feat of strength to pretend you don’t have any weaknesses. I don’t pretend to be that strong. Its quite a bit easier for me to look for faults, gaps, misses, short comings, imperfections and details that spell out why something is not right. Its a blessing and a curse. Looking at my deliverables in this light is second nature...

Posted by: theBetterBA

» The Social BA - 5 Reasons to get Active Online

(3270 Views) (3 Comments)

Business analysts who are self-avowed social media enthusiasts will tell you that being part of a large, online community where help is only a click away is worth the time and effort. In fact, these professionals suggest that the only problem with a bit of scanning, reading, clicking, or posting on LinkedIn and Twitter every day is finding the time...

Posted by: ccecere

» Simplicity and Elegance: Expressing Your Core Competencies

(2051 Views) (0 Comments)

Do you know what your business's core competencies are? Is there just one or are there many organizational attributes? If you answered that there are many, how would you describe them succinctly? Core competencies are one or a combination of a few unique or rare abilities; however, a description of core competencies is not simply a laundry list of ...

Posted by: James D. Murphy

» Executive Coaching and Debriefing for Corporate Leadership Development Programs

(1554 Views) (0 Comments)

In today's management environment, new forms of and tools for corporate leadership development programs have emerged. One of the most popular development tools is executive coaching. The number of executive coaches has more than doubled in the past decade and corporate leadership development programs are utilizing their services more frequently. Ho...

Posted by: James D. Murphy

» A dressing down for business analysts

(2108 Views) (1 Comments)

BA: “They didn’t pitch for my workshop. Again.” Mentor: “You must be mortified.” BA: “Seriously, they come up with these lame excuses: they don’t understand that computer stuff, they’re too busy, they think it’s a waste of time. One even told me to get it done and let him have a look when I’m finished. How the hell must I fathom the requirements ...

Posted by: Robin Grace

» Complexity: The Execution Challenge You Don't See

(2172 Views) (0 Comments)

When you think of the word 'complex', do you ever think about what it has to do with project execution? Ask a management consulting firm to define 'complex' and you'll get a response like "well, it's a concept that can affect your life, your family, your team and your organization." That's because consultants understand that complexity lies in ever...

Posted by: James D. Murphy

» BA Careers - Is industry experience more important than Analytical skill?

(4022 Views) (5 Comments)

Business Analysts often delve into business requirements, gathering, understanding and documenting business processes and functions. An analytical mind and detailed information gathering are considered to be essential; one wonders though, if industry experience is a must for good business analysis skills. After all, if you knew well the ins...

Posted by: HSantanam

» Career Possibilities for Business Analysts-expanding your horizons

(2772 Views) (3 Comments)

You have achieved your short term BA goals. You want to expand your horizons and see what else is out there and how you can progress in your career and gain knowledge and keep your career up-to-date as well. What are some of the possibilities out there that won't force you to re-learn something new from scratch? Some possibilities for career and kn...

Posted by: HSantanam

» Enter the Business Engineer

(2873 Views) (4 Comments)

At Mendix, we find that our customers appoint a particular kind of person to work with our products. Sometimes they’re from IT, sometimes they’re a business analyst or project manager – in any case, they practice the skills of both fields. Times are changing, departmental lines are blurring, and a new breed of business superhero has risen: the BE. ...

Posted by: Mendix.com

» Being New 101

(2326 Views) (1 Comments)

Being a relatively new Requirements Analyst/ Business Analyst ( BA) and being new to the industry, I have been blessed with the opportunity to have mentors. Receiving direction from more experienced BA’s has definitely helped me find areas that I can improve on, while at the same time, finding my strengths and improving those too. Yet there stil...

Posted by: Seilevel

» IT Black Ops

(2452 Views) (0 Comments)

I’ve worked on at least one project now and heard of several others where a super-secret development team works in parallel to solve the same business problem as the “official” IT project team. A coworker of mine coined the term “IT Black Ops” to refer to these sorts of projects where the business, either out of frustration, arrogance, or ignorance...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Building Credibility With Your Team

(2299 Views) (0 Comments)

As consultants and product managers, it is important that we quickly build and maintain credibility with our team so that we can work productively and effectively. If you are unable to join the team dynamics, the work that we provide will be met with apathy or even outright hostility. I’ve learned a few tips to help...

Posted by: Seilevel

» BA World Sydney - A review

(4156 Views) (0 Comments)

I went to the Business Analyst World Conference in Melbourne on the 19th and 20th of July. Like last year it was a great event. On day 1 I spent the whole day in one room (introducing speakers.) and got to listen to three very different stories. Matthew Coppola from Perth training outfit Paramount Training gave a talk on Und...

Posted by: Craig Brown

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

(5136 Views) (5 Comments)

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 diffic...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Tips for managing business meetings

(3374 Views) (2 Comments)

The tips below are things I've learned the hard way and I think they're going to help you, especially if you're new in the BA field. You don't have to take things too seriously, don't be too harsh on yourself and others. There will always be people who criticize you but also those who understand you. Learning how to talk to users, how to manage ...

Posted by: georgiamotoc

» Video: Get things done with Autofocus

(2359 Views) (0 Comments)

This video offers a great way to manage your task list. Check it out and consider how it can help you stay on top of your work.

Posted by: Craig Brown

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Entries for the 'Soft Skills' Category

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The Community Blog for Business Analysts

Entries for the 'Soft Skills' Category

Join the Premier Community for
Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals,
Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…