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New Post 10/23/2008 12:12 AM
User is offline Tshego
21 posts
9th Level Poster


Growth path for BA's 

Hi everyone,

I'm currently at a point where I've got to make a decision regarding the path that I want my career to follow.

I would like to know what different possibilities exist out there (in enterprise analysis) for a jnr BA.  In other words, to refine my vision, what sort of jobs exist out there, i.e. CIO, Management Consutlant, Business Strategist, etc

I hope I didn't confuse anyone here. All input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thx

 
New Post 10/23/2008 12:44 AM
User is offline Guy Beauchamp
257 posts
www.smart-ba.com
5th Level Poster




Re: Growth path for BA's, 

TshegoP,

There are more job titles than you can shake a stick at. Depends on the organisation. One company's Business Analyst is another's Solutions Architect and another's Systems Analyst...

Suggest you approach it the other way round: what do you want to achieve and therefore what are the characteristics of the job that would allow you to do that? Then hunt for the jobs that meet the characteristics and (within reason) don't worry about the job title.

I have been called all kinds of things (sometimes my job title, sometimes just insults!) but what I do and what I want from a job does not change that much...

What is your vision you refered to?

Guy

 
New Post 10/23/2008 2:49 AM
User is offline Tshego
21 posts
9th Level Poster


Re: Growth path for BA's, 

Hi Guy,

Thank you for your response.

I'm in the process of developing a 'career development plan' and I've decided that my end goal will be either that of a Business Strategist or Management Consultant with area of focus being Enterprise Analysis.

What sort of skills and education/training would I need to accrue in order to meet this end?

 
New Post 10/23/2008 3:03 AM
User is offline Guy Beauchamp
257 posts
www.smart-ba.com
5th Level Poster




Re: Growth path for BA's, 
Modified By Guy Beauchamp  on 10/23/2008 5:05:54 AM)

Hi TshegoP,

I'm afraid I don't know the scope of the roles "Business Strategist or Management Consultant" so can't comment on what would be needed. Also, I think you will find that the scope of the role title varies between organisations, so just because a role of  "Business Strategist" is advertised doesn't mean they want what you think a BS does!

"Enterprise Analysis" on the other hand I know a bit about.

Analysis: There seems to be one thing that can't be taught and that is the analytical attitude. Maybe this is the wrong name - perhaps willingness is a better term, or professionalism - don't know.

But without an analytical attitude you are going to struggle. That attitude can be summed up as
"Trust nothing, believe no-one, prove everything".

"Trust nothing" = things aren't always what they seem. Don't assume because a report is headed "profit report" that it is reporting profit. Define what profit is to that organisation, examine the input to the report, the process it goes through to calculate profit and prove that it is what it says it is.

"believe no-one" = just because a Director or subject matter expert tells you something is so does not make it true. Get it corroborated. Validate it against other information. Prove the correctness to your satisfaction.

And this applies to Business Analysis and our methods as well! Just because some BA guru tells you something does not make it true if it is only based only on the status of that guru.

"prove everything" = "trust nothing" + "believe no-one" + build your conclusions based on facts that have been proved.

This attitude cannot be learnt - it has to be part of the character of the individual.

The analytical attitude: good for all kinds of investigative work such as business analysis, crime investigations, scientific discovery - anywhere in fact that new information needs to be uncovered.

Is there one true method or approach for doing this? No. There are hundreds of valid approaches. But if you don't have the attitude you will be following the method without knowing why (why would you trust the method - you don't trust anything!).

The attitude is one think, the skillset that maximises on the atttiude is another and there are any number of training courses out there (check out the training directory on this site and check out my business analyst training offering).

Get somone with the right analytical attitude using appropriate tools and you have a very powerful combination!

Ok, now the 'Enterprise' part. Apply the analytical attitude and skillset at an Enterprise level! Look at the Enterprise as one unit and analyse it in terms of other Enterprise level units and forces that act on Enterprises (e.g. economic right now!). This is likely going to involve some financial analysis as well so you might want to think about skilling up in that area (I know very little about that or where and how to get training - anyone else know?).

Guy

 
New Post 2/6/2009 3:17 PM
User is offline BA Trainer
18 posts
9th Level Poster


Re: Growth path for BA's 

 

As a BA you can move to project management, Project Manager or Business consultant route very easily depending on your interest level

 

I teach online courses for the BA's getting into this filed.Let me know if you would like to have more info

Here is some of the training details :
Contact at [email protected]


The training is held online and can be taken from anywhere at your convenience.Usually the batches are held on weekdays or on weekend basis.I will be giving you the guidance and preparing you for the interviews during the training.We will learn all the concepts, skills along with mock up interview sessions , so that by the end you are all set to crack the interviews.
This training goal is to learn the effective requirement gathering techniques, skill sets and various process phases involved in requirement Phase. Most of the companies focus on using a correct SDLC methodologies, but are not aware that the requirement phase should also be carried in phases.In this training we learn the basics of BA, Requirement Types, Requirement Phases and the Deliverables .

Here are the course contents : 
1. I start the course with basic Jargon's of IT industry
2. Give you an overview on what BA is and What are the roles & expectations from BA
3.Talk about the IT people and your role as a BA in supporting them
4.Understand Stakeholders,Client's
5Understand SDLC Methodologies
6.Undertsand Requirement phase
7.Activities that are supported in requirement phase
8.How do you gather effective requirements
9.Techniques like process modelling, UML, Use cases and Diagrams
10. Managing requirements
11.Various documents and case studies on the documents
12.Managing change control in projects
13.Deal with vendor, testers, developers
14. Challenges and how to overcome them
15. Mock interviews to prepare you for interviews Also, attached is the detailed course content list.

Let me know if you would like to learn more about the training.

 
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