Information Systems Users don't know what they want... So, don't ask them what they want: and definitely don't write some software and then say "how's this look?". On the other hand, don't have someone spend weeks talking to various people about what they want ( and not get to talk to other people ), write it all down and deliver a document, sayin...

Are we looking at it all wrong? Do you ever get the feeling that you are seeing something very different than the other guy? I don’t just mean the glass half full/empty outlook on life, but fundamentally are we looking at things the wrong way? I sometimes get that feeling when dealing with projects that involve processes, and all my projects are...

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 ...

If you work in new product development or have participated in maintenance projects, then most likely you have used either the focus group or the brainstorming technique. The brainstorming technique is used to produce ideas and increase creativity. For example, after you’ve defined your problem and are looking for the different solution options, yo...

Requirements gathering is an essential part of any project and project management. Understanding fully what a project will deliver is critical to its success. This may sound like common sense, but surprisingly it's an area that is often given far too little attention. Many projects start with the barest headline list of requirements, only to find ...

What do you need the most when eliciting Requirements? Face-time with Subject Matter Experts and their Managers.  As a Business Analyst employed in a typical organization, what is the thing you get the least of? Face-time with Subject Matter Experts and their Managers. Who will Subject Matter Experts and Managers make time to see? Outside Cons...

Dear All BA's, I am conducting a simple informal survery about the utilization of robustness diagrams and robustness analysis by BA's. The questions will take less than one minute of your time to answer and your input will greatly my research work that I am conducting towards improving the current practices in BA. Do you use robusntess diagrams a...

I am working on a project where Development teams are divided into specialized areas called Centers of Competence. For example, one team works on Customer data, another team on Product data and validation, another works with the Shopping Cart, another with Checkout and so on. Requirements are gathered within each of these Centers of Competence and ...

It’s that time of year, where our thoughts turn to the holidays…the holiday parties, the shopping, the lights, visiting with family!  For many organizations, the end of the year tends to be quiet on the IT front, for no organization wants to risk introducing problems into their production environment at year end.  So as I look back at th...

Hi Everyone, In my current company X I am Leading the analysis efforts around retiring  legacy application with nemerous external dependancies and as a part of the analysis process my team and I are performing a great deal of reverse engineering.   New applications which will be built as a result of retirement this le...