The Community Blog for Business Analysts

Dear Fellow Business Analysts, I have created two surveys as part of my research work. The surveys elicits your opinion on some notation designs related to use cases and statecharts. Both surveys will require no more than 15 minutes of your time. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. The links to the surveys are as follows:   Use Cases s...

Agile is an attractive word. It means swiftness with discipline, with an emphasis on alertness to change in one’s external surroundings and quickly responding to change as needed. The word I want to focus on from above is "external". A prime example of the difference between internal (controlled) and external (un-controlled) is an operating enter...

According to the Strategies for Project Recovery report by PM solutions, based on 163 respondents, $74m invested in projects annually are at risk of failure. The report identified one of the top 5 causes of project failures as unclear, non-prioritized, contradictory, ambiguous and imprecise requirements. Information like this...

Im fresh out of high school and am interested in becoming a Business Analyst one day. I'd like to have information regarding what steps I need to take to become a Business Analyst. All information: What to study? (Bcom, MBA etc), Work experienced required? (in business as something close to analysis, or specific number of years etc), Becoming a Bus...

Just to pass some time recently, I was reading a dictionary (like you do) and I came across the following definitions of architecture: The art and science of designing and superintending the erection of buildings and similar structures A style of building or structure Buildings or structures collectively The structure or design of anyth...

"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...

“Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images – Paul Martin Lester,
“Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication Research has shown that communication with a visual dimension is more effective than communication without. Hero...

For those of you who do define requirements for their software development projects, but are new to buying packages, a cautionary warning; they are not the same thing. Consider the following “the system shall” requirement  statements.   1) The system shall determine if a person ordering pizza is a current customer. 2) The system shal...

In the wide world of information systems, development of new software receives the most attention from industry writers. Whether it is traditional magazine articles and books, or blog posts, or discussions in groups on LinkedIn and other sites, it is all about “green field” development. However, when one considers the wider view of organizations c...

  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...