The Community Blog for Business Analysts

You might think I am crazy for wondering if Indiana Jones might be a good business analyst. Even though Indiana Jones is portrayed in the movies as a treasure hunter, he was really an archaeologist first. So what skills do archaeology and business analysis have in common? I don’t think I would have been able to draw a parallel betwee...

Hi all, I have recently co-authored a new book on using Axure RP ("A Beginner's Guide to Axure 6.5"), and would like to hear from BAs/UXers/Interaction Designers who would be interested in writing an independent Amazon store review for the book, in exchange for a complimentary kindle copy. Please contact me at [email protected]. Amazon link: h...

In my previous posts I outlined how I was able to succeed being the first and only BA at a company and the importance of establishing trust between you and the stakeholders.   So you're the first BA at a company.   All are looking at you and thinking what can this person do for me? Good question.   What can you do f...

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...

I remember as a 3rd grade student winning my school’s local Spelling Bee competition and going to compete in the county wide Spelling Bee. Part of the instructions we were given was that we could ask the judges two questions when we received our word. We could ask for the word to be used in a sentence and we could ask for the definition of the word...

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...

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...

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...