The Community Blog for Business Analysts

A new survey highlights the importance of proper requirements management   “More than half "did not have professional, trained staff dedicated to the function of getting requirements, and the vast majority view the process of getting requirements to be inefficient," the report states. Read the original article here. Key points I got fro...

“A recently launched website aims to define a simple lightweight project delivery framework designed to combat the phenomena of PINO (Prince2 in Name Only). The new site is the brainchild of Dr. Peter Merrick and it is a synthesis of Prince2, RUP and waterfall. The main points of this new framework is it explicitly recognises the needs of all manag...

How do you measure up against the IIBA's BOK.  Take a quick self assessment and then work out a personal development plan to help you get ready for certification.   | View | Upload your own

The BA Handbook is a wiki designed for Business Analysts.  It's aim is to create a knowledge base that analysts can use to share their knowledge and learn about new and useful things. So far the content is limited.  It needs more information and more people to contrinute to it. Maybe you can help.  If so, click on the link below an...

The 5th edition of the Carnival of Business Analysts has been published at Better Projects. This edition is focused on Requirements Analysis.   This is a series of blog posts that collect other blog posts on topics themed around the BABOK knowledge areas. Edition 5 is on Requirements Analysis.   Previous editions include Loo...

I've come to understand the necessity for stakeholder involvement throughout the Requirements Gathering process. But what if it's another BA who is the stakeholder company's point of contact whom you'll be gathering requirements from instead of the stake holder themselves? Is there an advantage? How do we leverage the strength of our Requirements&#...

Do Business Analysts belong on Agile Projects?  Some say yes, but isn't a better model for Agile developers to learn BA skills? Don’t be fooled. Agile projects threaten the role of business analysts on IT projects. An important thing to consider for Agile projects is that users need to be senior enough to be able to look beyond local ag...

Is this the start of a new trend, or a short-term blip? Recruiters are calling, and making "extra" visits to IIBA and other meetings.  They say they have more corporate demand for Business Analysts, than they can fill. Many programming jobs have moved to India and other locations.  Now there are not enough people left to supply the...

How do we define the role of a BA. Is there a difference in responsibilities executed by a business analyst and business systems analyst? Or, are the titles simply synonymous with each other? Attempting to clear out some of that fog is the purpose of this article. As much as I enjoyed writing this, I also look forward to receiving your feedback and...

This article aims to share with the readers what it means to be a Business Analyst and people who are exploring this career path can hopefully gain some insight from this piece. A Business Analyst is commonly perceived to be a ‘Conduit’ between the IT and Business units of an organization. Simply defined, a Business Analyst is a professional who ...