Forums for the Business Analyst

 
  Modern Analyst Forums  Business and Sy...  General  What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills?
Previous Previous
 
Next Next
New Post 2/11/2008 10:23 AM
User is offline pdte
21 posts
9th Level Poster


What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills? 
Modified By pdte  on 2/11/2008 1:26:09 PM)

Hi Team ,

What is the best method to sharpen your business analysis Skills in your daily life?

Where we can work just to get some great knowledge. Reading helps you a lot for sure, But till the time you are not into real field you can't relate the concepts

Also there are alway different perspectives/ Approaches/methodologies to solve a problem . To decide upon the best one you need judgement. HOw we can involve in daily stuff /exercises to get that degree of acumen.

Are there any such exercies which will help you to build your skills  and help you achieving process improvements/ business/data analysis etc. My concept is things don't turn up overnight . You should have something of this sort  in our daily tasks. Cause that  will  help us getting really seasoned in Skills/judgement.

Any Inputs will be appreciated a lot.

Thanks.

 
New Post 2/11/2008 3:26 PM
User is offline Adrian M.
764 posts
3rd Level Poster




Re: What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills? 

As a business analyst, here are a couple of things you can consider in doing in order to increase your skills:

  • If you are dealing with a given business process, consider creating a process flow diagram which documents the process,
  • Ask business domain experts to review your diagram and validate that your understanding of the business process is correct,
  • If you come across business terms that you do not understand, write them down and look them up.  Create yourself a glossary of terms which are specific to your industry,
  • If one does not exist, create a business entity model (using a class diagram or E-R diagram) to model the relationships among the various things your specific business deals with,
  • Learn to document problem statements in a concise and accurate manner by volunteering to do so when problems arise,
  • Find out more about the various analysis patterns which can help you solve problems down the line,
  • Continue to increase your communication skills (both verbal and written) by joining a pubic speaking group such as toastmasters and by asking your colleagues and friends to review your written work and provide you with feedback,
  • When you are about a new analysis method/technique/concept (ex: BPMN, function point, workflow pattern, etc) try to find out more resources such as articles, books, etc. to help you understand the new concept.

These are just some ideas.

- Adrian


Adrian Marchis
Business Analyst Community Blog - Post your thoughts!
 
New Post 2/12/2008 7:55 AM
User is offline pdte
21 posts
9th Level Poster


Re: What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills? 

Thanks Adrian,

The tips are helpful. Please keep the ideas flowing. I just wonder that its a perspective which we need to build to be a good business analyst. I always believe that you understand concepts in depth if you  are able to find the relation/relevance with your daily tasks. Suppose we take process improvement topic, not only

its possible in existing software system, but its possible to find out more alternatives in any of our daily task. The brain gets tuned up automatically to find the exact gaps/suggest improvement etc. Can we think of any such exercises? I am thinking of it. But yet not got perfect examples of it.

Regards.

 
New Post 2/14/2008 9:52 PM
User is offline Craig Brown
560 posts
www.betterprojects.net
4th Level Poster




Re: What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills? 
Modified By Craig Brown  on 2/15/2008 12:52:30 AM)

Priyankadt

Business analysts managing software requiremets are recommended to steer clear of deining the solution.  It's best to let the solution design team work with a few constrainst as possible to allow them to get to the best answer to the problem.

In process improvement projects you are probably defining the solution as well as the problem.  In this case there are a number of techniques you can use to help you get to the best solution.  A few of them are listed below;

  1. Define the problem first.  Create a document that says what the problem is, what it is caused by and the impact to the business (eg cost, regulatory breaches, risks, customer churn, etc)  Don't address the solution at ll in this document.  Have the project sponsor or project manager approve your problem statement befre moving on to solutions.  This gets your head focused specificaly on the prbem and amkes sure others have agreed with your interpretation of it.
  2. Develop more than one solution proposal.  (People often come up with 3)  By doing this you are making sure you look atthe problem from a couple of different perspectives.  You can give each solution it's own theme or strategy.  Examples can be
    • Fully automated, partly automated, totally manual
    • Very expensive, small budget, skunkworks/no budget
    • Head office controls the project, project is managed locally to the problem, problem is managed jointly
  3. Use a "logical" process map.  By defining a logical process map you are removing the physical aspects of the existing process.  That frees you up to see what are the pure process requirements and not just the constrainst of the existing environment.

 

 

 
New Post 2/18/2008 12:46 AM
User is offline pdte
21 posts
9th Level Poster


Re: What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills? 
Modified By pdte  on 2/18/2008 3:50:12 AM)

Thanks Craig,

That's helpful for sure.

Do You have any suggestions regarding Daily exercises about how to sharpen your skillset. Adrian has already pointed out some great points. Would definitely appreciate if you want to share your views.

Thanks,

Priyanka

 

 

 
Previous Previous
 
Next Next
  Modern Analyst Forums  Business and Sy...  General  What Exerises you can do in your daily routine to sharpen your skills?

Community Blog - Latest Posts

Fabricio Laguna talks Business Analysis and AI
I recently connected with Fabricio Laguna, aka The Brazilian BA. Fabricio is a passionate and pioneering business analyst from Brazil. During our conversation, we had a thought-provoking discussion on how artificial intelligence stands to shape the field of business analysis in the years ahead. While AI promises to transform many aspects of busines...
Business Architecture, Ontology and More with Terry Roach
It's been a privilege meeting Terry Roach, a visionary in the field of enterprise architecture and business architecture. Terry's insights into the evolution of business models, the importance of ontology in architecture, and the potential of AI to shape our future were not only thought-provoking but also a reflection of his extensive exper...
Today I had the pleasure of chatting to Jignesh Jamnadas, Chief Operations Officer at Mosaic, about his Blueprints for Success. As a Senior Finance and Operations Executive, Jigs (as he is known to many) has a holistic understanding of all facets of business and a flair for managing both people and processes. Having worked with Jigs, I was struc...

 



Upcoming Live Webinars




 

Copyright 2006-2024 by Modern Analyst Media LLC