Soft Skills

This simple activity was priceless in showing what you get when asking a group of BAs what may seem like a few simple, straight forward questions. And this all ties into the BA Mindset.

So what is the BA Mindset? It’s one thing to do business analysis activities, it’s another to THINK like a business analyst.

Let’s dive into what it is to be a business analyst and how the BA mindset fits into that.

Okay, you believe you had a great day at work today; that you accomplished a lot. Maybe you did. Then again, maybe you didn't do as much as you might think. A lot of people believe just because they are a model of efficiency, they are being highly productive. This is simply not true. We have discussed the concept of productivity on more than one occasion in this column, but some trends in the business world have caused me to revisit it again.

As a business analyst, navigating groupthink is essential for delivering valuable insights and driving successful projects. By fostering a culture of inclusivity, promoting diverse perspectives, and encouraging critical thinking, business analysts can overcome the challenges of groupthink. Remember, effective negotiation of groupthink empowers teams to make informed decisions, enhances problem-solving capabilities, and ultimately contributes to improved project outcomes. Embrace these strategies, and you'll be well-equipped to lead your team towards successful and innovative solutions.

Recently, a friend of mine called me saying her son, who is studying in college, needed help on a very urgent basis. I agreed to help. He and his student group wanted to discuss answers to specific time management questions. They also wanted to know some industry tools or personal productivity tools one may use. Later they said that my answers were helpful to them. So let me share with you those questions and answers.

In the fast-paced world of business, communication is key. Business analysts are responsible for providing insights that help drive better decision-making, and effective communication is crucial in delivering those insights. One of the most important communication tools that business analysts use is the business analysis memo. In this article, we'll explore proven strategies for writing better business analysis memos that will help you communicate your ideas more effectively, drive better business outcomes, and advance your career.

Many organizations acquire and adapt purchased packaged solutions (also called commercial off-the-shelf, or COTS, products) to meet their software needs, instead of building new systems from scratch. Software as a service (SaaS), or cloud, solutions are becoming increasingly available to meet software needs as well. Whether you’re using a package as part or all of the solution for a new project or implementing a solution in the cloud, you still need requirements. Requirements let you evaluate solution candidates so that you can select the most appropriate package, and then they let you adapt the package to meet your needs. This article describes several ways to approach requirements definition when you plan to acquire a commercial package to meet your needs.

As a business analyst/project manager/scrum master, one needs to use their leadership skills and influencing ability to balance between the stakeholder’s expectation and the project goals hand in hand.  Here is a typical stakeholder interaction chart for a business analyst..

Being “data-driven” doesn’t help create project success; being evidence-based does.  Evidence-based problem solving reduces the risk of blind spots and confirmation bias and increases the chances of achieving the desired outcomes. In high-stakes projects, risks can be dramatically reduced when a business analyst is willing to apply first principles thinking, hypothesis testing, and information value analysis to integrate the best evidence into the decision-making process.

Business Analysts solve problems, but ultimately these solutions are meant to serve people, and it takes people to create the definition for these solutions. With that said, no matter how great an analyst is at discovery, analysis and solutioning, key soft skills are essential to being a best-in-class business analyst.

Soft skills are the people-side of business and really any type of engagement. There is a large variety of skills included in the soft skills category depending on which resource you read. But there are two that always seem to land in the top five.. 

Sometimes the best solutions are right in front of us, hidden in plain sight. Get in the habit of working from first principles and you’ll find it easier to cut through preconceptions to change the business question and quickly see alternatives that you may have missed.

It is more than important the modern business analyst to focus on the end to end customer experience. A BA shall act as a consultant that listen to the pains of the end users and is dedicated in solving them through providing solutions that will alleviate those pains.  How do you define a customer-centric mindset you can actually execute? Below are some elements of the customer – centricity mindset...

As Business Analysts, when we’re at the sharp end of solution delivery that doesn’t match a customers needs, at that time it just can’t be rectified and we can’t help thinking that we might have been able to prevent this at the early stages. In this article we’ll explore 3 ways to get out the trap of being solution oriented up front to shift more into the problem and needs to get better requirements. 

The BABOK talks of the underlying competencies for a Business Analyst at length. At the core of all those competencies is the ability to build relationships. In other words, it is the foundation. The aptitudes are not noticed unless you have a relationship with the stakeholders. Demonstrating these capabilities helps enhance your relationships even further. So, I will even say relationship building is a prefix and a suffix to competencies. Everything revolves around your ability to build relationships.