On Becoming a Business Analyst
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WELCOME to the first site trying to capture and present the information you need to become a great Business Analyst. My goal is to serve the Business Analyst community by providing a comprehensive look at how to identify, define, and validate great software requirements.
Throughout the information and links below I will be presenting some of the best I have found on the topic, but please do not hesitate to send an email (link on the right) when you discover a website or article I am missing.
What is a Business Analyst?
Two definitions
Kevin Brennan: "A Business Analyst is responsible for acting as a bridge between stakeholders in an organization in order to identify, define, and validate the internal changes, particularly the creation or improvement of processes, policies, and information technology systems, that are required for that organization to achieve its goals."
Here is a longwinded definition
IIBA:
"Business Analysts are responsible for identifying the business needs of their clients and stakeholders to help determine solutions to business problems.
The Business Analyst is responsible for requirements development and requirements management. Specifically, the Business Analyst elicits, analyzes, validates and documents business, organizational and/or operational requirements. Solutions are not predetermined by the Business Analyst, but are driven solely by the requirements of the business. Solutions often include a systems development component, but may also consist of process improvement or organizational change.
The Business Analyst is a key facilitator within an organization, acting as a bridge between the client, stakeholders and the solution team.
Business analysis is distinct from financial analysis, project management, quality assurance, organizational development, testing, training and documentation development. However, depending on an organization, an individual Business Analyst may perform some or all of these related functions."
Where do I start?
If you do not know much about Business Analysis, then this is a good place to start.Following the links below will show you a rich world of online resources to learn about the big and little issues facing today's Business Analyst. Sprinkled between the links to online resources you will find sets of books providing great information at both practical and theoretical levels.
Along the way you will find links to a message board and the best way to meet up with fellow analysts. At the end of the list you can find a list of consulting companies specializing in requirements gathering.
Coming soon: Links to companies offering BA training!
Blog: Tyner Blain Ideavirus
Scott Sehlhorst consistently writes the best advice available on the web.
Blog: Requirements Defined
The blog from Seilevel, the premier company specializing in requirements gathering
Books: My list for BAs
Hand-picked books every analyst should read.
Only a handful of technical colleges have professors who are interested in requirements gathering. Very few employers have a good training program for Business Analysts. So if you cannot get adequate training in school or on the job, where should you turn?
After reading online sources I recommend curling up with a good book. Specifically, I recommend you read the following three books. While one is a classic (McConnell) and one will soon be considered the same (Wiegers), all of them have valuable information which will help you make a positive difference on your next project.
After reading online sources I recommend curling up with a good book. Specifically, I recommend you read the following three books. While one is a classic (McConnell) and one will soon be considered the same (Wiegers), all of them have valuable information which will help you make a positive difference on your next project.
What if I want to do more than read blogs and articles online?
If you have a question or two, or you would like to meet another BA, check out the links below.
- International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)
- Visit a local chapter to meet Business Analysts near you.
"The IIBA is an international not-for-profit professional association for Business Analysis professionals. The IIBA is developing standards for the practice of business analysis; certification of practitioners; and local chapters across the globe."
- Seilevel's Requirements Messageboard
- Ask a question or join an online discussion with your peers.
The Requirements Messageboard is an open and active forum offering three categories: Requirements Discussion, Resources, and Requirements Management Tools
Blog: From Start to End
Marcus Ting-A-Kee writes about how to survive as a Business Analyst
Books: Project Management
Because you have to understand the team to be a good team member
I do not think you can be a good Business Analyst without understanding the basics of Project Management (PM). Here are my recommend sources for more information on PM.
The first book you should read to understand software projects is listed above (McConnell), after that you should take some time to read one of the following two books. These books will help you understand other key roles and how to make a difference on your project.
The first book you should read to understand software projects is listed above (McConnell), after that you should take some time to read one of the following two books. These books will help you understand other key roles and how to make a difference on your project.
Blog: Berkun Blog
Scott Berkun (whose book recommended on this page) writes Management, design and the making of good things
Blog: High-Tech Product Management & Marketing
Michael, a product management and marketing expert, shares his journey.
Blog: Product Marketing
Written by the folks who understand how to capture customer requirements at Pragmatic Marketing
Books: Business Analysis
Blog: David Wright on Business Analysis
Written by a 20-year IT veteran.
Blog: Business Analysis Blog
Written by the experts at B2T Training.
With a motto of "Connecting Business Requirements to Technology" you almost have to love them!
Links: More resources
For when you just cannot get enough and need a bit more....
- Joel on Software
- Good writing from someone running projects in the trenches.
- Cauvin
- Roger Cauvin offers his opinion on Product Marketing
- Essays by Paul Graham
- Covering a broad range of related and relevant topics.
- Process Impact
- The website for Karl Wiegers, author of numerous books and articles, has links to online articles and a "Goodies" section of free downloads.
- Writing Use Cases
- Geri Schneider, author of Applying Use Cases, offers papers and training on related topics. I have not tried it yet, but she also has a FREE nine lesson introduction to writing a basic Use Case.
Books: Use Cases
Who's to blame?
Steve Johnson, over at Pragmatic Marketing has a good rant about a poor software experience in Another negative development rant. And while I love the rant, Jerry Aubin at Seilevel does a great job pointing us away from the developer in his post, Are There Lazy Programmers?
For my part, I think Jerry came close to hitting the nail on the head. While I agree that things are broken and UX should be better almost everywhere, putting the blame on the developer is pretty close to a cop-out.
(Generalizing) I think most people perform to the level they are expected to perform; certainly not much beyond that effort. In the business world, this is largely set by the culture of the department or company. Obviously Garmin has a different set of expectations for user interactions than other companies (let's say Apple or 37signals). One of those other companies would demand more from the developer, dev manager, product manager, and the business sponsor. In the other companies the result for the consumer would be different.
While part of the reason may be economic (we certainly hope the analysis went that deep, though I often doubt it), it may be a culture (of laziness) starting in one of the "likely failure points in the chain before the engineer gets involved".
posted by Jeffrey Davidson at Tuesday, May 23, 2006
For my part, I think Jerry came close to hitting the nail on the head. While I agree that things are broken and UX should be better almost everywhere, putting the blame on the developer is pretty close to a cop-out.
(Generalizing) I think most people perform to the level they are expected to perform; certainly not much beyond that effort. In the business world, this is largely set by the culture of the department or company. Obviously Garmin has a different set of expectations for user interactions than other companies (let's say Apple or 37signals). One of those other companies would demand more from the developer, dev manager, product manager, and the business sponsor. In the other companies the result for the consumer would be different.
While part of the reason may be economic (we certainly hope the analysis went that deep, though I often doubt it), it may be a culture (of laziness) starting in one of the "likely failure points in the chain before the engineer gets involved".
posted by Jeffrey Davidson at Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Books: More books on the basics
More good books for the analyst's library.
Caveat: Though I own every one one of these books and all have good material, some books have been skimmed rather than read.
Related links
More great resources for your investigation and learning experience.
- Business Rules Community
- A first-line resource for business rule professionals, including an online journal (with great archives) and a message board.
Are there any companies specializing in Business Analysis?
When you need to bring in a specialist
While there are a number of consultants available to help your project (including me), sometimes you want a larger company to staff larger and special projects. If that is what you need, check out the companies below.
- Seilevel, Inc.
- I no longer work with Seilevel, but I am happy to recommend them; they do some great work for their clients.
From their website: "Seilevel is a professional services company that creates software requirements documents for Fortune 1000 companies. Leading companies turn to us to define their requirements because of a proven approach to software requirements that saves you development dollars and maximizes resources. Seilevel gets the requirements right, so our clients get their software right." - Digital Mosaic
- I have not worked with them, but I had a good conversation with them recently. They seem to know their stuff; specializing in very large projects. They also have an online library of great articles (registration required).
From their website: "Digital Mosaic provides world-class facilitators, business analysts and executive consultants to do business requirements discovery engagements or train analysts to be more efficient in the elicitation of business requirements/business case development. As business requirement elicitation experts, we excel where the implementation must precisely fit the complex business rules and nuance of the client. Clients work with us to assure a higher level of requirements completeness, improve project control, and to make the elicitation of requirements a more efficient process."
More "About the Lensmaster"
by jdavidson
Jeffrey Davidson is a consultant, business analyst, and president of Jeffrey Davidson Co; providing world-class business analysis and requirements... more »
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