Quotes For Business Analysts
/For one, every effort should be made to turn the idea generation process into a regular pattern whereby each leader has regular dialogues around generating improvements to the process. By involving team members in not only the idea generation but also the piloting process, we’re now also improving the quality of the ideas as team members rapidly see what the impact of their suggestion was. Additionally, consideration could be given to certain social media tools that can capture ideas and allow team members to cross-functionally vote ideas up or down based on their particular vantage point. This helps simplify the selection process while mobilizing a larger number of team members in the process - Eric Michrowski
Don’t be too hung up on your ideas. You must have heard this a zillion times but it is still hard to practice. Do more listening and have an open mind. Learn to appreciate others’ views and try stepping in clients' shoes rather than concentrating on selling/pushing your own ideas. At the end of the day, the best solution is the one that makes the clients happy, and that is what should be your focus - Gurpreet Singh Kharbanda
The BA acts as an architect. Using this analogy, they work with customers to identify and document exactly what the customer is asking for — and to be sure that they are getting what they really want. They will work throughout the process of design from simple sketches to detailed blueprints just as an architect would on a large building. We will also often hear, “Why not let the project manager do it?” Project managers can’t do this properly. I suggest to my audience that project managers and business analysts think and work very differently and are not cut out to do each other’s job as well. If you employ a BA at the front end of any project you are ensuring your project and your stakeholders a better end result. Too often our projects involve reworking and more investment because we didn’t get the specs right, up front - David Barrett
The bottom line to all of this is if you want to grow as a business analyst you have to take part in growing the community of business analysts around you. You need to help promote and sell the role of the BA even if it doesn’t involve you directly. Get involved with the IIBA, creative center of excellence or community of practice. Have at the ready a 22-second elevator speech and two-minute reception speech. Write an article or blog post - David Barrett
On Improving Customer Experience
Analyse processes from end-to-end in the eyes of the customer. It doesn’t matter how many organisational boundaries this crosses, it’s essential to see the handovers, delays and potential problems from end-to-end. Your front-line staffs know where the problems lie; they are often closer to understanding real customer needs than many middle managers give them credit for. Continuous improvement can start from the front-line – Adrian Reed
Before spending many millions of dollars on a project, let’s make sure we know people will want to use what we build. Having them tell you what they want is a lot easier than throwing money at educated guesses. Once we know they do want to use it, ask them or let them tell you what additional features they need. We can and should use our expertise to come up with what we think are good ideas for products, but let’s make sure that people agree with us before putting loads of money on the table - David Reinhardt
