Essential Skills Every BA Should Have
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Business Analysis is the culmination and interplay of diverse skills. This article covers 3 essential skills every business analyst should have.
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Creativity, Innovation & The Business Analyst
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A Business Analyst can be compared to a Swiss army knife. Do you know what brought the Swiss army knife to life and subsequently to market?
Its innovative nature.
Read MoreBusiness Processes & Procedures - Can You Spot The Difference?
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One common area of confusion when mapping business processes is the difference between a process and a procedure. The 2 words, process and procedure, are often used together in different contexts. Though similar, they differ in the level of information they convey.
Read MoreWhat You Should Know About Documenting Business Procedures
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In documenting procedures, it's easy to evade the many possible wrong turns. This article sheds some light on how to document a business procedure in an accessible and understandable manner.
Read MoreThe Essence of Business Analysis Methodology
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As to methods & techniques, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Read MoreBig Data & The Business Analyst
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Without undermining the importance of experience and intuition, the days of relying exclusively on them are over. Big data has the capacity to revolutionize current ways of thinking, how businesses are managed, how quickly businesses respond and the benefits they are likely to gain from exploiting the opportunities that come with big data.
Read More10 Benefits of Business Process Management
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BPM is a combination of practices centred on driving organizational value through a process-improvement culture. It can be as simple as defining unclear processes, continually looking for areas of improvement and making changes, or as complex as a complete business process re-engineering venture. Whatever your approach is, there are certainly many benefits to be had.
Read MoreThe Role of BAs in User Interface Design
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As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product - Jef Raskin.
Read More20 Nuggets for Conducting Stakeholder Interviews
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The quote by William Shatner certainly underscores the importance of the interview as a fact-finding technique. While interviews provide analysts the opportunity to learn about stakeholders’ needs, stakeholders in the process of being interviewed, also start to unravel the intricacies of what they want – their elusive requirements.
Read MoreTypical Challenges of UAT Sessions
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While User Acceptance Tests (UATs) sound extremely straightforward in theory, reality is a different ball game - they come with many challenges. This article explores 5 challenges of UAT and proffers recommendations on how they can be tackled.
Read MoreThe Role of Business Analysts in UAT Sessions
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User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a phase in the software development life cycle where the intended users of a system participate in validating that the solution meets their needs. There are varying perspectives to the definition of UAT. While some see the UAT as a “test of requirements”, others argue that the same deficiencies missed in the framing of requirements will be missed during testing if this philosophy is adopted.
Read MoreEmotional Intelligence & The Business Analyst
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Emotional Intelligence is about identifying and understanding other people's emotions with the objective of channelling these emotions towards a positive outcome. A person with a high emotional intelligence is able to decipher his emotions as well as that of others to help him form healthy working relationships.
Read MoreThe Art of Intelligent Disobedience
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The case of a guide dog leading its blind master is a popular analogy here – A dog with intelligent disobedience will disobey an instruction that puts his master in danger, even if the instruction is from the master.
Read MoreThe 80-20 Rule: The Law of the Vital Few & The Trivial Many
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What if it’s only 20% of the requirements that will actually deliver the most (80%) business value? What if it’s only 20% of the business problems that cause the most issues within the organization? Focusing on key issues and tasks instead of attempting to tackle everything at once can help you achieve huge benefits in the short term.
Read More7 Reasons Why BPM Projects Fail
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Processes should continue to be monitored, measured, updated and improved long after they've been automated. Business Process Management is not a one-off initiative but a mindset that should be nurtured within the organization. Knowing what can go wrong on your BPM journey will help you manage any accompanying risks and opportunities.
Read MoreProject Feasibility: What Should You Assess?
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Imagine a captain that's trying to decide on the best course to sail to get to his destination, the feasibility study can be likened to a map that displays the routes (options), landmarks (milestones), signs (risks/rewards) which help the business decide on which course to follow.
Read More10 Process Components You Should Define
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Defining (and documenting) a process is one of the first steps to understanding how it works. Process improvement starts first with understanding how the process works, so whether you’re interviewing process participants or observing a process, here are 10 process components that will help you arrive at a high-level description of the process.
Read More10 Tips for Effective Requirements Management
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Requirements are usually not cast in stone. Stakeholders gather insights and more knowledge of their true needs with time. This means that they can change their minds about requirements, no matter how late in the game. Requirements should therefore be managed proactively in anticipation of change.
Read MoreRisk Analysis: Why Bother?
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A risk is an event or condition that may or may not happen. If we fail to manage or identify risks before they happen – they can become serious problems. To avoid constant firefighting on your project, risk analysis should be approached proactively.
Read More6 Warning Signs Your Processes Are Not So Cool
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This article discusses 6 warning signs your processes may be in need of attention. Look out for these signs and work towards eliminating them.
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