Depending on the size and structure of the company, a business analyst may have a single or dozens of colleagues that rely on their services. Facilitation skills. Subject matter expert. The project manager will serve as the overall communicator and decision maker on the project, but the business analyst will likely have an even closer customer facing role than the project manager, meaning this position may be the most valuable in helping ensure customer satisfaction and completeness and acceptance of project work performed by the project team. They are viewed by both Creative and Tech teams as one of their own while in reality serving neither, only the client’s project goals. A Bad BA is a gofer and assistant for the tech team. This means that the BA is proactive and dependency-aware. Good Business Analyst, Bad Business Analyst Written by Mike Lenz . They ensure the client understands what was documented and categorizes appropriate UAT defects as Change Requests. They do their best regardless of whether or not someone is going to read the document. Their documents flow in a logical way from feature to feature, big idea to detailed specifications. So what makes a good business analyst (BA)? Business analysts are responsible for evaluating multiple options before helping a team settle on a solution. A Good BA ensures all sections of their documents add value. Not necessarily tech lead or developer knowledge, though that is a plus, but rather a very good technical acumen that gels with the project management-type organizational skills and knowledge they also likely possess. Because the organizational to tech cross-over ability and skills that many project managers will lack must be handled in this role. So what makes a good business analyst (BA)? A Bad BA is distracted by other people’s jobs (user experience or tech solutions) losing focus on their own (documenting the What). A Good BA is the subject matter expert of the project requirements. It's this curious nature that ensures that the right problems are being addressed in the right way. It also means that you're not afraid to ask questions. Coupled it with my experience leading projects, working in combined project manager and business analyst roles I've come up with my list of ten characteristics of an awesome business analyst. A Good BA has patience to learn from the client, educate the client, and push back when needed. Good technical cross-over. Six Key Characteristics of a Senior Business Analyst, My Business Analyst Can Beat Up Your Business Analyst, 5 Trusted Tips to Move Your Business Analyst Career to a C-Suite Role, How to Level Up your Business Analyst Career, Five Crossword Tricks to Help Pass Certification Exams, An IT BA on a Cross-Functional Technology Team », Creative Dispute Α Business Analyst’s Personal Characteristic, Getting Requirements Right with KickOffs and Desk Checks, How to Figure the Detail of Process Models, How Business Analysis Can Help Educational Institutions Adapt to Change. Related Article: Six Key Characteristics of a Senior Business Analyst. The skilled BA will recognize this quickly and work with both sides to come to a mutual agreement. How about our readers? Every good BA has all kinds of modelling tools in his or her arsenal. And good listening skills. A Good BA defines accretive requirements. As you are reading through these, please be thinking of your own personal experiences and comment with your additions to this list. The business analyst isn't necessarily the leader on the project, but his role may be the most diverse and sometimes the most critically necessary for project success. They need to move between the abstract and the concrete fluidly and make connections between the two that are understandable and pertinent to their clients. "The traditional approach of purely looking at the number of years' experience and qualifications has become obsolete," says Banks. Copyright © 1996 - 2020 ITWeb Limited. The great business analyst is a critical liaison between the project manager and the technical team. From work-flow diagrams to wireframe prototypes, there's nothing that can't be represented in an easy-to-understand, graphical representation. This person is often the driving force behind the accurate, complete, and detailed documentation of the final project requirements. "The traditional approach of purely looking at the number of years' experience and qualifications has … However, communication skills are possibly the most important characteristic of the awesome business analyst if for no other reason than the vast responsibilities this position has on the project and with the team and customer. As much as credentials aren't the be-all and end-all, they do shape the way a BA thinks about problems.
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