Understand the BABOK Guide
One of the best things to do is familiarize yourself with A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide). Regardless of how experienced you are, the BABOK Guide is tremendously valuable for business analysis professionals.
The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) has made significant strides in defining the profession within it. The guide includes general business analysis practices and explains the skill set required for the role. It also includes common techniques that practitioners can implement throughout their careers.
Acquire Organizational Knowledge
A business analysis professional’s role varies greatly depending on the industry and structure of the organization. For instance, organizations in heavily regulated industries may require more predefined or predictive business analysis methods for compliance than others.
As a business analysis professional, you can gain organizational knowledge in several ways. One of the most effective is observation, or job shadowing, which provides organizational context in the actual work environment. Ideally, this would be done for key roles in every department (as scheduling permits). Of course, you may also shadow as part of the business analysis activities for projects you’re assigned to.
You may want to take notes and compile this information to exercise systems thinking. This allows you to gain a comprehensive understanding of how all roles and departments in the organization interact with one another. In addition to the processes, note things that might impact future elicitation efforts, such as whether procedures are documented, how familiar participants are with other job functions, and general attitudes toward previous technology efforts.
Elicit Expectations
The job description for the position you applied for may be a good starting point for understanding your role in the organization. However, the activities listed aren’t always aligned with what you’ll be doing every day.
Find out where you can add value by asking your direct leader. If the business analyst role in your organization has been around for a while, they have likely developed some expectations over time. You’ll need to meet or even exceed these expectations. If the role is new, your leader will have some insight into the needs that warranted its creation. It’ll be essential to meet those needs as well.
Project and technical teams are another valuable source of information on your role. Typically, roles in the project team include project managers, developers/engineers, quality assurance, data analysts, and other business analysts in the organization. You’ll likely be sharing lots of information with these individuals, so strive to understand what matters most to them. As team structures may vary from project to project, it may not be practical to get this information from every team member; insights from a few key players may suffice. To maximize effectiveness, understand the roles and responsibilities of these individuals as well.
There are various ways to gather information on expectations—simple conversations, focus groups, or even email surveys. If there are many business analysts in the organization, get them involved to make it a team effort. It’ll also help to get approval and buy-in from your leader and the leaders of the peers from whom you’re eliciting this information. Leadership will appreciate that you’re being proactive and that you have the best interest of the company in mind.
Remember that this is not a business analysis wish list from the people you work with. It’s simply an effort to understand needs and set expectations. If you disagree with your peers about what the business analyst should be doing, it’s your responsibility to discuss these concerns and agree upon a solution.
Leverage Lessons Learned
Lessons learned (retrospective) is one of the most underutilized techniques available. Many organizations execute lessons learned sessions, but very few go back and address issues brought up during the session.
Effectively leveraging lessons learned from previous projects, and avoiding the same mistakes, can save organizations time and money in the long run. As business analysis professionals, we’re responsible for addressing issues related to requirements and business analysis activities. When defining your role in an organization, gathering lessons learned feedback from projects you were involved in can be invaluable to your career.
If you’re new to an organization, it may help to get the lessons learned documentation from previously completed projects. Note any issues with the previous business analyst to avoid repeating poor business analysis performance. After all, it’s easier to learn from other people’s mistakes than your own.
Lessons learned can also be used to discover successful attributes from previous business analysis professionals. The method of accessing lessons learned documentation may differ depending on the organizational structure. Generally, project managers or scrum masters are good resources for this.
Perform Business Analysis
Once you’ve done all the above, you’re ready to analyze your role within the context of your organization.
The task now is to synthesize the information to identify what the organization needs from you. This information should provide insight into the desired roles and responsibilities of the business analyst and where the business analysis process can improve. The key here is to uncover gaps in the current process and resolve existing conflict areas where you can add more value.
The result of this analysis should be a well-defined job description for your role. This may include key business analysis activities, responsibilities, deliverables, or performance measures. The items included will vary based on your specific objectives for defining your role.
To optimize the impact of this new role, share your discoveries with your leader. Then, ask them to share with their peers, so that you can get buy-in from influential people. This will also give them a chance to provide some feedback on what you’ve outlined. Setting these expectations won’t solve all your problems as a business analyst, but it’ll likely reduce conflict, create alignment, and make things easier down the line.
Final Thoughts
Business analysis continues to evolve due to organizations’ varying levels of understanding of the role. As demand for business analysis professionals grows, so does the likelihood they’ll serve numerous enterprises throughout their careers.
To keep up with this demand and ever-changing expectations, practitioners must adapt quickly to various organizational views of business analysis. I hope this article serves as a roadmap to help you meet these needs and excel as a business analysis professional.
This article includes contributions from Susan Moore and IIBA Editorial Committee Member Rashmi Hassija.
About the Author
Dr. Michael F. White is the founder of The Business Analysis Doctor, a global and award-winning business analysis training provider specializing in certifications administered by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). Michael has over a decade of experience in business analysis, project management, and training. He has driven innovation at some of the top financial institutions in the US. He currently holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), CBAP, IIBA-AAC, IIBA-CBDA, IIBA-CPOA, and CSSGB.
