Too busy to crawl the web for interesting Business Analysis content? Not interested by social networks noise? Twice a month, the Busy BA Reading List brings you the best Business Analysis articles and websites I came across while surfing the Internet.
Hey there! September is a nice month; everyone is back from vacation at this time of the year, and it’s the beginning of a new semester for students; these are 2 good reasons to celebrate this new edition of the Busy BA Reading List! This edition is full of interesting content focused on the added value of Business Analysis in various contexts, from Big Data to Project Management. Time being a scarce resource, let’s go with the review!
From Eric the Business Analyst
These blog posts were published since the last edition of the Busy BA Reading List:
- 10 checklists for the Business Analyst
- 3 tips for a better use of tables in requirements presentation
Business Analysis is not about taking orders
For many people in organizations (including higher management), Business Analysts are only taking IT customers orders. This view cannot be further from reality, as Business Analysts play an active role in understanding the real business needs behind those “orders”, by using various strategies and techniques to find the real problems that need to be addressed.
In my opinion, challenging this thinking is one of the biggest political struggle BAs have to go through their organizations. George Bridges at The Busy BA goes in the same direction and explains why the Business Analyst role is not limited to gathering requirements, as he is actually creating them.
Business processes and projects, the same thing?
Business processes are one of the main focus of the Business Analyst. By getting a deep knowlegde about them, BAs are able to guide their customers in a more meaningful and efficient way. However, in most organizations, business processes are rarely documented, even if they are well-known by various stakeholders. On another side, projects are often following a well-documented, formal delivery process.
Therefore, are projects and processes the same thing? Can they be understood and managed in the same way? Sophie Hansen at Superior Business Analysis offer a good starting point to answer these questions, by explaining similarities and differences between both, and how managing processes and projects in a similar way can benefit an organization.
Business Analysts vs Data Analysis
While technical knowledge is not a requirement for being a good BA, knowing how to navigate through data structures can be really helpful to understand business needs and support your solutions using facts & figures, not only assumptions. This can be useful to clarify business problems and their impacts, as well as to evaluate whether or not a new solution delivered expected results. The Big Data trend will only reinforce the importance for Business Analysts to be confortable with data structures.
A recent post by Stephanie Famuyide goes through the Big Data concepts and explains how Business Analysts can find opportunities in this context, especially around the idea of building a value-added story based on this data.
Do you like what you’re reading?
Did you come across other interesting business analysis content recently? Please share them with us in the comments below, or in the social medias (Facebook, Twitter, or Google+)!
Image credits: hbrinkman @ freeimages.com
