February 20, 2010 – 7:31 pm –
I enjoyed reading a provocative article on BA Times, The Tyranny of Best Practice and Its Effect on Requirements Elicitation, about the evolution and tyranny of best practices. I have always believed that techniques and processes become known as best practices because there has been proven success repeatedly (with verification). I was curious where the author [...]
January 25, 2010 – 9:05 pm –
I was reading an interesting chain of comments on one of the LinkedIn BA group websites about the role of a BA being described using a bridge metaphor.
Someone asked why the BA definition in the latest BABOK v2.0 no longer uses the metaphor of a bridge between Business and IT. Kevin Brennan of the IIBA [...]
January 18, 2010 – 9:16 am –
Q: I’ve always tried to teach you two things. First, never let them see you bleed.
James Bond: And the second?
Q: Always have an escape plan*.
*From the James Bond movie (The World is Not Enough)
In case you have never followed the Bond movies, Q was typically an elderly gentleman who would invent and demonstrate all the [...]
August 31, 2009 – 7:26 am –
Is your organization having a difficult time describing the value of business analysis to the bottom line?
To make your case stronger you will want to read the new white paper we have available for download. The paper is co-authored by Barbara Carkenord and Kimberly Terribile and discusses how skilled business analysts are instrumental in providing a [...]
August 4, 2009 – 6:58 pm –
©2009 David Ewing and World of Stock.
I had a discussion recently with a client about how the role of a BA in many organizations was traditionally thought of as a scribe in meetings. Thankfully with all the recent focus on business analysis as a discipline, the many different skills provided by a business analyst are [...]
July 28, 2009 – 10:27 am –
Eliciting business requirements is a critical skill for a business analyst. Although we hear the phrase business requirements over and over again by software vendors, by training companies, by business analysts of various industries, and by speakers in our IIBA chapter meetings – is everyone defining the term in the same way? I would like to [...]
July 14, 2009 – 9:45 pm –
Hot off the Presses from the IIBA® is the new Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) Handbook with some helpful information if you are considering IIBA® certification. The Handbook includes a good overview of the IIBA, the certification requirements, exam preparation recommendations, as well as the Knowledge Area percentages used for the new v2.0 of the [...]
June 9, 2009 – 11:40 am –
In an informal survey with our customers we recently found that many business analysts are often working on requirements to enhance COTS applications. ERP and CRM processes have been commoditized for a number of years and have been implemented in many diverse organizations with interesting results. Examples of some well-known COTS packages are SAP, PeopleSoft, [...]
December 30, 2008 – 4:05 pm –
I just read a very good blog by Alistair Cockburn that summarizes the challenges in agile development when substituting user stories for use cases as the primary functional requirements deliverable. I love it when he says a user story is similar to a use case like a gazelle is to a gazebo. Pretty funny. I highly [...]
November 22, 2008 – 7:49 pm –
Please take 15 minutes to take the new IIBA BA role delineation task survey. You do not need to be an IIBA member to take the survey. Your responses will influence the BABOK V2.00 new exam questions and knowledge area question percentages. Let your voice be heard. For more information refer to this blog http://blog.theiiba.org/2008/11/babok-version-2-task-survey-your.html
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Angie Perris, CBAP, 