Author Archives: Barbara

Barbara Carkenord, CBAP,
Barbara Carkenord, Co-Founder, Chief Curriculum Strategist, B2T Training, has been involved with business analysis for more than 20 years. In her career Barbara has been as a programmer, systems analyst, Business Analyst, and project manager. She has spoken at industry conferences and written white papers on business analysis. She has detailed knowledge and experience in many structured approaches and methodologies. Barbara’s areas of expertise include business analysis, high-level design, quality assurance, and project management.


Selecting a Vendor Package (COTS)

There is a good article on the Requirements Network Group on Modifications to COTS by Bill Flowers.  www.requirementsnetwork.com I’ll be talking about Developing Requirements for Purchased Software (COTS) in Atlanta on July 21st at the SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network) chapter meeting. www.atlantaspin.org These are both important topics for project managers and business analysts. As Bill [...]

When do you learn the business?

One of the fundamental tasks of business analysis is to learn the business. Business models and business requirements are developed by spending time with business experts, observing, asking questions, diagramming and confirming process flows, discovering business rules and data. I am interested in starting a discussion about when the BA performs these tasks. I was recently [...]

Free podcast on Application Modernization

Requirements.net is offering a new series of podcasts on Application Modernization. Modernizing old software applications is a challenge for any organization which has been in business for several years. With technology constantly changing, our old applications often need a facelift, an upgrade or complete replacement. The number and complexity of software interfaces makes these modernization projects complex analysis [...]

IIBA and Business Rules Community 2010 Conference

I am very excited about the agreement reached by the IIBA and the Business Rules Community to hold a joint conference in 2010. The Business Rules Community has established itself as a very valuable resource for business analysis professionals learning about business rules. The conference will also incorporate business process improvement topics. I have included [...]

BAs NEED management support

A tough challenge for our profession is getting true management support for business analysis work. Many BAs are caught in a “catch-22″ where their management does not understand the value of business analysis and as such, don’t give BAs time to analyze. When we don’t have time to analyze, management doesn’t see the value of [...]

WIBADD is really Great!!

Tuesday the Wisconsin IIBA Chapters hosted a BA Development Day called WIBADD! What a great event. Over 400 BAs gathered in the Alliance Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin to share their experiences and knowledge. The event was extremely well run and provided everyone with lots of networking opportunties. Door prizes included two WI game systems [...]

News from BA World Denver

The first day of the BA World conference in Denver was a great success. Lots of interesting discussions about current business analysis topics with many different perspectives. Dave Bieg, from the IIBA  provided the keynote address on Building a Mature Business Analysis Practice. He outlined the IIBA’s plans to help corporations and government agencies continue [...]

Why status reports?

I have always been a big advocate of status reports and am surprised when I hear people say they are a waste of time. Regular status reporting is one of the most important productivity tools a BA (or anyone) can use.  Status reports were originally invented by managers who wanted a written record of the [...]

BA Interns

We all know that the way to become a more proficient business analyst is to practice. But practicing is not the complete answer. I can go to the driving range and hit three buckets of golf balls – practicing - but if my coach is not there to tell me to tilt my shoulder further [...]

Who performs business analysis work in your organization?

Over the past few years I have been advocating that business analysis is a distinct profession, separate from project management, separate from development, separate from quality assurance. I believe that eliciting, and analyzing requirements; and making sure they are used to create a good quality solution is a full time job. I also believe that if [...]