Author Archives: Kupe

Jonathan Kupersmith, CBAP,
Jonathan “Kupe” Kupersmith, director of client solutions, B2T Training, possesses over 12 years of experience in software systems development. He has served as the lead Business Analyst and Project Manager on projects in the television and sports management and marketing industries. Additionally, he serves as a mentor for business analysis professionals and has implemented various business analysis best practices. Kupe was the first, president of the Atlanta IIBA chapter. He is a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) through the IIBA and is BA Certified through B2T Training. Besides spreading the good word about business analysis to anyone that will listen Kupe, who goes only by one name, wants to be known as the Zig Ziglar of the BA community. Kupe is a connector and has a goal in life to meet everyone!


It Is Not All About You

A question most BAs get asked when assigned to a project is "how long will it take to complete requirements?"  Without going into ways to improve your estimating skills, I want to address a key point that is often missed when answering this question.  Our answer is usually related to our time and duration needed.  This is [...]

Things We Can Learn from the Italian Stallion – Part II

If you have not read Part I of this blog series you can read it here.  In case you are not as familiar with the Rocky movies as I am, here is a little recap of what happens at the end of Rocky.  Rocky goes 15 rounds with Apollo Creed.  Rocky's right eye is badly damaged [...]

Things We Can Learn from the Italian Stallion – Part I

OK, I’m coming clean.  My all time favorite movie is Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky II, Rocky IV, Rocky V, and Rocky Balboa.  Every now and then I watch one of the movies and never get tired of the scenes of Rocky training or battling the next opponent in the ring.  But, there is more to [...]

Seriously, Are you a good Listener?

Hear me out!  I go to my gym to workout at least 3 times a week.  I go at different times each visit so I do not have the pleasure of getting to know the staff that well because of the changing shifts.  Each time I go to pick up my membership card when getting ready to [...]

Build Solid Relationships

It is so important for people in the business analysis role to build strong, solid relationships both in and out of the office.  Many people dislike the term "networking," but I feel it is one of the most important skills of a successful BA.  By helping others and asking for help, solid relationships are formed.  [...]

It’s Not the Shoes

When I was a young buck I could not beat this one kid on the block in a 100 yard dash.  I was convinced it was my worn out shoes causing me to lose time and time again.  I pleaded and begged my parents to buy me a new pair of sneakers for weeks.  Eventually they [...]

Career Advice from CIOs

We, B2T, often get career advice questions coming in to our blog.  They mostly relate specifically on how to enter the BA profession and advance once in it.  I thought you all would be interested in an article I just read, "It Worked For Me: Career Advice from Top CIOs" by Martha Heller on CIO.com.  CIOs from [...]

It’s all about Teamwork

Over the last few months I have been in more discussions than I can count about the role of the business analyst, project manager vs. business analyst, where the business analyst fits in on an agile team, and which roles are needed to make a successful team.  They have been wonderful passionate conversations.  With each discussion I kept coming [...]

Where’s the Usability?

Even though development tools and techniques have improved drastically I still hear from corporate application users that the systems their IT department built or purchased for them lack usability.  We all know that projects are still failing or challenged based on the triple constraint (Time, Budget, Scope).  I wonder if the addition of a fourth [...]

Collaboration and Influence

As Business Analysts we rarely have formal authority over anyone we work with on our projects.  To give our teams the best chance for success we have to work collaboratively with all of our stakeholders. I just read an article on CIO.com that I think you will enjoy.  In their article, "How Good Are You At [...]