I recently read an article in Time magazine, Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership, that I recommend you read. As BA's we are leaders and need to continue to learn how to become better leaders. After reading the article I would love to hear your thoughts on how the lessons discussed can apply to our position.
I look forward to hearing from you!!!
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
This is a good article and you did well by drawing our attention to it. One of Mandela’s quotations I use frequently as a BA is, “You don’t solve problems by talking to your friends. You solve them by talking with your enemy”. This is a leadership skill I sometimes see lacking in BAs. Often I wish that, instead of studying Computer Science at college, I had done psychology. In my mind, BA work is all about people.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:09 am
That is a great quote Vic. It is all about the people we work with. I think one of the most important skills a BA needs to possess is relationship building. Check out this blog post…http://www.b2ttraining.com/page/business-analyst-blog/archives/130/build-solid-relationships.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:09 am
A nice link, thanks for posting it. The one that stood out for me was listen first, let the ideas and opinions come from others before speaking yourself. IT organisations can appear arrogant to the business telling them what they want, BA’s are often the face of IT, we need to understand, listen and then contribute. We won’t achieve what the great man did, but surely we can learn from people like that.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:51 pm
great one, and i completely agree that the people skills what any BA should excel at. Most of the time BA’s jump into the technicalities of the solution and this creates a king of thivk wall between a BA and the stakeholder. In essence what’s required is to work the other way.
There are 5 Key principle’s or approach i apply on all my initiatives
1) A comprehensive Org chart analysis
2) Listen carefully to the stake holder
3) Need based empathize with the situation
4) Focus on the underlying need and objectives of the initiative
5) Present an informed best-fit solution
Now best-fit here purely means a solution addressing the needs of the stakeholder hence need-fit solution. Following these principles a natural collaborative envrionment gets cretated
It has worked for me fine and i learnt only through the lessons/mistake made through the journey