Business Analyst Blog

I saw a great article in the PM Network magazine this month. www.pmi.org It really applies to everyone, not just PMs or BAs.

The article was written by Bud Baker, PH. D. one of the contributing editors to the magazine and he was referencing the very well read book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, PH.D. We often spend time responding to urgent matters without thinking about whether or not they are important. Often our most important work is longer term and requires us to manage our time in such a way that each day we work a little towards a bigger goal. Urgent matters come up every day and distract us from our longer term work. It is important for all business professionals, and specifically Business Analysts to constantly ask themselves: Am I spending my time on the most important tasks on my list? Good risk analysis tells us that we need to elicit, analyze, and document the high risk requirements first. These are the most important even though other things may seem more urgent.

We don't have enough time to do all of the things that we would like to do in our jobs. We have to make decisions every day about where we will spend our time. Although it is difficult to say no to some tasks, or put them off - we owe it to our business stakeholders to stay focused on our most important tasks every day.