If you haven’t seen it yet, check out CIO magazine article written recently by Katherine Walsh about the Hot Job of a Business Analyst:
http://www.cio.com/article/120154/Hot_Jobs_Business_Analyst
Ms. Walsh describes the role of the BA consistently with the IIBA definition and has some good things to say about our Business Analyst role and why it’s hot right now. What I found most interesting was a comment that a CIO wrote in response about hiring good BAs. This CIO prefers to work with Business Analysts who are originally from the business (not IT) yet also technically savvy. Can you guess the reason for her prejudice? Technical people tend to want to solve every problem with software before they understand the business process, the environment and the objectives. Not that I agree with this generalization of every person with an IT background, but we all know people who have this habit. I can remember many elicitation sessions where an architect or a developer who was invited to listen in and hear the business requirements and then he or she would immediately try to tell us how they would design a software solution.
This issue of jumping into the solution too quickly is exactly the thing that we at B2T Training try to instill throughout our BA curriculum – you really need to understand the business problem and the business area before you start designing a software solution. Even though technology is integrally tied to most business solutions, software is not the right answer to every business problem. I repeat, software does not fix every business problem. Many people still don’t get it. Some technical folks think they know better than the business people how the business can run more efficiently even when they don’t have a clue about the critical business processes and what the business people need to accomplish their goals. That is why an excellent BA is one who tries in every project to understand the fundamental business needs before identifying functional requirements to the IT staff or picking out software packages to purchase. Everyone wants to finish projects faster but who are we kidding? There is no silver bullet, other than thorough investigation to learn the details or else we run a high risk that the project will fail.
One more note about the salary ranges mentioned by Ms. Walsh – I think that senior BAs can command more than she listed as the top of the salary and this is why. I think whenever a company finds Business Analysts who truly get the business, are technically savvy, are great problem solvers, are organized, good negotiators, are very detailed yet see the big picture, and have good communication skills across the organization; they will always command competitive salaries. And if the BA also possesses leadership skills and an MBA, they will most likely be groomed for management positions with greater and greater responsibilities.
Coincidentally in the Wall Street journal I also read another article recently that said how important it was for CIOs to be business savvy. It reminded readers that the days of being only a great technical manager are over. CIOs need to help develop the business strategy with the other C-level management. They can’t just think about technology for the sake of technology. They need to help develop and support the business strategy. Hmm – I think this is a role that a senior BA could aspire to perform.
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Thanks for the tip on the article and for the solid commentary, Angie. Great read.
I have also thought that a Senior BA would be in a logical position to assume senior management and CIO-type roles for the reasons you mention.
I discussed recently on my blog why I’d like to see the BA role considered more a business role than a business-like role in the IT department. As I see it, the closer the BA can get to the actual business process owners, the less our trade will be associated uniquely with discovering and documenting software requirements, and more with helping our customers arrive at the correct business solutions whether they include software/technology changes or not .
Again, thanks for the great info.
Angie, I love that article and I am glad you added to it to even explain more about the BA role. My question, however is: yes, we are being told the BA must understand the business, the BA must know the business processes. But if you take a look at the job market and what employers are asking for and what everyone expects of the BA or will allow the BA to do, it’s strictly system analysis and if one has luck, they are allowed into the definition of the project (scoping maybe). Now, how can a BA who is so confined, spread their wings into something restricted? Or how can someone who has enterprise analysis land a job that requires only system analysis skills?
You bring up some great questions, Linda. They each deserve their own blog. I will try to summarize here and then write a future blog to discuss these topics in more detail.
I would say at whatever level we are permitted to be involved in a project, when we create value – we begin to shape our own job descriptions. We also establish our credibility and gain trust by others in our organization and typically this follows that we are encouraged to spread our wings and take on bigger roles. Our secret weapon is to be indispensable. I will follow up with more examples of how this might be achieved in another blog. Thanks for asking.
Linda has hit it on the head – that most business leaders in organisations are not clear about the role of the Business Analyst and being given the space to do what your role demands in the organisation calls for a real ‘fight’.
But again, Angie, the source background whether business or IT really may not be the best basis to judge who the best BA is, but the application of the best practices in business analysis by the individual.
My take on this is that the ‘best’ BA need the skills of both worlds – IT and Business.
Successful BAs with whom I have worked over these two decades seem to possess many common traits: 1. Good listeners, not only hearing what is said, but able to infer what remains unsaid willing to ferret out true need (core requirements) from whimsical wants (unnecessary features); 2. Excellent people skills, able to communicate, negotiate and motivate many different personalities such as executives, middle managers, line personnel, architects, developers, local and remote consultants, the list goes on and on…; 3. Clear and concise visualization, able to visualize the business solution and present it to the stakeholders with just enough detail to confirm understanding and completeness and obtain consensus; 4. A disciplined love of analysis, to decide the scope of often mountainous informaton to be examined to reach the true business drivers for the processes targeted for improvement, enhancement or total redesign. 5. A good sense of humor, to keep the often tedious amount of communication and hours of meetings not only bearable, but fun.
From my perspective as a long-time architect of business intelligence and data warehousing, good BAs are the currency by which successful project commerce is conducted. It is unfortunate that excellent BA’s are few and far between, and worse yet often disregarded by businesses when found among their own. Like many in my profession often observe, many businesses have repeatedly failed to learn from the failures of others or themselves. How often have we inquired as to the documentation of a business process only to receive a hearty laugh from its steward? How much harder then the task of understanding business processes for an outsider when even those who know the processes never document them or pass them on by word of mouth to their successors?
But I digress…BAs…gotta have’em to increase project chances for successes.
I really liked and shared this post. Awesome! =)