Over the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to be part of the recruiting process for hiring Business Analysts for a few companies I’ve worked for. Most recently, I have spent the last 3-4 weeks up to my eyebrows trying to find senior BAs to join our quickly growing team. Having screened…
Category Archives: Tips & Techniques
Sometimes the 28th Time’s a Charm
Remember, requirements are the what but not the how. And it’s our job as business analysts to help our clients remember that what we really need to understand is their what, and that it’s our job to find the how.
But sometimes you have to remind them of that.
And sometimes it takes 28 times.
Knowledge Transfer Tips – From The Departing Employee’s Side
Don’t waste a single day of your knowledge transfer time! Here are some tips when you are the departing employee.
An Elephant Really Does Have a Great Memory
As Business Analysts (and people in general), we encounter a lot of information on a daily basis. To be successful, we have to keep a lot of it in the front of our minds and be able to quickly access and analyze that information. If you’re like me, you’ve used a variety of methods to…
Weekly Wrap Up: Incident Tickets, Stepping Up, FAQs, Compliments, Kids & Clouds
Weekly Wrap Up: Incident Tickets, Stepping Up, FAQs, Compliments, Kids & Clouds
Do You Have a Parking Lot?
One of the challenges of facilitating meetings is keeping the group focused and on track. If you don’t stay on topic, you could end up spending a lot of time but not actually accomplishing your goals. One technique you can use to help keep the discussion on topic is to utilize a Parking Lot.
Engaging Project Stakeholders (Part 5) – Requirements Work Plan
Preparing the Requirements Work Plan gives you a chance to take a step back, analyze the scope of work, and determine the best techniques and approach to facilitating the requirements work.
7 Lessons a BA Can Learn From Playing Diner Dash
I love playing games of all kinds, but I particularly like Diner Dash® (and the entire genre of similar games) for a lot of reasons. What I didn’t think about was that the skills I was honing while playing hours of this game actually would benefit me as a Business Analyst.
Engaging Project Stakeholders (Part 4) – The Requirements Kick Off
So, we’ve had the Project Kick Off and now it’s time to start digging in to those requirements, right? Not quite yet. While the Project Kick Off sets the overarching framework of what to expect, the Requirements Kick Off prepares stakeholders for what is happening right now.
Make Your Document’s Head and Feet Work Too
Have you ever reviewed a printed version of a document and had to do a little work to figure out what you were looking at? Have you dropped a stack of papers and couldn’t figure out how they went back together? How do you know if you’re looking at the most current version of that document? All of these problems can be easily solved by using smart headers and footers.