Business Analysis Coaching

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it” – Samuel Johnson

Happy 2010! It’s my first post of 2010 and I’d like to use it to address the question of what it takes to be a Business Analyst and what skills should you expect a BA to exhibit?

This is a question that I imagine vexes employers, particularly those, that understand what a BA does and now want to employ one of the best. The question is also relevant for those looking to pursue a career as a BA.

Below I’ve compiled a list of the 5 key skills that I look for in a Business Analyst, I’m sure the list is not exhaustive and that you can add to the list, in fact, feel free to leave your suggestions below.

1. Technical Knowledge

While the first priority of any BA should always be the business and their requirements, a BA still needs technical knowledge.

Most BAs have a technical background, I started out coding in VBA and SQL. I was never very good at either of them and was always far more interested in the planning and analysis phases of any project, rather than the actual coding itself.

As useless as I was at actually coding, the exposure to different types of technologies has allowed me to a much better Business Analyst, primarily because of how that knowledge allows me to interact with two of the key stakeholders in any project; the technical teams and the business.

Knowledge of relevant technologies allows a BA to have informed discussions with the technical teams. A BA may not understand the ins and outs of Java, for instance, and probably can’t even code in it, but they should understand the principles of development, be able to relate to issues faced by a development team and their knowledge of technology should allow them translate that knowledge into a language that will be understandable by the business.

This ability allows a BA to build trust with the business. Often the technicalities of a project will be confusing and complex for the business, a BA that can be the bridge between the technical and business worlds and can explain technology to the business in language that the business can understand will give the business confidence both in the development process and the BA.

Technology should never be the main focus of a Business Analyst, but they should understand enough that they can build trust, understanding and vital relationships with both IT and the business.

2. Thirst for Knowledge

A BA has to have a thirst for knowledge. At every stage during a project people are going to bring questions to the BAs door, be it the business, development, testing, project mangers or any one of a number of stakeholders. Not only will people bring the BA these questions, they’ll expect them to have answers as well.

Right from the start of a project, a BA has to be a detective, think of all the questions have to be resolved:

- What’s the problem?
- Why is it a problem?
- How will fixing the problem help?
- Is this the most important problem to fix? Why?
- What’s the solution?
- Why will the solution be a success?

There is a lot of pressure in any project to answer these questions, and many others, immediately and the BA has to be up to the challenge. The best BAs will feel exposed if they can’t answer a question, they have to understand, they need to know, it’s something biological in them.

This need that BAs have to understand and to learn leads to massive benefits for projects. For instance a BA that has taken the time to understand, not just the businesses’ requirements, but also the context in which the requirements exist, will be able to talk authoritatively about the business in discussions with technical teams, helping them to understand the background to a project and the importance of what they are doing to the business.

Likewise, a BA that has taken the time to understand why technical solutions were chosen or how technical issues will impact a project, can save a massive amount of hours when explaining these issues to the business as they won’t need to have technical teams attend crisis meetings, allowing them to concentrate on actually fixing the issues rather than discussing them.

This thirst for knowledge and the need that BAs have to understand, is the main reason why I believe that domain knowledge should not necessarily be a prerequisite for a BA when starting a new project.

3. People Person

A BA has to be interested in people, they spend all of their working lives surrounded by them, immersed in their issues, their problems and their needs. The role of the Business Analyst involves documenting their requirements and designing systems that address and alleviate their problems. Without a degree of empathy for and interest in people, it does not seem possible that a BA would be able to do any of these things effectively.

Additionally, the Business Analyst is often the face of change on a project, which is possibly one of scariest things that any of us experience, either in life or in our careers. Change is always frightening to someone. People are always afraid of the unknown, yet it’s the very currency in which a BA trades. It’s therefore important that people trust and like the Business Analyst that they are working with. Change may well be scary, but it’s inevitable, when it’s introduced by someone we like, respect and trust, it becomes easier to accept.

4. Creative

BAs appear to be a very conservative bunch, wearing suits, working for very serious organisations, such as banks and spending most of their days documenting something or other, they don’t at first glance strike you as being very creative. Many believe that it’s the long haired, jeans wearing, young people from the development teams that are the creative types. I don’t want to detract from what they do, but they’re not the only creatives on a development project.

More often than not, despite the conservative image, it’s the BA that will throw out the template in an attempt to present information relevant to a stakeholder in an effective manner. When a project is at a road block, with two or more stakeholders unable to agree on the best way forward, it’s the BA that will put them in a room, propose different ways of working and get their brains working to resolve the issue.

And given the fact that a BA is neither technical nor the business, it’s the BA that has the freedom from the expectation that they are the expert, allowing the BA to claim ignorance and ask the so called “stupid questions”, the seemingly obvious questions, like “Why do you do that?” that once asked, demonstrate a lack of understanding amongst the experts and open up avenues in peoples brains that allows them to re-frame problems and to look at things in different ways.

5. Communicator

A BA must be able to communicate and be clearly understood by their audience. As BAs we derive an awful lot of knowledge on any given project. None of it is worth anything though if it’s not accurately communicated to the people that need the information to complete the project.

A more fundamental communication skill for a BA than simply being able to convey information accurately to others is their ability to listen. Listening is often the most under estimated of all the skills involved in communicating, however, for a BA it’s the most important.

Before a BA can communicate accurately with people, they must first have listened to and understood other stakeholders. A BA cannot explain a requirement to a developer unless they were able to listen to the business convey that requirement in the first place.

A BA should never be afraid to just go quiet in a meeting and listen, it’s surprising what you’ll hear that no one else did.

Well, those are my thoughts on what it takes to make a great Business Analyst, I hope this helps you either in choosing to be become a BA or indeed in choosing your next BA. If you have your own ideas as to what it takes to be an excellent BA, then please feel free to let me know by leaving a comment below.

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