3 Articles Describing Common Problems Faced by Business Analysts
Learn more about the challenges faced by business analysts and business analyst managers.
Learn more about the challenges faced by business analysts and business analyst managers.
Whenever there’s a problem to explore, which is most often during the initiation of a project, it’s useful to have a visual means of your analysis. Like mind mapping, the fishbone analysis method is a business analysis technique that enables you to explore the likely causes of a problem. The fishbone method can be used in brainstorming sessions or as a personal thinking tool.
The mind map is a visual representation of ideas, thoughts, problems… anything. It’s a great brainstorming tool for generating new ideas and exploring a problem. In this post I examine how a mind map can be used to explore a problem against six strategic categories.
The The Five Whys method is undeniably one of the most important techniques that a business analyst can have in their toolkit. Asking “why” is a simple and effective way to solving problems that can be used by any business analyst to improve a business process or write better requirements.
Get your facts together and write a compelling case for change.
Well defined business requirements help you avoid expensive mistakes. Without them, your project will be like a ship without a rudder. It can’t get any more important than this.
The problem statement is a description of an issue currently existing and the context for how it will be addressed. In a business setting, anyone who is involved in problem-solving or decision-making should be involved in developing a business problem statement. This could include managers, executives, analysts, project managers, or subject matter experts.
Business drivers are the crucial factors which lead to success for a business through a proposed initiative. They help formulate the high level agenda which determines the scope and purpose of a project. If you do not define the business drivers and underlying risks for your ICT initiative, your project is likely to fail.
When starting a new initiative, ensure you have an understanding of the project’s end game. For instance, are you documenting business processes to enhance business efficiencies, developing or purchasing a software system to support a changing business environment, or developing an enterprise architecture to support an organisation’s strategic process?
My main challenge has always been with adapting to peoples’ various styles of communication. Especially with people that communicate in a very cryptic or terse manner. Technical challenges always seem somehow less confronting when having to grapple with arguably the most dominant feature of business analysis work. Communication.
If you would like to enter a business analyst career, or have already started, there are several factors to consider.
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