What Does a Business Analyst Do?
I could write a book longer than “War and Peace” about this topic. I don’t believe any of my Non-BA friends understand this. A few years ago, Terry & I went to Kansas City for a weekend. I am good friends with the person who at the time was the IIBA KC Chapter President. We went to dinner with Jeff and his wife. Jeff and I immediately start talking about IIBA. Terry bonded with his wife as they are an IIBA Widower and Widow.
Getting back to the hotel, he said Do people always ask you that many questions? Me: Yes. He replied: You do sound like you know what you are talking about. Me: Thanks. I have been involved with many discussions in a group of BAs as to what would be a good elevator speech for a BA. If there are 20 BAs, there are twenty different replies.
From the IIBA website: “The Business Analyst is an agent of change. Business Analysis is a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to organizations, whether they are for-profit businesses, governments, or non-profits”. Not every person who does Business Analysis has the title of BA. I feel that business analysis will increase in the next five years, but I also feel the Business Analyst title will shrink. Another quote from the IIBA Website: “Business Analysis Helps Businesses Do Business Better.”
Most of my BA group agrees that you can call me anything you want, but I will always be a BA and perform Business Analysis. Inside any company, BAs may do different things. There are Project BAs, Enterprise BAs, and Strategic BAs. The list goes on and on. This lines up with the discussion of the project framework or methodology being used. Many people have their own version of each framework. I am not going to carry on.
I would like to hear from my BA buddies what their thoughts are about what a BA does? I can imagine I will hear many of the same things from the past. If you are a BA and you aren’t an IIBA member, what are you waiting for? Go to www.iiba.org and click on the Join button. It will be one of the best career decisions you ever made. Until next time, please keep your glass at least half full!
