Business Analysis can be a tough job and especially if you are joining in a new role and are not sure what to expect out of it. Not to worry. Here are few tips that can make you a good business analyst. These insights are based on my experience as well as from people who have been working as a business analyst for a number of years.
- Know the basics: Every business analyst must know the basic requisites that a business analyst is expected of. They must possess good communication skills, able to understand the business, think analytically, able to analyse the requirements specified and build a healthy relationship with the customer. Good communication skills are a base for any job, but a business analyst need to interact with a lot of people to perform his job properly. He should be able to manage any discrepancies occurring or to extract hidden information from the client or to effectively communicate the required functionalities to the team.
- Using the business analyst tools: There are a number of business analyst tools that he should be aware of for eliciting the requirements effectively from the client. One should be self reliant and be capable of creating activity models or facilitating a workshop or presenting a graphical representation of the functionality etc, to name a few. There are many such tools which come handy and can help a business analyst in doing his job efficiently.
- Do the right thing at right time: This simply means that acting as per the circumstances. There might be situations where customers may not understand technical jargon and hence lot of visual models might be necessary. There might be situations where approval from client might be required on an emergency basis; in such situations it is not wise to take time to present a detailed description. It basically depends on the circumstances of the scenarios and one need to act accordingly.
- Taking ownership: There are many companies which ask a business analyst to only note down what is being asked for from a client. In such a case, the business analyst cannot add value to the project. Instead, he can take ownership and not blindly follow the requirements being specified. He needs to understand the impact of the change being specified and check if it aligns with the business needs. He can provide insights into it, to improve the solution which will improve the relationship with the client. It will increase the level of satisfaction with the customer.
- Clarity: Creating clarity is one of the main qualities of a good business analyst. It is his responsibility to ensure that everyone understands the new changes specified without any ambiguity. He needs to act as a person to resolve any conflicts between the stakeholders and also ensure that the requirement is understood by the design and development team as expected.
- Training: A good business analyst should always be open to learning new techniques and skills and should take interest to gain any new knowledge through certifications which will ultimately help him in his career growth and can add value to the business.
- Understanding the technology and organisation: It is always useful to understand the technology used by the team to deliver the results. Without basic knowledge of this, it would be difficult for a business analyst to provide suggestions for improvement. Apart from business knowledge, understanding the potential of technology or the limitations associated with it is very important. Decisions would be taken based on this. Any new improvements cannot be suggested without proper knowledge about this. So, the overall knowledge helps in improving the service provided to the customer.
One can benefit from the above tips in becoming a good business analyst and provide added value to the organisation they work for.
Logitrain is a iiBA Endorsed Training Provider and our Business Analyst course is endorsed by iiBA, it gives you 21 CDUs.
