How to find good Business Analysts
Written by David Brewerton
Monday, 29 March 2010 18:31
I started my business career as a programmer and have been in the IT industry for over 25 years with experience of Oracle and SAP implementations. I'm a true convert to IT needing to be in the hands of the business and not the technology and thought I would share some of my views on the subject of Business Analysts.
Here are some attributes that a good business analyst has...
They understand the specific business problem that software aims to solve
Many business projects start half way towards a solution already and try to find the business problem along the way, even if it isn't actually put like that!
A good business analysts should fall back on the old favourites of...who, what, where, when, why and how. The best business analysts know how to structure the problem and if a problem can be described using these attributes a solution is generally well within reach.
Diplomats, translators and negotiators
The Foreign Office need these skills because they deal with change management too albeit on a macro scale! Implementing change is all about finding common ground, being objective and balancing the conflicting needs of the stakeholders. In a business sense, its from the business functions, from IT and from those directly impacted by change, who need to feel they are being listened to and valued.
Terminology is a jungle! A good BA needs to question all the terminology they hear and be sure about its definition in context. They need to be able to relate business and IT concepts between all the players who often don't speak the same language as there must be quality information flows between them all despite them all having their own jargon.
They can see the forest through the trees
During implementations, the BA often finds themselves in the thick of the weeds of software, data and training people. A good BA is able to see it all in macro and micro; from 30,000 feet and 3 feet.
They need to understand how the bits fit together from a 2000 piece jigsaw and what the picture looks like too! They need to continually express that overview picture to the people they are working with so that the overall direction meets the strategy that the project was conceived for.
They understand technology's potential and its limitations
Being half-way between the players is one thing but they have to be half-way between the business needs and the IT realities too. The 80:20 or 90:10 rules all apply. That last 10 or 20% can cost 80% of the development budget if you let it and so cost-benefits need to be determined and put in terminology that the business understands...total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) for example.
They have credibility with business colleagues, often gained through previous work experience
None of this happens overnight, its part aptitude, part training and a lot of experience that generates the credibility that a BA needs to operate effectively. A career path that has been pure IT is unlikely to develop this unless they have worked very closely with the business for a long number of years.
It often seems frustrating to IT graduates because they might well have been taught how to analyse and develop business systems which the business people probably haven't but as with many things in life, a little of everything often works well in the end.
They are "people persons"
They need to be warm people. The sort that users will tell and ask and not fear the reactions of.
The best business analysts will want to be highly involved with the troops, rather than hiding in their cubes during software project crunch times. They are, good communicators and if the project has been resourced properly, much of the implementation 'go-live' is actually carried out by those who will be using the new business processes afterwards. The BAs 'go-live' role is to be available, support the troops and understand both their functional area's make live plan and how it interacts with the overall project make-live plan.
So where do you find them?
If you're implementing SAP or other enterprise-wide business systems you'll need many business analysts so where do you find them?
You will need a good mix between functional specialists (SAP/Oracle/etc BAs), project managers (Prince-2 practitioners) and your own businesses functional specialists. They will all rub off their experiences, knowledge and skills on each other.
The majority of the team of BAs will be made up of your business's people. Consider those people who are valued generally for their thorough understanding of their part of your business and how your processes interact. They have to be communicators though and to broadly have the potential of all described above, even if they have some growing room!
Author: David Brewerton ♦ 29th March 2010
For further advice
David Brewerton at Squirrelhouse Consulting is happy to provide 30 minutes of advice, by email or one to one telephone conversation with no obligation.
Further help and ad-hoc advice based on our experience can be provided throughout the course of your project, as required at our standard rates.