What we love about Anna’s story is how she found herself performing various aspects of a business analyst career before joining the Bridging the Gap program. Despite facing career uncertainty and layoffs, her decision to join the program only increased her passion for business analysis, while empowering her to champion other BAs who were learning alongside of her.

In this interview, you’ll discover how:

• The program built on Anna’s experience, while also providing a new layer of depth and knowledge to some of her favorite aspects of business analysis.
• Anna realized a new sense of confidence as a more polished BA which opened the door for her to mentor junior BAs and even start pursuing a career in Business Architecture.
• The feedback she received during her time in the program gave her the guardrails needed to truly execute excellent work for her organization.

Laura Brandenburg: Hello, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap and I am so excited to be here today with Anna, who was a participant in the recent session of the Business Analyst Blueprint. And iis here to talk a little bit about her business analysis career journey and her experience with the program. Anna, thank you so, so much for being here.

Anna: Thank you for having me, Laura. It’s always a pleasure.

Laura Brandenburg: We got to connect quite a bit through your session and through a lot of the office hours calls. I’m just really excited to hear even more of your story and your positive vibe. You always bring so much positive energy. So why don’t you just get us started and share a little bit about where you were at before you found Bridging the Gap or before you started The Blueprint. Where were you at in your career? What were you looking for professionally?

Anna: I’m glad that you ordered it that way, because in my career, prior to business analysis, I had my undergrad in HR. I didn’t get an HR job. I jumped into billing and ended up working for an IT MSP (managed service provider). They weren’t too established. I have a natural hustle or a go-getter attitude, and I wanted to help them develop some sort of foundation on how things work because no processes were documented. What everyone did was in their brains, so nothing was in a repository. Myself and another young lady that I worked with, we worked together to develop a knowledge base for all the processes. And then when mergers happened, she and I were the primary ones putting over all of the data from one system to another.

In  2017, I came across Bridging the Gap on YouTube because I was brought with the project on implementing Salesforce. Now, I know that Bridging the Gap doesn’t have much to do with Salesforce, but I was looking for ways to get more organized, and I saw where Salesforce had a business analyst, not a career path at the time, but it was an element that business analysts should learn, so to speak.

And so I googled “learn business analysis” and came across Bridging the Gap. I’ve been hooked ever since. I followed you on LinkedIn and subscribed to Bridging the Gap’s YouTube channel because your knowledge has been helpful.

At the IT managed service provider employer where I was working, I helped with project coordination. And there was an element to one of your videos – I cannot recall the exact one – that I was able to apply to my own career in that time.

And after being laid off from that company, business analysis was the way that I really wanted to go. Because at that company there wasn’t a role for BA and so I was doing a project coordination work because there just wasn’t a BA role available at the time.

After I was laid off, I went to different clients and added more tools in my toolbelt. Eight years later, up until now, I’ve finished The Blueprint program. I was able to become a more polished business analyst. I’m also aiding junior business analyst as well.

That background with Bridging the Gap and Laura’s information has really helped solidify my career as a BA for sure.

Laura Brandenburg: It’s so interesting that you talk back to 2017, where it sounds like you were really doing business analysis under an HR title. Right. But then you joined the program in 2023. Obviously you learned a lot of things along the way. But then there was something that shifted when you chose to join The Blueprint program now.

Anna: For clarity, my degree was in HR and my specialization was HR, but the position itself, was IT project coordination or project management. And so the reason why I joined in 2023: I’m making more money now, so I’m able to afford the program. Also I had an employer who believed in me. So having that support of someone saying, “Hey, Anna – do it, go for it; this is why we need you here.”

Laura Brandenburg: Sometimes I think just all the things have to fall into place, right. So did your employer end up paying for the program?

Anna: Yes.

Laura Brandenburg: You funded it at first and then your employer covered it. That happens a lot. What how did that unfold for you?

Anna: We are paying a pretty penny, but like I said, it is well worth it. I said to my employer, “Hey, I’m interested in this program and here’s the details.”  But I got an email that the deadline’s approaching to enroll. So I made a quick decision to join the program. And I went back to my employer, and we were able to smooth it out. So like I said, that employer support goes a long way for sure.

Laura Brandenburg: For sure. It sounds like you brought a lot of business analysis experience into the program, but like what changed as you went through it or what were some of the key experiences for you? Did you work on a specific project? Did you apply it to different projects?

Anna: Being exposed to the different elements that The Blueprint provides within business analysis really helped me. I was able to not necessarily have one module that we went over apply to every project that I’ve worked on. But during the program – yes, I was working on projects. Yes, I was applying what I’ve learned in each module to those projects.

Another thing for me that was big was getting that feedback because I’m a maverick. And so I like to do things my own way. That’s how clients in the past have been. But it was very, very educational when I would provide a deliverable in my own way, but then get the feedback like, “Hey, this isn’t what we talked about, this isn’t what was listed.”

So it’s a matter of adjusting yourself and having the flexibility to get out of your own way and do it the way the client wants it.

Laura Brandenburg: Is there a module that stands out to you?

Anna: Business Process Analysis. The first module. Mapping – that’s my forte. I love BPM and process mapping. That’s led me to work, essentially – that’s 60% of my job.

Whenever I get feedback that wasn’t aligned to the workbook standard, I was taking that like, “Hey, this is what I do”, but I realized this is coming from a good point. Let me do this the way that they needed done. Those new ways I’ve incorporated into my day to day career.

Laura Brandenburg: Obviously what you did was working because you were successful, but sometimes there’s just a little tweaks that make it easier or clearer, long term.

Because you brought this up, one of the things I love is that you were in our program and then you were also part of our membership for a while where we had the community together. And you were one of the few who have been active in not just posting things and sharing things to get feedback, but also to provide feedback to other people, which I just love witnessing.

How did that help you? Was that something that you just enjoy to do, or is that something that you also learn from a little bit later? What was your motivation around that?

Anna: The Blueprint program gave me the confidence to give my $0.02. I felt comfortable contributing to certain feedback requests and posts, or even during the office hours calls, because that that’s how I feel that business analysts should grow. And I feel like that’s how it’s grown by building off of one another. My parents say iron sharpens iron, so you only get better whenever you surround yourself with those who can make you better, essentially.

Laura Brandenburg: I want to also say, I appreciate you being the one who helped to build up other people, because it’s one thing to hear feedback from me, but also you often provided a slightly different take than I would, or you saw something that I would have missed. And so I think that’s true within the community too. Just having multiple eyes on your work is just so.

Anna: Appreciate that for sure.

Laura Brandenburg: So tell us: where are you at now?

Anna: Business analysis will always be something that I’m always going to carry with me. I’m always going to go back to. Currently, one, I am helping build other junior BAs. And, who knows, I may lead a team of BAs. Let’s put that into the atmosphere.

But I’m also going into a direction for business architecture, and that’s not really too much of a learning curve, but I feel like it’s a great route for me in terms of bringing business analysis on, in dealing with, decisions and applications, pieces of it as well.

Laura Brandenburg: So exciting. So you’re providing feedback to junior BAs already, building that leadership experience.

Anna: And being their cheerleader, yes.

Laura Brandenburg: How’s that going?

Anna: Fairly well. Just yesterday I was on a call with the PM and two other junior BAs and the PM was like, “Anna, do you want to do this?” And I said, “No, let’s let this other person do it. You got this. We’re all here together.” So just being that cheerleader for those who don’t have that inner cheerleader themselves.

Laura Brandenburg: That’s awesome. And I will say that often comes from being part of a community or part of a program that give you that confidence to know the structure that they need.  So now you know the tools that they need to be successful. It’s really fulfilling for me to see people grow from the doer into the leader.

Anna: You may see them in your Bridging the Gap program.

Laura Brandenburg: I would obviously love to help them. Is there anything else that you would like to share with people who might want to follow in your footsteps in their career or are interested in joining the program?

Anna: So if you want to follow my career – have an open mind, ask plenty of questions, and be ready for whatever. Roll with the punches. Be susceptible to feedback, both positive and critical. But in terms of The Blueprint… do the program, do the program. It can be time consuming. And I should have done an earlier cohort that didn’t occur during the holidays.

I highly recommend it because it helped me become a more polished business analyst. It exposed me to areas that I wouldn’t necessarily touch as a functional business analyst, such as the ERDs and the system and the data items.

Getting more polished up in each of those areas is just giving me the confidence to want to do more.

Laura Brandenburg: You are on to now learning about business architecture and expanding on those skills. Those skills never go away. But yes, it is a bit of an intensive investment in time and energy, that’s for sure.

Anna: My last point that I’ll make is that within The Blueprint program, being around fellow business analysts or transitioning business analysts or just those who have an interest in business analysis, having a new network, new friendships, that can be valuable as well. Being in the membership community and getting those different contacts as well has been very beneficial to my career as a BA.

Laura Brandenburg: Well, thank you so, so much, Anna. I appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. I’m looking forward to continuing to watch your journey. I know you are definitely a go-getter and you’ll be somewhere completely new and exciting. I appreciate that about you so much.

Anna: Thank you, Laura.

What we love about Chad’s story is how, through The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, he was able to identify skillsets developed in his previous career that were business analyst skills, but lacked the framework to make the skills transferable. The training program provided Chad with a repeatable process framework with quality deliverable outputs that have allowed him to streamline his work and focus on the most valuable deliverables.

In this interview, you’ll discover how:

• The skills Chad learned through his 20 years of experience as a Director of eCommerce were easily transferable to a skillset in business analysis.
• The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program provided Chad with a repeatable framework for projects, as well as, how he has seen that same framework work for colleagues across a variety of industries through the training program’s Office Hours.
• Chad juggled a busy work schedule and home life with the training program course material. He provides tangible examples for how to integrate the course work into career work and how blocking his time proved to be the most effective strategy for prioritizing the course deliverables.

Laura Brandenburg: Hello and welcome. I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap here today with Chad Crider, and I’m so excited. Chad was one of the first participants in the updated version of The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, where I’ve been back in a teaching and instructor capacity and got to work with him directly on his business analysis skills and doing all kinds of great things in his career.

So Chad, welcome. I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for joining us.

Chad Crider: Thank you for having me. I’m excited.

Laura Brandenburg: So first, if you could just take us back to a little over six months ago when you started the program. Where were you at in your career? What were your goals? What were some of the things that you were worried about professionally? What was going through your head at that time?

Chad Crider: So to go back six months, we should probably quickly go back three years. Up until three years ago this month, I was a director of e-commerce for a local company, and I was miserable. I mean, part of that was the pandemic. And, everything that came along with that and working just insane 80, 90 hour weeks.

And it got to a point where I needed to make a change for my own mental health. And so this opportunity as an application administrator came open, and I thought, you know what? I know a couple of people there. Let’s see what this is. And, started and I really enjoy what I do.

I love working, kind of part support, part BA, part app development. It’s a really unique kind of position that I get to occupy in the business. And, as we started talking through, I have 20 years of experience before I came here in a different career path.

And I told Nik, who was also in your class, I feel like I have a lot of skills, but I don’t have a lot of framework for them. And he said, well, this Bridging the Gap course is going to be changing how we do things. And we’re looking at running a couple of people through it, would you be interested?

And so we talked through it and he showed me the stuff that he worked on when he went through the class. And I talked with my wife about it and I said, you know what? I think this is like the next step to kind of figure out if I want to do more BA work?

Do I want to continue with the idea of getting into data? So that’s how I ended up, in Bridging the Gap, trying to take all the skills that you learn over a lifetime in a career and provide a framework for how you do things. I’d never thought about anything I had done as an e-commerce director through the lens of BA work, but it’s a lot of BA work. So that that was the motivation.

Laura Brandenburg: I love that how you talked about that because so many people feel like they don’t really have a career, like they’ve been doing these different roles and filling different gaps, and often they have a ton of business analysis experience that they don’t appreciate or realize is even valid.

It sounds like that was part of the awareness that you had going as part of joining, but also going through the program. What did that look like to realize like, oh, I’ve actually been doing this for 20 years.

Chad Crider: Yeah, there were a couple of moments, [when I realized] that this course is helping me in multiple ways. It’s helping me because, when Nik or one of our other BAs that I work with a lot starts talking now, I know some of the reasons why they ask the questions they do, the way they do the framing.

Personally, I felt a little lost when I first started this career because it felt like such a divorce of everything that I had done before. And now going through The Bridging the Gap [training course], I’m able to look at it and I’m able to say, you know what? I’m not doing it the same way anymore, but it’s the same processes that I was following – being mindful of scope and all these little things that you just learned to pay attention to. But you just didn’t have that that framework that ties it all together to make it repeatable every time.

Quick aside – here’s the business analysis process framework Chad is talking about – you learn it in module 4 – The BA Essentials Master Class.

Laura Brandenburg: So you kind of feel like you’re making it up as you go along, even though you really are applying principles that make sense.

Chad Crider: Right.

Laura Brandenburg: One of the things that you said when you registered for this was that you used the same project all the way through. Can you share a little bit more about that project and what your takeaways were?

Chad Crider: I work for a manufacturing company. One of the parts of our manufacturing process, we create film plastic that food is stored, wrapped, and frozen in. We’re adding to that business and we’re looking for a new certification in that.

We had these traceability exercises that we had to be able to successfully prove that we can do this. We have that for a lot of our other processes, but for this new process, now that we’re going for the certification for these specific things, it can’t just be, well, we kind of do that. Now we need it to be documented. Now we need to be able to see if there were a recall or something, we have we have a finite amount of time that we have to start that. So they said, we would like you to spearhead getting this traceability going for us.

That that started right after Halloween, so early November. And then I started Bridging the Gap, right after Thanksgiving. So, there was there was a little bit of run up to it here on campus for me. But then it was basically, as I’m going through these lessons, I tried to purposely steer myself this way. I was able to look at the modules, see what we have, see what I can learn quickly to start digesting.

And then there’s the deliverables as part of doing the coursework. My deliverables are what I’m providing and building to give to my colleagues here on campus. It was it was fantastic. And yesterday was our final meeting on that [project].

We’ve got everything going. Traceability is working the way we expected. And now we’re just doing some reporting stuff, nothing major, but just stuff that now we’re in that wrap up hyper care phase.

Laura Brandenburg: Well congratulations. That sounds like a great project. One of the things I loved about having you and your colleague in the program is that manufacturing is not an industry that I’m exposed to. And just hearing about the kinds of projects in manufacturing and how that really applies. We always have so many different industries as part of the program, but the types of projects and how they show up.

So congratulations. And I thought it was a really cool project and also a really value-add for your company too.

Chad Crider: There was a satisfaction within me to want to know I’m the one who’s doing this, but I’m also able to do it in such a way that I’m also learning and kind of nurturing my own inner curiosity as we go along.

Laura Brandenburg: What do you think is the biggest difference between how you approach this project and maybe how you would have if you hadn’t been going through the program side by side?

Chad Crider: I am very much, kind of like a ping pong ball. I know this about myself – ADHD, whatever you want to call it. I latch onto something and I go with it, and then something else catches my attention. So I would have kind of bounced from requirement to requirement from this piece to that piece.

And I would have been trying to apply processes to it, but in very, very small bite size increments, probably right up until someone like Nik was like, “Hey man, we need some deliverables!” And then I would have freaked out and I would have spent a weekend getting deliverables ready.

As opposed to, with a course like this, talking through the steps. When we were all done, and because I did module four (The BA Essentials Master Class) last, I went back and I said, “Okay, I’m going to do this  module. And then I’m going to make sure because we’re getting ready to wrap this all up. Is everything here? Is everything good?” And just being able to do that and make sure that I’m keeping myself on task and build a document that I can use as my template. This is how I’m going to start now.

It feels like a completely different way to try and do my job.

Laura Brandenburg: Is it something you’re continuing to apply in other projects?

Chad Crider: Absolutely, yeah. One project that went really smooth is great. But being able to say okay, now I proved that not only does the process work, but it’s a process that I can follow and I can do this. So now it’s like, okay, we’re just going to keep doing this. The same kind of format, the same kind of thing.

And sure, you’ll have to change things based on the project. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. But it is a wide enough range template. You know that you can make it fit almost anything, I think.

Laura Brandenburg: That’s awesome to hear. One of the things I really appreciated about having you in the program is you were on just about every office hours call. You asked questions in the forums, but you were definitely really engaged in the office hours calls. What was that like from your perspective? What did you take away, both from your questions, but also other people with questions – what was that like for you?

Chad Crider: So I the thing I love the most about the office hours was this was time not just with you one on one, having a conversation. This was also time with other people doing BA work who I would never run into these people in a normal day-to-day situation. There are different industries, different parts of the world. It was motivating to go to the office hours knowing that, for example, Anna was part of this program at the same time, and she’s doing something completely different from what I’m doing. But we’re using the same concepts to do our jobs.

It was fascinating to listen to how she approached it. And then, you asked questions the same way to both of us. It was very interesting to see how the question doesn’t have to change, even though the answer is going to change based on a perspective or career or industry or whatever.

I did a presentation on the Bridging the Gap course here at work. I found on LinkedIn, or maybe it was on Google, you have a slide out there somewhere that says, business analysis is a skillset, not a job title or something like that. Looking at your office hours and seeing how everything worked really drove that point home where we’re developing a skill set, not a job title.

And if you develop a skill set, that skill set is going to be transferable.

Laura Brandenburg: I love hearing that because the people we get in the program are so varied. Like you said, we have people from different countries, in different parts of the US, different industries. I’m always nervous, like, oh, is this industry going to be the one that my questions aren’t going to work? But you can always find some way of how to apply these foundational business analysis skills set to work within that organization to do something better.

Chad Crider: Absolutely. And it was really interesting the way myself and my colleague that took the course with me. We’re working on very different perspectives of the business right now and we had a weekly call amongst us with Nik, just to talk about everything. And it was very satisfying to see the office hours and the calls that we had here on campus and talking with Nik and it just seeing that as long as you’re approaching this as “these are skills, this is something that there is going to fundamentally change how we approach things.” Industry seems to be set dressing.

Laura Brandenburg: So last question for you and then you’re welcome to share anything else you’d like as well. But I know you have some exciting career goals, so where do you see yourself headed now that you’re obviously excelling in this role that you’re in?

Chad Crider:  My goal is to end up as a data engineer here. I think one of the most important parts, especially with how our business is set up – we are multi-site, multi-state, different time zones. We’re not multinational yet. But we need to have good, solid practices to make sure that myself, working in Ohio, when I’m working with someone in Chicago or South Carolina or Massachusetts or Wisconsin, we approach it the same way every time.

We can use this to drive culture within our IT department so that we know as we start to build out our data sets and we start to engage with people around the business that we’re being mindful of what they need in the same way that we would be mindful if we’re turning on new software or if we’re putting up some new part of the network for a new building or something like that. We need to make sure that we’re treating our data and the consumers of our data in the same manner.

That’s really kind of the part that I’m hoping to kind of get in and drive. We’re going to start a big push to make our decisions better informed with better data.

It’s slowly heading that way. I’ve been brought in on the data warehouse team to start working through some of these data sets. I’m working with logistics right now on bringing on a new outside warehouse. It’s third-party warehouse. It’s like 300,000 sqft. And working with a project manager, working with myself as kind of the BA role on it – working with everybody else to meet an aggressive deadline by the business. It’s very exciting.

Laura Brandenburg: It sounds like you’re already taking steps for that, which is also how I always advise people to get into business analysis. Just take some projects that kind of get you in that direction, so you’re taking a step forward.

Chad Crider: Take a step, grab a hold of it. Take the opportunity. It’s probably going to be scary. I’m not going to lie. You know, I’ve never done anything to turn on a 300,000 square foot warehouse, you know? But now I’m going to and it’s kind of nerve wracking at times. But, I know that I’ve got BA resources here on campus. I’ve got a couple of connections made through the [BTG] community. I’m excited to reach out to people and say, “Hey, this is kind of what I’m doing. what do you think?”

Laura Brandenburg: Very exciting. Thank you so much for sharing the story about your experience in the program. Is there anything else that you would like to leave people who are listening that might be looking to follow in your footsteps?

Chad Crider: Yes. This is what I told people when I did the presentation to our IT team. I am in my 40s. I have a life. I have a wife, I have kids, I have a kid in college right now. I have a job. I have all these things. I am a very busy guy. I still found time every week to work on this process, to work on this program, to make an investment in me for my career.

If I can do it, anybody can do it. You just have to budget your time. Now, I will say, if you’re if your employer is super awesome and you’re able to work on this for your employer, there is there are easy ways to say this can benefit us as I’m taking the course. So don’t be afraid to try that angle if you need to.

Laura Brandenburg: I think, prioritizing the time investment is so important. And so key. And you mentioned the ping pong effect that you have. So can you just share a little bit like what was your actual strategy for making the time. Because that’s a big challenge for a lot of people.

Chad Crider: So I knew we had the office hours with you once a month. Amber and I, my colleague that also went through this [program], we had set up a call every Thursday morning. We were going to get together and talk about what we had worked on the week before, and we made sure we put that on our outlook calendar.

We blocked out that time. And we said, this is not just help for us. This is holding ourselves accountable. It was only a 30-minute call, just to talk through things. But then we would then know, Thursday I’m going to meet with Amber or she’s going to meet with Chad to talk about what we did.

So it was one of those things like, I have a deadline that I’ve given myself. Now I’m going to start to look, where can I fit this in? And I’ll be honest, the lesson part was the easiest part, because, you know, all the lessons are 30 to 45 [minutes], maybe an hour long.

So that was that was great – turn them on, go through the PDF while you’re talking on the video, taking notes. Then the deliverables, I thought that was going to be the easiest part, because I’ll just take my laptop home and do it. Because I did it for a lot of stuff at work I needed to have access to the work resources. So convinced my boss that this two hour block a week, we’re just going to block that out. And that’s what I’m going to work on my requirements deliverables. And they were very excited for the opportunity to get that time because that’s two hours that I am blocked out. I am just working on this project. They didn’t look at it as well. That’s two hours. Chad’s going to school. No, no, that’s two hours. Chad’s working on this project. And it helped immensely.

Laura Brandenburg: I think that’s such a great takeaway – a big project needs focused attention. That’s a strategy whether you’re taking a course or not, to have focused time to work on your deliverables or the analytical thinking or just whatever you need to move that project forward, it’s just so essential. That’s a great practice. Thank you for sharing that.

Chad Crider: Paper – most of the time is just doodle stuff. But I started keeping a stack of paper here just so I could, like, jot down notes or something. So doodles lead into notes, which lead into deep questions to think about later. It’s great. I will never not have paper right here when I’m going through some sort of project planning.

Laura Brandenburg: I’m a big fan of handwritten paper. I’ve got my weekly to-do lists right here.

Thank you so much Chad. I am looking forward to reconnecting in a while to see how does this all this unfold. Because you’re on a really great career path and I really appreciate you taking the time to do this today.

Chad Crider: It’s been a blast. Thank you very much.

Laura Brandenburg: You’re welcome. Thanks so much.

Establishing clear and measurable business analyst performance metrics and KPIs is no easy task. The business analyst role is interdependent on contributions for other team members, and many of the best business analysts excel based on soft skills and contributions that are inherently more difficult to measure.

Why Measuring Business Analyst Performance is Important

High-performing business analysts are essential to the success of software and business improvement projects. Business analysts help everyone get clear on what the problem is and how to solve it. Their contribution to clear requirements helps everyone else be more efficient and successful, which ultimately impacts the performance of the entire project.

Meaningful performance metrics help ensure that business analysts keep their attention on what matters. Success as a business analyst is not about writing more requirements, holding more meetings, or, really, doing more of anything!

At the end of the day, business analysts add value by bringing clarity to project outcomes and getting the business to own the solution. Just because this seems difficult to measure, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t measure it to the best of our abilities.

KPIs for Business Analysts

When I think about high-level business analyst performance, the following questions come to mind:

1. Does the project deliver the anticipated value? Does the project meet the objectives of the business case?
2. Are the stakeholders aligned around the project concept? If you asked each of them individually about what is to be achieved, would you get the same or at least consistent answers?
3. Are the stakeholders satisfied that the scope being delivered is the best possible solution to the problem they are trying to solve?
4. Does the implementation team deliver on the requirements without a lot of wasted effort? Did they understand what needed to be accomplished?
5. Is the test team able to validate that the final application met all the requirements or do they come across areas of ambiguity that need to be addressed?
6. Are there big surprises at the end of the project? Do unexpected requirements come up? Every project will experience a bit of churn toward the end as you flesh out the final details, but missing a big piece of functionality or a critical business process is a sign that the business analysis effort was lacking.
7. Did the business analyst have a business analysis process and create a business analysis plan? How close was the actual work to their intended plan? What was the root cause of any variations?
8. Did the business analyst choose the most appropriate requirements documentation for the type of project and methodology in place?
9. Is the business happy? Do they find value in what was delivered? (A no answer can have many root causes, but a yes answer is typically the sign of good business analysis work.)

If having a business analysis process is a new concept, check out this video on our 8-step business analysis process framework.

>>Plan Your Next Step with a Free Workshop

While this is a lot of information, you might be wondering exactly what steps you can take. We offer a free Quick Start to Success workshop  that will help you figure out your next step.

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Taking Project Considerations Into Account for Business Analyst Metrics

Another way to evaluate the performance of business analysts is to consider aspects of the project:

• How many stakeholders were involved? From how many different areas of the business? And at what level of the organization?
• How much communication was necessary? (Meetings, messages, emails, etc)
• How many deliverables (business processes, use cases, user stories, data models, etc) did the business analyst need to create?
• How many systems were impacted?
• How many technical stakeholders were involved?
• How up-to-date is the current state documentation? Does it even exist or did the BA need to create it to kickstart the project?
• How long did the business analysis effort take?
• How many defects were due to missed requirements?
• What was the end result or ROI of the project? What benefits were delivered or costs saved?

Again, you are looking to show that your business analysts lead teams to alignment and clarity as effectively as possible, given the complexity of the problem, solution, and stakeholders involved.

How to Measure the Performance of Business Analysts

One thing that makes measuring business analysis performance so challenging is the interrelationship between the business analysis effort and that of the team. If the business analyst does a great job preparing for meetings, invites the right stakeholders, and then they don’t attend or they come unprepared, should the business analyst performance be downgraded?

Most likely, your answer would be no! But many business analysts today are seen as bottlenecks who miss deadlines or deliver incomplete requirements, when the reality behind the measurement is that they are lacking stakeholder engagement on their projects.

A good business analyst will be proactive and strategic, they will gain buy-in from stakeholders, and smooth the path to engagement throughout the project. But in some situations, their hands are tied and they are unable to break-through certain areas of resistance.

To compensate this, any measurements need to be considered in context. Did the business analyst manage what they could? Did they go above and beyond to gain buy-in and engagement? Did they elevate risks? Did they ask probing questions? Was their communication clear and actionable?

This is what you are looking for in a great business analyst. So be sure your measurements aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet without context – you are likely to get exactly what you measure, which might not be the outcomes you actually want!

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes so you can upgrade your skills, bring a fresh perspective to your business analysis approach, and know exactly what to do on your software projects.

They may not have the business analyst job title, and they may not even be aware they are doing business analysis work, but someone is ensuring the right problem is being solved, that everyone understands the problem and solution in detail and is on the same page about what the software is going to do, and how that achieves the business objectives.

So what is a business analyst? And what does a business analyst do?

There are many variations of the business analyst role, and the business analyst job title is used inconsistently. Here at Bridging the Gap, we focus on how the practice of business analysis unfolds specifically on software projects, where the business analyst is responsible for ensuring the team is solving the right business problem and guiding the team in analysis and communication activities that get all business and technical stakeholders on the same page about the project scope, including the business and technical aspects of the solution.

Whether your team is leveraging agile software development practices or more traditional ones, effective business analysis is essential to success. If you are interested in starting, succeeding, or excelling in a business analyst role, this article is your guide to the role, responsibilities, job description, and mindset of a business analyst.

Defining The Business Analyst Role and Mindset

Out of chaos, we create order.

Out of disagreement, we create alignment.

Out of ambiguity, we create clarity.

But most of all, we create positive change for the organizations we serve.

Business analysts lead teams from the inside out. We create positive change for our organizations. We inspire others to follow us on our path toward positive change. We help everyone understand exactly what that change is and how they can contribute to it. We help teams discover what the change should be.

Source: Bridging the Gap’s Business Analyst Manifesto.

In essence, if you’ve helped teams focus on alignment, clarity, and positive change, you are filling the essentials of a business analyst role and have the mindset of a business analyst. It’s not uncommon for an aspiring business analyst to discover they’ve been doing BA work intuitively for years. They are able to uncover many transferable business analyst skills and position themselves for mid-level and, depending on their experience, even senior business analyst roles.

A Dedicated Business Analyst Role Sets Projects Up for Success

Having a dedicated business analyst role on your project has a tremendous ROI (Return on Investment). As high-performing business analysts, we need to be aware of the value we create, and how we contribute to the ROI of a project. The role is still misunderstood by many, and we’ll often find ourselves needing to educate our leadership and stakeholders about how we can make a contribution.

Business analysts add value by:

• Reducing rework that’s caused by overlooking requirements until late in the development process.
• Reducing requirements churn, or the time investment from stakeholders in getting clear on what they want out of a software solution.
• Finding more cost-effective solutions, whether that’s simplifying the requirements or finding non-technical solutions to business problems.
• Discovering new business benefits that increase the ROI on the planned project investment.
• Prioritizing requirements, so the development team has a clear idea of what to implement first.
• Facilitating communication with the business community, so the delivered solution is used as intended.
• Providing a framework for IT to scale, particularly as an organization grows beyond the boundaries of informal communication where everyone knows everything about the business.

Here’s a video walking you through the value proposition of business analysis:

>>Plan Your Next Step with a Free Workshop

While this is a lot of information, you might be wondering exactly what steps you can take. We offer a free Quick Start to Success workshop  that will help you figure out your next step.

Click here to learn more about how to start your BA career

The Key Responsibilities of a Business Analyst

To contribute this level of value, you need to bring a structured framework or approach to the business analyst role. This role includes taking the requirements aspect of the project from initial problem or idea to a fully implemented solution. The following business analysis process supports the business analyst in navigating a project effectively and successfully.

This is the 8-step business analysis process framework we teach at Bridging the Gap, and it’s helped thousands of business analysts be more effective in their role. Let’s take a quick look at the business analyst responsibilities involved in each step.

1. Get Oriented – Start actively contributing as quickly as possible by managing expectations and conducting preliminary stakeholder analysis.
2. Discover the Primary Business Objectives– Ensure the right business need or problem is solved, and that all stakeholders are aligned on the expected outcome.
3. Define Solution Scope– After exploring multiple possible solutions, gain agreement from stakeholders on the scope of the solution to be developed, and ensure it fits within the constraints of the project.
4. Formulate Your Business Analysis Plan– Identify what types of documentation or deliverables to create, and what needs to be done when. Ensure stakeholders understand what contributions they need to make as part of the project, as business analysis never happens in a vaccum.
5. Define the Detailed Requirements– Gain alignment and clarity at a detailed level, so that both business and technical stakeholders can successfully implement the solution. This involves developing a consistent method of communication so that all stakeholders know and understand the requirements.
6. Support the Technical Implementation– Be a partner with the tech team and ensure they have everything they need to be successful, and explore opportunities to generate even more business value from the software aspect of the solution.
7. Help the Business Implement the Solution– Support business stakeholders during implementation, user acceptance testing, and roll out so that they ultimately get what they need and are able to incorporate the delivered solution into their day-to-day work.
8. Assess the Value Created by the Solution– Assess the Return on Investment (ROI) of the solution, celebrate the project successes, and identify new opportunities to improve the business.

You can learn more about the 8-step business analysis process framework in this video:

And, yes, this process framework applies in agile too! Here’s a guide to how to leverage this framework to be a successful agile business analyst.

Key Skills for Success in a Business Analyst Role

The business analyst role requires both hard and soft skills. Business analysts need to be able to gain alignment from diverse sets of stakeholders on both the big picture and the granular details of the project.

First, there are core, underlying skills that set you up to be a great business analyst, such as:

• Communication skills – Verbal and written communication skills are extremely important, as is the ability to facilitate meetings with diverse sets of stakeholders.
• Problem-solving skills – The ability to understand what problem is being solved and why, as well as navigate new challenges and problems throughout the project, is essential.
• Critical thinking skills – Business analysts evaluate multiple solution options and provide critical thinking to back-up or probe into stakeholder assumptions.

Then there are specific business analysis skills in analysis and communication.  To be successful as a business analyst, you need a toolbox and a framework.

• A TOOLBOX of techniques that you can pick and choose from, based on the needs of your project and team.
• A FRAMEWORK that guides you step-by-step what to when.

At Bridging the Gap, we provide an organized, streamlined, and practical toolbox and framework in the form of The Business Analyst Blueprint® – it’s both a framework for approaching business analysis skill development and the name of our flagship, online, practical training program.

And it looks like this:

While we already talked about the end-to-end framework. :et’s take a deeper look at the toolbox of techniques a business analyst needs to succeed in their role.

• The Business-Level, or how the business work flows operationally, often completed by analyzing the business process (a textual model) and creating business process flow diagrams (a visual model).
• The Software-Level, or how the software system supports the business workflows, often completed through functional requirements models like use cases and wireframes.
• The Information-Level, or how data and information are stored and maintained by an organization, completed by data modeling techniques including an entity relationship diagram (ERD), data dictionary, data map, and system context diagram.

When you use multiple techniques, particularly powerful analytical and visual models, you will find that you naturally see gaps that others gloss over and identify the downstream impact of a change or new solution.

Here’s a video that walks you through the key business analyst skills.

The Typical Day of a Business Analyst – Or, What Does a Business Analyst Actually Do?

The role is so varied that there really is no typical day for a business analyst. And that’s one of the things many business analysts love about the role, as there is a lot of variety in the work.

I have an entire video on this topic, but here are a few things I’ll share here about the role:

• There tends to be a split between independent and stakeholder-facing work. It can vary from 50/50 to 70/30 in either direction. You want to be sure that you’ll enjoy interacting with people as well as doing independent analysis and critical thinking work.
• Business analysis is a self-managing role. You need to be proactively thinking ahead and planning out your process to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
• The days tend to be different depending on what type of project(s) you are on and what phase they are in. Early on, you’ll be doing a lot more discovery. Then you’ll be in the details and analysis process. Then you may be supporting the business and technology teams during development and implementation.
• It’s quite possible you’ll be working on more than one project at once! So be ready to be in all the phases at any given time.

And here’s the video with a lot more detail on what to expect day-to-day:

Business Analyst Roles Can Vary Widely

While these are the essential skills and responsibilities of a business analyst role on a software project, roles and titles vary widely. Depending on the role, the BA professional may also take on more senior-level business analysis responsibilities, such as such as strategic analysis, learning new domains, and project portfolio management.

The definition of business analysis allows for many different approaches to the role.

• It brings in professionals who work on software projects, business process changes, logistics, or ensuring compliance with regulations.
• It brings in professionals who work on projects focused on integrating multiple software systems, building new software systems, and modifying existing software systems, or migrating from one software system to another.
• Sometimes specific industry expertise or expertise in a specific business application is required to be successful. Pick any attribute of a project, organization, or stakeholder group — oftentimes the business analyst role in that context is shaped around multiple attributes.

When reviewing business analyst job descriptions, pay attention to both the generalized aspects of the role that are common across many roles and the specialized skill sets that pop up in a specific roles.

Hybrid Business Analyst Roles Are Incredibly Common

What’s more, it’s common for a specific business analyst role to be a hybrid business analyst role, meaning that you will have responsibilities beyond the core of business analysis.

Common hybrid roles include:

• Business Analyst / Software Tester
• Business Analyst / Project Manager
• Business Analyst / Product Manager
• Business Analyst / Software Developer

Because business analyst job titles are used inconsistently, it’s not uncommon for these hybrid roles to be under the title of “Business Analyst”. It’s also not uncommon for a role like Project Manager or Software Developer to simply include business analyst responsibilities.

In fact, there are dozens of different business analyst job titles. You can learn more about the difference between the BA job title and the BA role here:

The Difference Between Business Analysis and Related Roles

What’s more, there are many roles that are closely related to business analysis, or leverage business analysis skills to be successful. Here are articles in which we dive into the difference business analysis and other, similar, roles:

• The Difference Between a Systems Analyst and a Business Analyst
• The Difference Between a Product Manager and a Business Analyst
• The Difference Between a Subject Matter Expert and a Business Analyst
• The Interplay of Project Management and Business Analysis
• The Difference Between Business Intelligence and Business Analysis Roles

How to Become a Business Analyst

Business analyst roles generally favor on-the-job work experience. And it is definitely possible for a mid-career professional with work experience to start a business analyst career.

1. First, learn about the business analysis career and confirm your career choice. Exploring the resources in this article is a great place to start!
2. Second, identify your transferable business analyst skills – these will enable you to skip right past entry-level BA positions.
3. Third, invest in your foundational business analysis skill set. Here at Bridging the Gap, we provide online business analysis training opportunities that help professionals start, succeed, and excel in their business analyst careers.
4. Fourth, build on-the-job business analysis work experience by approaching your current work with a BA mindset. For example, no matter your role, you can always improve a business process.
5. Fifth, focus your efforts to find your first BA opportunity. Leverage your areas of expertise and experience in related roles to focus on the opportunities that will be easiest to qualify for. Then you can expand your skill set and experience, opening up even more opportunities.

In short – if you truly want to become a business analyst, it’s certainly possible! And the career opportunities within business analysis make this an exciting time to pursue a business analyst role.

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes so you can upgrade your skills, bring a fresh perspective to your business analysis approach, and know exactly what to do on your software projects.

While I believe the answer is no – you can always create opportunities for yourself. I do realize that having an undergrad degree is required by many organizations, and if you have the degree your job prospects may be improved.

But let’s take a deeper look at this question and how to approach the options you have.

How My Undergraduate Degree Helped Me In Business Analysis

First, let me share a bit of personal background. I earned my bachelor’s degree from a liberal arts college, and I dual majored in Philosophy and English. While I learned a ton in college, and I never regret the 4 years I spent digesting and dissecting great works, I didn’t graduate with any real professional skills.

I managed to land a role as an associate editor at a publishing company, which was about as ideal of an opportunity on paper as you could expect with my degree. And yet, it was really a glorified administrative role and I was absolutely bored out of my mind.

I offered again and again and again to work on technical projects and finally got an opportunity about a year into my role – this brought me into quality assurance testing. You can find my story of transitioning from QA to BA here. I also leveraged the tuition reimbursement benefits in my company to start a master’s degree in Library and Information Science, which helped me build business domain knowledge and awareness.

Once I was in a business analysis position, I remember realizing how similar the work felt to my Introduction to Logic course. Dissecting requirements was very similar to dissecting philosophical texts. Looking for errors in thinking and logic was a lot like investing a problem domain and ensuring the requirements fit together cohesively to solve a business problem.

It’s not like I learned to be a business analyst studying philosophy, but the critical thinking and analytical skills certainly helped.

Hiring a Business Analyst Without a College Degree

Let’s fast forward several years – I’m building and managing a team of project managers, business analysts, and quality assurance professionals. I distinctly remember discovering one of the business analysts I hired did not have a college degree. It surprised me because I honestly never thought to ask the question, and I certainly had some pre-conceived assumptions that most professionals did have college degrees.

At the time, our VP of Technology also let me know he never went to college either.

For context, we were working at a small company, less than 500 people, and had a small tech team. I hired for experience and the ability to literally hit the ground running. We always had multiple active projects that were behind schedule and I didn’t have the capacity to train and mentor my team the way I would have loved to.

When I interviewed this business analyst, she presented herself as extremely capable, flexible, and proactive. And her work contributions lived up to, and even exceeded, my expectations.

So I not believe that a college degree is necessary to be a great business analyst.

Some Employers Require College Degrees for Professional Positions Like Business Analysis

However, the reality of our professional environment is that some employers do require a college degree to be hired for a professional position like business analysis. This means, that you may be unfairly screened out before you even get a chance to present your experience and qualifications.

If you don’t have a college degree, it’s even more important to:

• Identify your transferable business analysis skills.
• Focus on your contributions and accomplishments from your work history.
• Highlight the professional business analysis training, as well as training in related skill sets.
• Be prepared to speak to your specific work experience in a job interview, whether it’s from a role with the BA job title or in a related role doing business analysis work.
• Build business analysis experience by approaching your current role or volunteer work, no matter your title or role, with a business analysis mindset.
• Focus on positions that leverage any specialized skill sets you have, particularly in a specific business domain or business application.
• And don’t overlook opportunities to grow into business analysis. Here are 13 Jobs That Can Lead to a Business Analyst Job (with the path to get there).

If your goal is to start a business analyst career, I, personally, would find it difficult to advise you to stop applying to roles and go back to school for 4 years to pursue a bachelor’s degree, and then circle back to your BA career ambitions. But you will need to embrace that you will face more roadblocks and some employment opportunities will not be open to you. Instead, focus on the opportunities that are open to you, and the employers who hire based on experience and aptitude versus academic credentials.

We Can Help With Practical, Real-World Training

When it comes to starting a business analyst career, nothing is more important than real-world professional experience. Our online business analyst training programs are structured to support you as you learn business analysis skills and apply them in the real-world (even outside formal business analysis roles), so you can build the experience and work history employers are looking for when they hire business analysts.

>Click here to learn more about our business analysis training opportunities

Download the FREE Business Analyst Skills Assessment

Another great resource to help you get started is the BA Skills Assessment.

In this FREE assessment, you will:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a BA.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> Download the Assessment <<

Learn How to Start Building BA Experience Straight Away

This is a great video to watch and learn how to start expanding your business analysis experience, so you can qualify for a wider range of business analysis positions.

What we found insightful about Terry’s story is how he happened upon business analysis through a meaningful conversation with his manager and then subsequently how he found himself a part of Bridging the Gap.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

• How Terry discovered Bridging the Gap and how he made the decision to join The Business Analyst Blueprint® program.
• How much his employer valued the hands-on aspect of the program.
• How the frameworks helped him bring more structure to what he had felt was a haphazard approach to his projects, and think through things proactively.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Good day. I’m Beverly Sudbury, and I’m an instructor with Bridging the Gap. And I’m here today with Terry Mullins, who is from Columbus, Ohio. He’s currently working as an IT business analyst in the engineering and construction industry. Today, Terry’s going to share with us his journey and how he participated in the Business Analysis Blueprint program and how that contributed to his success.

Thank you, Terry, so much for showing up today and sharing your experience.

TERRY MULLINS: Well, thanks, Beverly. I appreciate the invite to be here, and it’s a pleasure to talk to you and see you.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Great, Terry. Thank you so much again. I’m excited to hear about how you went through things and how you experienced things in the program. So shall we dive in?

TERRY MULLINS: Yeah, absolutely.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: All right. So can you take me back to a time slightly before you actually joined us at the Business Analysis Blueprint program and tell us where you were at in your career and what were you looking to try to achieve?

TERRY MULLINS: The firm that I’ve worked with, I’ve been here a number of years, 30 plus years. I’m a lifer and I have a vested interest in how can we do things better? How can we be more productive? I was in the IT world and still am. For a number of years I did CAD, computer aided design support. A lot of IT support, a lot of programming, software development, things along those lines.

A couple of years ago, about three years ago, I found myself starting to do a lot more R& D on the tech side of things. What are some things that we, as an engineering firm, can be doing that’s industry trends? What are some service offerings we can offer to our clients to build a better product, maintain a better product of things along those lines.

I found myself kind of morphing into that role of look at what we’re doing and how can we do it better and what can we offer. My supervisor, after things kind of working out that way, approached me and said, “Have you thought about becoming kind of like a business analyst? That was a brand new term to me. I’d never heard it before. It’s like, well, we talked about the job description and I’m like, yeah, that’s exactly what I would like to be doing. So, credit him for approaching me about that.

I had to educate myself on, okay, what does a business analyst do?

Like most folks, I went to Amazon and started looking up books. I’ll put in a plug and no one asked me to do this or anything like that. One of the books that came up, it was Laura’s book, Laura Brandenburg, “How to Start a Business Analyst Career.”

I digested that over a few days and it’s marked up everything. It gave me a good base, like, okay, this is something that I’m kind of already doing, but, I just don’t know a lot about it. I like to be very systematic and thought out about what I do step by step by step.

Just familiarizing myself with the job role that led actually looking through the website, Bridging the Gap. That’s when I learned about the program. I started reading the description and was involved because I wanted to educate myself on it.

I shared that with my supervisor and he was really impressed with the program, the outline. This actually involves work on my part as far as developing, it’s not just a study for a series of questions. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it was more than just a question and answer sort of a thing. You’re actually going to get your feet wet. You can actually put it to use. That was very appealing to us. And that really led me towards Bridging the Gap, going that route.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: It sounds like you have a lot of background experience in just how to think as a business analyst and how to start that process off. It sounds like you’ve got had a lot of really good influences, including Laura’s book, to take the program. That’s fantastic news. It’s really interesting that you started with the book and then kind of explored a bit more and went through and then finally found the program. It sounds like your management was very much on board with supporting that decision to go with the program. That’s wonderful.

TERRY MULLINS: Yeah, absolutely. Fully behind it and encouraged me to take it and certainly glad that I did.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: I’m glad that you did too because it was a pleasure having you in the program. That’s fantastic.

So you got to the program. What were you kind of hoping to achieve from the program when you actually were going to complete it? What were your initial thoughts of what is my goal to achieve from this program?

TERRY MULLINS: Really developing a process. I think it’s pointed out in the book and other conversations. You’ll find out you’re doing a lot of these things already. But I didn’t want to feel like I was doing them in a, I hate to say haphazard way, but apply this, do that, do that. Oh, yeah, we should do this. And maybe if I do…I didn’t want it to feel like it was just kind of all over the place. I really wanted to, okay, how do I approach something from start to finish from recognizing here’s a possible issue that we have and here are some possible solutions, here should be involved. Building that business case.

How do I think of something through from start to finish to where you can actually develop a product or satisfy your stakeholders? I just wanted a systematic way of approaching things. That’s really what I was seeking.

BEVERY SUDBURY: It sounds like you were looking, specifically, for the framework that is actually explored within the program. I’m glad you found it. That is fantastic.

Can you tell me a bit about your experience during the program? What things did you actually find helpful for you?

TERRY MULLINS: I’d have a hard time here just coming up with a short list because it was extreme. It was exactly what I hoped to achieve. It taught me that process. It introduced me to a lot of new concepts, use cases and user stories, agile. There was a lot of things that I wasn’t familiar with at all. I’ve been doing them somewhat in practice, but like I said, just hadn’t been taught the actual framework for it. So I really wanted to achieve that.

The program, I highly recommend because it taught me all those skills that I’ve been putting into practice since completing the course.

As far as expectation goes, we’ll find on the website what to kind of expect and things like that. It ended up being, it was work, but it was very beneficial. There was a purpose behind it. There was always a goal to achieve. It did involve time and effort on my part, but anything worth achieving is worth working for.

The very structure from start to finish, the lesson plan, really helped me, just like I said, think through those things. It was work, but like I said, I think it’s paid off quite a bit. And I’ve been putting it into practice, too. I find myself more and more, as weeks go by, going back to even my notes from class and saying, “Oh, okay, I remember doing this. I remember writing this. I remember this is how to approach that.” I’ve been referring back to it quite a bit in my job role now.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: It sounds like you’ve got a lot of good information out of the program that really did help you.

How did you find things like the support and the program, how it was laid out? Was that helpful to you as well?

TERRY MULLINS: It was extremely helpful because you have the lesson, and then the live Q and A. I try to attend those as much as possible to directly interact with the instructors. Then being able to contact you via email, work directly with you throughout the course. Emailing questions, and you were always very, very helpful.

“I’m not going to give you the answer, but think about it this way,” sort of thing. That was extremely helpful to me. You always gave me great direction. I didn’t feel like I was just there trying to work through the course trying to figure out on my own, there was a lot of support. That was great to have. Very helpful.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Excellent. Thank you for your kind words, Terry. I do appreciate that. It was a pleasure. I agree. It’s one of those things that it’s a course where you actually have to think through what you’re going to respond, and think like a BA and understand that it’s not just a response you can put down, but you actually have to analyze what’s going on and what your answers are going to be. Very good to hear that you’ve got that experience and it’s helped you manage your own working environment and where you’re going towards in the future.

If you hadn’t invested in this program, if you hadn’t invested in the Business Analysis Blueprint Program, do you think you would be where you’re at today? Where do you think you would be?

TERRY MULLINS: I honestly don’t think I would be at this, I don’t want to say skilled level, but ability in my current role. I really don’t think I would probably still be approaching things the way I did piecing things together. Like I said go back to that systematic thought through process of doing things. Things could have been done. Yeah. But it could have taken more time, more effort, more wasted effort. If I just felt like I was just trying to put things together on my own, but being able to, like you said, have that framework of how to think things through.

Just a couple of quick examples. The first opportunity I really had to say, okay, I’m going to put this into practice. I’m going to write a business case. Here’s an issue that had been brought to my attention just to document. Here’s the current scenario. Here’s why it needs to be improved. Here are some things that could be done. Here’s who should be involved and here are the benefits from it. Just outline that into a document, into a business case.

The first one that I passed on, the feedback we got was this was extremely helpful. In a one or two page document you basically summarized the current scenario, why we should even invest time in this and here’s how it will pay off. The feedback I got was just very, very encouraging. This was very, very helpful. I find myself doing that now quite a bit. Before we proceed, let’s think this through. What’s the issue? What are we trying to solve here? Here are some possible scenarios and solutions. I’ve gotten great feedback and now I’m actually getting requests. “Hey, can you write one for this?” That sort of thing. I’m already actively putting into practice what I’ve learned and through the course. It’s been extremely helpful. I don’t think I’d be doing any of that right now if it wasn’t for the program.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: It sounds like you got a lot of good skills out of the program, but also from what I’m hearing you say, you got a lot of confidence because you’re now challenging yourself to do some things that you may have not attempted before because you have that framework and those skills that you’ve kind of dabbled in through the program and you’ve gotten good feedback from the instructors and you’re now saying, I can do this because I can achieve it. So it sounds like you got some good confidence out of the course as well.

TERRY MULLINS: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. That’s absolutely the truth. I feel like I can do this.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: You’re now an old pro at it.

TERRY MULLINS: Yeah.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Your story has been wonderful. I really appreciate what you’ve said. It really shows how someone like yourself who’s dedicated to learning and putting some time and effort and can really,  get a lot of value out of a program like this through the actual application of the skills that you read about and learn about, and then getting the feedback from the instructors and working through that whole process of thinking and doing. It sounds like you had a great experience, Terry.

TERRY MULLINS: Absolutely. That’s an understatement. I would do it over again in a heartbeat and highly recommend it to anyone pursuing this path. It will pay off.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Thank you for that, Terry. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate you spending your time here today and sharing your experience with us, and telling us about what you have done. It sounds like you’ve accomplished a lot in your position, so I do appreciate you sharing that.

Is there anything else you’d like to share to anyone who might be considering moving into a BA path or even taking this course?

TERRY MULLINS: You can do it. Yeah, you can do it. You need some instruction and guidance and encouragement along the way and this program certainly accomplishes all those things thanks to you and Laura and everyone. The whole team there, they were all great. I had a great experience with everyone.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Sounds fantastic. Thank you again, Terry, and congratulations on your successes after the course. I really appreciate you sharing that with us today.

TERRY MULLINS: Thanks. Thanks Beverly.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: All right. Bye now.

However, having a set of goals is critical to taking ownership of your career and making the most of your work.

In this video, Laura dives into the essence of professional development goals for business analysts. You’ll discover how these goals are not just milestones, but catalysts that propel your career forward.

Discover exactly where you stand as a business analyst by taking our FREE BA Skills Assessment. In this free assessment, you will:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a business analyst.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> Click here to take the FREE BA Skills Assessment <<

Performance Goal #1 – Broaden Your Skills by Using New Techniques

Your experience broadens as you use more techniques. Even if you are working on projects in the same domain, working with the same stakeholders, and using the same methodology, new techniques can help explore the requirements in a new way. And over time, you’ll expand your business analysis skill set.

Consider the following specific goals for your performance plan:

• Use a new elicitation technique to discover or validate the requirements.
• Experiment with a new visual model to clarify a complex concept.
• Consider a new type of requirements document to address a currently unmet need, such as a business process model, scope statement, or use case.
• Earn a business analyst certification.

Participants in The Business Analyst Blueprint® program learn and apply techniques in business process analysis, use cases and wireframes, data modeling, as well as the end-to-end business analysis process.

Download the FREE Business Analyst Skills Assessment

In this FREE assessment, you will:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a BA.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> Download the Assessment <<

While you can broaden your BA skill set even while working in a consistent BA role, changing things up just about forces you to use or improve your skills. So let’s look at a few ways to change things up.

Performance Goal #2 – Work in a New Domain

Your business analysis skills become more valuable as you learn to work with new stakeholders and gain a broader exposure to new domains. Doing the same type of work, but in a new context, takes your skills to the next level.

For one of your performance goals, look for an assignment in a new business unit, department, or business domain.

Performance Goal #3 – Work in a New Methodology

Working on different types of projects exposes us to new methodologies and types of requirements specifications. It also challenges you to discover the core business analysis principles that are relevant, regardless of what type of project work you are working on.

As a professional development goal, ask to be assigned to project work on a team that uses a different project methodology or tool set to broaden your experience.

Performance Goal #4 – Improve Your Business Analysis Process

With exposure to different projects, stakeholders, domains, and methodologies, you learn what works well and what doesn’t work so well. Often your business analysis process stays the same, even while your work changes and matures. Look for ways to incorporate what you’ve learned into your organization’s BA process so other BAs can benefit from your insights.

Goals in this area could include updating a template, documenting an as is process, or creating a tip sheet.

Not sure how to improve your business analysis process? Here’s a video walking you through the 8-step business analysis process framework we teach at Bridging the Gap.

Performance Goal #5 – Strengthen Stakeholder Relationships

When we have stronger rapport with our stakeholders, it’s easier to get more work done.  Yet, if we’ve worked in the same organization for awhile, it’s easy to become complacent and rely on existing relationships to get work done.

Set a goal to strengthen your relationship with a stakeholder, improve a troublesome relationship you’ve let linger this year, or form a new relationship with a stakeholder assigned to upcoming projects. Often simple techniques, such as engaging stakeholders more effectively, can make significant improvements in relationships.

Performance Goal #6 – Mentor Other BAs

Your ability to lead others will help you move into more senior BA roles. Become a mentor to a newly hired business analyst, a professional that’s interested in business analysis, or another member of your department.

You don’t have to be the expert in all areas of business analysis to mentor someone in an area of business analysis. For example:

• If you have a technical background, but your fellow BAs are from the business side, offer to perform a technical review of a requirements document or answer questions about technical terminology.
• If you are from the business side, share your subject matter expertise with a fellow BA who comes from outside your domain and offer to provide process overviews as they get up-to-speed on a new project.
• If you learn a new BA technique or are really good at a particular kind of visual model, offer to share your knowledge and conduct a peer review for other BAs in your department.

As you share what you know, you’ll be building your reputation as a leader and a team player, which can lead to positive outcomes for your BA career. You might also consider sharing your knowledge in a more formal way, so let’s talk about that next.

Performance Goal #7 – Share Your Business Analysis Knowledge

Sharing your knowledge will not only demonstrate your leadership skills but could eventually lead to a larger role for you within your BA team.

Consider starting a ‘lunch and learn’ with your fellow BAs. This doesn’t have to require a lot of time if you use available resources to structure these sessions. For example, one of our readers hosted monthly meetings to discuss these 53 tips for discovering all the requirements  and share best practices.

Performance Goal #8 – Take on Non-Business Analyst Responsibilities

If you’d eventually like to move out of business analysis or up into a BA leadership role, it’s important to diversify your work experience and build skills that are not formally part of the business analysis toolkit. You can do this by looking for new responsibilities outside your current work, or taking on hybrid business analyst roles.

Ripe options include project management, technical architecture, business process analysis, or product ownership.

Performance Goal #9 – Take On More Senior Business Analyst Responsibilities

On the other hand, if you’d like to stay within business analysis for the foreseeable future, consider looking at how you can take on new senior business analyst responsibilities. Pay the most attention to areas where you can increase the value BAs add to projects or solve current issues that are holding your organization back.

Performance Goal #10 – Get Involved

The business analysis profession is a thriving and open community that welcomes professionals from all kinds of career backgrounds, industries, and career levels. It’s never too early to get involved. Check for a local IIBA Chapter meeting to attend (most allow non-members to attend for a nominal fee) or get involved virtually.

3 Rules of Thumb When Setting Performance Goals

1. Be sure your performance goals align with the mode your organization is in, so that achieving your goals also adds more value to your organization.
2. Instead of looking at performance goals as things to do that are above and beyond work as normal, look at how you can transform the work you are doing anyway into a professional development opportunity.
3. Focus on performance goals that actually get you where you want to go. In this next video on Hybrid Roles, you’ll learn how to expand your role in meaningful ways, while also letting go of responsibilities that no longer are serving you and your career.

Download the FREE Business Analyst Skills Assessment

In this FREE assessment, you will:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a BA.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> Download the Assessment <<

What we love about having Nathan as part of The Business Analyst Blueprint® community is the experience he shares as a business owner and seeing the application of the training through every angle.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

• How, despite his wealth of experience, Nathan desired to strengthen his foundational knowledge to ensure there were no gaps.
• How the challenges of The Blueprint program encouraged Nathan to dig deeper and provided confidence that he was on the right path.
• Why Nathan chose The Blueprint program after his comparison of several business analyst training programs.
• The aspects of The Blueprint program that Nathan found most beneficial and how the type of delivery encouraged him to be more engaged with the program.

ANDREA WILSON: Good afternoon. I am Andrea Wilson and I am here with Nathan Relevy. We are here to kind of talk about you and your experience with The Blueprint. I hear that you are a new ACBA member. Exciting. Congratulations.

NATHAN RELEVY: Thank you. Thank you very much.

ANDREA WILSON: New to the community, right? So spring 2023. You’re fresh in the club. Glad to have you and welcome, welcome.

NATHAN RELEVY: Thank you. Thank you very much.

ANDREA WILSON: I hear that you founded a business and you’ve got a lot of things going on. You’re in the software industry and I’d like you to talk about what it is that you do. Tell us a little bit about what you do and where you’re from.

NATHAN RELEVY: Sure. Okay. I actually have an accounting background from some years ago, but moved into technology soon after. For the last 16 years, I’ve been running my business in the UK. We provide bespoke software solutions to very diverse businesses who much prefer their own tailor made set up rather than getting something off the shelf.

I do have a team which includes developers, testers, project managers and analysts as well. Although I do have a lot of experience in both development and analysis, I felt there was value in attending the Blueprint program in order to more formalize my skills in business analysis and also, I guess, generally, to see if there were better practices that perhaps I’m missing out on.

ANDREA WILSON: Wow, that’s awesome. As a business owner, I expect folks will go, okay, what’s going on here? Why are we looking at this foundational stuff? Why are we looking at the business analysis Blueprint? You gave us a taste there. As a developer having done analysis before you were looking for some way to kind of make sure you were on the right path. There were some formal skills that you needed to either gain or hone.

You visited with us and you stuck through the program. That’s exciting. That’s what you were looking to achieve. What motivated you to go for ACBA as opposed to any other certification? What brought you here?

NATHAN RELEVY: First of all, I’m always looking to broaden my knowledge, broaden my skills in the IT sector, especially as things change very frequently, very rapidly. It’s important not to rest on one’s laurels, but also to see if there are other technologies, other skills, other methodologies.

I stumbled across Bridging the Gap, the ACBA. I did some research and I looked at other business analysis programs. In particular, I looked at other accredited courses with the Institute of International Business Analysis, and the reason why I chose the Blueprint provided by Bridging the Gap was because I rather liked the way that they were teaching it in an applied method, rather than just teaching a lot of theory, and then expect you to do an exam. I think a lot of qualifications that are passed based on examinations lack the essential experiential skills as well as access to instructors that really have hands on experience. That’s what attracted me to it.

ANDREA WILSON:  You’ve kind of gone over into your experience in the program and I really want to talk about some of that. Was there any particular module of the program that stuck out for you?

NATHAN RELEVY: All of the four modules, I felt each of them brought a refreshing different perspectives to, obviously, the role of business analysis. On the one hand, I liked the fact that they were all varied and they touched on different aspects.

The interesting thing is that a run of the mill business analyst probably wouldn’t be involved with every aspect of the modules that were taught in the Blueprint course. For example, in a large company, a business analyst would be one of a number of a larger team, whereas in a smaller company, I suppose, the business analyst may have to get their hands dirty with a lot of the things that we’ve learned.

I’m a firm believer that even if you’re not going to do something yourself, it’s very useful to have an awareness of what needs to be done so that when you do go in and talk or meet with the people who are actually going to do those things, whether it’s the wireframe designers or the technical database developers, that number one, you can understand their lingo, if I can use that expression, because in my experience skilled professionals appreciate your interactions much more if you have an appreciation for what they do rather than being totally ignorant of their area.

ANDREA WILSON: I love that. We talk about overlap. You’ve you touched on developer. We talked on analysis. We even talked about owner, founder of the company. Having that ability to communicate across those different roles really brings it together and builds some trust.

One of the things we covered in multiple parts of this was having that ability to build relationships. That’s really important. Thank you for pointing out. Being able to communicate and overlap with your skill set really is helpful in building that trust and helping your stakeholders to communicate with you.

NATHAN RELEVY: Yes, absolutely.

ANDREA WILSON: Were there any challenges you faced during the process of going through your ACBA?

NATHAN RELEVY: Yes. I’m very pleased that there were challenges because if there weren’t, then I clearly wasn’t learning anything.

But, yes, it did challenge my thinking. I think, on the one hand, those delegates or candidates who do embark on the course, they come at it from different perspectives. On the one hand, they may already have the experience and they want to get some formal accreditation or recognition or qualification for it.

On the other hand, at the other end of the spectrum they may be coming at it very green and maybe are plunged into a role where they need to do business analysis and they’re thinking, I don’t have the requisite skills.

Obviously for me, I’m coming at it with somebody with experience, and I’ve also done prints to project management, and I’ve done various other courses over the years. The point is that people tend to become very staid in their thinking. You continue doing things the same way as you’ve done them before unless or until you find that they no longer work or there’s something better to do.

Despite the experience that I have and the successes that I’ve had over the years, I still learned a lot of interesting perspectives and techniques from Bridging the Gap. I found that in some ways it challenged me because I had to think differently when it came to dealing with certain things as opposed to just learn afresh how to do some things that I’ve never done before.

ANDREA WILSON: That does place yourself in a new position for learning. Applying it is very different because as you walk through things, especially a seasoned person, “I know that already. I know that already,” and then you have to apply it. You start thinking, okay, I know the message, but how do I apply the message? That can be very challenging, especially from a seasoned person who has a way of doing things. Now you’ve got to rethink it.

That was a bit of my experience too. I did go through the program and, and it was refreshing thinking that and then having that opportunity to work with instructors to work through that, I think, is a great part of the program.

I want to hear if you have any takeaways from your experience that you think would be helpful for anybody who’s thinking about going through the program.

NATHAN RELEVY: Sure. Yes, I do. I think looking, again, at those two different ends of the spectrum, for a seasoned professional, I think it’s very important that one approaches the program with an open mind ready to try different ways and different techniques to do things and resist the temptation to say I’m going to do this the way that I’m used to doing it. Because if you do, even if you do pass the program, you’ve still missed out on opportunities to learn some different techniques, which might possibly provide some improvements. Obviously for someone green to the program, it’s important that they really try and take in and embed the knowledge that’s learned.

I didn’t find the program rushed on the one hand. But yet there was pressure, which is kind of quite an odd way to, to put it. What I mean by that is I like the way the program was delivered in a piecemeal fashion. I don’t just mean the modules, but even within a module, it was actually,  done in a piecemeal way which meant that all candidates, whether they were seasoned or not, couldn’t go any faster than any of the other candidates, which meant that everybody was more or less going at the same speed with, obviously, some flexibility.

I would definitely say in terms of takeaways, read through all the material, obviously watch all of the videos, look through all the material and make sure that you understand exactly what’s being asked of you because that same skill, you need to really make sure that you read and understand the program, actually that same skill that you need when you’re listening and meeting with clients and product owners.

At the end of the day, if you don’t listen to them, if you miss even some detail, later on down the line during the project, it’s going to crop up as a gremlin that needs to be solved.

ANDREA WILSON: I love that. You wear lots of hats. You’ve done scrum master, you’ve done some project management, you’ve done some development, and now you sit here at the top. You find the need not just to continue to grow, but to look deeper at business analysis.

And you just hit the nail on the head. The listening. You’ve got to hear and you’ve got to find those gaps and knowledge. I thank you for bringing that up.

You also mentioned, I think I saw some instructor feedback and support through the program. I saw some really good feedback from you on that. Can we take a minute to discuss that? Maybe you talk about your experience there.

NATHAN RELEVY: Yeah, sure. I said in my feedback that over the years I’ve done various courses, some formal with accredited qualifications, and some not formal, or informal, if you like. Because to me, it’s about learning, learning, learning, learning, as much as I can, because I never know what question I’m going to be asked by either a product owner or someone else. And, obviously, they could be coming at it from a different background.

I said in my instructor feedback that of all the courses that I’ve done over the years, and I really have done probably more than I can count, I found the way that the Blueprint was delivered was very different from anything else I’d ever experienced.

It’s quite odd because I’ve attended courses face to face with an instructor over days, sometimes even over weeks, and I was very surprised how I could feel even more engaged with the instructors, despite them being thousands of miles away and never, literally, meeting face to face, let alone shaking hands than I’ve ever felt when I’ve actually been in a room face to face with an instructor and other candidates. The fact that I even attended instructor hours, sometimes when I didn’t need to, because I’d already completed the module or completed my work, I still found value and I did feel that the other students were not only supportive, but they didn’t hold back from asking questions. There was none of this feeling that, oh, I’m going to make myself look bad by asking a question that might be embarrassing. I think that was largely because the instructors really put the candidates at ease. There was no kind of pressure to quickly rush things. No question was silly.

I mean, there were some questions where instructors actually went on for quite a few minutes trying to explain something to the people who are asking the questions to make sure that they got it. I have to say, I think that’s quite a rare quality in some kind of instructor led course.

ANDREA WILSON: Thank you for sharing that. We did kind of talk as a team and we were so very excited to hear that because that’s one of the goals, to make everyone feel comfortable. When we have those instructor hour moments, when we have those webinar moments, it’s for us as a community to work together. They’re working hours for us to feel comfortable and really discuss what’s going on. It’s so awesome to see the learning between participants because it’s not just about the instructor. I thought it was very valuable to hear that and I’m appreciative of your sharing that today.

What would you say was an outcome for you, personally, of going through the ACBA program? This is really valuable because others may look at this and say, well, wait a minute. You’re a business owner. You founded a business. You have this reputation. You’ve done these tons of things. You’ve worn all these hats, lots of hats, as different types of analysts – operations analysts, you’ve done some support analysts. You’ve done the whole scrum master piece. What would you say is the outcome for you, personally, coming from that standpoint?

NATHAN RELEVY: I would say that there were 3 main outcomes. Number 1, increasingly, from perspective clients, but also from existing clients who are claiming, certainly in the UK, a very generous research and development tax relief available afforded for technological solutions that are innovative, the authorities are asking about the professional credentials of the experts involved on the project. So I felt a need, although I do have various accreditations and qualifications under my belt already, generally speaking, they’re from quite some time ago, so I felt the need to get some qualifications or accreditations that were more recent and up to date, okay. So I’ve ticked that box.

The second thing, as I’ve already mentioned, is to basically see if I’m missing a trick. The ways that I’ve been and the methods that I’ve been using and the techniques I’ve been using over the years, perhaps,  may have been superseded with other methods, better methods.

I’m pleased to say that the eight steps of plan that’s covered within the program really does provide a nice structure around it. I think in some ways it’s expanded, consolidated. It’s added width, breadth and depth to my own skill set.

The third reason is because, as I’ve mentioned, I have a number of staff, quite a few of whom have come from working with other companies, in some cases from large banks and large institutions. I’ve seen that there’s been a very disparate level of expertise and skills within my staff and I want to provide a level of consistency to my staff. What I’ve sought to do from the training that I’ve had is to try and implement the aspects of that within my own company amongst my other staff.

Actually, if I may add a fourth one, I’m also encouraging my clients as well, even where there is no formal product owner designation within those clients, I’m encouraging my clients to actually take on that role of product owner and an internal analyst so that when they approach us for any changes they’ve at least done some preparation, initially, and they can have a more useful conversation with me about those changes. Because the more my clients understand about the value of business analysis, the more they can appreciate what it can provide. And, obviously, in some ways that makes things easier, and hopefully smoother for me.

ANDREA WILSON: Excellent. It’s a growing community. And it’s awesome because you can have those more meaningful and effective meetings in conversations and have a more efficient use of your time. If you are thinking in terms of your process and evaluating your process and you’re able to come to the table and discuss things from that standpoint.

Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to say about your experience with Bridging the Gap or anything you’d like to share at all? Anything?

NATHAN RELEVY: On a personal note, I think, Laura, as well as being an absolute amazing person herself, again, I only know her from remote meetings that I’ve had in interactions, obviously, over video, but I really have to applaud and congratulate Laura for assembling an absolutely outstanding team.

And, obviously, each and every instructor, and even the support staff behind the scenes as well. You’ve done a tremendous job delivering the program. I’m sure you will be able to maintain it.

I would be very interested to hear about any other courses that you guys are doing, although I appreciate it’s not about quantity, it’s about the quality. I sincerely think that the way you actually train people in the business analysis role is exactly, well, it’s not just the way it needs to be done. It’s the best way, best way ever.

I think I said in my feedback, I felt kind of a tinge of sadness when the program came to an end. I had such a good time interacting with everybody over the five months that, as odd as it sounds, I didn’t want it to end. Although obviously I was busy. It came to an end. But you know what I mean. I’m going to miss the instructors, miss the team.

ANDREA WILSON: Well, you’ve done a good job of connecting and we will definitely stay in touch. I love that. And you bring some excellent points out. We’ve seen you out on LinkedIn making some comments about what you do, about your business. We love the support that you’re providing to Bridging the Gap. And those were very kind words.

Laura is an amazing person and the team works really well together. It’s very cohesive, and we feel like we’re a team with the participants when they’re there. Thank you for reiterating that comment and expressing just what I feel about the group. I appreciate that.

Thank you again for coming to Bridging the Gap and for participating. I mean really participating. Because you were there. Again, you had finished your work, but you would still come to instructor hour. You shared with other participants. You took information from other participants and it just became kind of a family atmosphere and your participation was very important in doing that.

Welcome to the ACBA club, again. Thank you for visiting with us and thank you for taking the time to speak with me this evening.

NATHAN RELEVY: It was a real pleasure. Thank you very much. Andrea.

ANDREA WILSON: Awesome. Thank you so much.

NATHAN RELEVY: Take care.

A TOOLBOX of techniques that you can pick and choose from, based on the needs of your project and team.
A FRAMEWORK that guides you step-by-step what to when.

At Bridging the Gap, we provide an organized, streamlined, and practical toolbox and framework in the form of The Business Analyst Blueprint® – it’s both a framework for approaching business analysis skill development and the name of our flagship, online, practical business analyst training program.

And it looks like this (and keep reading below for a break-down of what each part is and what it means):

The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework is Organized Into Analysis & Communication Techniques

The first thing you’ll notice about The Business Analyst Blueprint® is that the techniques are organized into Analysis Techniques and Communication Techniques. The Analysis Techniques are the models and templates we use as business analysts to analyze and think through the requirements.

Requirements do not get created in a vacuum. We must elicit or discover them from our stakeholders. This is why knowing the right Communication Techniques to use as a business analyst are equally important.

The key Communication Techniques for collaborating with stakeholders are:

• Discovery Session – to discover information related to the process or requirements from business stakeholders, so the requirements represent their needs.
• Requirements Review Session – to validate the requirements that have been captured are clear and correct.

We also consider the glossary and user stories to be communication techniques, because their primary purpose is to capture and communicate requirements-related information to various stakeholder groups.

Here’s a video all about user stories – if you want to explore how to leverage them as a communication tool on an agile team.

The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework: Multiple Levels of Technique Help You Avoid Missing Requirements.

The second thing you’ll notice about The Business Analyst Blueprint is that there is not just one set of analysis techniques. We miss requirements either when we don’t involve the right stakeholders (i.e., apply the right communication skills) or overlook key areas of requirements because we are only looking at one view.

When you use multiple techniques, particularly powerful analytical and visual models, you will find that you naturally see gaps that others gloss over and identify the downstream impact of a change or new solution.

The Business Analyst Blueprint® framework includes 3 key levels of analysis that are important to fully understanding a problem and solution domain, when software is being implemented as part of the solution. These are the business-level, software-level, and information-level.

Let’s look at each of these separately.

The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework: Business Process Level

The Business-Level articulates how the business work flows operationally. When you have a clear understanding of the business process, you will be able to clarify the business problem to be solved and ensure the technical solution delivers actual value to the business.

At this level, the analytical techniques include:

• A Business Process Flow diagrams which is a visual model showing the end-to-end flow of the steps a business user (or group of business users) take to accomplished a desired outcome within the organization.
• An accompanying Business Process Document which is a textual model providing additional details like business rules, exceptions, entry and end points.

Analyzing a business process is almost always a great way to start figuring out what problem needs to be solved and getting stakeholders on the same page about the key issues to be addressed by a project. Often you can solve a lot of problems just by clarifying the “as is” or current state process, so this is a really productive set of techniques to have in your toolbox.

Learn more about creating process flow diagrams, or process maps, in this video:

The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework: Software Level

The Software-Level captures how the software system supports the business workflows. When you analyze your functional (software) requirements in use cases and visually model them in wireframes, you create the perfect combination to get your business stakeholders and technical implementers on the same page about the requirements more quickly.

At this level, the analytical techniques include:

• Use Cases which is a textual model that describes exactly what the software needs to do, and capture the requirements in a way that is clear to both the business and technology stakeholders, so that the software development team can build what the business actually wants.
• Corresponding wireframes show what the screens on the page might look like, and make it easier for stakeholders to visualize the requirements and provide meaningful feedback.

Use cases also help you generate a lot of high quality questions to be asking, because missing pieces and requirements pop out pretty quickly with a good set of use cases. What’s more, you can use them for both new software development as well as configurations or customizations of COTS or SaaS projects.

Learn more about use cases in this video:

The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework: Information Level

The Information-Level addresses how data and information are stored and maintained by an organization. Data modeling is critical on all kinds of projects, but especially data migration and system integration projects.

And while data modeling can seem quite technical, the way we teach these techniques at Bridging the Gap is from a business-focused approach. And using these modeling techniques can help you earn credibility with your developers, since you’ll be able to talk in their language (even when you don’t know how to code or write SQL).

Key data modeling techniques include:

• Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD), which bridges gaps between business concepts and technical database design using a simple visual format that really engages stakeholders.
• Data Dictionary, which shows you how to organize and drill down into the detailed data requirements. You will also take away the essential concepts you’d glean from an introductory SQL class.
• Data Map, which shows you how to visualize the information flows between systems and clarify boundaries that speeds up the scoping and elicitation process.
• System Context Diagram, which shows you how to visualize the information flows between systems and clarify boundaries that speeds up the scoping and elicitation process.

This video is a great place to start diving into data modeling:

The End-to-End Business Analysis Process in The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework

The next thing you’ll notice about The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework is that there is a foundational framework underlying the techniques. This is the business analysis process, or the end-to-end approach you apply to be successful and effective on a typical business process improvement and software project.

Having a structure and trusted approach gives you credibility.

The business analysis process leads you step-by-step through how to approach a software project as a business analyst and covers:

1. Get Oriented – Start actively contributing as quickly as possible.
2. Discover the Primary Business Objectives– Ensure the right business problem is solved.
3. Define Scope– Gain agreement from stakeholders on the scope of the project.
4. Formulate Your Business Analysis Plan– Identify the deliverables, stakeholders, and timelines for a comprehensive solution.
5. Define the Detailed Requirements– Establish an efficient and collaborative rhythm.
6. Support the Technical Implementation– Ensure the technical solution meets the actual business objectives.
7. Help the Business Implement the Solution– Support business stakeholders so that the solution ultimately delivers the intended result.
8. Assess the Value Created by the Solution– Assess the ROI of the solution.

As you leverage this process framework, you’ll gain increased recognition for the value of business analysis, and you’ll start to get pulled into more interesting projects, and be engaged earlier in the process. Here’s a video about the business analysis process framework.

Leverage the Power of The Business Analyst Blueprint® Framework

When you leverage a framework like The Business Analyst Blueprint®, you’ll be able to shift from being reactive to proactive. You’ll have a toolbox of techniques to use in just about any situation you find yourself in as a business analyst, and you’ll know exactly what to do when!

Business analysis can feel so fuzzy and mystifying, but it certainly doesn’t have to be that way.

Join The Business Analyst Blueprint® Training Program

Click the image below – or visit this link – to find out all about The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program – our practical, results-oriented program designed to help you achieve more success in the real-world as a business analyst.

I hope to see you in class!

With data mapping, you can take control of your projects from the very beginning, setting the stage for successful implementation.

In this video, Laura will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating a data map, without needing any type of coding language or SQL knowledge.

Once you understand data mapping, you’ll be empowered to tackle data migration and system integration projects with confidence!

In this video, you’ll discover:

• A data mapping sample
• The key components of a data map
• Resolving potential issues with data modeling
• Finding data mapping issues in the data model

As a business analyst, you need to have the ability to showcase how data seamlessly flows between information systems ensuring smooth operations and avoiding the headaches of data inconsistencies and mapping issues. With data mapping, you can take control of your projects from the very beginning setting the stage for a successful implementation. That’s why in this video, I will guide you step by step through the process of creating a data map, all without needing any type of coding language, or even SQL knowledge. Once you understand data mapping, you will be empowered to tackle data migration and system integration projects with confidence. So don’t click away.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis, tips and techniques.

A Data Mapping Sample

Essentially, a data mapping specification will analyze on either a field-by-field basis how to move data from one system to another. Here is a sample data mapping template and an example that you can use to see how this works in action.

This is a hypothetical example, assuming that we’re sending a data feed from the Bridging the Gap article repository to a search engine.

In this scenario, I would want to map the key attributes of an article, such as the title, the category and content to the attributes specified by the search engine. This analysis exercise would ensure that each piece of information ended up in the most appropriate place in the target repository.

For a little context, by the time that you are at this stage of the project, this is definitely not the first technique that you would be using most often.

By now you have analyzed the business process, you’ve defined the functional software requirements, you have an overall vision of the project scope. You’ve also done some high level data modeling, like creating an ERD or an Entity Relationship Diagram, and a system context diagram. Now you are looking at how data is going to flow specifically from one system to another at a very granular level of detail to achieve those bigger picture business objectives.

The Key Components of a Data Map

To achieve this goal, let’s just talk about the key components of a data map.

• It’s going to contain a list of attributes. For the original source of data, often that additional information comes from a data dictionary.
• Then it’s going to have a corresponding, or mapped, list of attributes for the target data repository, again, with additional information from your data dictionary.
• Then it has translation rules defining any data manipulation that needs to happen as information moves between the two sources, such as setting default values, combining fields, or mapping the values from one example to another.

Data Mapping is About Resolving Potential Issues

In its essence, data mapping is about resolving potential issues. Creating a data mapping specification like this requires discovering and resolving potential issues prior to the mapping being implemented. You don’t want to get to the point where you’re trying to move the actual data between systems and all kinds of errors are popping up or the users are looking at the data and feel like so much data is just missing. We lost the data. You want to prevent those problems by doing this analysis upfront. In a data migration or an integration, there are any number of differences between how the data is stored and where it goes can cause that data to be lost or misrepresented in some way that looks really significant, especially to a business user.

For example, it might be that the source data has a text field and your target data repository uses an enumerated list. Without analyzing the data and providing some logic for how to map those text values to the values in that enumerated list or the list of potential allowable values, or doing some sort of data cleanup before that happens, you’re likely to experience a lot of errors in the system migration.

Even in our simplest data mapping exercise here in this example, there are multiple mapping issues that we had to work through.

• For example, the article title contains HTML in the source data. Not uncommon to have some sort of code that would then in another system show as code versus automatically be filtered out.
• Also the source data can have multiple categories while the search engine has a single text field. You might want to have logic for turning multiple values in the category field into a comma or semicolon separated list in that text field.
• Another example is that the article truncated to 4,000 characters. While there’s no limit in the source data, the same with the URL.

In each of these cases, as the business analyst, you want to use your knowledge of the business process to identify how to handle that mapping issue or collaborate with the business stakeholders to really discover their needs and their desires and what they’re willing to invest in potential data cleanup and manipulation and organization and scrubbing before the migration or the integration happens.

It’s really important. I know I keep stressing this, but it’s important for this to happen before the actual development part of the data migration starts so that these issues can be found and then direction can be provided to the database developers who may not have the same in depth knowledge of the business that you’ve developed as the business analyst.

It’s also not uncommon to need the business to do actual data cleanup before the migration. Often that best happens in the source system because you have all the data there versus trying to get over what you can and doing things in the new system or the target system.

Finding Data Mapping Issues in the Data Model

Data mapping is going to help you get really, really clear on how the data is going to flow from one system to another. However, mapping issues can be even more significant than like how one field maps to another.

Often when you’re moving between systems or relationships. In the data model itself that are different between systems. For example, if our article system happened to have a concept of a newsletter or a group of articles that wasn’t maintained by the target system, we could lose a lot of value in how our content was organized during that migration.

These sorts of data modeling differences show up when you’re creating an ERD or an entity relationship ship diagram. An ERD is an incredibly useful tool to use before you do more detailed data modeling like this so that you can get a sense of the big picture of how key concepts in your business relate before you dive into the details.

If you’re not familiar with what an ERD is or how to construct one, we have a free sample and a tutorial that you can download.

>> Click here for free download <<

Additionally, another critical data modeling technique for system integration and migration projects is called the system context diagram.

If you want to learn more about that, watch the video below and I’ll tell you more about that next. I’ll see you there.

No, you don’t have to be a UX designer to even aspire to be one.

In today’s fast-paced world, getting everyone on the same page about software functionality is crucial. That’s where wireframes come in!

They are the secret weapon that saves time, improves collaboration, and ensures clarity in software requirements.

Wireframing is a technique that any business analyst can master, and in this video, you’ll discover:

• What wireframes represent
• The different levels of wireframe fidelity
• How to create a wireframe
• How to get business stakeholders feedback on wireframes
• Challenges to watch out when wireframing

Say hello to the System Context Diagram, your secret solution to project scope!

In today’s world, projects are only becoming more and more complex, and even the tiniest tweak can send ripples through numerous systems.

A System Context Diagram is an elegant solution and visual powerhouse that will have your business and technical stakeholders nodding in agreements as you confidently navigate the intricacies of scope.

In our new video, Laura will guide you through the creation process and unveil the three primary parts of its syntax. You’ll also discover practical examples and insider tips that’ll get you comfortable with utilizing a System Context Diagram.

Being a great business analyst goes beyond foundational skills. It’s about being resourceful, utilizing the right tools at the right time, and creating alignment and clarity through active stakeholder engagement.

Watch our new video 7 Secrets of Good Business Analysts now:

>>Click here for the free download <<

In my experience as a business analyst, a manager of business analysts, and now a trainer of business analysts, there are certain qualities that really set high performing business analysts apart, and these qualities make them highly coveted by managers and pave the way towards more career opportunities as well.  Stay tuned and I will share exactly what those are.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis, tips and techniques.

#1 – Good Business Analysts Have a Strong Foundational Business Analysis Skill Set

Tip number one is that good business analysts have a strong foundational business analysis skill set. They are strong communicators, problem solvers. They are able to think critically. They can create requirement specifications, analyze requirements, and create visual models. They can facilitate elicitation sessions and use the necessary business analysis tools.

That is the foundation, and then you must do a little bit more.

#2 – Good Business Analysts are Resourceful

Tip number two is that good business analysts are resourceful. They know how to find the answers to questions and don’t wait for the answers to come to them. They find alternative paths through the organization and involve the right people at the right time. Good business analysts rarely get stopped for long and can often work through challenging situations to come through to a solution.

#3 – Good Business Analysts Grow their Toolbox of Skills

Tip number three is that good business analysts grow their toolbox of skills. They are not content to do the same thing, the same way, every time. For a long time, I applied use cases in every requirement situation. Gaining confidence to apply a wider variety of techniques really increased my marketability and made me more effective. Good business analysts know the outcome that they are trying to create and select the right tool for the right job instead of just relying on a really small set of go-to tools and making it work somehow in every situation.

If you are short on tools, don’t worry. I recorded a video on the five types of requirements documentation that business analysts create. If you haven’t seen that video yet, make sure to watch it after finishing this one by clicking below.

#4 – Good Business Analysts Create Alignment and Ownership Around the Solution

That brings us to tip number four, which is great business analysts create alignment and ownership around the solution. It’s really easy to be the one who just like writes the requirements down and does what the stakeholders ask for. As a new business analyst, you might be in a role where that’s what you are expected to do, or where even that’s the biggest contribution you can make at first. But a high performing business analyst is able to resolve conflicts and ensure that when that solution is delivered, the business truly owns it and is prepared to use it effectively.

This starts by understanding the business process or the underlying problem to be solved that can lead you in the right direction. Creating clarity, which we’re going to talk about next, is a very first step.

New to business process analysis? Here’s a video on this incredibly important business analyst technique:

#5 – Good Business Analysts Create Clarity

Tip number five is that business analysts create clarity. Business analysts bring a unique blend of critically important soft or power skills along with technical analytical skills and together those two balancing skill sets help the business analyst create true clarity. Clarity does not mean that you simply get sign-off on the spec. A good business analyst doesn’t rely on artificial sign offs and hundred page documents. They use analysis techniques to drill into the details and ask relevant questions. They get buy-in, not just sign-off, during the verification and validation process. They get into appropriate details to ensure that true clarity emerges.

#6 – Good Business Analysts Actively Engage Stakeholders

That leads us to tip number six, where good business analysts actively engage stakeholders.

High performing business analysts engage stakeholders in the entire discovery, analysis, and validation process.

• They use active listening techniques to ensure stakeholders feel heard.
• They set clear expectations as a way to build trust.
• They consistently follow through on their commitments and don’t make promises that they can’t keep.
• They honor confidentiality agreements, never talk behind anyone’s back, and are generally seen as above office gossip.

We’ve got a bunch more tips like these in our  free guide called “10 Tips to Improving Stakeholder Engagement.” 

#7 – Good Business Analysts Have a Strong Dash of Project Management

Number seven. Final. Good business analysts have a strong dash of project management. That might sound like a bit of heresy, so let me explain.

Good BAs are not project managers, but they understand with perfect clarity why they are not project managers. That being said, good business analysts know how to manage within business analysis.

• They are proactive and dependency aware.
• They manage themselves to commitments and deadlines.
• They get stakeholders involved at the right times in the right ways to keep everything moving.

This means they have a business analysis process and approach and are strategic and proactive when it comes to how they manage the business analysis aspect of the project.

More than all of this, good business analysts have a strong eye for scope. While it can be fun to figure out what we might pack in if everything but the kitchen sink happens to fit into the car, high performing business analysts realize that the implementation constraints nearly always get in the way of achieving the full vision in the first time out. They keep a close eye on value and feasibility and they guide their stakeholders towards a set of requirements that can actually get implemented.

Being a great business analyst goes beyond just the foundational skills.

It’s about being resourceful, utilizing the right tools at the right time, creating alignment and clarity through active stakeholder engagement. Additionally, a touch of project management expertise is vital for maintaining project scope and momentum.

To gain more insights on building stronger relationships and actively engaging your stakeholders on your projects, don’t forget to download our free resource, “10 Tips to Engaging Stakeholders.”

Finally, having a business analysis framework is another vital tool for empowering yourself to be more strategic and proactive in your project approach.

Join me in this next video where we’ll dive into the BA process framework and unlock the secrets to successful project execution.

As a business analyst, you can provide tremendous value by not only getting sign off on the requirements, but also getting buy in from stakeholders about what the solution needs to do and how it fits into their workflow before development even begins.

So how do you get buy in and meaningful sign off on your requirements to avoid unnecessarily changes and costs? In this video, Laura shares 3 tips for getting meaningful sign offs that you can use on your next project!

Engaging stakeholders is a critical piece to streamlining your sign off process. Our free guide, 10 Tips for Engaging Stakeholders, is a great place to start so you can supercharge your stakeholder management skills.

>> Download Free Guide <<

One of the most frustrating challenges on a project is when the developers build a solution that everyone thought the business had signed off on, only to have significant changes surface during testing or even after deployment. Business analysts can provide tremendous value by getting not just the sign-off on the requirements, but buy-in from the business stakeholders about what the solution needs to do and how it fits into their workflow before the development even begins.

Gaining buy-in saves a tremendous amount of time and effort and reduces the need for expensive rework late in the development cycle. Keep watching, and I’m going to share how to gain buy-in in a meaningful way on your requirements.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos and business analysis tips and techniques.

Requirements Sign-Off Tip #1 – Focus on Sign-Off as a Tool for Obtaining Buy-In

Let’s start off with tip number one, which is to focus on sign-off as a tool for obtaining buy-in.

The BA’s job is to get meaningful feedback on the requirements so that they represent what the business actually wants from the solution. In my very first role, we used to walk through the requirements line by line as part of getting sign-off. These meetings would take hours and would require dozens of people to be there, and then I need to get an email confirmation from each and every person about that same long document.

I know in other organizations, sometimes an actual signature, either physically or electronically, is required and sometimes this can be necessary for regulatory reasons. It’s more important, though, to focus on what that signoff actually represents, and that is buy-in. Buy-in means that the business agrees with what’s documented. It actually wants to move forward with having that solution built based on the specifications.

As I matured as a business analyst, I started to shorten my reviews and really hone my approach to make it more efficient.

Requirements Sign-Off  Tip #2 – Be Clear on What Input You Are Looking For

That leads me to sign-off tip number two, which is to be clear on what input you are even looking for. Most projects have different phases of sign-off. You might sign-off or approve the scope or the business case. You might sign-off on specific requirements, deliverables, such as a business process or a use case, or even a data mapping document. You might have sign-off on the implementation and transition plans.

Gaining sign-off at each stage is significant, and using your business analysis framework to guide that is crucial. It provides a valuable opportunity to engage your stakeholders, to seek their input and ensure their buy-in at each stage of the life cycle so that you don’t get off track doing something that’s irrelevant because you are getting that buy-in incrementally and iteratively throughout the project.

By obtaining sign-off in those major phases, you establish a solid foundation for success, and you also foster a shared sense of ownership from your business team.

Oh, and that business analysis framework I just mentioned, if you don’t have one yet, you certainly need one. You can start by learning about our eight step business analysis process framework that I outlined in another video I did a while ago, which you can watch after finishing this video by clicking below.

The mindset here that you want to bring into your work as a business analyst is, what is the next decision that needs to be made to move my project forward? Always be driving towards that as a business analyst and moving from ambiguity to clarity in the context of that decision. This will keep you moving forward in a proactive and efficient way and not getting bogged out in making decisions about details too early in the project, which often leads to analysis paralysis.

Requirements Sign-Off Tip #3 – Customize Your Approach to Sign-Off Based on Your Stakeholders

Requirements tip number three is to customize your approach to sign-off based on who your stakeholders are.

Let’s really be honest here. Most of our stakeholders are not all that great at reading requirements. As business analysts, we bring a lot of expertise in writing and organizing requirements and analyzing requirements, and there are times when a requirements review or a walkthrough is the best way to get sign-off. But I found that the easiest way to get buy-in is when I customize my approach specifically to a group of stakeholders.

If you have a hard time engaging stakeholders in sign-off or a hard time engaging them in general, we recently created a new free guide that aims to help boost stakeholder engagement. If you want a copy, you can click below to get a download of it.

>> Download Free Guide <<

Let me just share a few examples of how I’ve customized my approach.

• On one contract, I reviewed annotated wire frames with the business stakeholders. I had the use case and the user story right up in hand. I had done that analytical thinking and writing to make sure I had all the questions that I needed to ask and all the information that I needed to verify. I used my use case thinking to identify those questions. But ultimately the details made it into the user stories for the developer to review and implement. But on the screen, it was a visual model of what that screen might look like with some little sticky note annotations that they could review and provide feedback on.
• On another project, I created a clickthrough prototype. That could handle a few different key scenarios and had the business stakeholder actually use that prototype to provide feedback. This was somebody who is just super hands-on and tactile and like needed to see it working in order to be able to really provide great feedback. I was able to do that in a click-through prototype. You might even consider slide decks with abstract visual models and key bullet points for high level and strategic details.

For those who need to buy into the project vision and approach, but not necessarily all of the minute little details, consider who your audience is. Consider what feedback you need from those stakeholders and then look at how to get that specific kind of feedback and buy-in. That is always what you want to be doing as a business analyst to make your process efficient and effective. I really do believe it’s your job to find ways of communicating the requirements and keeping them in sync, and it’s their job to meet you halfway and provide some meaningful feedback.

Is Requirements Sign-Off Still Relevant in Agile?

One question I often get about this is whether requirements sign-off is still relevant in agile.

While agile practices might not require an official “sign-off,” there is definitely an assumption of buy-in built into the user stories that are brought forward for implementation in a sprint. If you want to save unnecessary rework, it’s essential that either a product owner or supporting business analyst gains buy-in from all the necessary business stakeholders on the solution approach and the details before that user story is brought to a sprint for implementation.

To ensure successful signoff and to obtain meaningful buy-in, remember these key steps.

• Focus on securing buy-in from your stakeholders and clearly define the input you need and the decision that needs to be in the main next, and customize your approach for each stakeholder or stakeholder group so that you’re meeting them where they’re at and can get the best possible feedback. Engaging stakeholders is crucial for a streamlined sign-off process.
• Don’t forget to download our free guide, “10 tips for engaging stakeholders,” to supercharge your stakeholder management and your skills in engaging stakeholders.
• Lastly, as part of the sign-off process, incorporating requirements reviews or walkthroughs can be essential.

Join me in the next video below where I’ll share practical best practices for efficient and effective requirements reviews. I’ll see you there.

• What documents should you create to capture those crucial requirements?
• How can you ensure you’re fulfilling your role as a diligent business analyst?

The path to success lies in understanding the power of documentation. In this video, Laura shares examples of the five types of requirements documentation that every business analyst needs to start using, including:

• Scope Statement Specification
• Business Analysis Plan
• Business Process Documentation
• Functional Requirements Documentation
• Information or Data Requirements Documentation

Throughout this video, Laura mentions various free resources we have that will give you a jump start in your requirements documentation, you can download those at the links below:

>> Click here to download Business Process Template <<

>> Click here to download Use Case Template <<

Imagine this. You’re ready to do a deep dive into a new project as a business analyst, but amidst the sea of information and tasks at hand, you find yourself at a crossroads. Which documents should you actually create to capture these crucial requirements? How can you ensure that you’re fulfilling your role as a diligent business analyst?

The path to success really lies in understanding the power of documentation, not just as a create all the documents type of tool, but as an analysis and a thinking tool, and a helping the business make better decisions type of tool. Today I’m going to cover five types of requirements documentation that every business analyst needs to be aware of and start using on most of their projects.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging The Gap where we help you start, succeed and excel in your business analyst career.

Scope Statement Specification

We’re talking about five types of requirements documentation today. The very first one I want to talk to you about is the Scope Statement. This is the very first type of document that you want to create on just about any type of project. It defines the scope of the project.

This specification might also be referred to as a business case or a vision document, or a Business Requirements Document, although in practice, BRDs typically include many additional sections that would include functional requirements. I’m going to classify that as a separate deliverable. We’ll talk about that in a little bit.

In this requirement specification, the scope statement, you’re essentially answering the following questions:

• What problem are we solving?
• What’s the business need?
• What is the scope of the solution to that problem?
• How in a high level view are we solving that problem?
• What does the solution look like?

Then you’re really using both of those questions to get to this final question, which is:

Is the investment in solving that problem worth it? Is there going to be a positive ROI, or return on investment, in this project?

Now, in an agile environment, those sorts of questions might be answered in an epic format, but regardless of what format, what document, what type of methodology you’re using, you want to get clear on what problem you are solving and what the solution looks like at a high level so that you’re scoping that project and getting buy-in that you need from senior level stakeholders to move forward.

Business Analysis Plan

Once you have the scope, the next type of requirements documentation is the Business Analysis Plan. A business analyst will typically create a plan that outlines the elicitation, the requirements analysis, and the validation and verification efforts as well as clearly indicate who is responsible for what within the context of the business analysis effort.

The business analysis plan will often be driven by the organization’s business analysis or software development methodology. Again, that might be formal or it might be really informal. If you don’t yet have a methodology, you can start with the eight step business analysis process framework that we teach at Bridging the Gap. I did an entire video outlining this framework step by step. Be sure to watch that after you finish this video.

Business Process Documentation

With the scope defined and your plan in place, you know where you’re headed, it’s time to start digging into the details. Although there is always a temptation to jump right into the software solution or functional requirements, it almost always makes sense to first start with analyzing the business process.

• Part of analyzing the business process is a process flow diagram, which is also sometimes called a workflow diagram or a process map. It shows the big picture of how the overall process flows from a stakeholder or end user perspective. This is a type of visual model that’s a great way to elicit a lot of information and create a shared understanding of both your current state and your future state process relatively quickly.

Here’s an entire video on creating a great process map:

• To accompany your process flow diagram, you want to use this textual business process document. We teach this technique of textually modeling a business process in our online business analysis training courses at Bridging the Gap because it helps you capture more details and analyze the process in more depth. Often, a process flow diagram is a great way to get the big picture, but you’re going to overlook some nuances and some details that a textual template will help you think through. Often those issues or inconsistencies are really easy to glaze over with just a workflow diagram, and you are going to catch them when you do the more in-depth analysis using a business process template like this.

>>Click here to download the full template<<

• To help you in that process, we have a really valuable resource for you available at Bridging the Gap. Our business process template is designed to help you capture and analyze the intricacies of your business process. By using this template, you can uncover all of those hidden issues and gain a deeper understanding for your workflow. Click below to claim your free business process template download.

>> Click here to download Business Process Template <<

What’s really important in this third type of documentation, the business process documentation, is that you are getting a business perspective of both the current state, or as is business process, and your desired future state, or to be business process. This is going to help clarify, in even more detail, the specific problems that you need to solve using technology.

You can learn more about as is and to be business processes in the following videos:

Functional Requirements Documentation

Next up on the list, our fourth type of documentation, is functional requirements documentation.

If the solution is a software solution, not all solutions are, sometimes you can just update the business process to solve the business problem. We don’t always need to use technology, but very often we are leveraging technology as all are part of the solution. In that case, the business analyst is going to specify the functional requirements for the project. These are also known as the solution requirements, the software requirements, sometimes the technical requirements, or the system requirements.

Functional requirements identify what the system does, how it functions, and they are typically written at the level of what a given user, like an actual end user, a person, can get the system to do. It’s what they see in their interaction with the system that is a functional requirement.

There might be a lot of additional things happening behind the scenes. Those would be more technical system design type of requirements. A functional requirement would be something that an end user could experience in interacting with that software system. They can be captured in a wide variety of different requirements deliverables.

• The very first one that we love to teach, it’s one of my very favorite requirements modeling techniques, are called use cases. These are a very common way to capture a functional requirement. We teach use cases at Bridging the Gap, using the template that you see here. We do this because we find that use case analysis helps the BAs, again, identify otherwise missed requirements by getting really clear on that system user interaction. It’s a really key technique.

>> Click here to download Use Case Template <<

• To assist you in this process, we offer another great resource at no cost to you, which is our use case template. You can download the exact template that you see above. This is specifically designed to help you capture and document use cases effectively. By using this template, you can ensure that no requirement is missed and gain a lot of clarity on the interactions between the system and its users. Click below to claim your free use case template download.

>> Click here to download Use Case Template <<

• Other times use cases are captured together in a different type of document called a software requirements specification, or SRS, or a functional requirements document, FRD, those may also include non-functional requirements. They’re more of a list of requirements. The use cases though, because of the way they show the user system interaction, are really powerful analysis tools that help you think about what requirements you might otherwise miss.

• In an agile environment, functional requirements are typically captured in user stories, which are organized into a product backlog. You might still analyze the requirements and use cases to make sure you’re kind of keeping the thread of how all those user stories fit together in your product backlog.

You Don’t Need a Technology Background to Analyze Software Requirements

One thing I just want to mention here, for those of you who don’t have a technology background, this is the level at which you need to learn and understand how to talk intelligently about technology. It’s about what the system can do for the business, not about how the system is built. Even if this level of understanding technology systems is not appealing, you are probably better off focused on more business process focused business analyst roles.

I just want to highlight, you don’t need to understand how to code, how to run SQL queries, how to design the systems in order to get to this level of clarity that really gets business and technology users on the same page. This is more of an analytical thinking capability than a technical ability.

Throughout my experience, I’ve noticed that functional requirements can still be really challenging for many business analysts. There’s a layer of specificity that you need to get to, to really be effective at getting these right. That’s why I created a comprehensive video tutorial specifically on this topic. I highly recommend watching that video as well to gain valuable insights and clarity after finishing this video. You can click below to watch that video. It’s an excellent resource to deepen your understanding of functional requirements.

Information or Data Requirements Documentation

One fifth and final type of requirements documentation, and that is to capture the information or data requirements. In addition to the user facing functionality of the software, the business analyst may identify elements of the information model as well. There are a few common types of data requirements documentation.

• One of the very first is the glossary. This is used to define a common language and terminology. You were going to use this to get really crystal clear on what terminology your business is using, making sure that the way you use a term like “customer” or “account” or “order” in your business process, in your use case, is consistent and that all of your stakeholders have the same understanding of what that term means.

• The next really common data requirements model is an entity relationship diagram. This shows those key concepts that might end up in your glossary and how they relate to one another, what details are captured in the information system about each concept. For example, if you had an order, are you getting the order date? Are you getting links to specific products? That would be a relationship to another entity called a product. You’d have the order time, the shipping address, things like that. And where are those captured? That’s what your entity relationship diagram is showing. These can look really technical, but you can also do them at a very business abstract level view so they really show the business concepts and the business understanding of the information domain.

• The last thing I want to show you is called the data dictionary. It also fits into this category of data requirements documentation. It will go into the details then about the specific fields or attributes, such as how long can that field be? What type of information does it hold? Are there any validation or business rules?

• When you combine, you can elaborate and combine data dictionaries from multiple systems to show how fields from one system will map to another, either for a one-time system integration or a system migration project that would be one time where you’re moving data from one source to another. Or we’re using something like an API to show how the ongoing system integration works and how those fields map to one another. This is called data mapping. I’ve got an entire video on data mapping.

Again, while all of this data modeling stuff can seem really complicated and technical, the way we teach it at Bridging the Gap is very business oriented. In The Business Analyst Blueprint training program, you would learn each of these data modeling techniques as well as how to use system context diagrams to show the overall information or data flow for your project.

To get you started with an overview of data modeling, we also offer a free data modeling training course, which is a portion of our full-fledged data modeling training module.

Key Practice: Choose Your Requirements Documentation Intentionally

We just listed five categories of documentation and multiple different types of specifications you might use within each of those categories. By no means does a business analyst create every one of these specifications for each and every project. Most business analysts will pick and choose the most appropriate specifications given the nature of their project, and they’re going to customize those templates based on the stakeholder needs and project considerations.

You want to look at what is happening in your project and what is really needed to make the next decision. What’s even more important is that you have a clear and focused business analysis approach that enables you to be more strategic and proactive in terms of how you approach the project.

We’ve got a wealth of content dedicated to providing valuable tips and strategies and insights for business analysts like yourself to help you really be strategic and proactive as possible. We have new videos releasing here every week, but you’re going to have to subscribe to the BTG YouTube channel to stay in the loop with all of our new content.

Remember to claim our free use case template by clicking below. And f you don’t have a business analysis methodology nailed down yet, that is really the very next place to start.

Make sure to watch our eight step business analysis process framework video by clicking the video below.

I’ll see you over there.

Download Your Use Case Template Today

If you want to get started with your requirements documentation, I invite you to download our Use Case template (it’s free). You’ll learn the key elements that go into a business process model, and be able to kick-start your requirements documentation process.

>> Click here to download the Use Case Template <<

In this video, I’ll cover how to avoid the most common business analyst mistakes, so you can make smart project decisions that earn the appreciation of your stakeholders and open up more opportunities in your business analyst career.

One of the mistakes I mention in the video is not engaging stakeholders early enough. We’ve created a FREE guide full of practical tips, real-world advice, so you can discover how to work more effectively with stakeholders to achieve better project outcomes.

In this free download, you will:

• Save time and effort by clarifying the requirements more quickly.
• Build stronger relationships that elevate your reputation and career.
• Increase your impact by communicating more effectively and improving project outcomes.

 >> Download 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement <<

As a business analyst, you want to create the best requirements documentation and models possible. But what if I told you that focusing too much on perfecting those documents is actually a big mistake. Not only does it waste your time when you do that perfection too early in the process, it can also damage your credibility and delay the business analyst timeline.

In this video, we’re going to cover this mistake and four others that every business analyst should avoid. Stick around to learn how to add more value to your projects and avoid these common pitfalls.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career.

Business Analyst Mistake #1 – Making Assumptions About Your Role

The number one mistake I see business analysts make on a new project is to make assumptions about the business analyst role that lead to overlooked responsibilities or areas of requirements. And I can point the finger at myself here more times than I would like to admit.

• I have unknowingly trampled on other team members’ roles because I just thought that’s what a BA was supposed to do.
• I’ve failed to deliver what was actually expected of me while working with incredible diligence towards deliverables that no one actually wanted me to create, and therefore went undervalued and underappreciated.
• I have followed the job description I was given to a T only to the learn that my team really needed something additional from me that wasn’t explicitly asked for.

There is so much dialogue out there about what the business analyst role is and what it’s supposed to be, and these jobs vary widely among different companies. Even within the same company, they can vary depending on what project team you’re on or what stakeholders you’re working with or what that team makeup looks like.

Correcting this mistake is really simple. Take time to clarify your role. Confirm your understanding and ask questions whenever anything is not clear. A lot of business analysts feel like they need to make assumptions because they shouldn’t be asking and asking for clarity about their expectations, that they should just know. But just knowing often leads us to deliver the wrong thing to the wrong people.

Let your manager and team know what you’re planning to do. Ask for their feedback to make sure you’re on the right track, and then deliver on your promise. Do this not just once, but again and again throughout the project as new information surfaces, or as new stakeholders get involved, or as you start to see an expanded view of how you can contribute. Re-clarify over and over again.

Wanting to learn more about the business analyst role? This video on the typical day of a business analyst is a great place to start!

Business Analyst Mistake #2 – Not Engaging Stakeholders Early Enough

Now, mistake number two is not engaging stakeholders early enough. When we start to move forward without getting all of the stakeholders on board. And sometimes the stakeholder is like lurking in the corner, not like literally in the meeting room, but they’re lurking somewhere, but they’re not really engaged. Sometimes they’re just too busy to meet with us. Other times there are reasons that we don’t want to meet with them, so we try to work around them. But it’s really important to get all the stakeholders invested upfront.

• On a project with new stakeholders, it’s your role as the business analyst to really invest extra time in getting to know who they are, what they care about and how they work best. It’s also a great time to clarify your role.
• If you are working with stakeholders that you already know and trust, a new project is a great time to deepen that relationship establishing ground rules to correct for past problem areas and really reengage since you’re working on something new together.

Even when you are facing that pressure to just move forward and get the requirements done already, you absolutely must ensure there is engagement each step of the way. Otherwise, you are simply setting yourself up to have to rework the requirements later, which is going to damage your credibility as a business analyst.

If engaging stakeholders makes you a bit nervous or you just want to get better at it, it’s one of those areas we can always get better at as a business analyst. I’ve got an absolutely free guide that’s called 10 Tips to Improve your Stakeholder Relationships.

> Download 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement <<

And here’s a video with lots of great tips on engaging stakeholders too!

Business Analyst Mistake  #3 – Perfecting Documents Too Early

Now, the third mistake that I see is business analysts spending too much time perfecting documents and models too early. This is often related to not engaging stakeholders and it’s a great procrastination tactic. We can feel incredibly productive. We’re working really hard to get all our lines lined up and everything looking really beautiful, but it’s not actually capturing what the stakeholders want. You’re not in a collaborative information sharing type role where you’re learning more about the actual project or the domain.

While it feels really productive to sit behind your computer and tweak the language in your requirements or get all of your lines straight on a visual model, like an entity relationship diagram, you’re not going to really create real value from that documentation until you bring them to stakeholders and work towards creating a shared understanding.

If you happen not to be familiar with an entity relationship diagram, or ERD, I did do a full video tutorial on that model that you can check out after this video by clicking on the video below. If that’s something you want to learn more about, we’ve got all kinds of content on that.

My challenge to you is to put your together rough drafts of documentation and use those to guide productive working meetings with your stakeholders. You’re going to learn so much more from the discussion and the project is going to move forward more quickly.

Business Analyst Mistake #4- Focusing Too Much On the What and Not the Why

That brings us to mistake number four, which is focusing too much on the what and not the why, or really like focusing too much on the what too early and not using time early of the project to really focus on the why. This can lead to misunderstandings and misaligned expectations between stakeholders.

This is especially common, again, when we’re faced with those aggressive requirements deadlines and people just want us to get the requirements done so that the implementation can start, or when our stakeholders just seem so clear about the solution and they really just want us to help get the details down on paper.

Handling tight deadlines is more art than science, and here’s a video with some strategic approaches to navigating expectations without losing credibility.

As a business analyst, it’s really important to understand the underlying business goal and the objectives that drive that project, and to ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page regarding why the project is being funded in the first place and what the benefits are that it’s expected to deliver. This involves not just documenting the project requirements or all the things that the software needs to do, or even what the future business process is going to be, but also getting that understanding of the why.

What’s the problem that we’re trying to solve here? What is the end result we want to create for the business? What are those business objectives? By getting clear on those, you’re going to help keep your project on track and avoid unexpected delays, increased costs, and ultimately deliver a solution that does not deliver the expected benefits.

Business Analyst Mistake #5 – Allowing Scope Creep (and Straying from Focused Business Outcomes)

That really leads us to the fifth mistake I see, which is somewhat related to the previous mistake, but there’s a nuance that’s really important that I wanted you to grasp, and that’s really allowing scope creep or straying from these focused business outcomes. This means that the solution sort of gets bigger and bigger and bigger the longer the requirements process goes on. It strays from that original focus of the project. This will often happen when the business analyst is what is considered too business oriented.

And yes, that is a real thing. A business analyst can be too oriented or focused on the business in the sense that they don’t hold boundaries or constraints or keep things in check for the business. In fact, I did a video on this concept a while back that you can check out after this video.

It can also happen because as we build trust with stakeholders, we start to become really empathetic and they really start to open up about the problems that they have and we want to solve those problems and help them. We’re a helper kind of profession. Again, the scope just grows and grows. We can include that little thing and that little thing and that little thing. And, no, it’s really not what we’re supposed to be here for, but I can see how much value that it’s going to add for you.

This really damages our credibility with the project team because we build a reputation as somebody who comes in and takes maybe a small project or a medium-sized project and makes it way bigger than intended, and then people in other roles, like the project manager, are forced to arbitrarily cut scope to get the project done on time and on budget.

The solution to this is to always keep the desired outcomes of the project or the why, the problem that we’re solving, top of mind in ourselves, in our stakeholders, and for our sponsors. And as you get into the details of those requirements, make sure that each requirement is absolutely necessary to solve that business problem or achieve the business objectives of the project.

As an aside, if this means you’re smacked dab in the middle of a project and you haven’t done that work that we talked about before of understanding the business outcomes, the most important work you have to do is to bring that kind of clarity to the project, and to do it sooner rather than later.

Move Forward, And Do Your Best in Business Analysis

We’ve covered quite a few mistakes here that I see business analysts make. The last thing I want you to do is leave this video feeling more afraid of making mistakes than of moving your project forward. Any action you take in the direction of creating alignment and clarity and positive change for your organization will move you forward, will move your organization forward, will move your project forward.

You will make mistakes, and that’s okay. Just keep learning from them. How do you think I could put this video together? Because I’ve made the mistakes and I’ve learned from them, and I’m trying to share them with you so that you hopefully don’t have to make the same mistakes I did.

But maybe you’ve made one of these mistakes. Maybe you found something else, or you’ve learned from these and you make something new. That’s great. It’s a great learning opportunity. Keep moving forward instead of worrying about the mistakes. I’ve published tons of content here at Bridging the Gap about how to become a better business analyst and excel in your career, mostly leverage for all the mistakes that I’ve made in my career.

One great insurance policy against making mistakes is having really strong stakeholder relationships. The more your stakeholders respect and trust you, the easier it’s going to be to cover up when you eventually do slip up here and there.

We’ve created a new free guide, relatively recently, that gives you 10 tips to improve your stakeholder relationships. You can claim that free download right now by clicking below.

>> Download 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement <<

Engagement is key in any role, but it’s especially important for you as a business analyst where you are constantly communicating with stakeholders and making important decisions.

I’d love to see you at another video that I’ve recorded specifically on how to build more confidence in your role, and I’ll see you over there next.

If you’re not using some type of diagramming tool in your business analysis job, you may be missing out on a powerful tool that can help you gain clarity quickly and effectively communicate your ideas to stakeholders.

As a business analyst, creating visual models like process flow diagrams, wireframes, or entity relationship diagrams can really speed up the requirements process and provide clarity. However, many BAs avoid creating visual models because they feel like they don’t have access to the right tools.

In this video, I’m sharing 5 diagramming tools you can afford, most even have free trials, so you can get started with your visual modeling right away.

To help you get started with visual modeling, we’ve created a FREE entity relationship diagram sample download that will give you an idea of how these diagrams can be used to represent complex relationships within entities.

>> Download the Entity Relationships Diagram Sample <<

Did you know that using visual models can improve communication, reduce misunderstandings, and facilitate collaboration in business analysis projects? If you’re not using some type of diagramming tool in your business analyst job, you may be missing out on a powerful way to help you gain clarity quickly and effectively communicate your ideas to stakeholders.

Stick around for this video where I’ll cover some of my favorite diagramming tools and visual models that are not only affordable, but also user friendly. You don’t have to be a designer or tech savvy to use them.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis, tips and techniques.

As a business analyst creating visual models like business process flow diagrams, wire frames and entity relationship diagrams can really speed up the requirements process and provide a lot of clarity. However, many BAs just avoid creating these models because they feel like they don’t have access to the right tools. These tools even have free trials, so you can get started with your visual modeling right away.

Diagramming Tool #1 – Visio (If You Have It)

The first diagramming tool is Visio. This is the one that’s used most predominantly by business analysts. Many organizations have licenses to Visio, which is why I wanted to bring it up first. It makes it a logical first choice for many of you.

While an individual license is not cheap, if your organization already has a license, it’s often easier to get access to it than to make the case for a separate investment in one of the other tools. It is relatively easy to use and there are a lot of online tutorials. It has out-of-the-box shape sets from many common modeling notations like UML and BPMN.

If you don’t already have access to it, it is one of the more pricey options. The last time I checked it was $589 US dollars for a professional license, but there is a 60 day free trial that you can download. If you are job searching and you see Visio coming up in your job descriptions, download that trial and get familiar with the tool. Otherwise, I’m going to share some more affordable tools that will serve your basic diagramming needs.

Diagramming Tool #2 – Gliffy

The second option is Gliffy. Gliffy is an online diagramming tool that allows you to create everything from basic workflow diagrams to BPMN and UML diagrams. It has out-of-the-box shapes from most of the common modeling needs. It costs $8 per month per user, and discounts are available if you pay for an entire year up front. There is a two week free trial. Gliffy was my go-to tool for a long time for everything except for wire frames.

Diagramming Tool #3 – LucidChart

My go-to tool these days is Lucidchart. I pay less than $100 a year for an online subscription. I’ve used it to create swimlane diagrams for our marketing processes and an entity relationship diagram for our ACBA registration information model, which I’m going to show you on the screen now. If you are not familiar with what an ERD is, this is a great example.

We also have a free sample that you can download by clicking below.

>> Download the Entity Relationships Diagram Sample <<

I also did a video tutorial on entity relationship diagrams that you can check out after this video.

Lucidchart has a free trial that allows you to create up to three editable models with up to 60 shapes. This is a great way to experiment with a visual modeling tool and not lose access to your diagrams after the free trial’s over. Either Gliffy or Lucidchart are really great ways to experiment with new modeling techniques, even if you don’t have Vizio.

And here’s the thing, when you are familiar with either of these tools, Vizio is not going to have that steep of a learning curve, as all the tools are relatively similar. It’s more about the conceptual understanding of how to put a diagram together. That is the thinking and the learning. The tool itself, is about finding where the right shapes are and making sure you know how to line up the lines and kind of put things together. But the tools themselves are relatively simple.

Diagramming Tool #4 – Balsamiq

Okay, so the fourth tool I want to talk to you about is Balsamiq. So Balsamiq is a rapid wire framing tool that captures the look of a hand drawn wire frame, but in an electronic format. Here I’m going to show you an example of a sample wire frame from our course materials showing the screen to log into a system. These hand drawn wire frames are effective because they don’t give the false impression that what’s behind the wire frame has already been implemented. One of the worst things that can happen as a business analyst is you show a really pretty user interface wire frame and people are like, great. It’s already built. Go make that happen. And you’re like, no, nothing works. Nothing’s clickable. But it looks so good. They think it’s already built when there’s a lot more structure in code that needs to be put in behind the scenes.

It’s also because it looks hand drawn, it’s easier for your stakeholders to provide feedback because it doesn’t yet seem complete. They’re not going to be like, “Oh, I don’t want to talk about this piece,” or have you move something because it’s very obvious that it’s a tentative or you’re throwing that out as a low fidelity or sort of a working model.

Within Balsamiq, there are several elements that you can drag and drop into your wire frame and like Gliffy, it’s online, so you don’t need to download any software. A single user license to Balsamiq starts at $9 a month and discounts are available for volume packs. They also have an extensive program offering for free versions to classrooms and open source projects and nonprofits. If you qualify for one of those, definitely reach out to them. They also have a 30 day free trial so that you can experiment with the tool and start to see how it works.

Diagramming Tool #5 – Axure

The fifth tool I wanted to share with you is a tool called Axure. So it’s been a long time since I used Axure, and so I’m not up to date on the latest functionality, but I just wanted to share it with you because it’s a totally different type of tool. It’s a prototyping tool that allows you to create wire frames, site maps, prototypes, click through prototypes, mobile prototypes, and flow diagrams. It allows somebody who does not have coding ability, who’s not a technologist, to create prototypes where stakeholders can actually click a button and see something functionally happen as a result.

I’ve had a lot of success using those sorts of click through prototypes to have stakeholders review and validate requirements that were diagramed that way. It does require additional work for you. It’s not as easy as putting together a Balsamiq wire frame. With even more work, you can integrate some data into that prototype as well. Then you’re getting really good end user feedback of how they would actually use the system.

It does come with a higher price tag because it has a lot more functionality. It starts at $25 a month. There’s also a 30 day free trial, so it’s something you can experiment with.

Diagramming Tool – BONUS! – SmartArt in Microsoft Office

And then finally, last but not least, I wanted to share about Smart Art in Microsoft Office.

Smart Art is a built-in feature for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can use it to create simple process flows or images that represent the pros and cons of a decision. You can show hierarchies and relationships of information. I have used it to create really clunky looking wire frames of how a screen might look in a PowerPoint slide.

There are ways you can use it to show information and incorporate information into simple diagrams that you might include in your scope document or a slide deck. It is not the most efficient way to create models, but it is an option. We’ve had course participants create workflow diagrams using the out-of-the-box shapes in Microsoft Word. And so it’s a great way to practice modeling, learn that tool set, and put something together electronically to share with your stakeholders even if you don’t have access or want to bother with any of the tools mentioned above.

What Will Your Diagramming Toolset Be?

So my question for you is, what will your tool diagramming tool set look like?

The tools we’ve covered in this video are simple and for the most part, relatively affordable and accessible. With one or two of them, you’re going to be able to create everything you need as a business analyst. But remember, the most important thing is to know how to leverage those visual models to clarify business processes, to get users on the same page about software requirements, to model your data and information appropriately.

To help you get started with visual modeling, we’ve created a free entity relationship diagram sample download that will give you an idea of how these diagrams can be used to represent complex relationships between entities. You can claim your free download by clicking below. However, remember diagramming tools are just one piece of the puzzle. To excel as a business analyst, it’s essential to know how to leverage visual models to clarify business processes and software requirements.

>> Download the Entity Relationships Diagram Sample <<

One of the must know models for the business analyst is the process flow diagram. We have an entire video on how to create a process flow diagram. If you click the video on screen now, I’ll see you over there.

As business analysts, we’re great at picking things apart, especially when it’s our own abilities, skill sets, and contributions.

I believe you can move past imposter syndrome, which is why I’m sharing three practical ways you can overcome imposter syndrome and move forward with confidence.

In this video, you’ll discover:

• Why I believe business analysts struggle with imposter syndrome.
• Three practical tips to overcome imposter syndrome.
• Free resources we offer to help you move forward.

Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned professional, these tips will help you tackle imposter syndrome head-on and thrive as a business analyst, watch the video now by clicking below.

Are you looking for practical ways to build stronger relationships with your stakeholders and achieve better project results as a business analyst?

Download this FREE guide to receive practical tips, real-world advice, and discover how to work more effectively with stakeholders to achieve better project outcomes.

In this free download, you will:

• Save time and effort by clarifying the requirements more quickly.
• Build stronger relationships that elevate your reputation and career.
• Increase your impact by communicating more effectively and improving project outcomes.

My Own Journey With Imposter Syndrome

I still remember starting my second business analyst role. I had moved all the way across the country and was working in a new company, working on a new system, and with new stakeholders in an entirely new domain. After a few weeks, it felt like I’d spent more time learning than analyzing. I still didn’t have a grasp on the scope of the project or what we were going to do. I started to doubt myself, and I wondered if I was really cut out for this job. I started to wonder if they were going to think that they had made a mistake in hiring me and transporting me all across the country to start this role. I didn’t realize it at the time, but what I was feeling was imposter syndrome, that nagging feeling that you don’t belong or that you aren’t qualified to do a job that you are entirely qualified to do.

It’s totally natural to feel this way. The important thing is that you don’t let this feeling hold you back. In this video I am going to share three incredibly valuable tips to help you overcome imposter syndrome and gain the confidence you need to take on challenging projects and advance your career. Whether you’re just starting out or you are a seasoned professional, these tips will help you tackle imposter syndrome head on and thrive as a business analyst.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career. So, let’s get into those top three tips that I have for you.

Imposter Syndrome is Not Necessarily Something You Need to “Fix”

I’ve coached a lot of incredibly talented professionals and almost every one of them has a moment, or has days, weeks, or months, or even years of self-doubt. It doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with you, and this is not necessarily something you need to “fix.” It’s normal and natural to feel nervous, especially when we’re tackling a new type of project or working with a new type of stakeholder or are in a new domain.

It also might mean just that we care. Those butterflies that are in my stomach before just about every presentation I’ve ever given, or even, truthfully, recording videos like this, a wise mentor once told me that when they stopped, that meant that I had stopped caring. Only overconfident speakers who weren’t worried about how their message would land didn’t get butterflies anymore, or so this person said. Despite my best efforts to get more and more confident in public speaking, I’ve never quite overcome that nervous feeling when getting up before a group. I’ve also never stopped caring.

I’m in a phase of expansion with my work right now with a goal of really sharing the message of business analysis much more widely. I’m connecting with people outside the BA space, and I’ve got to tell you, this brings up a lot of my own imposter syndrome. I get where you’re at. It’s tempting me to dial things back and stay small and talk to the people who already understand my message. But I know if I do that, I won’t get to make the full contribution I’m here to make.

How Imposter Syndrome Shows Up In Business Analysts

What I see is that imposter syndrome keeps some of the most talented professionals in the workplace also playing small. Could that be you? Is there a way that you are playing small to stay safe, to stay confident? It’s okay to feel nervous getting on the stage as long as you don’t let yourself doubt take you off the stage entirely.

Overall, most business analysts I work with tend to be entirely too humble. We tend to use “we” instead of “I” when it comes to celebrating our success. And then we use “I” instead of “we” when taking responsibility for failures. This means we over apologize when things go wrong and we undersell ourselves when things go right and we wonder why we have so much trouble with people valuing us as business analysts. We are valuing ourselves and our contributions. Here is what I think is happening.

How Our Analytical Skills Can Work Against Us

The very analytical skills that make us so intelligent and give us so much smarts to solve just about any problem that can come up in a business environment also make us perfectionists. When we turn that critical thinking ability, that analytical thinking ability on ourselves, we magnify all the things that we’re doing wrong and we dim what we’re doing right. We are great at picking things apart, especially when it comes to our own abilities, our skillsets, and our contributions.

I want to say that self-confidence is an inside job. When you lack self-confidence or you feel like an imposter, you project that uncertainty and others are less likely to trust your abilities and recognize the value of your contributions. It’s sort of like a vicious circle. These tips are how we rewire our brain for confidence and also how we bring our best selves forward.

Tip 1 – Leverage a Trusted Framework and Best Practices

Tip number one is to leverage a trusted framework and a set of best practices.

When I first started at Bridging the Gap, I was really surprised, not today, but at the beginning, I was so surprised at how people would ask me for my templates. It took me years to start selling them. My own imposter syndrome was really at play here. When I did finally start selling them, they flew off the virtual shelves and they still do to this day.

In fact, if you want to get a taste, you can download our business process template completely for free by clicking the link below just so you can see kind of what it’s like. You’ll learn how to ask your stakeholders powerful questions and get clarity on a project. You’ll avoid wasting money on software that doesn’t achieve an ROI, and you’ll easily clarify step by step workflows just with that one template.

> Download the free template <<

But the reason people seem to like templates is that they provide a trusted structure for best practices. They give you a starting point. When I was working for my new company that first time, it was that trust that I had in my ability to analyze requirements in use cases and to map out complex information systems that held me, that kept me grounded. It kept me saying I might feel uncertain now, but I know where I’m headed and I’ve done this before and I have a methodology. I have a way of getting to that next step.

I also, along the way, received some great advice about new techniques that were needed for the type of project that I was on that were unfamiliar to me, and so I sought out resources to learn about those techniques so I could be more effective.

Whatever this new task is or whatever’s bringing up this sense of self-doubt, look for a tool set or a framework that you can leverage.

If you are a business analyst, at Bridging the Gap, we have a step-by-step business analysis framework that you can leverage, and we know that this increases and maximizes the effectiveness and the credibility of the business analyst who put it into practice.

Tip 2 – Find a Trusted Mentor

Tip number two, find a trusted mentor. Someone that you can collaborate with. Someone who will give you honest and constructive feedback about your work.

When I was in my first systems analyst role, before I moved companies, I was craving this kind of feedback. I was new to this work. I wasn’t quite sure I was doing things right. I set up a peer review meeting with my four person team, and every other week we took turns to bring in our trickiest use cases for peer review and getting feedback from each other. We all benefited from the knowledge sharing about our projects, and this work also made our requirements deliverables more consistent as a team. But we also learned a lot while we were receiving feedback and also while we were giving it.

It built up my confidence to be able to read a use case from my fellow business analyst and give them feedback or point out something where I thought they could be more clear or a question that they might need to ask. That gave me confidence to be able to give them feedback, and it gave me confidence as well when they gave me that feedback both on what I was doing right and where I could improve.

Our The Business Analyst Blueprint training program we find participants achieve a lot of self-confidence because they, as part of the program, are applying what they’re learning and they submit it for instructor review. They receive feedback on what they did well and where they can improve. And so they really know where they stand. Often people within your organization just are not able to provide that sort of feedback on your business analysis deliverables. That sort of unbiased expert feedback can be really hard to find.

Tip 3 – Celebrate Your Wins

Tip number three is to celebrate your wins. If you’ve listened to any of my content, you’ve probably heard me talk about this before. It’s one of my favorite things to do. We do it inside all of our programs. We do it inside our team meetings. It’s really, really important, and if you are feeling imposter syndrome, it can re-ground you.

Start by making a catalog of your accomplishments. The projects that went well, the meetings that went well, the questions you asked that gained insights. Look back maybe even on your last year of work, or you might even go back further to look back in previous years or choose a few years or a few different roles so you can kind of get a pattern of your success and your sense of achievement.

If you happen to be looking for a job or updating your resume, this is really double duty kind of effort because these accomplishments are going to be your best preparation for a job interview there is. These are the stories you want to be telling in your job interviews is when you did things well.

Next, look at those accomplishments that really stand out and determine what action you took to create the result. This is where it’s really important to start thinking in “I” terms instead of “we” terms. Thinking in an “I” term does not mean that you weren’t collaborative. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t a team player, but the fact that you ask good questions, that you draw the best out in others, that you help clarify objectives for the team. Those are actions that you took to be collaborative.

You really need to pull that “I” out and identify what you did, not just what the collective of the team did. That’s what really brings you, “I’m valued here. I’m needed here. I made a difference.”

Finally, make this a daily practice. Challenge yourself to identify three wins every single day. They don’t have to be big. It might be, I started a meeting on time even though a notoriously late stakeholder wasn’t online yet, or, I responded to a negative situation in a way that I’m really proud of. Or I felt the butterflies and I said the thing anyway. Or I really put this truly visual model in front of a team without obsessing over the lines and I saved myself a ton of time because I knew I was going to have to rework it anyway. Whatever it is, take a few minutes at the end of each day and just write down those three wins. It’ll really help solidify, on a daily basis, how much value you’re contributing.

Bonus Tip 4 – Improve Your Stakeholder Engagement

Now, I know I said three tips, but I wanted to leave you with one more bonus tip, and that’s really to invest some time and attention in how you engage with your stakeholders.

Often we can feel confident when we’re doing independent work, like creating documentation. But then imposter syndrome pops up as we’re starting to review requirements documentation with stakeholders. The better relationships that you already have in place with stakeholders, the more supportive they’re going to be of your work, and the easier it will be for you to show up with confidence. And also the easier it’s going to be to recover when you do make a mistake because you have some trust in place.

If you want to learn how to improve your stakeholder relationships, be sure to check out a new free guide that we’ve just produced. It’s called “10 Tips to Improve Your Stakeholder Relationships.” You can claim your free download by clicking the link below.

Overcoming imposter syndrome is a journey, but with today’s tips, you can build more confidence in yourself and your abilities as a business analyst.

Don’t stop here though. On the topic of confidence, we have another video that you should watch right now, specifically on building your confidence as a business analyst.

So claim that free guide on stakeholder relationships and then watch the video below. I’ll see you over there.

So today, I’m going to answer some of the questions we receive about business analyst certification options, and also share WHY I chose to launch the ACBA.

Why Business Analyst Certification Is Important

Certification is important because having a professional association and a certification process unites us as professionals. The certification process and body of knowledge bring us together, with a shared understanding of the role. They make us all stronger.

And on a personal level, certifications give us recognition and credibility. People see us as more authoritative in our profession when we have a certification. I fought this for a long time because I didn’t think I needed any letters behind my name to be a good BA. And I didn’t. I was a good BA.

• But when I earned my CBAP® nearly 10 years ago, it gave me an extra layer of credibility.
• It was true when Bridging the Gap became an Endorsed Education Provider (EEP) of IIBA® – people automatically had more interest in our business analyst training courses, even though nothing about them had changed!
• And I’ve seen it be true for our initial ACBA Recipients too – I’ve heard stories of shout-outs from managers, contacts from recruiters, people coming to THEM, and asking about their experience.

Like it or not, having a certification and letters to put behind your name does elevate you and your professional stature.

And on a very practical level, if you are looking for a business analyst job, or just want to know you could someday, having a business analyst certification allows you to represent yourself as a professional with a BA certification.

Business Analyst Certifications Not Required to Get Started

While certifications are incredibly important to our profession and can give you an immediate career boost, having a certification is not a pre-requisite to getting started. There are opportunities to get started in the here and now.

For over a decade, we’ve been helping mid-career professionals start business analyst careers, with or without their certifications, by applying business analyst techniques on the job, identifying their transferable business analyst skills, and receiving the training and instructor support they need to feel really confident about moving into a business analyst role.

Why the Applied Certification in Business Analysis?

And that leads me to why I created the Applied Certification in Business Analysis.

We’ve been providing online training since 2010, and our courses have always included a combination of pre-recorded, on-demand training and on-the-job application.

In The Business Analyst Blueprint® program, participants learn and apply a wide range of business analyst techniques on-the-job, or through volunteering, and have their work reviewed by an instructor to meet rigorous program and industry standards.

Historically this has been a requirement just to earn a certificate of completion for the program. And by creating this sort of learning experience, our participants have achieved some phenomenal results.

It’s not uncommon that as aspiring business analysts, be recognized quickly for more on-the-job opportunities, and expand the role they are in (which may be QA, SME, or development) into more of a BA-focused role. Often their transition to a full or official business analyst role then happens within a year or two of finishing the program.

As a practicing professional build up confidence in their business analyst skills, that enables them to move into more senior business analyst roles or step into new business domains or lead and manage other BAs in their organization.

The demands of The Business Analyst Blueprint® program are significant – there are 4 modules in 4 key skill areas – business process analysis, use cases and wireframes, data modeling, and the business analysis process framework. For each module, they prepare and submit a workbook demonstrating they’ve applied the program content on-the-job.

This could involve preparing visual models, writing out requirements documentation, engaging with stakeholders to discover or validate the information. It’s true on-the-job application. There is no fictitious case study to use – participants apply what they learn in the real-world.

That workbook goes through a rigorous instructor review. Many are sent back for revisions and updates. Not everyone passes.

And there was a point at which I realized that what we are asking of our participants deserved more than a certificate of completion. They are demonstrating that they can successfully apply the foundational BA techniques on-the-job, and they deserve a certification as a result.

And so came to be the Applied Certification in Business Analysis.

There Was Another Driver For Me

Most of the professionals we help at Bridging the Gap are mid-career, meaning they have at least a few years of professional experience. Some have decades of experience.

And while they may not yet be ready for a senior-level certification that requires past work experience in business analysis, neither are they served by an entry-level certificate like the ECBA.

The Applied Certification in Business Analysis provides an opportunity for these professionals to earn a certification that aligns with the work experience they have.

And Even More Than This

Ever since I founded Bridging the Gap, part of my mission has been helping us as professionals understand and appreciate our own value, to gain the recognition we deserve and feel truly confident in our skill sets. Granting a certification is a way that I’m serving that larger purpose.

Because when individuals receive a certification they do see their own value, others do recognize them, and they do feel more confident.

Application-Based Business Analyst Certifications Versus Exam-Based Options

Now, when it comes to the difference between the ACBA and the certifications provided by IIBA® and PMI®, it’s really an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison.

These professional certifications are exam-based certifications. You’ll find many providers that teach certification prep courses, and these courses are designed to help you pass the exam. You submit the application, you pass the exam, and you receive the certification.

I don’t say that to minimize the process – these exams are rigorous, and many people do not pass on their first try. I studied for a solid 3 months to pass my CBAP® exam and it was one of the more challenging exams I’ve ever taken. And even submitting the application was quite challenging.

But at the end of the day, they are exams, and that’s an entirely different type of certification than what we offer at Bridging the Gap.

The ACBA on the other hand is an applied certification. It’s in the very name – Applied Certification in Business Analysis – and it represents not just your documented work experience, but the validation of your work experience according to our rigorous certification standards.

It certifies not just that you know how to pass a test, but also that you can perform the foundational business analysis techniques in an industry-standard way on the job. This requires you to go through our specific training materials, because that’s where we teach you how to do each of these techniques, and educate you on the certification and industry standards.

The only way to earn your ACBA is by joining a session of The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, and you can find the details on that by clicking the link below this video.

What Business Analyst Certification Is Right For You?

You may be wondering what certification is right for you?

From a professional perspective, I believe there is room for all types of certifications and probably many more in the business analysis space as well. I look forward to professionals having a myriad of options so they can choose what serves them and their career goals.

The ACBA is right for you if:

• You are looking for practical training that you can immediately apply on-the-job and gain hands-on experience, not just abstract knowledge or theory.
• You are willing to invest significant time and energy learning and applying business analyst skill sets to create more opportunities in your current role, or are willing to volunteer to gain experience.
• You want to confirm what you know (and don’t) and fill in any gaps in understanding and build confidence by having an outside perspective on your work.
• You want to put all the techniques together in an end-to-end process that you can apply again and again, and even use as the foundation of your business analysis practice.
• You may be thinking of IIBA® certification in the future, but are still lacking confidence in your actual work experience. Many of our participants find their exam prep for the CCBA® or CBAP® is much easier after participating in our programs because the knowledge has a place to “land” as they build more extensive experience.
• You want to build a portfolio of vetted work samples that you can share with employers to represent your ability to actually do this work.
• You are looking for more credibility, and want a credential that is aligned to your level of career experience, that you can put on your resume, post to LinkedIn, and share with your employer.

How to Earn Your Applied Certification in Business Analysis

If this sounds like you, we’d be honored to help you take your next step and create a purpose-filled career in business analysis.

Click here to learn more about The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, where you can earn your Applied Certification in Business Analysis (ACBA).

We build our profession one business analyst at a time. Success starts with you.

How Your ACBA Can Help You Add More Value as a Business Analyst

In this panel of practicing business analysts, 3 of our ACBAs shared their real-world experiences into how they’ve applied business analysis best practices to create value for their organizations.

Tune in to discover how:

• Business processes have helped our panelists identify inefficiencies, find more cost-effective solutions, and ensure you are building solutions that truly benefit the business.
• Use cases and wireframes help them reduce rework late in the software development cycle and prevent missed requirements.
• Data modeling techniques and clarifying terminology help you reduce communication issues and identify data quality issues early on, which saves an immense amount of time later in the project.

While this is outside of our normal set of topics here at Bridging the Gap, having personally experienced Robin’s mentorship, I’ve incorporated essential oils into my daily routine, reaping benefits in my professional life—from intention-setting before meetings to empowering writing sessions.

Tune into this recording to learn about the science of essential oils, tailored specifically for business analysts.

During this session, you’ll gain insights into:

• Overcoming common mental and emotional challenges faced by business analysts, including overworking, overcompensating, and self-doubt.
• Understanding the neuroscience and power essential oils have to rapidly shift your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, with scientific evidence to support their profound impact at a cellular level.
• Exploring specific essential oils (with business analysts in mind) that can anchor in more confidence, self-assurance, and creativity, all while forging neural pathways that foster your success.

Prepare to be amazed by Robin Jones, an extraordinary professional who has dedicated 15 years to studying and teaching the emotional and energetic properties of essential oils. Her expertise spans across 14 languages and 26 countries, and she even certifies mental health professionals, counselors, coaches, and parents in utilizing essential oils for emotional breakthroughs.

In this live session, Robin introduced the Bridging the Gap Essential Oil Kit, which is a package of essential oils chosen specifically to help business analysts anchor in more confidence, self-assurance, and creativity, all while forging neural pathways that foster your success.

As a new doTerra member, when you make your investment in the BTG Essential Oil Kit, you’ll also receive free shipping and a free diffuser.

>>Click here to buy the BTG Essential Oil Kit<<

(This kit is fully customizable, so you can add and delete oils if you wish. There is a minimum threshold of 150 PV to receive the free diffuser.)

Here’s the reader’s dilemma:

I’ve been the sole BA in my organisation for nearly a decade, only finally getting formal training in the past 8 months or so. The ‘Barely controlled chaos’ and lack of interest in formal methods has been incredibly frustrating. I’ve now been made redundant, and would like to share what happened with the first job I applied for.

For info, I have a BSC in computing, a diploma in systems practice, a diploma in business analysis, and I’m a professional member of the chartered institute for IT.

I went through the recruitment process for a firm about a month back. I passed two interviews and a group exercise with flying colours. The feedback was all very positive. However, they commented that they’d have liked longer to talk about the specific tasks I’d completed. At their request I forwarded copies of some deliverables I’d produced from various projects. They were very aware of the informal setting I work in, and lack of exposure to other BAs.

The final feedback I got was that the content of the deliverables was good, but not ‘strong’ enough, so I didn’t get hired.

I feel frustrated, as anything more complex than the examples I’d sent would be inappropriate in my current role. By their own admission I was a ‘Great fit’ for the organisation, and I hold qualifications that they hope to have their other staff pursue. I feel I’m in a catch 22 as I can’t get experience of using formal methods extensively until I get another post. Can’t get another post because I can’t evidence long-term use of formal methods!

Thanks for sharing your story. That sounds like a really unfortunate situation — to be so close to a job that’s the right fit and have it fall through. In what follows, I’ll describe the problem with work samples and give you some practical tips for using them to your advantage.

If you’re looking for a career that’s high in demand, has immense growth potential, and will ride the wave of data revolution, an opportunity in the business intelligence space might be for you.

In this video, you’ll learn:

• The typical responsibilities one might expect with a business intelligence role
• How a BI role differs from a traditional business analyst role
• The difference between data analysis and data modeling
• The technical skills required in business analytics and business intelligence

Whether you are just starting out or looking to make a career change, this video is a must-watch.

If you are interested in enhancing your data modeling skills, download our free data modeling training! This resource will teach you:

• What data models you can use to clarify the data requirements
• How to use data models on a variety of projects
• How to understand new domains quickly
• How to excel on system integration and data migration projects

 >> Download the Free Data Modeling Training <<

It is all about the data these days, and if you are looking for a career that’s in high demand, has immense growth potential and will ride the wave of this data revolution, we find ourselves on an opportunity in the business intelligence or BI space might be for you.

In this video, we are going to look at business analysis roles in business intelligence and analytics, including the key skills that you will need for success and how it differs from a more traditional business analyst role. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to make a career change, this video is a must watch.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis, tips and techniques.

Two Main Ways the “Business Analyst” Job Title is Used

When it comes to job titles in the business analysis space, they can be confusing and deceiving. In particular, there are two primary ways that the business analyst job title is used.

The first is the role that literally bridges the gap between business and technology by ensuring that software solutions do what the business needs them to do and solves a real business problem. Often this role is seen as a technology or IT role. Sometimes it’s located within the business and is the role that collaborates with the technology team.

The second way that the business analyst job title is used is often for more of a business intelligence or analytics role that involves using data analysis and business intelligent tools to gain insights and make decisions. Often this role sits on the financial team, but it may be in marketing some aspect of business, or it might even be on an IT team, or you might have a company that has an entire business intelligence department within one of those larger umbrellas. And of course, as a business analyst, you could be filling both roles. This video is really going to be about the typical responsibilities in both of these roles; the skill sets you need to succeed, and how the rules differ and overlap.

Typical Responsibilities in Business Intelligence

The typical responsibilities in a business intelligence role involve collecting and analyzing data to identify trends and patterns. You’d be developing models that show patterns in the data. You might be identifying opportunities for growth and improvement or how to solve a specific business problem. You could be creating reports that summarize insights and inform business decisions and presenting those reports to leadership within your company, a project team, or a set of sponsors that are trying to make decisions about how to invest money in the company.

Clearly you could be in both roles. You could be using business analytic tools and techniques to identify problems and opportunities, and then you could be using business analysis tools and techniques to clarify and solve them.

One interesting project that I worked on was after the implementation of a major business intelligence platform. It turned out that the data wasn’t actually giving them the information they needed and so I worked with stakeholders to update their business processes and their proprietary software systems to capture the data that they needed for reporting. I think this example shows how these two roles flow together and how essential both can be.

Now to understand the difference between business intelligence roles and the more traditional business analyst roles you really need to understand the difference between data analysis and data modeling.

The Difference Between Data Analysis and Data Modeling

I have an entire video on the difference between data analysis and data modeling, so make sure to check that video out after you finish this one. Nevertheless, I want to speak to it briefly here because it’s just so relevant to this discussion.

Data analysis is the work that you do to analyze the data. It involves generating reports, analyzing those reports, mapping trends, like looking at huge quantities of data sets of things that have been happening in terms of business activity and customer activity, and analyzing and creating meaning from that data, the raw data, that’s been created.

Data modeling is the work you do to decide how information will be modeled and stored in an information system. You would answer questions like, what information do we need to store about our customer behavior or about this transaction, o about how the business completes this workflow? What field are we going to capture this information in?

In the context of setting up a business intelligence reporting system, you’ll determine what data sources are being fed into that centralized repository and how the information in those systems relate together. And again, there’s an overlap because without the data being stored and managed, you really can’t report on it to use it to make better business decisions.

That’s the scenario that my team had run into. They had this great business intelligence system, but it didn’t have the data that they needed, so we had to backtrack and figure out how to re-engineer their business process and their software to ensure we were capturing that data so they could use it to analyze it and make better business decisions.

It’s important to develop skills in both areas if you want to succeed in business intelligence.

If you are interested in enhancing your data modeling skills, we have a great resource for you. It’s our free data modeling training, and it’s going to teach you what data models you can use to clarify data requirements and how to use these on all kinds of projects, even system integration projects and data migration projects, which is really a business intelligence rollout.

A rollout of a business intelligence system often is both your migrating or integrating data into that system. The set of techniques that we cover in that free training would be relevant to you.

In a business intelligence rollout as well, even if you don’t know how to code, I like to stress that about data modeling. You don’t have to know how to code to know how to model data. You can claim this free training by clicking the link below.

 >> Download the Free Data Modeling Training <<

Technical Skills Required in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence

Let’s talk about the technical skills that are required in business analytics and business intelligence. If you want to take your career in that direction, you will need to have a more advanced technical skill set for a functional or process focused business analyst role.

At a minimum, you’re going to need very advanced skills in Excel to be able to create sophisticated reports and pivot tables and really leverage all the functionality available to you in Excel to take that data and make it consumable by other stakeholders in your organization. Often you will need to know how to use SQL so that you can generate reports directly against data sources and run those queries against the database.

It’s also likely that you are going to need to know the business intelligence tool in place in your organization. Common examples include Power BI and Tableau. You might see those coming up on job descriptions for a business analyst role that might be titled Business Analyst. That’s often a great indicator that it’s really a business intelligence analyst type of role. Those sorts of tools like Power BI and Tableau centralize data from multiple sources and help you generate those sophisticated reports that you can use as part of exploring business problems.

Business Acumen is Also Required

Now, business acumen is often also required. This is not just a technical role. You need that business acumen to know what questions to ask. How do I interpret this data to answer those questions? How do I present this data in a meaningful way to executives and other stakeholders to drive better decision making? It’s a technical role with still a business acumen focus.

Where Do You Want to Go With Your Career?

My question for you is, where do you want to go with your career? Business analytics, business intelligence, and more general business analyst rules all represent great career opportunities. Where you ultimately decide to go in your career will depend on the skills that you want to develop. Do you want to be more data focused and technical? Do you want to be part of ongoing decision making and prioritizing improvements? A career in business analytics or business intelligence could be a really good fit for you.

Do you want to be more process and functional focused, perhaps less technical, more collaborative than a career in business analysis doing process development and functional software requirements as well as modeling the data could be a great fit for you. Both are an option. These roles flow really well together, and no matter what you choose, you could find yourself doing work from the other role on a particular project or just at a particular time in your career. Either way, data modeling skills are going to be essential to your success as you can’t analyze data if you don’t understand how it’s structured. That’s why our free data modeling training is so valuable.

Expand Your Data Modeling Skills

You can sign up for that free training right now and discover the essential data modeling techniques that you can use to add more value, even if you don’t know how to code, by clicking the link below.

 >> Download the Free Data Modeling Training <<

I recently hosted a LinkedIn Live with project management expert, Elizabeth Harrin where we dug into the overlaps and differences between these two roles, as well as how professionals in these roles can work together to support a project’s success.

In this video, you’ll discover:

• How to define the roles of business analyst and project manager, and the skills required for each role.
• How business analysis and project management roles differ and overlap.
• The pros and cons of having two distinct roles on a project team and how business analysts and project managers can collaborate more effectively.
• The questions YOU bring to this live event about project management and business analysis.

If you would like to learn more about Elizabeth Harrin, you can find her LinkedIn profile here.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Well, hello and welcome everyone. I am so excited to be here today with Elizabeth Harrin and Paula Bell facilitating. We’re here to talk about project management and business analysis and what the roles are, how they partner together, how they’re different, how they collaborate.

Just to kind of kick things off, if you can let us know in the chat, where you’re tuning in from, but also, are you a business analyst? Are you a project manager? Or maybe you’re both. A lot of people are both. While you’re doing that, I’ll just share a little bit about myself and a little bit about our special guest, Elizabeth.

I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap. We are an online training and certification company where we focus on helping you start, succeed and excel in your business analyst career.

Today we have Elizabeth Harrin, who’s a project management expert. Elizabeth, I apologize. Oh no, here’s your bio. Sorry it was a little bit lower down. I thought I totally lost your bio. I was going to punt it over to you.

But, yes, on top of all of that, she’s the creator of the “Rebels Guide to Project Management,” the author of a long line of project management books, including her most recent one, “Managing Multiple Projects,” which is shortlisted on the Business Books Awards this year. So a huge congratulations on that. She’s a fellow of the Association of Project Management and also practices as a project manager in the UK. You bring a lot of both theoretical and practical experience. What I always love about chatting with you is one, how much you appreciate and value the business analyst role, which isn’t always common amongst project managers. And also just that practical focus that you bring. We always have some good chats.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Well, thank you very much for having me on the show.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah. So great to have you here. Would you like to kick things off? We were going to start by just talking about what is business analysis, what is project management? Do you want to start by kicking us off on your view of the project management role?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Yes. Sure. I think for me, project management is about getting the work done often through other people because we’re in a team. So for me, the project manager is almost like the conductor of an orchestra. The person who tries to keep everybody pulling in the same direction. We might have a vision or a goal that’s been set by senior leadership, and we have to help people turn that into reality.

We are, in a project management role, the person bringing each different discipline together or subject matter expert together to ensure that all the contributions happen at the right time with the goal of creating that business value that the senior stakeholders expect.

I’ve often heard it called herding cats. Have you come across that as well?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: That, yes, that metaphor, which I imagine like cats, just kind of like to go their own direction. You’re trying to get everybody running in the same direction.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Yes. Yes.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yes. I’m seeing people join. Some combined lots of business analysts, delivery manager, BA, PM. So combination. Lots of different variations, which is what I would expect because we’ve both shared this with our communities. So yeah, variations on all of those roles.

Just to compliment that, at Bridging the Gap, we help business analysts who literally bridge the gap between business and technology stakeholders. There are lots of different ways that title is used. That’s one of the complexities within business analysis. But the way that we define the title and the role within what we do at Bridging the Gap is the person who is helping ensure that software solutions deliver real business value and do what the business needs and wants them to do and solve real business problems.

Often they would use techniques like business process analysis, making sure they understand the business workflow and the problem to be solved. Use cases, wireframes, user stories. Some way of identifying what those software requirements are or those functional requirements. And then a variety of different data modeling techniques that articulate how information is stored and flows through the software systems.

In a project, it would align with the project manager role of defining the business needs or outcomes, but take it through scope and then really heavy work in the detailed requirements phase, and then focus more on collaborating and supporting the business and technology solution, or stakeholders, as they implement that solution.

We were also going to talk a little bit about the skills. If you are just joining us, we are having each person share in the chat if they want to share where you’re from. But also, are you a business analyst, project manager, or do you fill both roles? I see a lot of people sharing their role. But just so you know what people are sharing in the chat, it helps us get to know who’s here and how we can help support you.

Let’s just dig in a little bit more of the skills that are required. Elizabeth, in your view, what are the skills that you see are required for successful project management?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: So many skills. I think it’s actually a really challenging job and I know that business analysis is the same. You have to wear so many different hats and be skilled in so many different things. There are a couple of things there that I thought was probably worth sharing.

In the past project management used to be very much around the technical skills. At least those were the highly prized valuable skills around scheduling, understanding risk, creating complicated charts. But today, and in fact, it’s evolved over, I’d say the last 10 years, the industry in general, the profession, workplaces have recognized that actually the work of getting people to pull together to create that business value is not really served by having a wonderful pretty risk log. It’s really served by all of those interpersonal skills, bringing people together, creating a culture where collaboration is expected, where teams trust each other to get their work done.

All the stuff that PMI calls power skills, which you might know as interpersonal skills or soft skills, or the soft skills that are really the hard skills. All the negotiation and listening and leadership and communication and collaboration and building trust, especially in virtual teams. All of that stuff, I think, is really, if you’re thinking about taking a project management job at the moment, those are the things that will help you stand above other candidates because that’s what really, I was going to say, a real buzzword then I was going to say, shifts the needle. I try and avoid things like that. Those are the things that will really make you stand out from other candidates.

You still need all of the technical skills. You still need to be able to actually do the job of tracking and monitoring and controlling the work and handling the finances and doing the scheduling. But at the end of the day, if no one wants to work on your project because it’s difficult to understand what the work is or you make it awkward or people don’t want to be in that kind of culture, then the business won’t get those outcomes and it won’t get the benefits. That means a lot of the skills are centered around creating a nice place to work and where you can get your team to pull together, and everyone’s empowered to do their best work. Really.

Can I also say something else about that, which is the team T-shaped skills? Have you come, I’m sure you have, but I wonder if people in the audience have come across this concept of being a T-shaped person before, where you’ve got a lot of broad skills; you’ve got a lot of skills that you have a quite shallow depth of knowledge in. I mean, I’m not a financial analyst. I’m not the best risk manager in the world. I know enough to do my job, but then you have deep domain knowledge in certain areas that are sort of extra core skills for your particular specialism. There are certain things which fall under that project management skills umbrella around scheduling, task management, reporting, monitoring and control, that I would say project managers need to be really, really good at.

And then there’s probably some other skills that form the top bar of the T, like business acumen, being able to understand the commercials of an organization, being able to operate within a portfolio environment. If you are having to work within a program, for example, and other things like that, that you need to have some awareness of.

Sorry, I felt like I’ve gone on there because the whole topic of skills is so huge and you can talk just about that.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah, I think what was so important about what you said, I mean, there was a lot of great things you said, but the importance of the “soft skills.” I know that maybe is part of the T shape. It’s kind of an industry trend to talk more about soft skills, but that is what set so many people apart. In terms of their ability to get positive results from their projects and from their work.

I would say for a business analyst, it’s very similar that you need to have really strong communication, collaboration skills. You need to be able to build trust with stakeholders. Often you’re inviting them and asking them to share information that feels like something they might want to protect for some reason. You have to build that trust and awareness. Being able to ask good questions, be a great listener. For a business analyst, the more technical skills. I went through those more in the overview of the role, but then it becomes how do you analyze that information into some sort of a model that then shows this is what we’re going to build, or this is what our process is, or this is what the software is.

Again, though, being able to put that model in front of a stakeholder and have a conversation about it. It’s not so much just the building of that model, which can be, I think, equivalent maybe to the project manager. You could go build a schedule all day, but if people aren’t saying, yes, I’m going to actually do those tasks on those dates, the schedule is sort of irrelevant.

The same thing for an analyst. You could go create requirements models all day, but if people aren’t actually saying, yes, this is what I want, and yes, from a solution perspective, this is what we can build, you’re just kind of creating documentation for the sake of documentation. That ability to get alignment and clarity is also really important.

We are going to make this really collaborative. I love seeing all of your shares in the chat. If you have any specific questions about business analysis for project management skillsets, go ahead and let us know what those are in the chat as well.

I did want to let you know at Bridging the Gap, and Elizabeth, if you have something similar let us know. We can share it. We have a free BA skills assessment download as well. If that’s something you want to learn more about, feel free to download that assessment and we’ll get that link in the chat for you as well.

It sounded like you were going to say something, so I wanted to give you a chance to say that.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: I can see that Kevin just. Sorry. It says there are a couple of people commenting on the T shape and all the broad skills that we need to do the project management and business analysis role. And Kevin, you’ve asked a question, “What’s the V side of the T?” I’m not sure if I understand that question. Perhaps there’s a different way you could phrase it.

I can see other questions coming in. What do you want to do with those, Laura? Do you want to…? I’ll let you steer.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yes, no worries. So what is the business analyst? How do they partner to create value? We are getting there. We’re going to just do a little bit more foundational pieces to make sure we understand the various roles.

Let’s see. There is a question. “Is the business analyst only for a software or technology industry?” And I guess that would be a similar question for project management.

There are multiple different definitions of the business analysis role. In the broadest sense, business analysis, as defined by IIBA, would be relevant outside of a project or a project context or a software context. The way we teach it, it’s just anyone who helps bring business change to organizations and helps get clarity on what that solution looks like. That solution does not have to be a technology solution.

The way that we teach it at Bridging the Gap is we focus on the software solution, but by no means is your work isolated to the software because the software never happens in a vacuum. The software is always part of a business process or it’s part of a product. It’s hard to envision, actually, a business process or a product these days that doesn’t have some impact on the software and technology of your organization. It’s not limited in that sense, like it’s only for that, but often it involves that and you need to look at all the layers around that to be effective.

It’s actually kind of a good transition into where we were going to go next, Elizabeth, with specialized skill sets. Because I think you were talking about some of the specialized skills that are important for project managers or how that affects the role. Maybe you can speak to is there a specialized role within the software industry as well for project managers?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: The thing is, I think, from a project perspective, most projects involve some degree of technology now. I wouldn’t say that I’ve worked in software and tech companies. I’ve worked in financial services in healthcare pretty much my whole career really. We’ve had business analysts in financial services and in healthcare. They’ve worked on projects where technology has been an element of it, but these days, pretty much all projects have an element of technology. Not all, but many of them do and that touches business processes. To have that interplay between how does the solution deliver value and are we doing the right thing, having a business analyst is really crucial.

I don’t think it’s specific to technology. If you’re looking for a role, then there are plenty of industries out there that would definitely use those skills.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I want to say one thing real quick. I want to clarify because I think that’s such an important distinction. It’s not that the industry is technology, it’s that there is some element of technology in the industry. Financial services have huge amounts of software. I think that is an important nuance. So thank you for that.

Do you want to speak to how specialized skills show up? Like industry skills or awareness of a certain business domain? What kinds of specialties are there, and how do those show up within the project management role?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Well, project management is a bit of a universal skill in that probably everybody on this call has managed a project in the past. Whether that’s been a house renovation, a wedding, a family party, a sports event, something with a start, a middle and an end where you’ve had a to-do list or a task list, they’re all projects.

Within the workplace, we have projects for pretty much everything. And if it’s not your full-time role, it might be part of your role or something that you’re contributing to if somebody else is leading it. And so in that respect, a lot of the fundamentals of how do we manage projects are common sense and also things that we all do within our day jobs.

There are some benefits, I think, of working within perhaps a domain. So for example, like I said, my background is healthcare. If you put me on a construction site and said, “Manage this project to build a car park,” I would probably really struggle. I mean, I can still do the schedule, I can still talk to the people, but I won’t have those connections that come with working in a domain for 15 years that say, “Oh, if we do this, then I have to involve that person and this might happen to happen.” Those kinds of connections and the understanding of the context of your work, I think, is probably why people like me end up staying in one industry vertical for a relatively long period of time. That’s not to say you can’t change.

If you wanted to go and be a project manager in space science or you’ve wanted to go and suddenly work in retail or construction or clinical trials, something like that, then a lot of the skills are transferrable. But it’s just a case of you’ve got to quite quickly learn that domain knowledge.

When I moved from financial services to healthcare, my first [unintelligible – 0:17:58:2] radiology, I knew that’s what I was going to do. I knew I was going to be given a project in the radiology department. I listened to podcasts, just general podcasts from a radiographer, almost like university level teaching. Most of it I did not understand at all. But just the way of learning the vocabulary, some of the key concepts that came out, I thought, okay, that’s giving me a bit of background. So when I go into this brand new domain to me, I have a little bit of an understanding about what does it mean to have a radiology department within a hospital. So it’s all learnable. I think context is something that comes with practice and learnable.

To summarize that, in project management, a lot of it’s transferrable, but I do think there are probably some industries where it helps to have a bit of domain knowledge that you can build up over time.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah, I would agree. We see the same thing in business analysis. Although there are a lot of roles that do require more specialized skillsets, whether it’s like in an industry or domain or the technical solution, I think what people perceive is that if you have that specialty, you’re going to have a quicker path to understanding the business language, to coming up with the possible solutions when it comes to technology, you’ll understand the problem. I think sometimes that’s very true, and sometimes the reverse is actually true. Being the outsider who actually doesn’t understand the industry as a business analyst, allows you to ask the “dumb” questions. The questions that you think everybody else in the room knows the answer to, but they actually don’t until you’re like, “Well, what does that acronym mean?” You realize that two people are using the same acronym to talk about something completely different, so they’re talking past each other. Or “Why have we always done it that way?” Sometimes the outsider effect has a really positive impact, but it does feel like it slows the process down at the beginning when the business analyst needs to really come up to speed on vocabulary and terminology.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Somebody’s put “curiosity” in the comments, actually, as a key skill and I think that’s really good. It’s really worth asking all of those questions, like, what are we doing? Why are we doing it? And being curious about how this business value is going to get delivered.

Curiosity is good and I think it helps you with all of their understanding, but the thing that drove me into healthcare is I just thought it would be really interesting. It is. Every day is fascinating and I’m learning new things. I feel like I’m really making a difference. So if you are watching this thinking what sort of vein do I want to go in? What sort of industry is going to give me the best opportunity as a BA or a PM? I would think do something that sounds interesting to you, whether that’s floristry or retail or, technology or software startups, or whatever it is. Because if you can do something that you really, within the context of the organization, is something that you really think you want to get involved with and learn more about, then you’ll be curious naturally, because you’ll want to know more about how the industry works.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Definitely. Paula, we have a question or two that we want to take around the skillsets here before we move on to the roles and how they overlap.

PAULA: I’m looking, can you hear me? Hopefully you can hear me.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah.

PAULA: Okay, good. All righty. We do have one question. How does one get experience and work and build a portfolio? That was one of the questions. We have a lot of comments, so that’s why I’m weeding through a lot of the comments. That’s the first question I’ve actually seen, as a question.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: And was it for either role?

PAULA: It didn’t specify. So I think answering for either role would be okay.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: You want to speak to that, Elizabeth, from a project management perspective?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Okay. Yeah. From a project management perspective, if you want to gain experience, I would look at what you are doing outside of your current work or within your current work that can be framed as a project. So maybe you’re doing some volunteering work, or maybe there is something that you’re doing within your current role that you could apply project management practices too. If you’ve done a training course or you’ve read about some skills that you want to try and put into practice, there’s nothing stopping you creating a roadmap for your work over the next quarter or trying to come up with the risks that might be affecting your work over the next however long. There’s nothing stopping you from putting together monthly reports or a project charter for something that someone’s asked you to do. It might just be for your own personal benefit because no one else cares or wants to see it. But it can help you get into the right mindset of what does it look like, how do I create it? What template would I use for this? And then when you do go to an interview, you’ve got some examples that you can draw on of things.

But often, actually, one of the other top tips for trying to get experience is to volunteer with Project Management Institute if there’s one close by to you, because they’re always putting on events and obviously they do those things in a very project management kind of way, and that gives you experience to different principles and practices, and working together as a project team. What do you think, Laura, from the BA side?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah. Very similar and most often we encourage people to just start doing business analysis where you’re at in your role. Very often the very first place that people can start is by analyzing a business process. Where I see people get caught up is they see business analysis as being this like big thing. I’m creating dozens of documents and requirements for a big multi-year project or a year-long, or a six month project, right. Whereas you can really start at a very granular level of what’s a process that I do in my work day-to-day? Can I document it? And ideally, could I look at my process either from the perspective a bit broader so that I’m looking at people from other departments who do steps before me and people from other departments who do steps after me so I’m getting a bigger view and getting them involved in understanding the process and we’re all getting aligned on what that process is.

Often from there, you’re going to start finding improvements. Those improvements might involve some software that you need to automate or improve. Then you can start looking at software requirements and you can still be doing that. That could be like a simple one feature thing that you put into your IT support desk to request. But you’re defining a requirement when you do that.

Often I’ve seen people do this so many times, they start to get recognized as like, oh my goodness, this person is really helping improve things over here. How do we get them to do more of that? And that can evolve into more of a formal business analyst role. But you just start right where you’re at.

I see Kevin talking about a test analyst. I was a quality assurance engineer before I was a business analyst, and I did not realize that I was, because I was testing a new area of the technology that nobody else had really put a disciplined effort into, I was essentially building a business process to test. I was seen as having that skillset from that result.

We’ll continue to take questions. So Paula, if there’s a good question that pops up, just go ahead and jump in with that. But we did want to also talk about how the roles overlap.

Elizabeth, where do you see the primary areas of overlap between the two roles?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Overlap as in things that are the same?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: There’s quite a lot of the role where we could overlap in a very positive way because both roles are focused on the end goal and what’s actually required. And like you said, the business value angle. Getting the right solution, understanding the interfaces with other activities outside of the project. There might be other projects happening, there might be dependencies on other work and obviously there’s other process and people dependencies on what the project is doing because nothing really happens in isolation.

I think PMs need that information to manage the stakeholder relationships and expectations. There’s a lot around communications, making sure that’s effective, reaching the right people and managing the dependencies within those stakeholder groups so the right people know what they’re supposed to be doing at the right time.

And I think towards the end of a project, there’s probably quite a lot of overlap in making sure that it lands well so that what we are delivering is fit for purpose. People are ready for it and people are getting what it was that they thought they were going to get.

There’s a bit of a formality and governance in there as well because you’ll get the review of the requirements, making sure that they’re fit for purpose against delivery. And then there’s a project sign off document and there’s the formal closing down of the project, making sure that everybody’s happy. There needs to be quite a lot of overlap without stepping on each other’s toes at that point too.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I don’t know that I have too much to add to that. I think kind of from a skillset perspective, what we’ve highlighted is they’re both really engaged with their stakeholders. They have a huge role in managing stakeholder relationships. That often, I think, is best done in partnership to some degree, because the business analyst is working with them on an ongoing basis as part of the requirements process, and the project manager, making sure things are getting done and all of the things that come in.

I also feel like there’s a lot of, like, we could probably have a whole conversation just about this, but about the scope. I know as a business analyst; I’m so focused on what’s the problem we’re solving? What’s the potential of the solution scope? And there’s this need to bring it into alignment with what’s the budget and the timeline and how are we actually going to implement this?

There’s a shared role in figuring that out and prioritizing, but also navigating as you uncover more details through the process. Does this actually fit within the scope? As a business analyst, I think it’s easy to kind of get lost in the “oh, look at all these things we could do.” Whereas you want to be able to bring in some of that value focus of like, oh wait, if we really take on this new big requirement we just discovered while we were just identifying the details for this use case, it’s going to have a significant impact on the project as well. There’s a lot of interplay there, I think, from a scope perspective.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Good because it provides the check and balance. There might be a thousand great ideas and then we have to align that with how much time have we got, how much money have we got, how much effort and interest have we got from our stakeholders?

But equally, a project manager could go off and deliver a fantastic project that hits every milestone, but it’s the wrong answer. We’ve delivered a piece of software within budget and on time. If the stakeholders knew what they were getting and six months later people stopped using it because it doesn’t have the features that they want and it’s not really fit for purpose. Between the two roles, there’s that scope related check and balance that we can do for each other.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Very much for sure.

PAULA: Well, I would just like to mention really quick here, since you told me to jump in, Laura. We are getting questions fast and furious. Would you like to entertain some of these questions right now and get some engagements from the audience?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah.

PAULA: The first question is specifically for you, Laura. The question is some of what you describe about documenting a process when you were talking about analyzing the process earlier on. Is it different from service design, which analyzes a customer service process?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I’ll just be totally upfront. I’m not 100% familiar with service design, so I’m going to just speak to it from the customer service process. But analyzing a process and documenting a process is documenting a process. So you are looking at what are the steps that a business user goes through to achieve a specific outcome for the business and something that is repeatable and that it happens again and again. And it might not happen today in a consistent way. That could be the problem you’re trying to solve, but you want it to happen in a consistent way.

So in the context of a customer service process, it could be what happens when you receive a new issue,  like an issue submitted by a customer, or an outage. Whatever those sets of processes your customer service is going through. If you’re doing that under the context of service design for customer service, you are definitely doing business analysis from the perspective of business process analysis. So that would be a transferrable skill that you can bring. Great question.

PAULA: Here’s another question that I think both of you can opine on, and this question is, would you both have roles as part of a Scrum team?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: As a project manager? Probably not.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I want to hear more about that, Elizabeth. Go for it.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Within an agile setup, within a Scrum team, there is no formal role for a project manager. So you’d have a self-organizing…I’m guessing the person who asked that question knows more about Scrum. I don’t work in an agile team. I’m very much waterfall methodology and predictive with the work that I do.  Samuel’s here.

The role that I do doesn’t really exist within that Scrum environment. And I’m not sure about a BA. It’s not a job title that comes up when I work with the Scrum teams within my organization. But they have a product owner and a Scrum master. The role of a project manager, in the true Scrum sense, doesn’t really exist. But I’m very happy to listen to people who’ve got a more practical working experience of agile teams than I have.

I’m a project manager on a project at the moment, and the technology component is being delivered by a Scrum team. I have a role, but my role is not managing the technology aspect of it. I’m coordinating the work of the other stakeholders. I’m reporting up to the program. I’m doing lots of other project management bits around the edges and I keep an overall schedule, but within the actual Scrum team, they don’t need me.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I have not heard someone explain it that way. And I just love that distinction and the value of it because it affects business analysts as well. Often there will be someone with the business analyst skillset on the Scrum team. It might be the product owner. Or it might be a BA role who supports the product owner. Those are roles on kind of bigger teams that I’ve seen. I’ve filled that role on a team before, on an agile team, the business analyst supporting a product owner/project manager.

But there are also all the stuff that happens outside the software part when we are talking about business process analysis and rolling a piece of software out to the business and training and the financials and the risk management from project management. That can happen outside of Scrum. I think that is what I heard you say, to just kind of sum it up.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Yes. And Linda has suggested, Linda in the chat in LinkedIn has said a different thing  in her organization. Project managers can be Scrum masters. I think that’s one of the benefits of project management Agile in general is that organizations can make this. There is no set in stone 10 step commandments to how to be a project manager. If it works for your organization and you want to implement it in a particular way, then just do it. We can evolve the role to be what the organization needs us to be, because it’s quite a flexible role, and it’s all about getting work done.

If you can be a project manager and a Scrum master and the team needs that, then great. If you’re just adding a role for the sake of it to bloat out the team and put someone else on the payroll, then that doesn’t add any value. But if the team is set up and benefits, then benefit is good. It’s just a different way of organizing your resources to get the best value.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Very much so. I’m going to go a little bit off our outline here, but it feels like the perfect time to talk about being both a business analyst and a project manager. We’ve talked about how they overlap, but a lot of people here were saying, I am both a business analyst and a project manager. I have aspects of both of that, both of those roles. There are some pros and some cons to that.

We have kind of talked about it, and it can come up in the context of Agile, because often in an agile team you are more pressured to fill multiple roles as well too. I think it’s really related to this question.

Do you have a clear yay nay on whether it should be a separate role or two distinct roles on a team, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Oh, that’s a really good question. Why did you have to put me on the spot?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I know I phrased it differently.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: No, no, no. It’s fine. If you’re a business analyst and a project manager, there’s more work for you to do, but it’s cheaper for the team and maybe you find that work moves faster because there’s no handoff between people. And on simple projects there might not be the need for lots of process mapping, lots of workshops, lots of analysis, lots of requirements.

You said at the beginning people think of business analysis as creating many documents of requirements. On a small project, maybe that’s not the level of work required. And if the process is well known or maybe already well documented, and you’ve got quite a mature project management environment, stakeholders maybe need less handholding and they’ve got the time to invest in the project, then you might be able to find that doing the BA and the project management role fits quite well together, especially if the answer is already sort of predetermined and there’s already quite a clear guidance of what the solution should be.

I think there are advantages, but I can see that it’s two full-time jobs on a big project. And how does one person fit all of that work in and switch the hats constantly and dip into the details to do the requirements? And then after the big picture, present a one page to whoever needs it at that moment. What do you think?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah, yeah. I’m right with you. Well, I want to talk about the big picture piece and then come back to the smaller one because I have a follow up question around that. But I do think when you’re talking about a big project, the overwhelm and the different type of thinking that’s required.

One is there’s like the big picture and the granular level, which is one split. But there’s also solution delivery focus and problem focus. As a business analyst, I want to get in and figure out all the details, and I might start gradually figuring out this bigger potential solution. And then I’ve got to switch context, “All right, what can get done in the time and schedule we have?”

It’s healthy to look at things from both perspectives. I think both roles need to look at things from both perspectives. But when you’re trying to own both perspectives, you’re going to feel that conflict with yourself often. You’re going to naturally gravitate towards one perspective or the other versus having a healthy balance within the teams.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Yes. And I think the tension doesn’t just come from within, it comes from the stakeholders as well. Because I know from pretty much every single project I’ve worked on, senior stakeholders want you to go, I mean, who….comment if you have worked on a project where they’ve said, “No, have as much time as you like to plan. Get it right. Spend all this time reflecting at the beginning and come up with something amazing.” No, it’s like, “Oh, well we approved this project yesterday. Now here, if you’ve got a million pounds. When do we see our first deliverable? We want it next week.” That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but there’s definitely this pressure to deliver.

When a project is approved, often stakeholders want a quick start and they want to know that things are happening. There’s a tension coming from external stakeholders as well who are trying to go, go, go, go. And if you’ve got to wear both hats, you’ve got to satisfy that requirement and also spend enough time ring fencing enough time to do a proper job at the beginning.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah, for sure. I want to come back to that question. That’s like on a bigger project. But on a smaller project when you said it’s smaller or the business process is well defined, do you see it as the project manager’s role to essentially define the requirements or does it tend to fall to the business side or the technology side? Because there’s still business analysis that needs to happen. It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it just might not be as heavy of a role as on some of these bigger projects. Where does that tend to get picked up?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Where organizations have business analysts, they are probably better used on the more complicated projects and that means that their time is probably not available to those smaller projects, which means that other people have to do that to fill the gap because there either isn’t the business analyst resource or the BA’s are off doing something that is a better use of their time perhaps. I don’t know whether that’s really the right way to phrase it, but, if you have a big complex strategic project, that’s where I’m thinking you would put the people most skilled at being able to focus and support the delivery of those.

So who does it? It would be either the project manager or the users, or it just doesn’t get done. Then you end up muddling through with what we think the requirements might be and building in a very, you know, we might pilot something, we might then iterate, we might try to incrementally improve over time because we didn’t get it quite right at the beginning.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: That’s where you end up with like the rework. Then a small thing becomes a big thing. It’s sort of interesting.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Yes.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: We could also talk about the pressures of everybody thinking their thing is a small thing from the beginning, and so wanting to do things that way, but then they actually kind of become bigger because of the rework at the end.

I think this might be a good time to take a few questions. Paula, I could see. I have not been able to read any of it because I’ve been so engaged, but like there’s a lot going on in the chat. Is there a question or two that we should…

PAULA: I think one question that’s a really good one is, what would you say are the main differentiators between a PM and a BA?

LAURA BRANDENBURG: This is the question I skipped over in our outline. You can be honest. Do you want to start, Elizabeth or do you want me to?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: The main difference is, can we sum it up by saying something like, if the project manager is focused on getting us to the finish line, then the BA is focused on making sure that when we get there, we’ve done the right thing.

I know that’s a mind, that’s a mindset thing rather than a skillset thing. It’s just a different role to fulfill within the team. If you’re thinking, Allison, about differentiators within the job itself, I think that’s probably quite clear. What would help me is to sit down at the beginning of the project and say, “This is the team we’ve got. How are we going to work together? What are you going to do? How do our different roles overlap? How are we going to make sure that we are getting the best out of all of the resources, all the people who are working with us? And set expectations about the roles in that respect.

If you’re thinking more differentiators in terms of skillsets, I would probably say analysis. I think that the role I have now as a project manager, I’m not required to do anything in a great level of detail. That sounds like I skim over all the detail.

There are things, I hold a lot of dates and things in my head, I have a lot of numbers in my head, but the requirements, I trust my team. That’s what they’re there for. They’re the subject matter experts. If they tell me we need to do something, I’m not going to dig into why and all of this because I trust that someone’s already done that and had that thought process. They’re telling me what needs to happen.

So, I’m not sure. I feel like I can only really speak from my personal experience. I don’t know if I’ve answered your question, Allison. So let’s give Laura a go.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I feel like you did a great job. It kind of calls me to be like, well, what has been that differentiator for the great project managers that I’ve worked with? I think what I have seen is they are very, very strategic and they are outward focused from a wide variety of business stakeholders. It feels so weird to say that cause I feel like a business analyst needs to have that skillset as well. But they’re often, at least in a lot of the environments I were in, they were at different tables in different kinds of discussions at that portfolio level, at the strategic level. And they were helping the business decide what could get done and how to sequence things.

I really trust them from an implementation and delivery perspective. I figured out, with the business, figured out what needs to be done and what that solution looks like. But I don’t have to manage and make sure all those boxes are checked off. At the end of the day, all those things did get done. That is something that I would partner with a project manager and have the freedom to then either be working on what does the business need to do to be prepared to accept the solution or another project or be working on something else while the team is more at implementation mode.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: So the business analyst is the voice of the business.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: It’s gone too many comments. Ryan said that. The business analyst does the what and the project manager does the how. And if you think of the business analyst as the voice of the business, the project managers, we can implement whatever you tell us to really.

I, personally, like to get really involved at the beginning and understand the why and the business case and make sure that I feel like I understand why that decision was taken. But often I mentor project managers and I often hear them say, “I just got given this new project. And a lot of their thinking and business case and analysis of the what are we doing and why are we doing it has happened before we’ve got involved.”

And then it’s just like you said, it’s the how do we make this get across the line? How do we monitor, control, schedule, chase people for tasks, herd the cats until we get there. And then making sure that we’re partnering with the voice of the business, the voice of the customer all the way through to make sure that we’re still on track to do what they would find valuable.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: That’s so fascinating. That is so fascinating. Because I find the same thing happens for business analysts where they’re like, “Oh, the project manager figured out the strategy, defined the scope, and now they’re just bringing me in to figure out the detailed requirements.”

I mean, it must happen different ways in different organizations. We’ve shown that both roles sometimes are on the receiving end of not being involved early, and that can cause challenges ideally. You’re both involved upfront.

PAULA: Another question that, a theme I should say. There are two themes that are occurring right now. One theme, so that’s why I haven’t put up the question because multiple people have asked this question, “How does AI impact the roles of the BA and the project manager?”

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I think for AI, this has come up, this came up in our last live stream. I don’t know if we’ll have a live stream this year where this question doesn’t come up. But, it’s a great tool to use to learn a business domain to help identify requirements, to help draft requirements. I feel like AI gives us access to information and structured thinking that might create something that would take us 20, 30 minutes to create and give us a good draft to work from. So we can focus more of that time on the stakeholder engagement. Like, is this the use case we actually want? Are these things that we actually need for our business case, for our business value? It can do some of that preliminary thinking for us to give us good drafts to start from and speed up our work, so to speak.

So Elizabeth, how about you from a project management role?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: I’m in two minds about it really. I’m quite excited about the possibilities of what AI can add to project management software to alleviate some of the heavy lifting.

What I’d really like to see is tools that can take large data sets and crunch them so that, let’s say Laura gives me an estimate for a project task and I plug it in and the software ping list and says, “Did you know that the last two times Laura has provided you with estimates they’ve been 20% wrong?” Then I can sort of, what do I want to do with that information? How do I want to approach this? I can see that the analysis of large data sets, of all the stuff that we put into software could be really helpful, especially around risk surfacing some of the insights and lessons learned because we typically do that quite badly as well within organizations around knowledge sharing. How do we surface some of the insights from other projects so that we can learn better?

But I also think the fundamental goals, going back to the beginning of what we talked about at the very beginning of this conversation, was around soft skills, negotiating, communication, collaboration, and culture. I am yet to see an AI tool that could fill that role for any of us as humans within the workplace. So I still feel that both BAs and PMs will be here for many, many years to come. Perhaps we’ll be able to work more efficiently because of the tool sets that we’re able to use. But I certainly don’t think that robots will be doing our jobs.

Come back and watch this video in 50 years and tell me if I’m right.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: We’ll be done. That’s awesome. One thing I wanted to make sure we talked a little bit about, because this came up when we had our sort of pre-talk quite a while ago now, was about partnering, some of the challenges that can come up when we have two really strong individuals in these roles that have, as we’ve noticed, like a passion for solving the right problem and getting the right thing done. And maybe the role isn’t clearly understood in your organization or there’s a sense of some overlap. Or, or not. We have really clear roles, but we’re just both a little bit on our own tracks, so to speak.

I know for me, one of the areas that I felt a lot of tension for from project managers at times was this sense of a deadline in this sense of I am trying to discover this thing that doesn’t yet exist and nobody knows exactly what it’s going to be, and I have to tell you when I’m going to figure it out when there’s so much ambiguity and unknown. I say that with the full appreciation, deadlines are important and they’re also really challenging when you’re in this sort of ambiguous, murky area that you don’t necessarily understand really well yet.

I’m kind of curious what challenges you’ve seen on the flip side or how you’ve worked with BAs to manage stuff like that.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: I think that tension is kind of healthy, but also I have felt it as well myself and I suppose as well as the deadline thing where I’m saying to people, “How long will it take? When will you know?” And you think, well, it takes as long as it takes.

In fact, with experience and age, I have got a lot more relaxed about that. But then I have to protect the team from the young, realistic expectations of other people.

I think the other area where I probably find that there’s tension is in scope, like you mentioned earlier, because we have a lots and lots of good ideas. Certainly, in a more predictive linear style of project, it can be quite hard to add new things in later if something is uncovered. You want to do it cause it’s a good idea.

Somebody asked a question further up the stream, actually, made a remark around so the BA comes up with the ideas and then the project manager says if you can do it or not. That’s not the case at all. Project manager would not make a decision like that because ultimately the project sponsor or a steering group would assess the benefit of putting a new requirement in at whatever point that we are in at the project.

Our role is really to say you can make this new change. We can do this, but it will cost X a lot of money and it will take X many longer weeks. Maybe we’ll need to pull some people in from this project, or that means this other project can’t start when you thought it would because they’ll be working on this. If you want to make that call, senior leaders, we can do it. We can deliver whatever you want. We’ll deliver you the moon on a stick if you give us enough money and people. But we need to make that decision consciously. I think that that tension, perhaps, between knowing that the business could get a better result, because if we did something else it would be better. But, also, we can’t work on this project forever and there’s a finite pot of money and maybe some things have to get pushed into a phase two or looked at in the next budget cycle or however your organization that up.

I think that’s difficult as well for the project manager having to feed that message back to business users or analysts who’ve fought to get that requirement and say, look, you know, they said no and these are the reasons and let’s not lose it. Let’s get it on a log somewhere. Let’s get it into the project backlog for next year, or put it on the quarterly plan or whatever it is because it’s a great idea.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: And I think for BAs, the important thing when it comes to scope is to be sort of the eyes and the ears for that kind of scope creep.

I often remember coming out of a detailed requirements meeting that maybe my project manager wasn’t at because they didn’t need to be at every single meeting. “Oh my goodness, we uncovered something big in this meeting. How should we handle it?” Or it would significantly extend the technical timeline. I’m not going to just add it in, but we also had pressure from the business that they really thought they needed it. And so kind of bringing those issues to the team so that we could work through them together.

There is that balance. I think the BA does need to understand; they need to understand enough of the scope from a delivery perspective to be able to know when too much is too much, so to speak.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: I think with experience you get that sense, don’t you? If it’s a small thing you feel that, okay, they’re telling me it’s half a day. I’m sure I can pitch that somehow so it’s a positive message. You also get the feeling of like, oh, maybe we have to descope this. I’m working on something and it’s bigger than we thought it was going to be. And are we actually at the point where we have to make a decision? Do we do it or not? Is it worth the pain of continuing with that particular component? Because maybe it’s not, and we have to have an adult discussion around what would that give us? Or what does it mean? What would the future look like if we did it, if we didn’t do it?

And then as a business, as a group, we can put forward a recommendation. And then the business in inverted commerce, the people who make the decisions can decide what they think is the best route forward.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah. Awesome. I want to give you a chance…Paula, hopefully we’ll be able to pull up one more final question. But before we do that, and I want to ask you for like any final thoughts to close this out, Elizabeth too. But before we do that, I know you just authored a new book, you have a ton of books, you have a website with more information. I just want to give you a chance to share a little bit about your work and how people can find out more about you.

I know we’ve got our thing running along the bottom so you can find us at Bridging the Gap, but I want to make sure you can speak to some of the top resources you’d recommend for people.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Well, I know a lot of people, oh, thank you. A lot of people are watching this on LinkedIn, so I would say that that’s probably the best place to connect with me. Connect with me on LinkedIn.

But yes, I am really interested in how people manage multiple projects. That was my latest book that came out last year, and it’s actually Eugene’s comment in the chat. What’s the suggested maximum number of projects and processes we should be working on concurrently? That’s probably a whole other conversation about how do you manage multiple strands of work.

So yeah, come and find me on LinkedIn. I’d love to continue the conversation because I know that we probably won’t get a chance to answer all those things today.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Awesome. Thank you. Yes. Tons of great resources that you have available to the community.

Do we have like a final question, Paula, that we should, let’s take to kind of bring things home here out of respect for everybody’s time?

PAULA: Whew.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I know that’s a lot of pressure.

PAULA: Because we cannot get to everybody’s questions. There is a question that has come up and maybe this is one both of you can ask this question. I’m going to rephrase it a little bit to still get the meat of the question. This has come up from multiple people, so this is why I’m bringing this one forward. But the question is, what are some of the common questions that you ask your stakeholders or your business users to understand the business objective and goal to ensure that you are designing a product that aligns with the business need?

So I think either one on the PM side or on the BA side, or both can answer that question.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: For sure. I can start and then Elizabeth, I want to hear your thought, too.

So, from the business analyst perspective, we always coach people to ask why. But ask why with finesse. You’re kind of like a two year old. Why, why, why? What would be different once this solution is implemented? Or how would you see your day-to-day changing? Why is this important to you right now? You need to ask that “why” question, but you need to do it in about 15 different ways, is my short answer to that question.

How about for you, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: I have a list of questions that I ask stakeholders at project initiation. So if you message me on LinkedIn, I can send it to you. But it’s very similar. It’s all around expectation management. What are you expecting will change? What are you expecting will stay the same? What are you expecting this project will bring for you and your project? Because that can help you look for conflict between where two different stakeholders are saying different things. And then you can start to dig into that and try to resolve some of those problems before and get everybody on the same page about what scope actually looks like.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Perfect.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: We could talk about that. That’s another whole conversation.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: That’s another whole conversation. Yes. Project initiation for sure.

So any final thoughts you want to leave everyone with?

ELIZABETH HARRIN: I’m just really glad we could have this conversation because I think that this, the interplay between project managers and business analysts needs to work well for the success of the project. Just being able to have the space to think it through and explore how those two roles are similar to each other and how we can collaborate has been really helpful.

And it’s just really nice to catch up with you again, Laura, and to see names that come up in the chat of people that I know I’m already connected to. It’s just lovely that people have turned up to contribute to this discussion with us.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I second that. Yeah, this topic seemed to be really well received. We had record RSVPs and people wanting to share it with their teams. I’m just so grateful that so many people wanted to have the conversation like we’re having. And that, Elizabeth, you were able to show up with us.

Like you, please reach out, connect with me on LinkedIn if you are not already. I would love to be connected. I will continue talking about business analysis. I know, Elizabeth, you’re going to continue to talk about project management and hopefully we’ll get together and talk about it together again at some point in the future.

So thank you so, so much for being here, and thank you, Paula, for being a fantastic host and keeping us all logistically organized. Thank you so much everyone who’s attended and asked a question and shared your thoughts. I’m really appreciative to you as well. Keep just going on and doing the great work. You’re making the world a better place.

PAULA: Thank you everyone.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Thank you.

ELIZABETH HARRIN: Thanks.

It means more authority, more responsibility, and more impact.

If you’re curious whether or not you are prepared for a Lead Business Analyst role, this video is for you because I share 5 tips to help you excel as a Lead Business Analyst.

In this video, you’ll discover:

• What a Lead Business Analyst is
• My 5 tips for success as a Lead Business Analyst
• Career growth opportunities beyond becoming a Lead Business Analyst

If you’re looking to start a career as a business analyst, I have a complete free workshop called Quick Start to Success as a Business Analyst. You’ll discover:

• What a business analyst does
• How to be effective in your role
• The key skills you need to be more successful in today’s competitive job environment

>> Sign up for the FREE workshop <<

Becoming a lead business analyst is a significant step forward in your business analyst career. It means more authority, more responsibility, and also a lot more impact. But are you actually ready? What will it require and how can you prepare yourself?

In this video, I’ll be sharing five tips on how to be successful as a lead business. This is a role I have filled during my business analysis career, and leading teams is still one of my favorite aspects of my role as CEO of Bridging the Gap. So stay with me and let’s dive into the five tips that will help you prepare for this exciting opportunity.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis tips and techniques.

Lead Business Analyst – Defined

Typically, a lead business analyst is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the efforts of multiple business analysts on a project. The lead might be a business analyst manager by title, or they might be the lead on a project without managerial authority over a group of BAs working on the project. For this video, we’re going to talk about the leadership role, not the management role.

For context, when we talk about business analysis here at Bridging the Gap, we’re talking about the role that literally bridges the gap between business and technology stakeholders. This means they help ensure software solutions actually do what the business needs them to do and solve real business problems.

Leading the BA effort on a project, it could involve planning the business analysis effort, it could involve determining how the requirements will be managed. It could involve reviewing deliverables created by all of the business analysts on the team for quality inconsistency. That might start to sound a lot like a project manager, but there is a key difference.

While the project manager coordinates the efforts of the entire project team to deliver the solution, the role of the BA Lead is to coordinate the efforts of several business analysts to discover the problem and determine the requirements of that solution. So let’s just take a look at these five tips on how to be more successful.

Lead Business Analyst Success Tip #1 – Put A Business Analysis Framework In Place

Tip number one is to put a business analysis framework in place. When you are leading a team on a project, you need to have a framework for how you perform business analysis. Where does your work start? Where does it end? What are the templates a business analysts is supposed to use and when are they used? What is expected from each business analyst on that project? You need to have clear expectations in place so that your business analysts know what’s expected of them and how they can contribute.

A great starting point for getting a supportive framework in place is by learning about our eight step business analysis process framework that we teach here at Bridging the Gap. I did a whole separate video outlining those eight steps, so if you haven’t watched that, I’d encourage you to do so after this video.

Now, if you have a team of junior or entry level business analysts, this is where you may need to explore investing in business analysis training to ensure that they have the foundational skills that they need to be successful. It can be overwhelming to try to train business analysts and do all the other leadership responsibilities at the same. If you’re in that situation, please reach out about the training we offer here at Bridging the Gap.

Lead Business Analyst Success Tip #2 – Divide Up the Work

Tip number two is to divide up the work. With a framework in place, you’ll want to start to look at who is going to do what. As the lead business analyst, you’ll often be responsible for the higher level or the strategic business analysis activities, like collaborating with high level stakeholders, defining the business needs, providing the overall scope of the project. Then your business analyst team will step in to discover, analyze, and define the detailed requirements.

This requires you to create a business analysis plan that is step four in that business analysis process framework we talked about. But that plan needs to segment your project in a meaningful way. This could be by software system or by stakeholder group, or by a category of features. And then your individual business analysts are responsible for analyzing the business processes, defining the functional requirements, and analyzing the data requirements within their assigned area of work.

Alternatively, if you have BAs that are skilled in, say, business process and others skilled more in data, you could look at sequencing the project to leverage their skillsets and their areas of expertise across all parts of the project. Depending on the size of your team and the work that’s required, you may also need to reassign yourself requirements deliverables as well. You may be doing the leadership of capabilities as well as doing the detailed requirements work for a part of the project.

Lead Business Analyst Success Tip #3 – Implement Knowledge Sharing

Okay, so let’s talk about tip number three, implementing knowledge sharing. If you are new to the business analyst lead role, I’m guessing your head was buzzing a little bit as I was talking about dividing up the work because how does each business analyst actually be effective without seeing the whole big picture? When you are the sole BA on a project, you are responsible for the big picture and all the details. When a requirement in one area impacts another, you just tend to see the impact and make the adjustment. How will this work with business analysts all working in their own silos? Well, you need to break down the silos.

One practice I implemented in my very first business analyst team was doing use case reviews. We met every other week to review one of our peers use cases. We were a small team and we were working on independent projects, so this was more for building best practices and learning from each other and improving our skills than it was for looking at project impacts. Although often we would realize that what one of us was doing that was seemingly unrelated to the other did have a cross impact and we would be able to bring that up to the project management team to handle.

It would work the same way for a team working on a larger project together. You just probably need to allocate a little bit more time. It might be a weekly meeting. It might even be more frequently than that to ensure that everyone is reviewing or having some knowledge flow about what the others are working on so that they can determine the impacts and bring kind of a bigger picture view to each of their individual requirements work.

Lead Business Analyst Success Tip #4 – Maintain a Strategic Level View

Tip number four is for you to maintain that strategic level. I think one of the hardest aspects of moving into any sort of leadership role as a business analyst I still struggle with 14 years into running Bridging the Gap and being CEO of this company, one of the hardest aspects is maintaining the strategic level view. It’s so natural for us to want to be in all the details, and that’s likely what made you successful as a business analyst in the first place. But if you do so, if you’re in all the details of all the requirements, you risk alienating your team in micromanaging their work and quite frankly, burning yourself out. You can’t possibly be in every meeting and you probably are not going to be able to review every document in detail.

You need to stay focused on activities like maintaining the business analysis plan. You need to be supporting your team in navigating roadblocks and challenges. You need to be ensuring everyone is staying focused on delivering those requirements that support the business objectives. You need to be providing leadership within the overall project team, particularly to ensure your business analysts are involved in necessary discussions and informed of any project impacts. You need to be looking at change requests and navigating the impacts between the different aspects of the solution and maintaining communication with your project sponsor or other organizational leaders about the project and opportunity.

You have all the strategic level work to do, and so your work is to focus your energy there and get just enough in the details to make sure that you can do your strategic work effectively. It’s a really tough balance. But by shifting your energy towards the strategic level work and seeing that as important, it will help you let go of the details that your team can handle. Tip number five is really going to help you with this.

Lead Business Analyst Success Tip #5 – Coach Your Business Analysts

Tip number five is to coach your business analyst. This could be, and for me, it’s always been one of the most enjoyable aspects of the job especially if you’re working with a team of more junior level business analysts, they’re going to need your support in finessing their documentation, navigating the tricky stakeholder issues that for you have become just part of the job will be earth shattering for them, and they’ll need your help in figuring out how to navigate these things and learning how to grow and expand in their career. They might need assistance working through the plan you set out for them.

If you happen to be working with more mid-level or even other senior level business analysts, your more role might be more of a mentor for them professionally and an ability to provide some support for their ongoing career advancement. Either way, the most important thing I found when coaching is to meet each person where they are individually. What are their strengths and capabilities? How can I support them in building on those capabilities and adding more value to the organization?

How can I help them appreciate the value that they contribute so that they can see a bigger set of possibilities for themselves? This is when you start to move into a true champion for business analyst and you start leaving a long lasting legacy of impact, not just through whatever project you happen to be working on, but also on the people who thrive under your leadership and take their skills and capabilities with them as they grow their careers.

I have to say, as somebody who trains business analysts and who has led business analyst teams, there is nothing more gratifying than seeing somebody that you have helped somewhere along their journey, thrive and succeed and go beyond where they were when you first interacted with them and do amazing things in their business analyst career. It’s really fun.

Find More Success as a Business Analyst Lead

If you are a lead business analyst and you are looking to support your team’s growth, or if you’re someone who’s aspiring to become a lead BA, at Bridging the Gap, we offer a wide range of resources that can help you. In fact, we find many BA leads share our resources with their team, sharing our YouTube channel, sharing our blog, sharing our LinkedIn page, all of the resources that we offer, and that will help them get up to speed on what’s expected and navigate this complex career path.

One of the most popular resources is our quick start to success workshop. This workshop provides both career advice and guidance on being effective on a project, making it a valuable resource for both beginners and experienced professionals. By exploring this workshop with a beginner’s mind, you’re also going to find a lot of value. You can put yourself in the shoes of the business analyst on your team and gain a better understanding of their needs and challenges.

It’s a completely free workshop that you can both join and share with your business analysts.

>> Sign up for the FREE workshop <<

Also, I want you to know that a lead business analyst role is just one of the many opportunities for growth as you become more senior as a business analyst.

Be sure to check out our video below on six different potential areas of responsibility for a senior business analyst role if you’re interested in growing in this career.

Wondering how a Functional Analyst role can fit into your career path?

There is a lot of confusion in the industry about what business analysts are and what they actually do.

The reality is that the skill set of a business analyst is so incredibly valuable that the responsibilities make its way into a wide variety of different roles.

In this video, we’ll explore the ins and outs of a Functional Analyst, including the key skills needed for success and how it differs from a traditional Business Analyst role.

If you’re looking to start a career as a business analyst, I have a completely free workshop called Quick Start to Success as a Business Analyst. You’ll discover:

• What a business analyst does
• How to be effective in your role
• The key skills you need to be more successful in today’s competitive job environment

>> Sign up for the FREE workshop <<

Are you looking to take your career as a business analyst to the next level? Are you wondering how a functional analyst role can fit into your career path? In this video, we’re going to explore the ins and outs of a functional analyst, including the key skills needed for success and how it differs from a so-called traditional business analyst role. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to make a career change, this video is a must watch.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging The Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst’s career with weekly videos on business analysis, tips and techniques.

Job Titles Like Functional Analyst Can Be Deceiving

First thing I want to say as we dive into the functional analyst role is job titles like functional analyst can be deceiving. I’m always the first to say that with job titles within the entire business analysis profession are deceiving. They are used inconsistently across organizations and that makes it really difficult when you’re looking for a job and trying to figure out what that job is supposed to be just by kind of scanning through maybe the results that come up.

When determining the qualifications for a particular role, it’s really important to look at the responsibilities and the expectations and how those are listed more than just the title of the role. This being said, very often that functional analyst job title is used to describe a type of business analyst role with some very specific variations. So let’s get into what that looks like.

How the Functional Analyst Job Title is Typically Used

A functional analyst is typically a role that focuses on the functions of the software in a specific business application. It is generally more tactical than other business analysts role. The responsibilities of this role could include responsibilities like specializing in a specific business domain such as insurance, real estate, or healthcare. Again, being very specific in a domain.

Often you will focus more on the functional software requirements as opposed to say, the larger business process. This rule is going to typically focus on what the software needs to do to meet the business need. If you’re not familiar with what functional software requirements are, click below to watch my video on that topic.

In addition to focusing on what the software needs to do, a functional analyst might have light technical or systems design responsibilities. These require more in-depth technical skills than a so-called traditional business analyst role. They could even conclude configuring, updating, or even installing the software system.

In a functional analyst role, you are more likely to seek qualifications requiring data analysis or data analytics skill sets. Those often require capabilities such as advanced Excel skills and even SQL. A functional analyst may have ongoing duties outside of projects where they are using their expertise in that software system to do operational work for the business. This could include reporting, data updates, or even business user or customer support.

How is a Functional Analyst Different From a Business Analyst?

How is a functional analyst different from a business analyst? Industry-wide, there’s a lot of confusion about what business analysts are and what they actually do, and honestly, it’s not a problem that’s going to be solved anytime soon. So I say, let’s just lean into it.

The reality is that the set of skills that a business analyst brings is so incredibly valuable that the responsibilities make its way into a wide variety of roles, including this functional analyst role that we’re talking about today. At Bridging the Gap, we help business analysts who literally bridge the gap between business and technology and stakeholders by offering business analyst training. This means that they help ensure that software solutions actually do what the business needs them to do and solve real business problems.

In addition to the functional software requirements that a functional analyst might focus on, a fuller view or a larger scope of a business analyst role could also include business process analysis to understand the business workflow and the problem to be solved that might not be required of a functional analyst.

They often start by defining the business needs and outcomes and take that project through scope defining the detailed requirements and collaborating with the business and technology teams along the way to ensure a successful implementation of the requirements.

On some projects, you might have a business process analyst and a functional analyst working together to fulfill all of the responsibilities of what we’re calling a business analyst role at Bridging the Gap, successfully in a project. There are just a lot of ways that this can play out.

Now where the question really is, where do you want to go with your career?

Where Do You Want To Go with Your Career?

A functional analyst is a great career opportunity and one that can easily expand into other areas within business analysis. As you broaden your skillset to focus on both the business and the technology, it can also create opportunities within the technical realm if you want to become a software developer or a software designer, or software architect because you’re building a specialty in a deeper understanding of the functions in the software and even the configuration of a software system.

• If you would like to be more on the business side and you want to be more in connection with business users and solving business problems, you might want to take that functional analyst role and start to gravitate towards a more business focused role.
• If you like the technology and even if you don’t want to code anymore, but you have that deep technology background and you want to leverage that technical understanding without having to write code, functional analysts can provide a great career path for you. And if you do want to write code, it can also provide a great career path into roles that require even deeper technology expertise.

Take The Next Step in Your Functional Analyst Career

How do you take the next step in your business analyst or functional analyst career?

Ultimately, you are in charge of your career and you get to decide. There are many, many options and you have many different ways to succeed in this profession.

If you’d like to learn more about starting your career as a business analyst, I do have a completely free workshop called The Quick Start to Success as a Business Analyst. This includes additional resources about what a business analyst does, how to be effective, and the key skills you need to be successful in today’s competitive job market. You can sign up for that workshop completely for free by clicking the link below.

>> Sign up for the FREE workshop <<

Now that you know what a functional analyst role is, another role that’s really closely related to this is called a systems analyst role. If you’d like to learn more about that role, watch the video below next.

You may be a business analyst while also taking on other roles like becoming a project manager, tester, product manager, or even a developer.

While this diversity offers great long-term career options, it can sometimes leave you feeling overwhelmed and unfocused day to day.

In this short video, I’ll show you exactly how to leverage hybrid roles for your career expansions without the burnout and overwhelm. You’ll discover how to:

• Get yourself out of the business analysis box
• Design a hybrid business analyst role that elevates your career potential
• Set boundaries and intentions in your hybrid role
• Grow your career while filling multiple roles

If you are looking to clarify your level of awareness and experience of key business analysis techniques and process, our FREE BA Skills Assessment is for you!

In this FREE assessment, you will:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a BA.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> Download the Assessment <<

Hybrid roles are a reality in today’s workforce. You may be a business analyst, but then you’re taking on other roles like project manager, tester, product manager, or even a software developer. This offers great long-term potential and can really get you set up for success in different roles. However, it can also be extremely overwhelming and leave you feeling unfocused, like you’re wearing too many hats and sort of being a jack of all trades. So stay with me and I will show you exactly how to leverage hybrid roles for your career expansion without all the burnout and overwhelm.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analyst tips and techniques.

Get Yourself Out of the Business Analysis Box

The first thing I want to say about hybrid roles, specifically, is that it’s an important mindset to get yourself out of the box that a so-called traditional business analyst role, or really an idealized concept of the role will tend to put you in. It’s like we have this box and we think that everything we need to do is in or out of that box. Either we have a business analysis responsibility that’s in the box, or it’s in something that a business analyst is not supposed to do, so it’s outside of the box of what we see is something that we can do to contribute to our organization.

Now, contrary to what you might hear elsewhere, I believe that hybrid roles are a good thing for you as an individual with a career path. Taking on hybrid roles expands your career potential and grows your skillset. Your experience in multiple different areas, in multiple different responsibilities gives you this broad set of qualifications that you can draw from when it comes to future career opportunities. They literally open the door up for you.

The most important thing to realize is that you are in charge, not some industry standard of what a business analyst should be, not even really your employer’s idea of what a business analyst should be. This is your career, your work, the way that you contribute your unique value to the world. So if you are looking to officially get into business analysis, taking on a hybrid business analyst role filled with a set of responsibilities that you already have more confidence in can really set you up for an easier transition. What you’ll find is that your business analysis skills are really relevant to many different positions.

For example, we have a past participant, Lisa Curll, who leveraged her BA training to shift into a sustainability leadership position in a major energy company. She’s navigating complex stakeholder relationships to build out composting programs, and she’s overseeing solutions to achieve her company’s sustainability goals. Lisa had experience in project coordination, a passion for sustainability, and doing nonprofit work in that area, plus her business analysis skillset. Those were all leveraged to create this ideal job for her.

Now, if you are not exactly sure where you stand as a business analyst, you can still find success like Lisa did. A great place to start is by using our free business analyst skills assessment. This tool will help you clarify your level of awareness and experience of key business analysis techniques and processes. After taking that assessment, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about training and career opportunities and sort of what skills you need to focus on personally.

Let’s talk about how to design a hybrid business analyst role that actually elevates your career potential.

How to design a hybrid business analyst role that elevates your career potential

You want to be choosing opportunities that really take you forward in your career. For example, if you eventually want to be managing a team, taking on a hybrid business analyst project management role would be a great stepping stone because that project management experience is going to give you management experience and leadership experience that will help you as a manager of business analysis.

If you want to get into a business analyst role, volunteering to take notes in a meeting and updating your business analyst requirements documents would be a great step to start to build those business analyst experiences that are needed to break into the role.

But if you are already a BA who’s looking to get into management and you took on everybody’s meeting notes, and testing, maybe even, those are not going to advance your career. Those are activities that are going to burn you out. You really want to be discerning about the activities that you choose.

If you are clear about where you are headed professionally, that’s really critical work to do. I have a whole video on building a business analyst’s career path that can help you get clear on where you’re going and where you want to be professionally within, say the next three to five years. I encourage you to watch that video after this one.

In general, you want to be thinking about where you can expand your capabilities to be successful in new situations. That would be branching out into new projects outside your department or even outside of your company and eventually shifting from how you can personally be successful knowing, “Hey, I can take on anything as a business analyst and be successful,” to enabling others to be successful. That’s when you move into more of those leadership, senior level and management type positions.

How to set boundaries and intentions so your hybrid role doesn’t become a catch-all for the tasks no one else wants to do

We are talking here about how to expand into and take on more. It’s critically important as you do this, that you set boundaries and get clear on your intentions so you don’t just become this hybrid role that’s a catchall for the task that nobody else wants to do. That’s a recipe for burnout and overwhelm. So a few tips on this.

• The first one is that you want to regularly reevaluate your responsibilities. Look at what tasks you’re doing week over week, month over month. What is pulling you forward versus drawing you back? You want to eliminate, delegate and minimize the activities that are not aligned with where you want to go, or have become stale and you’re no longer learning and growing in those activities. I recommend doing this at least every six months as things can change really, really quickly. If you haven’t done it a in a while, now is the perfect time.
• The second thing is to be really clear about your boundaries and how many and what complexity of projects you can take on at the same time. Then within each project, you want to be really clear about what role or roles you’re filling on that project, both for yourself and for everyone else involved. On one project, you might be the project manager, the business analyst, and the tester. And on another, you might be in more of a pure business analyst role or maybe even a pure project management role. It doesn’t always have to be the same on every initiative, and you don’t want to make assumptions about what your role is. Certainly a more complex hybrid role like that would work better on a smaller project than a larger one. A larger project, you tend to need multiple people in those different roles.
• The third tip I have is to invest focused time in each role. If you are wearing multiple hats, make sure that you’re intentionally dedicating time to each of those roles so that none of them really just kind of falls by the wayside and becomes sort of that extra thing that never gets done. You could color code your calendar, set aside dedicated time for each role on each project, or you could organize your weekly planning to have categories for each role. Those are just some ideas, but make sure you’re giving each role focused time for each project.

The next actions you can take to grow your career, while continuing to fill multiple roles

Let’s look at, given the boundaries that you’ve set, the intentions that you have, what are some ways that you can really take action today to start to grow your career while you’re in multiple roles. I would suggest thinking about how you can invest in your professional development for each of those roles. This could be a book, it could be a training course, it could be a certification, it could be a mentor. But if the role is worth your time to do, and if it’s moving you forward towards where you want to be, it’s worth your time to learn how to do better. There is always room for improvement.

The next thing is a mindset tip. It is really to think of roles as jumping off points rather than as landing points. As you take on new responsibilities, consider where this will lead to and what opportunities this will open up. There might be a role like project management where you’re like, “I don’t really want to go from business analysis to project manager. That’s not my career path. I want to go to management or leadership or be a BA team lead of some sort.” If you’re looking at it that way, you might just have this tunnel vision of, “I’ve got to go from business analyst to business analyst lead,” and not see that actually taking on a few opportunities within project management could help get you to that BA leadership role. That’s not to say that project management becomes your new career path. It’s a jumping off point that takes you to where you want to go.

This is going to evolve as you evolve and as you take on new responsibilities. I will say like on the flip side, when you’re trying to get into business analysis, something again, like taking meeting notes is a great opportunity. Testing is a great opportunity. That’s how I got into business analysis, creating test plans, putting processes together. When you’re doing those things, those are opportunities that would get you into business analysis. Business analysis lead. It’s a whole different set of opportunities. You want to be really cognizant, again, of where you’re going and what jumping points will help you get there.

Finally, I said this in the beginning, but it bears repeating because I think we need to hear it again and again and again, is that you need to actively take charge of your career and your career path. The most important thing to realize is that you really are in charge. This is your career, your work, the way you contribute your unique value to the world. It’s more important than ever that the way we work is aligned to who we are as individuals. No one knows who you are better than you. This is your choice. This is your opportunity.

As I mentioned earlier, if you’ve come to the video with more questions than answers about yourself, take our free business analyst skills assessment. It’ll give you a lot of guidance around where you’re at and where your skills stack up in your business analyst career.

>> Download the Assessment <<

What we love about Nina’s story is that due to organizational restructuring, she found herself in a Business Analyst role for the first time and strongly desired to develop the skills needed to succeed in this new role. Her desire for knowledge led her to find Bridging the Gap content online, and from there, she made the decision to join The Blueprint® program.

In this interview, you’ll discover how:

• Nina made the transition from Product Manager to Business Analyst.
• Nina discovered Bridging the Gap and determined the structure of the program to be most impactful for where she was in her career.
• The feedback she received from her instructor has helped her in her career even now.
• Nina is now able to recognize transferable skills early, specifically relationship building from previous roles.
• Nina was pushed out of her comfort zone but her confidence increased greatly because of the stretching.

Nina was pushed out of her comfort zone but her confidence increased greatly because of the stretching.

NINA BRACKETT: There are many reasons to do this program, and everybody has their own reasons depending on their situation. Going back to the feedback and the confidence that you get from having the feedback and knowing if you’re on the right track, or just even knowing areas where you can improve. That is so valuable. And the feedback is, it’s kind of evergreen, too, in a sense that like I’ve gone back to a couple of different workbook assignments where I knew you told me something that was really important and helpful that I needed. I needed to hear that again for a project that I was working on at work.

ANDREA WILSON: So I am Andrea Wilson with Bridging the GP here today with Nina Brackett to talk about your experience with the Blueprint program. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I am super happy to have you with me today. We want to talk about what you’ve done. I want to first verbally congratulate you as an ACBA participant. You have earned your status there, that certificate. Congratulations.

NINA BRACKETT: Thank you so much.

ANDREA WILSON: Long time coming, but you did it with very much with grace. Thank you. Thank you for participating.

Tell us a little bit about you. I want to know your title and the industry.

NINA BRACKETT: Okay. My current title is Senior Business Analyst. I work for a professional membership organization that serves investment and finance professionals. I’ve worked with the company that I’m with now for 14 years and have worked in my entire career serving the membership in one way or another. Actually started out in the client services, kind of member services role where I was working with individual members who had questions about how to renew their membership or how to join. Also reviewing membership applications to determine if someone is eligible to join our organization.

And then we also have a network of local organizations around the globe. I got to work with a certain subset of those organizations as well. That is really where I loved, in that role, it was like the third of that job that I loved the most.

Project Management Role

At this organization, things change a lot, frequently. And so, reorganization happened and I kind of got to the point with the membership services role where there wasn’t a lot of growth opportunity left. So I was trying to think about what transferable skills can I learn? What path do I want to  go down? There isn’t a whole lot of places I can take my knowledge of membership at this one organization and have that be useful to other employers. So I was really at a point where I’d really had to do some evaluation of my career goals were where I really wanted to go. At the time I was thinking of project management because, really, a lot of people were talking about it at the time. There are people in my organization who were getting their PMP designation and I thought, yeah, that sounds like I would be good at those skills. I think I could really shine there doing that kind of job.

Product Owner Role

After I was in that role for about a month, I would say, we had one of those reorganizations and I actually just got moved over into a product owner role. So, my very first job working with IT and basically being the kind of go between the new product manager and the IT delivery team.

And unbeknownst to me at the time, writing user stories, doing the use cases, working up wireframes, defining the acceptance criteria, all of those things were part of my job. I was learning on the job. It was really a very hectic, crazy time for me in my career because I was just learning so much and it was all kind of confusing because it was IT related and it was new and I was just, I was there doing the work and spending a lot of time on the job too. As fate would have it, we had another reorg two and a half years later, and I ended up in a product manager role.

Product Manager Role

What I learned about being a product manager is that there are two different parts of the job, at least at my organization. There was the kind of the detail oriented, getting into the solution kind of work. And there was the strategy and the vision for the product and where do we want to go in the future kind of work.

After doing that for about a year, I just went to my boss and I said, “This part over here is not for me. I really want to  work on the details. I want to  work on defining and explaining the business process or the use case. Those are the things that I’m really much more interested in. Those are the things that I find myself spending more time on.” And it worked out that they still wanted me to continue in that role. And the product manager, more strategic side of things, they found another person who could come in and fill that role. So, that is how I ended up being a senior business analyst.

Moving to a Business Analyst Role

But when I took that role, I didn’t really know what a business analyst did. I said I thought that it was what I wanted to do because of it being kind of more in the weeds and getting into details of things. I started going out looking for things I could learn. I did some LinkedIn learning. I did some YouTube videos and random things. And I came across a couple of Laura’s videos and those were like a godsend.

When I found out she had Bridging the Gap and she had this whole program, it was like maybe five days before the deadline that I found out about, the registration deadline, that I found out about the Blueprint program. And so within a span of five days, I had to figure out should I pay for this myself? My employer will pay me if I pass, but am I willing to take that risk? And I was, because I just so hungry for the knowledge and, really, just to build back my confidence of feeling good about the work I was doing and knowing that I was doing a good job. And I hadn’t been getting that for quite some time for that. That’s how I got here.

ANDREA WILSON: That’s how you got here. That’s quite the journey. I have been reviewing things and I see that you started kind of with account manager. You did some business relationship. I hear product owner, I hear product manager or some project management, and you found your place with business analysis and that is, awesome

And then you had an opportunity to do some different training with LinkedIn. You had a chance to do some YouTube. And then you stumbled upon the Bridging the Gap. So what is it about the Bridging the Gap product that was different for you that made you make the decision to go for it?

NINA BRACKETT: So, the first thing I purchased from Bridging the Gap, I can’t remember the exact name, but it was a template packet. It was like eight or nine different templates. I was like, wow. It was like revolutionary. An idea to have just like this, you know what each of these things means, and you can fill it in and you can apply it to any project. It’s like, wow. So, that was the very first introduction to what kind of products Bridging the Gap is producing and putting out there.

There was also a manual that came along with that, that said, this is how you use each of these templates. And I was like, wow, maybe I need to learn some more about this.

The testimonials and the way that the program was structured, the fact that you can get, you have homework, it’s not just a test. You have homework. You have to present a project to an instructor and they gave you feedback. I was like, yes. That’s what I want. I want someone to tell me what I’m doing wrong. What am I doing right, where can I improve? And so that was really the selling point for me, was just having, even though it wasn’t a face-to-face dialogue, it was the feedback and the back and forth through the workbook assignments that really sold me on it.

ANDREA WILSON: Sweet. It sounds like you started with the template bundle. There were some instructions there. You had an opportunity to see a little bit of the training, and you decided, okay, I’m going to go for this. Still a little bit nervous about whether or not you were going to pass. But you did it. You took a plunge and I really want to  hear about your experience then. Once you went through those things and you went to the program, you have some feedback from the instructors; it sounds like the structure of the program worked for you. Let’s hear a little bit more about what it was in the program that stood out for you.

NINA BRACKETT: Oh, wow. I think it was the cycle of assignments that kept me engaged in going. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in school. And I have a little ADHD, so focusing on one thing, like really focusing on one thing for a while is pretty easy. But then, to get it to use that same amount of strength to focus on the second thing and the third thing and everything else, it took a little bit more effort. But with the structure of the videos, the web,  the pre-recorded webinars, or not webinars; they are pre-recorded class sessions. And then the live webinars with the instructors, they just solidified the information that Laura did in her videos. Just the whole structure of that really kept me going, kept me engaged.

The other people in the class, again, I kind of felt like I wanted to call them up and be like, “Hey, let’s talk about these problems together.” But there was not a platform in which to do that unless you, I guess, unless you brought it up to someone in a webinar.

ANDREA WILSON: So you hold a certificate in product management and you moved on to do your Certificate in Applied Business Analysis. I’d like to know a little bit about your feelings about the program. You started out with the template bundle and it answered some questions for you and you were hungrier for knowledge and you, in a very short period, found out about registering for the Blueprint and decided to take that plunge. I’d like to hear about your experience there and what stood out about that program for you.

NINA BRACKETT: Yeah, so the thing that really stood out for me and what I was really hoping to gain by going through the Blueprint program was to gain transferable skills that I could use on my current job, as well as future jobs potentially as well as just really feeling confident about the work I was doing, that I knew if I was on the right track. Because up until that point, I didn’t really have any colleagues that I could work with on business analysis. I didn’t have a framework for it. And so understanding the differences between a use case and a business process, it seems pretty obvious now, but before I started the program, that was just like a different language for me. So, the transferrable skills and the confidence building is really what sold me on taking the program and really what kept me going throughout it because I was just learning so much as I was going through each workbook.

ANDREA WILSON: Nice. I love that you mentioned confidence. We hear that a lot and feedback is really important. That’s something that you don’t always get when you’re at your day-to-day work, and then sometimes you wonder, “Geez. Am I doing a good job or am I doing the right job?” Especially when you’re new. You’ve done some things that were very transferrable because you management and business relationship. You had this opportunity early on to build relationships with stakeholders. Nothing new to the program and you’ve had an opportunity to see what stakeholders were and what to do with them. So tell me your experience there. I want to  know how you feel about those desired transferrable skills when you realize, “I’ve already got some of these.”

NINA BRACKETT: Yes. It was really eye-opening in that way too, because the working with stakeholders and digging to the root of a problem and determining what the business objectives are and understanding the inputs into the process and the different users who are going to go through, those were all things that I had done, but I didn’t know that I did. So, it was really eye-opening. That has given me a lot of confidence too, and I can look back on some of my previous work and have kind of two different thoughts.

The one thought is, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I did work that mattered and I probably didn’t go about it the easiest way or the fastest way, but I got it done and this is what we produced. And the second way is to say, “Oh, when I did XYZ feature, and we were having these discussions, I should have brought the stakeholders in from the business to have this conversation with our delivery team so that that I could help connect the dots in a meeting instead of trying to translate from this side to this side and then get just how things get lost in translation, which often happens.

ANDREA WILSON: Yeah. So you gained some techniques throughout the program. Having these meetings where you can bring everybody to the table and get it all out. That’s awesome.

One of the big things about the program is the structure and trying to get you organized. We have that framework in place where you learn about here are the steps that you could take. And some of them are iterative. But here are the steps you can take to get organized and get off in a good path. And you realize you’ve already got some of those skills.  You already know. You’re already talking to stakeholders, you’re already getting down to the nitty gritty. Those details that you like to get down into. Well now you can be more organized about it. So I’m glad that was kind of a dawn of realization for you and you were able to say, “Hey, I’ve already got this skill. Now I can organize myself and really hit the ground running.” Senior business analyst thing. Awesome.

All right, so, we talked about some feedback and that you were getting from instructors and one of the things I saw was your mention about the structure of the feedback and the building confidence. What outcome have you had, professionally or personally, now that you’ve gained that confidence? Is there anything that you’d like to share about that?

NINA BRACKETT: I think that probably because it pushed me outside of my comfort zone, like the first day comfort zone step was posting the certificate on LinkedIn and tagging the people who I felt were really instrumental in helping me through the program, and Bridging the Gap, as an organization and putting it out there for the world to see. All of my professional connections, people who I told I was doing the program, people that I didn’t ever come up in conversation, people that I worked with at previous roles 15 years ago, people that I worked with and having them congratulate me, that felt really, really good.

But I was very scared to hit the “post” button on that because it’s just not a thing that I do normally.

ANDREA WILSON: Would you do it again given the feedback?

NINA BRACKETT: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely I would. Yeah, for sure.

ANDREA WILSON: Fantastic. Is there anything else you’d like to share? Is there any particular module in the Blueprint program that stood out for you or anything else you’d like to share?

NINA BRACKETT: I talked to so many people at my job. My manager, at the time in particular, about how much I was learning as I was going through. I remember after the first workbook I told her, I was like, if I learn as much from the next three assignments that I did from the first one, I’m really going to be out there kicking butt. I just felt like there was so much that, like the pieces were coming together and things were making so much more sense. And,  like you said, putting it into a framework in an organized way has really helped take a lot of stress out of my day-to-day. That’s one area where I always really struggled in all of my roles, how do I structure my day, and what do I do? How do I go about getting the work done? Having the framework for the Blueprint for the business analysis work, it’s really just helped me just really feel much better on the job.

ANDREA WILSON: Sweet. This is your opportunity. Is there anything you’d like to share with anybody out there who’s thinking about the Blueprint or thinking about further training? Is there anything you would like to share with them? Any tips you’d like to give to them?

NINA BRACKETT: Sure. So, I think that there are many reasons to do this program and everybody has their own reasons depending on their situation. But I think going back to the feedback and the confidence that you get from having the feedback and knowing if you’re on the right track, or just even knowing areas where you can improve, that is so valuable. And the feedback is, it’s kind of evergreen too, in a sense that I’ve gone back to a couple different workbook assignments where I knew you told me something that was really important and helpful that I needed. I needed to hear that again for a project that I was working on at work.

There are so many ways, so many little ways and so many big ways that this program can help people with their business analysis career.

ANDREA WILSON: Awesome. Thank you for that, first of all. It’s always nice to hear that. That “a-ha” moment. It’s great to see it. We have these instructor hours. We have the big webinars where we break down what we’re going to do for each module. The instructor one more is where we get to have that one-on-one. And the participants have an opportunity to talk with other participants, and the synergy that builds from that feels really good from the instructor, and it’s really, really nice to hear from our participants that those opportunities to connect, not just with the instructors, but also with each other builds confidence.

And then further, once you’ve submitted your applied learning; it’s not a test. You’re applying what you’re learning doing these projects and you get the feedback. It’s really pleasant to hear that you are still referring to that and that it’s still helps you to move forward. So, thank you.

ANDREA WILSON: I want to say thank you for talking with me today. Taking the time to do this and agreeing to meet with us and sharing your experience is very valuable for anybody that might be considering to do this. And just hearing about your success. I’ve seen some of it on LinkedIn and I’m kind of celebrating, your little cheerleader over here. We were celebrating you in the program. So thank you so much for speaking with me.

NINA BRACKETT: Thank you, Andrea. Thank you for the opportunity.

How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills

(And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes. You’ll create work samples vetted by experienced instructors and have the opportunity to become a credentialed business analyst as a recipient of the Applied Certification in Business Analysis (ACBA).

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

While it’s important that a business analyst has a conceptual technical understanding as it helps you analyze the problem to be solved and communicate with technical stakeholders, you don’t need to be able to write code or run database queries.

In this video, I share the technical skills you do need to know and how they will help you position yourself more strongly in the job market and hold up your side of the conversation with developers.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

Today we’re here to answer a question from Monica. She asked, “What are the top three to five technical skills a business analyst with a business background needs to have?” Specifically, she asked this around wanting to be able to make sure she could have good conversations with the technical people on her project teams.

Here’s the thing about technical skills in BA jobs – you’ve heard me say it before and you’re going to hear me say it again – you see them as job requirements a lot of times in business analyst roles. And a lot of times those requirements are extremely misleading.

You can, of course, to become more technically minded as a business analyst, learn how to write code. You could go take an introduction to programming and a sequel course and learn a bunch of technical skills that you may never, ever want to use in your career. You could do that. Or you could learn some requirements models that allow you to have those very productive communications and conversations with technical professionals and understand more about how the technology is structured and give you insight into what questions to ask than the technical skills, themselves, actually do.

What I’m going to talk about here, in terms of technical skills, are three requirements models or three types of requirements models that you might want to look at if you feel that you’re not “technical” enough to be a business analyst. I will finish with one closing bonus skill that might catch you by surprise.

Let’s talk about these three models.

Technical Skill 1: Use Cases for Functional Requirements

The first is use cases. Use cases are a textual description of how a business user or a user of a software application interacts with a software system. They force you to get really specific about what function or feature that system needs to have in order to meet the business needs. Underlying that feature is often a piece of code that a developer has created, customized, or integrated to make that function work.

But what you need to be able to specify as a business analyst is what that software needs to do, and the condition under which it needs to do it. A use case is the perfect model to get familiar with that business user system interaction. It’s much more detailed than a typical business process model, and it’s much more specific. You get into those specific technical requirements even though you don’t know how to write the code that underlies it.

Technical Skill 2: Wireframes for Visual Requirements

The second requirements model that can be helpful in expressing technical requirements like this is wireframes. Wireframes are visual descriptions, or visual renderings, of a user interface screen. Essentially, when I go to a software application as a user, what does it look like to me?

Not, specifically, what are the colors, what are the buttons, and how are they; circle or square? That is important at a certain point of a project, but a wireframe can be much less specific than that. It can use general buttons and not be specific on colors. Use grayscale. You’re trying to show this is what the user interface screen might look like to a potential user.

Again, you’re getting to that level of detail of what that software system needs to be able to do and look like, again, without having to write the code behind it. There are a lot of tools today that people, like me, who don’t have coding backgrounds, are able to use that just drag and drop those features into a wireframing tool so you can create them without having to know how to code.

Technical Skill 3: Data Models for Data Requirements

The third set of models are data models, such as entity relationship diagrams, system context diagrams, data flow diagrams, data dictionaries. There are a bunch of different models included in the data modeling area.

Essentially, all those models allow you to understand how the database is structured, how information is stored, what information needs to be stored. So, if you’re looking at a business process and there are different fields on a form coming in through some sort of an input:

• How is that information stored in your software system?
• What are the rules that need to be applied when that information is stored?
• How do the different pieces of information that come in through different business processes, how do those relate together?

Different data models allow you to look at that information model in different ways. This is how you, essentially, learn how to model a relational database or express data requirements without knowing SQL.

A not very well-kept secret is that I’ve never learned how to write SQL. I did learn how to do a little bit of coding in a very proprietary database language that was very specific at the very beginning of my career, but I’ve never learned SQL. I’ve never used that skill to move forward as a business analyst. I’ve done a lot of work with data requirements and data modeling and helped a lot of teams figure out what those data requirements and databases should look like by using some of the core data modeling skills.

And One Bonus Technical Skill…Asking Questions

I promised you one bonus.  Our three models are use cases, wireframes, and data models. What’s that bonus skill? The bonus skill is something that you’re probably already good at if you’re a business analyst, and that’s the ability to ask questions.

When it comes to technical questions, it’s like the ability to ask that question that you really feel like you should know. You should know the answer to this and you don’t. It’s asking questions about how things are organized, what are the capabilities of the technology, what are things that you might not think of. You’re using that so you can understand the possibilities of the technology and how the system is designed without knowing how to do it yourself.

In my experience, you could spend a lot of time learning how to build these systems and write code. That could have a measurable impact on your career. Or, you could spend time learning these core skills that you’re going to use forever in your life-long career as a business analyst.

They’re going to give you a more advanced level of understanding of the potentials of technology than you would get from learning how to line-by-line create the code because they’re going to enable you to work in any sort of situation as opposed to just the coding language that maybe you learned. There are dozens of coding languages out there, dozens of different technical environments. So, you’re never going to become the expert on all of them unless you want to be the expert and the doer of that kind of thing. If you’re a business analyst, I’m assuming you probably don’t.

Again, use cases, wireframes, data models, and having the courage to ask questions and get the answers to those questions so that you really have a good technical understanding in your environment. Those, to me, are the skills that you need to succeed as a business analyst with a business background in today’s technical environment. They will take you far as a business analyst without getting you lost in the weeds of learning specific technical coding skills.

>>How to learn these key technical business analyst skills

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll learn all 12 of the industry-standard techniques and the business analysis process framework – to build your confidence in the best practices of business analysis.

>> Click here for more information about The Blueprint <<

Are you unsure if your skills qualify you as a subject matter expert or a business analyst?

If you have proven yourself as a subject matter expert, a career as a business analyst could be a great next step for you and allow you to break into more interesting project work to steward lasting changes in your organization.

In this video, I’m sharing the difference between a business analyst and a subject matter expert and how you can potentially move from one to the other.

If you are interested in learning more about what it looks like to be a business analyst, you can sign up for our completely free workshop, Quick Start to Success, where you will:

• Get specific action steps to advance your career.
• Receive immediate access to the self-paced online workshop.
• Discover how to be more effective on any project.

>> Sign up for our FREE Quick Start to Success Workshop today! <<

Are you exploring job roles and wondering about the difference between being a business analyst and being a subject matter expert? Are you possibly a subject matter expert and wondering if you could actually be a business analyst or vice versa? A career as a business analyst can provide opportunities to somebody who has proven themselves in a subject matter expert role and can help you break into more interesting project work and have the opportunity to steward lasting changes in your organization. So keep watching to learn the differences between these two roles and how you can potentially move from one to the other.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis tips and techniques.

The Subject Matter Expert Role

The subject matter expert. Those are individuals who possess in depth knowledge and expertise in a specific industry or field. They are often considered the go-to person for information and advice on a particular topic. On a typical project, the business analyst will engage with many subject matter experts to understand the current business process and how the software solution that exists today is supporting that business process.

The SME, or subject matter expert, may also provide input into the challenges that they’re facing with their current processes and the solutions that are in place, and they may advocate for specific changes that they want to have put in place to support them in their department. The SME may also take on a leadership role with their department throughout the project training other department members on the new processes and technology and being the facilitator of change within their team.

Now what is the business analyst role? And we’ll talk about the business analyst role and then we’ll talk about the differences between the two and how to move back and forth.

The Business Analyst Role

Business analysts, on the other hand, are professionals who help organizations identify and solve problems. They analyze data and use various tools and methodologies to identify areas for improvement and to make recommendations for changes. At Bridging the Gap, we help business analysts who literally “bridge the gap” between business and technology stakeholders. This means they help ensure that the software solutions actually do what the business needs them to do and solve real business problems.

A business analyst doing this kind of work would use a technique like business process analysis to understand that business workflow and the problem to be solved. They would use use cases, wireframes, and user stories to analyze and define the software or functional requirements.

They would also use a variety of data modeling techniques to define how information is stored and flows through all the various software systems. This type of business analyst starts out a project by defining the needs or outcomes, takes it through to scope, defining the detailed requirements and collaborating with the business and technology teams to ensure a successful implementation of the requirements.

How Business Analysts and Subject Matter Experts Work Together

Now, how do these two roles work together? As a business analyst, you are going to work really closely with your subject matter experts across multiple departments to discover, analyze, and validate those requirements.

• The business analyst is typically responsible for leading the entire business analysis process for preparing requirements documentation, and managing change.
• The subject matter expert would review those requirements and may have a role in validating and approving the requirements documentation. They also provide a lot of input into the early stages of when the business analyst is gathering information about how processes work and how the systems work today.

It’s not uncommon, as a business analyst, to include a subject matter expert or many of them in your weekly meetings so that they are current on where the project is, and then maybe meet with them through one-on-one sessions to validate documentation and answer any questions that they might have about what’s coming.

SMEs provide incredible value to business analysts. I can’t emphasize this enough. Because they can provide in-depth information about how a department or a process works and can often bring up subtle nuances that a business analyst might not be aware of if they were not also a subject matter expert in that particular domain.

Many Business Analysts Get Their Start as Subject Matter Experts

As you grow in your business analyst career, you might start by being that expert in that domain. But as you grow, it’s important to grow into new areas. You need to be able to work with SMEs to kind of gain on the project expertise, so to speak. This is why many business analysts get their start as subject matter experts. Because you have a detailed understanding of the current business processes and systems, and it’s common as an SME to move into a more formal business analyst role.

In fact, many business analysts report falling in to a business analyst role after being assigned as a subject matter expert to a major IT project. Usually these are those big system migration projects, like moving from one accounting system or one customer management system to another, and you have a big role that takes up a significant amount of time and kind of co-ops your responsibilities for a while. In these cases, the role of SME and business analysts can get a little bit blurred, especially if you’re in an organization that does not have a formal business analyst practice, which is still common today.

Over time, the SME may become like the go-to person for the tech team when they have questions about the process or requirements. They might take on leadership and change management roles within their department and kind of be more of a liaison to the tech team than the doer within their department that got them into that role in the first place.

Also many business analyst job roles require specialized expertise in a business process and solution area. And that further creates confusion between these two roles. But there are some really key differences between a business analyst and a subject matter expert.

Key Differences Between a Business Analyst and Subject Matter Expert

While SMEs tend to focus on their field of expertise, their domain, the work that they do within the company, or have historically done within the company, a business analyst will focus on the organization or project as a whole and the role of the business analyst, as we’ve discussed. SMEs are often contributors to projects and might be brought in for their input, for reviews, for problem solving on a temporary basis during a project. The business analysts own that requirements process for the entire project, which may impact multiple different departments and have multiple different subject matter experts, and then typically fulfill that business analyst’s role. That is their full-time role or their contribution to the company.

Another difference is that once the project is done, the SME would typically go back to their “regular job” using the systems or executing the processes that have been defined. The business analyst will go on to work on a different project or initiative as a business analyst.

Moving From SME to Business Analyst

If you are an SME, or subject matter expert, and you’re looking to move into the business analyst role, here are a few quick tips that can help you get started. And these come right from my book, How to Start a Business Analyst Career. There’s a whole section in here on how to move from a business focused role into more of a business analyst role. And for those of you who might be techies, there’s also a whole section on how to move from a more technical focused role to a business analyst role because we see people come from both of those backgrounds.

So just a few of the things that I share in the book are to share your career intentions with the business analyst you work with, and offer to support them in business analysis activities, like capturing meeting notes, documenting requirements, or updating their requirements or engaging with your department. Just, “Anything I can do to help, just let me know. I’d be happy to support you.”

Also we’ll be looking at starting to analyze your department’s processes, even if this is not needed for an active project. Look for opportunities to analyze, document, and then improve the business processes. You could often do business process work outside of a project with no software improvement aspect.

Often significant improvements do come through software, but you could take ownership of what can we do just within our department in terms of how we work with other departments and how we are efficient with the tools that we have. So you don’t need to “get IT involved” to start doing business analysis.

A third opportunity is to lead a project in your department from beginning to end. And one other thing I want to add here is to look for opportunities to be outside your department because your ability to be successful as a business analyst is going to come from your subject matter expertise at first, but also your ability to understand the bigger picture of what’s happening in your organization and be able to represent other departments that you aren’t necessarily an expert in and at least understanding how your work within your department affects other departments and how that flow works is a first step. But really gaining any exposure outside your area of the company will be a great step just to having that more global perspective that will make you a great business analyst.

Start YOUR Path to Success

If business analysis is a career that you want to pursue, the absolute best next thing to do is to join my free Quick Start to Success Workshop. In that workshop, you will learn more about the business analyst career path as well as details about the business analysis process framework that will give you the structure that you need to manage your day and your projects appropriately.

>> Click here to join the Quick Start to Success workshop <<

Do you have a title other than Business Analyst but know you really are a business analyst or have a fair amount of business analyst job responsibilities?

Or do you have the Business Analyst job title, but don’t really feel like you are a business analyst?

All of these situations are the reality of our profession today.

In this short video, I am demystifying business analyst job titles and roles so that you can move forward with confidence in your unique skill set and experience.

Whether you are just starting out or looking to get to the next level in your BA career, you can evaluate your skills in our FREE BA Skills Assessment.

This tool will help clarify your level of awareness and experience of key business analysis techniques and processes to make more informed decisions about training and career opportunities.

Download this FREE assessment today so you can:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a BA.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> DOWNLOAD THE FREE BA SKILLS ASSESSMENT <<

Are you looking for a business analyst job and finding a nearly dizzying array of job titles? Do you have a title other than Business Analyst, but feel like at your core, you really are a business analyst? Or at least you have a fair amount of business analyst job responsibilities, and you’re wondering what that means. Or maybe you have the business analyst job title, but not really feel like you’re a business analyst. All of these situations are the reality of our profession today. Stick with me. In this video, I’m going to demystify business analyst job titles and roles.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analyst tips and techniques.

Today, I am discussing business analyst job titles. As you are considering career opportunities within business analysis, it’s really important that you understand the wide variety of job titles that can have business analysis responsibilities, as well as how to recognize a true business analyst role when you find one because the title and the role do not always match. First, let’s just define what we mean by “business analyst.”

Defining Business Analysis

Industry wide, there is a lot of confusion about what business analysts are and what they actually do. Honestly, that is not a problem that is going to be solved anytime soon. When I started blogging 14, 15 years ago, there was this hope that we would have this version of a pure business analyst and it would be aligned and all the companies would sort of have this same role and the title would be used consistently. Over the course of the last 14 years, despite much effort and communication and emphasis on the title and the role, we’re only seeing the role fragment more versus hit that cohesion, so to speak. I actually think this is an amazing thing because your business analyst skills are relevant across a wide variety of opportunities. It’s a trend that is just going to continue because business analysis skills are so important and are so critical to a wide variety of roles.

At Bridging the Gap, specifically, we help business analysts who literally bridge the gap between business and technology stakeholders. What this means is that they help ensure that software solutions actually do what the business needs them to do and solves real business problems. A business analyst in this type of role will use techniques such as business process analysis to understand the business workflow and the problem to be solved. They’ll also use use cases, wireframes, and user stories to analyze and define the software or functional requirements. And they’ll use a variety of data modeling techniques to define how information is stored and flows through various systems.

This type of business analyst starts out a project by defining the business need or outcomes, or asking why, like why are we doing this and takes it all the way through scope, defining the detailed requirements, collaborating with the business and technology teams to ensure a successful implementation of the requirements.

I have a whole video on the must-have skillsets for business analysts which you can view by clicking the card on the screen now, if that’s something you want to learn more about.

There are Dozens of Possible BA Job Titles

Now, back to this topic of job titles. There are dozens of possible job titles. The list below shows over 40 different job titles that could have business analysis responsibilities just in the category of business analysis that we’ve just been talking about.

1. Business Analyst
2. Business Process Analyst
3. Functional Analyst
4. Product Owner
5. Product Manager
6. Project Manager
7. IT Project Coordinator
8. Information Technology Lead
9. Information Technology Manager
10. Systems Analyst
11. Business Systems Analyst
12. Systems Architect
13. Process Analyst
14. Process Coordinator
15. IT Business Analyst
16. Process Owner
17. Usability Analyst
18. User Experience Designer
19. Business Consultant
20. Management Consultant
21. Agile Analyst
22. Business Solution Architect
23. Chief Information Officer
24. Process Architect
25. Subject Matter Expert
26. Digital Media Consultant
27. Operations Specialist
28. Insights Analyst
29. Compliance Manager
30. Data Analyst
31. Technical Data Analyst
32. Enterprise Architect
33. Business Architect
34. Enterprise Solutions Designer
35. Information Architect
36. Business Intelligence Analyst
37. Technical Writers
38. Technical Communications Analyst
39. Enterprise Process Engineer
40. Agile Business Analyst
41. Research Analyst
42. Research Executive

But a few that I just want to comment on really stand out to me from this list. First is functional analyst. This role is often a bit more system and solution focused. A functional analyst might spend more time on the functional or software requirements than say the business process type requirements. Now, again, that’s a broad generalization. These titles are used in multiple different ways, so no guarantees. You always want to look at the details of the job posting to really understand what’s involved.

The second that I want to highlight is a project manager. So many project managers that are executing at a rather high level are doing business analysis work. It might be strategic business analysis work in terms of how do these systems and projects fit together, or it might be like, what are the requirements we need to implement to make this project successful? If they don’t have a BA on their team and their business stakeholders aren’t great at requirements, often the PM will pull in that responsibility as well. As your Project Manager, often you might be doing business analysis.

Information technology Lead. This seems like an interesting one. Where this tends to come up is you might have a person who is in charge of a development team, maybe in a smaller company or on a smaller team, and again, no one else doing the BA work. In order for that person to articulate what his developers or her developers need to do as they are going and they are working with the business stakeholders to define the requirements so that they can organize the work on their team. And again, business analysis.

Finally, I just want to call out Agile Analysis. A BA on an Agile team might be in a role called an Agile Analyst that would be, typically, a support role to the product owner. I filled this role at one point in my career where there was a product owner and I was the Agile Analyst doing the more detailed requirements work, where the project owner was doing the more high level business outcomes and making key decisions, and also sort of the business owner for the project and collaborating with high level stakeholders and really approving all the requirements. Agile Analysts might be a role like that. But product owner also could be doing business analysis work as part of their product ownership responsibilities.

Business Analyst Job Titles Can Also Refer to a Specific Specialty

We also see expansions of business analyst titles with terms that refer to a specific functional system industry or other area of expertise. What does that look like? An example, Salesforce Business Analyst. That would be a professional who works mostly on projects and programs leveraging the Salesforce tool set and does mostly business analysis.

Alternatives would be a Salesforce consultant or a Salesforce contractor. Sometimes a Salesforce admin is actually doing some light business analysis work in addition to their administrative work.

Other examples along this line could include a Healthcare Business Analyst, an SAP Business Analyst, a Service Now Business Analyst, Cybersecurity Business Analyst, and that’s just to name a few.

Business Analysts Job Titles Can Also Have a Level

Business analyst jobs can also have a level. This is another way that the titles can get varied. It might include a seniority level, like Senior Business Analyst or Lead Business Analyst. Other organizations label business analysts with different numerical levels like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It can go up quite a quite a ways. These levels can be highly dependent on the skills and expertise that are valued by a specific company. Some companies value functional industry domain expertise, and so building that expertise is important as you move from a 1 to a 2, to a 3 and beyond. Others value the size and complexity of projects that a BA can contribute to you. So a level 1 might be like an assistant BA that is working under the leadership of a 3 or a 4. And a level 2 might be able to handle their own projects and they might be smaller. And a level 3 might handle a medium sized project independently. And a 4, having some leadership capabilities, are handling a big complex program. Again, these are just examples. The specific company often will outline what those requirements are.

Still other companies, those levels are defined by years of employment with an organization or years of experience as a business analyst, although that is becoming increasingly less common. Way more preference towards capabilities in what you can contribute than just having done the work, the role or the work in that company for a certain amount of time.

If you are interested in that senior level business analyst role, I have a whole video on what are the general areas of responsibility that you want to be thinking about if a senior business analyst role is on your path. You can watch that video below if you want to learn more about being a senior BA. It’s a great resource.

Being a Business Analyst is NOT about the Job Title

Business analysis is not about the job. I’ve worked with plenty of business analysts who have never had the job title and many who didn’t even realize there was an official title and profession for the work that they’ve been doing for years.

As I emphasize in my book, How to Start a Business Analyst Career, having the job title does not make you a business analyst. I have actually never had the precise job title of Business Analyst. I was Systems Analyst, and then I was a Manager of Business Analysis. And then I was the Director of Enterprise Solutions. I’ve had close titles, not quite ever just Business Analyst. That’s really, really common. Probably more BAs than you think have had that same situation.

Again, what makes you a business analyst is fulfilling the responsibilities of a business analyst and excelling in the skillset of a business analyst. This is where having an understanding of the skills and experience relevant to business analysis is so key. Our BA Skills assessment, which is an absolutely free digital download, will help you do just that.

If you want to learn more about these business analysis skills that I’m talking about and give yourself a sense of where you stack up along these key skill areas, claim your free copy by clicking the download link below.

>> DOWNLOAD THE FREE BA SKILLS ASSESSMENT <<

If you want to learn more about the business analysis skillset in general, click the video below to watch our video on that topic. I’ll see you there.

Imagine being able to expand your thinking, create draft documentation with ease, and streamline your work as a business analyst.

This is all possible with ChatGPT, and despite the industry-wide fear of AI replacing business analysts, I think a better question is “how can we use these tools to increase our efficiency and effectiveness as a business analyst?”

In this video, I’m sharing how to use these tools to expand our thinking and make our job as business analysts way easier!

I share my experience creating a Use Case with ChatGPT, in the video, which includes many of the same sections that we have in our free Use Case Template, but not all.

You can download our Use Case Template for FREE. The best part is that when you learn to analyze requirements in use cases, you can look like the smartest person in the room by avoiding these common challenges:

• Validating that the use case reflects true end user needs.
• Describing system and user steps at the right level of detail.
• Ensuring your software requirements are clear and complete

>> DOWNLOAD FREE USE CASE TEMPLATE <<

You’ve likely heard about open AI and, specifically, the currently free tool Chat GPT. Imagine being able to expand your thinking, create draft requirements documentation with ease, and streamline your work as a business analyst. This is all possible with this tool, Chat GPT, despite the industry wide fear of AI and artificial intelligence somehow replacing business analysts.

I think a better question is,

“How can we use these tools to increase our efficiency and our effectiveness as business analysts?”

There’s immense potential for these tools to expand our thinking and make our jobs easier. If that’s sounds like something that you’d like to do, just stick with me and I’ll show you exactly how to do that.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis tips and techniques.

About OpenAI and ChatGPT

Chat GPT was originally released back in June 2020, which feels like a lifetime ago at this point. It was an open source language model developed by Open AI. Open AI is a for-profit AI research laboratory. I think that’s just a really important piece of context to keep in mind. Sometimes when free tools are available, it can just feel like they’re from non-profits or sponsored by the government or whatever. But this is a for-profit company that’s released this tool for, most likely, a limited as a free resource to the community, and it’s in an exploration stage with how that tool is going to become part of its business model.

In November 2022, specifically, this is when the GPT Chat bot was launched as a prototype, and that is when it enabled anyone to register for a free account and start using the tool with natural language chats. As of this recording, in February 2023, Open AI has announced making a version of this tool available for $20 a month that would provide more guaranteed access. Sometimes when you go today, it’s like our systems are too busy because everybody’s using this tool to help be more efficient in their work. So that subscription, as I understand it, would enable you to have VIP or primary access to the tool.

It’s clear this is just the beginning. The current tool and AI generally, these are powerful resources for us as business analysts to use. From everything from drafting requirements models, to brainstorming questions to ask your stakeholders. I’m going to show you how to do that. So, let’s go ahead and see how this could be used to draft a use case.

Example: Using ChatGPT to Draft a Use Case

I am going to type in the question here, “Please draft a use case titled Combine Accounts.” And then we get to wait for a moment, and here you go.

One of the things, while it’s generating this response that I want to share is that one of the limitations of this tool is it’s using information from pre-2022, and it’s compiled that together, and as it’s doing this, my understanding is it’s creating unique content from the available information. It’s being written and regenerated in real time, always using a different perspective. I did this before, as a test, before I did this video, and this use case now is different than that one that was generated before.

So let’s just take a look at what’s going on here.

There’s a description. The combined and accounts use case allows users to merge multiple separate accounts into a single account. Makes perfect sense. This is useful for individuals who have created multiple accounts over time and would like to streamline their account information.

We’ve got the actors, the pre-conditions, some user system interactions that seem to make pretty good sense, prompts the user to log in credentials, verifies those credentials. That’s interesting.

I would often put “login” as a separate use case. That’s kind of typically considered a best practice, that a pre-condition would be the user being logged in versus how they have it here. A user logging in, you know, has their credentials. There are different nuances on how different people handle use cases, but typically a pre-condition is something that the system can actually verify. The system can’t verify that the user actually has their login credentials.

The spin on the use case here is maybe slightly different than a typical use case that I personally would write. Some of that is personal organizational preference, though. Just throwing that out there.

Then there are some really good steps here. The system merges those selected accounts. But again, it’s kind of missing those details. As an individual writing this use case for your organization, you will need to figure out what are those details, often through a data map, that need to be merged and what overwrites what? What’s the primary account? There are some business rules that are specific to your organization that you’ll need to fill in. And then finally the user logs out. Again, I would put that as a separate use case. But some of that stuff is preference.

Let’s look at what we are receiving here, because this is a really great draft. If you were sitting down and were like, “Oh my goodness, we have this feature to combine accounts. I have no idea what I should be doing.” This would be a great way to give yourself a start and to start thinking about it. But again, we can see your critical ability, or thinking ability as a business analyst is still really important in making sure that this reflects what is used for your business.

One of the things I wanted to note, too, is this use case does include most of the sections that are available through our free use case template download.

Example: Using ChatGPT to Identify Requirements Questions

Okay, so let’s take this a bit deeper. This was a great draft of the use case. I could work with this as a starting point. I’m going to say, well, you know, I’m going into a stakeholder meeting. Can you please give me 10 questions I could ask a customer service representative? A very specific role in the organization, about this feature. This is another challenge that business analysts face. I’m going into this meeting and I know I’m supposed to have an agenda. I know I’m supposed to be asking questions. What questions should I be asking?

We actually have a whole product for this called our Requirements Discovery Checklist Pack. But I think it’d be great to use Chat GPT for this as well.

These are great questions. How do I combine my accounts? Is there a limit to the number of accounts I can merge? What happens to the information from the accounts that I discard? Can I undo an account merge once it’s complete? These are great, great questions to getting through to the root cause of the features and the full business rules. Let’s just take this yet another step deeper.

Example: Breaking Down a Use Case Into User Stories

What we teach in The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program is a strategy for extracting user stories from your use case. So your use case includes the big picture of that user system interaction and how the whole feature flows. The user stories might have specific parts of that feature that are going to get implemented in different development cycles.

Could you please, notice my politeness? I’m always like, “please.” I’m sure the machine does not really care, but it just still feels like the right thing to do, break this use case down into user stories? Here we’re getting those user stories. As a user I want to be able to do something. As a user with multiple accounts, I want to be able to combine my account so I can streamline my account information. Different user stories that are covering this whole feature of how do I combine accounts. The specific pieces that might be implemented piece by piece.

As an aside, there is a lot of debate about the difference between use cases and user stories. I share my perspective in this video.

Limitations of ChatGPT – And Why Business Analysts Are Still Critical

That is an overview of Chat GPT and kind of how it can work to improve our efficiency as a business analyst. I think it’s a great starting point here creating user stories. There’s quite a few. That’s a great starting point for us, and there are a lot of limitations as well.

One of them that I already mentioned, is it’s only data from pre through 2022. If there’s a new feature or a new capability or something that is relatively recent with your functionality, it’s not going to have the information, it’s not going to be training to use that kind of information to generate a response that would be meaningful for you.

It’s also really unable to determine what’s important and what’s not from a…there are no ethics in humanity involved in this. It is trained on the data set, so it is as good or as weak as the data set that it’s been given. This is a really important piece to keep in mind as we think about AI tools in general is like where’s the human ethics aspect of it? In this use case of combining accounts, that might not be very relevant, but in general, when we’re asking it questions, it is not going to bring through our norms of how we want to handle diversity and inclusion or how we want to be a proponent of social justice or other values that may be important to us or to our organizations. That is not going to come out through a data set or a generation like this. We really need to bring that to it.

It’s really unable to determine as well, what is important to your business and your stakeholders. We’re not mining information specific to your company and it’s definitely not helping you get your stakeholders aligned on what this feature should look like. It’s giving you a starting point, a set of questions to ask, and it’s not going to be specific to your business at all, although you could definitely drill in and say, like, if I’m running an insurance company, what would this merge account feature look like? And it will give you another version of that that would be much more specific to your domain.

The sense that I want to give you here is that AI, it’s a powerful tool. It’s an efficiency creating tool, but it’s not an end all and a be all. It’s going to give you a draft, it’s going to give you a starting point, but not your final product, and it’s not going to help you, it’s not going to create alignment and clarity among your stakeholder group.

The key message I want you to receive is there is no substitute for the thinking you do about the requirements and how they impact your business as a business analyst.

Limitations of ChatGPT – In Succeeding as a Business Analyst

Now, let’s just talk about, also, some of the limitations to you when it comes to succeeding as a business analyst. Because as you saw, I started to kind of pick apart exactly how that use case was structured. And so you need to know what a use case is, how to evaluate the results that were generated, what are best practices in terms of how your organization organizes use cases and functional requirements. And if you’re not already familiar with that or you need a refresher, I did a full video on what a use case is and how to write one, and you can watch that video below.

I’ve also found, often, that this tool will put me into a little bit of a spin. So I have used it to flush out outlines for videos on social media posts, and it gives me a lot of great ideas. Often, it gives me almost too many ideas. And so I need to do the work to filter out what’s really important from my audience and the point that I want to get across. And so just taking the outline as it is and copying and pasting it, or even allowing this tool to write an entire video script, it’s totally possible. But if I did that, it wouldn’t come across as me. It wouldn’t be the kind of content you’re used to getting from Bridging the Gap.

The same thing is true as you’re using it to draft requirements. It’s your starting point, but you need to really bring that flavor. And if it’s putting you in a spin and a bit of overwhelm, a lot of business analysts really struggle with imposter syndrome. And so seeing a tool create a draft of a document in seconds when it takes you hours the first time through, or hopefully within time you’re creating something like that within 20 to 30 minutes as a rough draft. It can be a real mind bender to see a tool just spit it out just like that.

It can also have a sense of authority of like the tool knows better than me. This tool, they put “login” in there. Why am I not doing that in my use case? Or, “Oh, this tool has it done this way and left out these sorts of details. Why am I not doing that?” You are still in control. You are still the authority. The tool is a resource to help you. It’s a really important mindset to keep in mind as you’re using a tool like this.

Just being aware that it could send you off on tangents that your business rationale and goals do not support. You want to be really careful that your use of Chat GPT doesn’t give you scope creep that your stakeholders aren’t even asking for. We already have that problem within our project. We don’t need more.

This is just a side note. This is where access to coaching and mentoring and training really remain critical for you and your mental game. In our programs, our instructors are still doing real live reviews of your actual work and documentation because we know how important that is in cultivating your competence. Having that kind of review cycle and that training cycle is still incredibly important.

The Future of AI Tools and How They Impact Business Analysts

With all of this said, I think it’s also important to remember these tools are still relatively new and we’re just starting to see the shimmer of their potential and how disruptive already this technology has been just in the last few months.

They are going to continue to expand and evolve. They’re going to continue to improve. They’re going to get better. We could see a future where these sorts of tools identify and merge duplicate requirements, show requirements conflicts for us automatically, and map the information resources of your organization to be used to identify requirements and project impacts. These tools can be a great thinking and analysis ability. Even that is just probably the beginning.

Given that these tools will continue to get smarter and will continue to increase in capability, how can you position yourself?

There’s no point, really, in being afraid of the tool or just trying to push it down or put your head in the sand, which honestly is what I was doing for probably the last few years. Instead, this is the time to dive in, embrace and learn how to leverage the tool set to increase your efficiency. Bring these ideas to your team and into your projects. Free up your time right here and now for the capabilities that are not replicated by machines. Those capabilities are your ability to build relationships, your ability to bring people together, creating alignment and clarity, gaining buy-in, ensuring the requirements you write actually meet the business objectives, and that your team can deliver them and that they achieve real business value.

How do You Use ChatGPT as a Business Analyst?

With anything, these tools are here to support us with the more limited sort of menial work of a business analyst so we can shift our energy and attention to the more meaningful aspects of our work. We are just beginning to see the power of these types of tools in terms of supporting our workflow.

If you have used Chat GPT in your workflow as a business analyst, I would love for you to drop me a comment below and let us know, how are you using this tool? How has it helped your effectiveness as a business analyst? What are your wins? What are your questions? What are your fears around it? Where are the places that you get stuck? Where has it helped you and where has it left you wanting more.

Remember, the tool has a lot of limitations, but there is also so much more to a use case than that AI generated version. Just like AI is not going to replace business analysts, its output won’t replace human insight, creativity, customized problem solving to the needs of your specific business. And you need to know why each section of that use case is important and how to think through it so you can validate that information with your stakeholders. That’s why our use case template is so valuable and will help you do just that.

>> DOWNLOAD FREE USE CASE TEMPLATE <<

It’s a built-in insurance policy against future project mishaps and challenges.

In this short video, you’ll learn Laura’s top three tips for building rapport with critical stakeholders that you can begin implementing today.

In this short video, you’ll discover a simple 4-step process to manage change requests so they don’t derail the success of your project.

My number one tip when it comes to change requests is: Manage change or it will manage you. Outside of the four tips I share in the video, I highly suggest a Change Request Form that you can use across your organization.

My go-to Change Request Form is included in the Business Analyst Template Toolkit, which is one of our most popular digital products. When you invest in the Business Analyst Template Toolkit, you’ll receive:

• All 12 templates fully annotated in Word or Excel format and fully usable and editable by you. Customize them to meet your organization’s unique needs and share them within your organization.
• All 12 corresponding work samples so you can see what a fully completed template really looks like. These work samples are direct from the Bridging the Gap Redesign Project – they are completely new and you’ll get a peek behind the scenes of our business model.
• A 10-page guidebook walking you through the business analyst approach to a project, what templates are useful in each phase, and how to use the Toolkit to increase your effectiveness as a business analyst.

>>Click here to learn more about the BA Template Toolkit<<

Do you find that unexpected changes just pop up and take your projects off course? Or has someone just requested a change for your project and you’re wondering what you should do with it? As a business analyst, you can make a huge difference in how change is managed and really save your teams a lot of rework while also neutralizing the negative energy that’s often associated with change.

Stay with me and I’m going to show you a four step process that you can use to do this.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos and business analyst tips and techniques. If you’re not subscribed yet, make sure to do so and hit that notification bell so you can stay in the loop with all of our new videos.

Today, we’re discussing a simple four step process to manage change requests so they don’t derail the success of your project because we know you’ve put a lot into the success of your project to get to the point where you’re at now.

Step 1 – Determine the Scope of the Change

The very first step is to determine the scope of the change. A change request could be related to the business requirements, the stakeholder requirements, the functional requirements, the data requirements. Any aspect of the project. Or it could impact all of those aspects. Obviously that’s a much bigger change. Here you use all of your business analysis skills and elicitation, and analysis, and validating the scope of the change with your stakeholders.

Along with identifying what that change is, you’ll want to identify the benefit of making a change or the business need driving that change. So you ask, “Why?” Just like we do for new requirements, we do that for changes as well. This is going to help your change approval team determine whether or not the proposed change is really worth the effort.

Step 2 – Determine the Scope of Incorporating the Change

Step two is determining the scope of incorporating the change. But before that happens, before you get to the change approval team, you want to make sure you understand the scope of incorporating that change into the project. This typically means identifying the impact of the change on the technical design, possibly on the project schedule, putting together a high level implementation plan and determining the level of effort to make the change.

With this information in hand, I often will document in a change request form, so you can see all of it together. You will be able to articulate whether the change impacts the project, the budget, the schedule, the scope. What aspect does it impact? And by the way, my go-to Change Request Form is included in our business analyst template toolkit. It’s one of Bridging The Gap’s most popular digital download products.

Sometimes there are multiple options for incorporating the change. For example, one approach could be trade off, like including the change and letting go of a lower priority requirement so that we’re not impacting the schedule or the scope.

Another approach could involve delays to the schedule in an increased budget, but keep the original scope intact, plus the change. Often during this step, there’s at least one, if not multiple, business stakeholders who are involved in evaluating the tradeoffs and the solution approaches. The goal in this step is to present the information to your change approval team and what they need to make an informed decision about whether or not to approve the change.

Step 3 – Gain Approval or Rejection of the Change

Step three is gaining approval or rejection of the change. You have the scope of the change, you know why it’s being requested, you have information about what it will take to implement it, perhaps a few options. Again, you can use the change request form to present all of that information to your team.

One thing to keep in mind is that most organizations have various levels of approval. So hypothetically, a change requiring just an hour of work might just be approved by the project team or the business sponsor, or the development lead, whoever’s in charge of that team. Maybe a change requiring a week or more of work might be approved by a mid-level management team who can authorize changes that have minor impacts to other projects on your company’s roadmap.

A change to a primary business requirement requiring maybe a month or more of work might be approved at the executive level because it could have impacts on other organizational initiatives and the whole strategy for the year. While those are realistic, they’re really hypothetical examples. More mature organizations are going to have specific criteria in place outlining what stakeholder group can approve what kinds of changes. More informal organizations, quite honestly, will just figure this out as they go along. It’s often up to the business sponsor to decide who needs to be involved in approving this change if they don’t have the authority to do.

Step 4 – Communicate and Implement an Approved Change Request

Provided the change is approved, it’s time to act on the implementation plan and communicate the change throughout the project team. That’s step four, which is to communicate and implement that change request.

Once the change request is approved, the project team needs to be notified. Probably there are project deliverables that need to be updated. So consider not just your requirements documents. That’s an important piece, but it’s not the only piece. At this point you might have technical design documentation. You might have test plans, project schedules, training documentation, any business process documentation for the future state that you’ve already completed as well.

Often these updates are facilitated by a formal change notification process where the project manager, or the business analyst, notifies the project team of the change, and each document owner then incorporates the adjustments into their deliverables.

Manage Change or It Will Manage You!

My final tip is to manage change, or it will manage you.

Often change is thought of as like a dirty word in the project circles. The reality is that change happens for legitimate business reasons.

In today’s fast moving and competitive marketplace, it’s really unrealistic to expect stakeholders to have perfect knowledge of what they want or need to achieve the business objectives.

Yes, we want to avoid drastic changes that are not tied to business objectives. We don’t want to change just for the sake of change. But we also don’t want to do so at the expense of ignoring real opportunities to deliver more value for the organization. The most important thing is that a very informed decision is made about if and how to incorporate the changes, and that there’s a really clear communication with everyone involved about why that decision was made.

As a business analyst, you really have an opportunity here to elevate yourself and your role within the organization by taking initiative. Ensure that steps one and two are completed before a change is brought before a decision maker. Again, that change request template we include in our Business Analyst Template Toolkit is going to give you a structure for pulling this information together.

One last thing I’d like to note here is that changes are often more frequent when you jump right into analyzing the software requirements and not starting by analyzing the business process and understanding the problem to be solved first. There is a lot more to analyzing a business process and it’s a critical business analyst skill that can really set you apart and establish your credibility.

We’ve got several other videos on business process modeling, and I invite you to watch the one below.

>>Save Time Creating Your Change Management Form<<

For a starting point for approaching common business analyst work scenarios, such as managing change requests, check out the Business Analyst Template Toolkit. All of the requirements templates in the toolkit are fully annotated and editable by you, giving you a great starting point for starting your next business analyst project or formalizing your work samples.

>>Click here to learn more about the BA Template Toolkit<<

In this short video, you’ll discover:

• The definition of a To Be Business Process
• How to analyze a To Be Business Process
• Where to start in your analysis
• What type of collaboration to expect

Download Your Free Business Process Template

At Bridging the Gap, we are all about helping you succeed as a business analyst, no matter where you are in your career. That’s why we’ve created a Business Process Template you can download for FREE.

In this template, you will discover how to:

• Help business users from multiple departments clarify their actual step-by-step workflow
• Avoid wasting money on software solutions that don’t solve the right business problems
• Help new business analysts figure out what questions to ask when starting on a new project

> Click here to download <<

Now, Let’s Dive Into Mapping the “To Be” Business Process

Is your organization rolling out a new technology that impacts the business or developing a new product or service that your organization needs to figure out how to deliver? If so, as a business analyst, it’s your role to analyze the To-Be business process and help your stakeholders define exactly how work will flow once that new solution is in place.

Stay with me and I’ll share exactly how to do just that.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis tips and techniques.

Today we’re going to be discussing the To-Be business process and how business analysts can analyze different organizational processes to help improve the business operations and provide more clarity to all members of the organization.

Definition of a “To Be” Business Process

First, let’s start by defining what a To-Be process is. A To-Be business process defines the future state of a business process in an organization.

Typically, the analysis goal in putting together the future state process is to clarify how the business process will work at some point in the future once changes have been made in the organization. And those changes could be business changes or technology changes.

How to Analyze a “To Be” Business Process

So a To-Be business process contains all of the sections in a typical business process model – a description, a list of rules, a list of steps and exceptions, a process map, perhaps even some business rules. To get a rundown of these elements, you can download our business process template. It’s absolutely free.

When it comes to defining the future state, it’s really important for you, as the business analyst, to bring some structure to that business analysis process. Often these discussions can really start to go all over the place without a defined structure. When we’re talking about the To-Be, it’s like anything goes and conversations start to fly all over the map.

Getting ALL the Stakeholders Involved is Key to Success Process Definition

To start defining the To-Be process, you’ll want to start by involving all of the key stakeholders that are involved in the process today, or that you anticipate will be involved in the process in the future. You should have at least one stakeholder representing each functional area or role impacted by the process.

Most often it makes sense to start by analyzing the As-Is business process so that the entire team is aligned around the current state before defining the future state. I did a video recently on the As-Is business process that you can watch below.

If, today, your team is using a spreadsheet and email communication to manage a process and in the future we’re hoping to use a tool or some sort of software system, you want to get clear on how that flows first. How does the spreadsheet and email communication flow and who all is involved as a starting point so that you know exactly what to automate.

To Analyze a To Be Process, Start with Why

Next, you want to be clear on what problem you are trying to solve by updating the process.

• What is the “why” for the project?
• What’s the desired outcome?

For example, your sponsor may want to make the process more efficient, reduce errors, or take advantage of efficiencies created by new technology solutions that could automate all aspects of that process. With the right stakeholders involved, the current state understood, and your desired outcome or where you’re headed defined, it’s actually defined what this future state process is going to be.

Again, this is a collaborative effort between the business analyst and the stakeholders. As a business analyst, you never have all the answers. You can suggest ideas, you can propose solutions, but you really need to involve your stakeholders in the process of defining the process. It’s a little Meta.

If you are having trouble getting stakeholders engaged, here’s a video with a lot of tips on building stakeholder engagement.

To Discover the “To Be”, Use the “As Is” as a Starting Point

As a business analyst, you may want to bring in that As-Is business process documentation as a starting point or maybe even just the high level process map and mark it up with some suggestions and opportunities. This way everybody has something to start from. It helps keep the meeting focused on what the desired outcome is.

For a Truly Brand-New Process, Start with the Goals for the “To Be” Business Process

But if this is a completely new process, you would start by defining the beginning and the ending of the process.

What’s true when this process starts and what needs to be true when it’s done or complete?

That way you’re really clear on scope and then you can just start visually mapping out the steps in between.

Often you need to get to that fully fleshed out business process template. But you would start with a process map so you’re just looking at the high level and starting to map in those pieces in those steps. You can then rework it and move it around.

Often what happens, there’s a lot of rework and splitting apart and breaking things apart into multiple processes or combining them back together as you go through that process.

If you are looking for some tips on process maps, specifically, I also recently recorded a video on that topic, and I invite you to watch it.

Expect a Fair Amount of Collaboration When Analyzing a To Be Process, Including Technical Stakeholders

Now, one thing to note is if your To-Be process is heavily technology dependent, you may need to have a technical stakeholder available to explain how the technical system works and what opportunities there are, what the potential configurations are, and what’s really possible given the technology solutions you have.

This is not always just a business-focused activity. Often we need to have a technology expert as well. And this is why you will often see business analyst roles include some sort of technology requirements, like expertise in a specific software system, because they want you to be able to bring that expertise to the meetings as you meet with your business user.

But if you don’t have that expertise, you just need to bring it into your team by involving a technology stakeholder. Not your whole technology implementation team, but somebody who can speak to the possibilities of technology.

Your To Be Business Process Lays the Groundwork for Software or Functional Requirements

Now, you’ve completed the analysis of the future state, or the To-Be process when you, as the business analyst, have thought through all the implications of that future state, and your stakeholders have approved the updated documentation essentially saying, yes, this is how we want the process to work.

Then you are ready to define any software changes in terms of the functional requirements that are needed to support that To-Be process and start building organizational assets that will support the new process, like templates or training.

Analyzing functional requirements is an entirely separate topic, and here’s a video introducing the key concepts:

If all of this seems like too much, again, don’t worry, you don’t have to start from scratch. We have a free business process template that you can download today to help you get users from multiple departments on the same page about clarifying their desired workflow. This download can even help new business analysts figure out what questions to ask when starting on a new project or a new domain.

For more details on how to use this template to fully analyze a business process, check out this video for a complete tutorial:

In this short video, you’ll learn the definition of an As Is Business Process, as well as how and when to analyze an As Is Business Process.

The best news is that you don’t have to start from scratch. When you download our free Business Process Template, you can:

• Help business users from multiple departments clarify their actual step-by-step workflow
• Avoid wasting money on software solutions that don’t solve the right business problems
• Help new business analysts figure out what questions to ask when starting on a new project

Thousands of business analysts are already using this free template– add this tool to your toolbox today!

>> Click here to download <<

Are customers getting frustrated with your organization’s level of service? Are business users confused about what the right process is or what steps they should take in what situations? If so, as a business analyst, it’s your job to analyze the as-is business process and help everyone get on the same page. So stick with me and I’ll share exactly how to do just that.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap, where we help you start, succeed, and excel in your business analyst career with weekly videos on business analysis tips and techniques.

Today I’m discussing the As-Is business process and how business analysts can analyze different organizational processes to help improve business operations and really provide more clarity to all members of the organization.

Definition of an As Is Business Process

An As-Is business process defines the current state of the business process in an organization. Typically, the goal when putting something like this together is to clarify exactly how the business process works today, flaws and all. So mistakes, errors, redundancies, whatever that is.

How to Analyze an As Is Business Process

Now, the As-Is business process contains all of the elements of a typical business process model – the description, the list of roles, a list of steps, exceptions, and a workflow diagram or a process map. To get a rundown of all of these elements, you can download our free business process template.

And here’s a video with all the details on process mapping:

Now, when you’re putting together an As-Is process, access to the business stakeholders who perform the business process is key. Business analysis never happens in a vacuum. You need access to stakeholders so you can actually understand what they are doing.

Secondarily, access to business stakeholders who understand the process, such as a manager or a subject matter expert can be helpful as well even if those individuals don’t routinely perform the business process. Often they can provide another perspective on what the business process should do, and they might be really surprised to learn what is actually happening. So often it’s important to have people who are actually doing the process involved as well as management or people who have the idea of what the outcome of that business process should be, and how they believe it should be performed.

What’s really important, though, is that you’re going to need at least one stakeholder to represent each role in the process.

If you are having trouble getting stakeholders engaged, here’s a video with a lot of tips on building stakeholder engagement.

For example, for a process describing how a new customer gets set up, you might need a representative from sales, from customer service, and from fulfillment, maybe even accounting, if that’s part of the process as well. Once you determine who needs to be involved, you can elicit information about the current state using a variety of different methods. Interviews and observation tend to be the best elicitation techniques for understanding the current state and then you’re able to put a draft together and then review that or do a document review that can confirm your understanding and fill any knowledge gaps.

We’ve done a great video on elicitation, and I invite you to check it out if that’s something you want to learn more about.

When to Analyze the As Is Business Process

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is whether or not you always have to do the As-Is. We’re actually going to improve this process. Can’t we just start with the future state or the to be or the desired state process?

I find that it almost always makes sense to start with the As-Is because this brings a lot of clarity and it gives your team a solid foundation to build from. There are some scenarios, though, where the As-Is is particularly necessary and I would say really a non-negotiable in your analysis process.

• For example, if there are known issues with the current state process such as order is not getting processed or customers being frustrated with your organization’s level of service. Often the clarity that comes from a good business process document is going to help you identify the gaps that are causing those issues in the first place. The analysis helps you define what your future state, or to be business process, should be.
• Also, if you find that business users are confused about what the current state process is or what steps to take in current situations, it makes sense to start with the As-Is so you can get everybody on the same page about what they should be doing currently. It avoids a lot of disagreements and confusion and back and forth discussions about trying to define a future state when we’re really not already on the same page about what we should be doing right now.
• Finally, if your organization wants to automate or streamline the current processes but, again, that current state is not well understood or documented, you need to start here. By analyzing the current state, you are going to discover redundant steps and opportunities for automation.

Here’s a Starting Point for Your As Is Business Process Mapping

If all of this seems like too much, don’t worry. You don’t have to start from scratch. We have a free business process template that you can download today and that will help you get business users from multiple departments on the same page and clarify their actual step-by-step workflow.

This download can even help new business analysts figure out what questions to ask when starting a new project or working in a new domain.

Click the image below to claim your free business process template.

There’s a lot more to mapping a business process, and I have another video that goes into this technique in more depth.

What we love about Amelia’s story is that when she was faced with a crossroads in her career, The Blueprint program provided her the tangible skills to succeed in her new role. As a technical writer at the top of the pay scale, Amelia was laid off from her role when her boss encouraged her to pursue business analysis.

After some research, she discovered Bridging the Gap and signed up for The Blueprint program. Throughout the program, she did whatever she could to find projects and ultimately completed the program.

Once she completed the program, she was offered another technical writing job and a business analysis role. With the knowledge she gained during The Blueprint program, she was able to negotiate her salary and job title and land the job as a Lead Business Analyst.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

• How Amelia got creative to find projects to complete during The Blueprint program without working as a business analyst.
• How Amelia made the decision to change career paths and grow into a business analyst.
• Amelia’s biggest takeaway from The Blueprint program and which modules she uses daily in her career.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

Laura Brandenburg: Hello, and welcome, everyone. I’m here with Amelia McHenry today. Hi, Amelia.

Amelia McHenry: Hey.

Laura Brandenburg: I am so excited. Amelia is one of the very few course participants I’ve actually met in person and gotten to hug, so that’s a special thing for me, and I’m excited. She’s had a lot of success since she joined The Business Analyst Blueprint® last year, and we really wanted to just share some of her story and some of the amazing things that have happened in her career to both inspire you and give you some practical strategies that you can use to achieve those results yourself.

Amelia, maybe just take us back to—it was January last year, a little less than a year and a half ago when you were thinking about joining The Blueprint. Where were you in your career at that time? What was your role like? What was going on?

Hitting the Ceiling as a Technical Writer

Amelia McHenry: I had been a technical writer for about 15 plus years, had gone, in the last 10 years of that, gone through a bunch of mergers and acquisitions of companies and splits and all kinds of weird funky business stuff. The last one was a split from the company that merged with another company.

About nine months after that, I got WFR’d from a job, and it was a job that my boss did not want me to go, but the company said, “She makes too much money,” because I was at the top of the pay scale for technical writers. Being a new business, they wanted to cut salaries and bottom-line type of things that businesses do. I was like, “What am I going to do? I had this great job making some decent money, and they’re not going to want to pay me that anymore because it’s at the top of the scale.” So, my boss told me that I could get into business analysis, and I was like, “Really? I can do that?”

And she’s like, “Yeah.” She started telling me a little bit about what it was that I did that would constitute as business analysis. So, I started looking at that and looking at jobs to maybe do that in the time that she helped me revamp my resume to show that.

I got a job as a contract business analyst, but I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I wasn’t confident, I wasn’t all this. So, I started looking online, and I found you and was like, “Oh, I need this.”

I made the jump of getting The Blueprint, which was all of the classes, and learned so much. It was invaluable, just absolutely invaluable, and it has helped me jump from there into being really confident in what I’m doing. Having the community there to assist when I had questions and…so, that’s where I was, was just this total…I was a tech writer. I was at the top of my financial game, and now I had nothing and was like, “What am I doing?”

Laura Brandenburg: And you were in this contract business analyst role, though, right?

Amelia McHenry: Yeah.

Laura Brandenburg: I kind of remember that you were…it didn’t quite feel like a business analyst role.

First Business Analyst Role – Not Quite As Expected

Amelia McHenry: Yeah. I mean, it was doing requirements, but it was these…yeah, it was weird because when I was doing the classes, there was this one project that I was like, “Oh, I can do this. The process stuff,” and then the project got put on hold. It was like I didn’t have anything else that I could do that with. It was like, “Ugh.”

So, I had to go outside of my business analyst role to find projects to work on for the homework, which helped my husband out because he had stuff that he needed to do, and it was like, “Yeah.”

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah, and I think that’s so powerful. You could have the title but still have this constraint in your work experience that you couldn’t actually use the skills in your job. So that must have felt very…”I finally got this title after this pretty scary experience of losing my job, but now I’m not quite sure what I should be doing, and I’m not even allowed to do the things that people are telling me should be business analysis.”

Amelia McHenry: Yeah.

Laura Brandenburg: Like, “Where is this going to go? What does this look like in three to five years?” Yeah.

Amelia McHenry: Exactly. It’s been…yeah, it was kind of crazy. It was…yeah. Kind of crazy.

Laura Brandenburg: You took the jump, the plunge through all of that, and you joined The Blueprint. What were your expectations going in?

Amelia McHenry: Just to learn. I just wanted to know what business analysis was because I’d heard the term, I’d worked with the people, but I didn’t understand what it was. What was the job? I just had no clue, and I didn’t want to be a fraud in saying…you know, I put this on my resume that, “Hey, I’ve done this,” and I’m like, “I don’t know what this is, but my boss said I did it, so I guess I’m going to say I did it because she said I did it.” [Laughter]

So, the expectations were about learning what the job was. What’s the terminology? What’s the experience (which is really great that this class gives)? You get practical experience that you can speak to in a job interview. You can say,

• “Yes, I’ve done processes.
• Yes, I’ve done wireframes.
• Yes, I’ve done data mapping.

Yes, I’ve done these things, and I have a clue.” It may be this big, but I’ve got a clue. Learning the terminology, feeling legit.

I felt legit afterwards.

Volunteering to Finish the Course Work – And Building Valuable Experience and Confidence Along the Way!

Laura Brandenburg: Awesome. Let’s talk about this because you’ve alluded to helping your husband and how…because this is a challenge that we do have that part of the real-world experience. There are tons of benefits that come from it, but when you feel like you can’t do it in your job, or you don’t have a job, people are like, “What do I do? How do I finish the course?” I would love to hear how it came up, even, that you found out that your husband could use this and created that role. It was a really unique, innovative way to create success.

Amelia McHenry: I was looking around my job and just going, “I thought I had this one project that I could do this with. It was going to be great.” I got excited about it, and then it got put on hold. Basically, I just came home to my husband and said, “I need to find something that I can do process work on. Do you have any processes that you need to be checked out and worked on?”

And he was like, “Actually, yes I do. I’m doing a disaster recovery revamp,” because he’s the infrastructure director at a healthcare company that he’s in.

They were re-looking at their disaster recovery process, and I was like, “Perfect. Let’s do that.” Normally, he and I bonk heads when we’re trying to work on work stuff, but it actually worked out really, really well because it was like, “I’m in this role now. I’m not your wife. I’m in this role, and I’m going to ask you all the questions. ‘What’s the process? Who does what? When do they do this? What if that doesn’t happen, and if this happens?’” Going through all the happy paths and then all the funky things that could happen, and it worked out really well.

He shared that with his boss, and his boss was like, “Oh, my God. This is great. Fabulous. Let’s get that in the documentation.” We had meetings with them, as well.

So, I got to talk with his other people, and they were like, “Thank you so much for coming in. What do we owe you?”

I’m like, “This is fine. I just want the experience.” What was the next one? The wireframing was the next one. I’m like, “This is my next project. You got anything else?”

And they were like, “Yeah, we’ve got the marketing group setting up our website and revamping that, so here. Work with them.”

And I’m like, “Awesome.” So, I got the first two of the sections of this course, I got to work with them. They got improved things, I got to learn.

They knew I was learning, so it wasn’t, “Oh, why don’t you know this? We’re paying you for this. Rah rah.” It was this really great relationship that we had. Then the other thing was that my husband is also a musician and putting out albums just as a hobby. So, for the data mapping and getting all that big data stuff together, I used his and my youngest daughter’s albums as customers who are buying. The customers. Do we want their address? How does that match up to PayPal? Getting all that data mapped out. That was just an internal hobby that we used to do this data mapping work, and man, talk about a rabbit hole. That was…

Laura Brandenburg: You think, “Oh, this is so simple. We’re just shipping out some CDs,” right?

Amelia McHenry: Yeah, I know. That was such a serious rabbit hole, but it brought a lot of clarity to what we’re doing, and even though it’s a hobby, yeah, he’s trying to get some money out of it. It’s a little money, side gig thing. Not much, mostly spending up, but it’s fun, and it was great experience for my daughter because that’s the business she wants to go into. She’s going into the music business, so it’s learning. “Oh, you’ve got to capture this. You’ve got to talk to these people. You’ve got to capture your email stuff. You’ve got to capture your vendor stuff, what you’re sending out. All these things that just…” It makes it make sense. That’s where I found my projects. Like I said, just a little hobby thing at the home. You can do that. It’s business experience.

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah. That must have been—after that feeling of being in the role but uncertain—that must have been incredibly validating, right? To do it and to…you had three different, very different experiences where you were able to apply these skills, so you had lots of things to talk about and to really appreciate the depth of it.

In a New Business Analyst Role – Blowing Them Away with Powerful Questions

Amelia McHenry: Right. Then when that contract was over, I got another contract, which was a little more in line with the business analysis. Because of taking the class and going through those things, I was really able to just jump right in and say, “Hey, this is what we’re doing. Oh, you want to do process work. Okay. Here we go. What is this? What is that?” All those questions that you ask. Then, there was one—I don’t know how many people catch this, but you have some questions in one of your videos that talk about getting to know the…I just lost the word. Getting to know the domain. How do you get to know the domain? How do you get to know what the project is about? I wrote them down. I played the video, wrote it down, stopped it. I captured all those questions.

Laura Brandenburg: I’ll have to create a checklist for that.

Amelia McHenry: Oh, they’re fabulous. They were fabulous. I wrote that for the project that was into on my next job, and I put that out to them. I said, “What are your answers to these?”

And they were like, “Oh, my God. These are great questions.” And this is Fortune 500 company that has their act together when it comes to this stuff. I brought in these questions, and they were blown away. My experience and their estimation jumped tenfold, hundredfold, thousandfold because I just had these simple questions that you asked. “Ask them about this.

• What’s the project?
• What’s the financial gain?
• What’s the measurement you’re going to have?
• What’s this?”

Thinking about all these things that they think about in the back of their mind, but they don’t settle in. That blew their minds. They were like, “Oh my God. We’re so much clearer on what this project is. Thank you for that.” I mean, just those questions alone helped them define their project and get it clear in their minds what was going on.

Laura Brandenburg: Right. I really think that as BAs…questions are our superpower. Asking the right questions at the right times. Yes, you had the questions from the course, but you also asked them in the right context to the right people at the right time, it sounded, with the right framing. So, you created this…I love how you talked about that jump. I was going to say, “This perception of a jump,” but it really wasn’t that. I think it was a perception in your head, but you really were in that space. You were adding value at that level.

Amelia McHenry: Yeah. I still talk to a couple of the people from that contract, and they were like, “Man, I wish we could’ve hired you on, but it was just a contract thing for this one little project.” But they loved it. I mean, I’m on Facebook with them now, and they love me. They’re like, “How’s your job doing? We want to get you back here.”

I’m like, “Yeah, well, you know I’ve got a job now.” [Laughter]

Up-Leveling to a Lead Business Analyst Role at $90k/Year

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah, tell us about that.

Amelia McHenry: My contract ended, so I was looking for another job. I had two interviews with two different companies. One was going back into a more senior technical writer role, kind of managerial type of thing, and it’s something that I could’ve gone back into and done with no problem. It’s like, I know that job like the back of my hand. I can do that.

Then there was this other job. They weren’t paying as much as the technical writer one, but it was the one that I was like, “Oh, it’s a business analyst role, and this would really stretch my learning because it’s a completely different industry than what I was in.” I was in healthcare. I know healthcare like the back of my hand. I can do that in my sleep.

This is in the auto insurance industry. So different. You’re still dealing with federal stuff, but it’s so, so different. And I was like, “I kind of want the BA role, but the money over here at the tech writer thing is so much better.” I was hemming and hawing about it. They were actually creating another position at the other side for me because once they found out my experience, then they wanted me to do a center of excellence for technical writers. I was like, “Yeah, that’s awesome. I was stringing along the guys who were offering me the job because this one was really cool, too, and it was more money.

When they found out that it was more money, the BA job went to their human resources and said, “We want her. She’s being offered $90,000 at this other place. Let’s bump it up.” So, they bumped up their offer by $10,000.

Laura Brandenburg: Wow.

Amelia McHenry: And a jump in position. It was just a business analyst. They gave me the lead business analyst for the $90,000, and I was like, “Oh, yeah. I can’t string these guys along anymore. And these guys I’m still waiting on to hear if it’s even going to happen, so I’m going to go with the eggs in the basket and go with this.”

And it’s been really, really good. It has definitely stretched my abilities. I’ve gotten into doing gap analysis and just learning this new industry domain and using those questions again.

What is this all about? What are the metrics? What’s the big picture of why we’re doing what we’re doing? I’ve been really learning a whole lot about that.

There have been a couple of days that I’ve been like, “What did I get myself into? I can’t do this.” Then, I just breathe, and I go back, I read my notes from this course, or I call and go into the Facebook group. Then, I’m like, “Okay. Oh, yeah. Okay.”

Back into the stride of things. It’s been really good in stretching what it is that I’m capable of, concreting the business analyst training that I’ve gotten, exploring other avenues within that training. It’s like, “Oh, well, how about this over here?” Gap analysis is something that is new. That’s something that I would love to take a course on. Wink, wink. [Laughter]

Laura Brandenburg: All right. I’ll get on that.

Amelia McHenry: You know? Because that’s a different way of thinking, as well, but it has opened me up to a lot of new things and solidified the training that I do have. They’ve been really, really happy with me so far. I jokingly went in on one of my one-on-ones, and I was like, “So, are you going to fire me yet?”

And they’re like, “No way. You’re great. Bring it on. Keep bringing it.” But it’s kind of interesting because one of the questions in the interview was, “Are you afraid to ask the stupid questions?” and I went, “No. Not at all. That’s kind of my job.”

And my boss was like, “Fabulous. That was the right answer.” Yeah. I’m going to ask the stupid questions, right?

Bringing the BA Confidence to the Job Interview

Laura Brandenburg: Can we talk a little bit more about, whether it’s the interview or the…how that came to be? Because, obviously, they were super excited to hire you, right? You were in a position of strength in that negotiation, which is where we all want to be, as job seekers. So, can you just walk us through how that…what do you think created that point of leverage for you? What was it that they were looking for, and how were you able to position yourself and your skills?

Amelia McHenry: I think some of it was personality. I tend to be kind of gregarious and bubbly and unashamedly me. So, I think that’s part of it, but I think the other part was that I could speak to what they were looking for, that I could use the terms when they asked me about what tools I’ve used. I mentioned Balsamiq, and the guy’s eyes just got bright and wide, and he’s like, “You had me at Balsamiq.”

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah. It’s not like you knew that going in, right? There was a certain amount of how things fell into place.

Amelia McHenry: Yeah. I didn’t have a clue about that. Being able to talk about creating the processes, the documents, or refining those with both my husband’s work, with the job afterwards and being able to speak to the things that I worked on through the training and through subsequent positions, and I was able to speak to it with confidence.

It wasn’t like I was like, “Well, I kind of worked on this project and um…” It was, “Yeah, I worked on this project, and we had this problem, and we did this, and this was the solution.”

I think one of the biggest questions that assisted in them really wanting me was he brought up a meeting that he’d had, and he said one person, a key stakeholder, was getting defensive, or very adamant, in that he wanted something a certain way. It had to be this certain way. Come to find out the guy was cursing out people. He was yelling. He was like, “No, we’re doing it this way.” But he was very diplomatic in the interview. So, he was like, “What would you do with a person like that?”

And I sat, and I thought. I thought back to your trainings, and it was like…it’s not about the “how.” It’s about the “why.” Why does he want that thing? What is it that he thinks he’s going to get out of that “how” that the technical people are going, “There’s no freaking way you’re getting it?” That where the consternation was.

It was like, “What is it that he’s trying to get to?” Trying to figure out what it is he’s trying to get and maybe there’s a different way to get there that the technology people can do.

So, he was trying to get a particular API, and the technology guys were like, “That’s not going to work. That just doesn’t fit in this API framework or whatever.”

It’s like, “What does he think he’s going to get out of that?” It’d be asking him those questions. What is the endgame, and can we find a different bridge to get there? I think that was another question that he really just went, “Yep. That’s the person,” because it’s not about the “how.” The “how” can happen anyway.

It can be if you want to build a bridge, you can build it out of steel, you can build it out of wood, you can build it out of stone. How big does it need to be? It’s not that it has to be this stone bridge. It’s just that it needs to be a bridge. What do we got right now? We’ve got wood. We don’t have stone. So, we can build it out of stone. “But it’s got to be a stone bridge.” No, it doesn’t. It just needs to be a bridge. I think that was another huge question that he just was like, “Oh, yeah.”

Laura Brandenburg: Just to reflect back to you what I feel like what you’re representing there, there are few things that people miss. One is that you took a moment, like you said, “I took a moment to think about it.” And I think sometimes in interviews people think, “I’ve got to have this answer right away,” and so they just say the first thing that comes to their head. It’s okay to stop and think.

Amelia McHenry: Definitely.

Laura Brandenburg: You’re a gregarious person. It’s still okay to stop and think. [Laughter]

Amelia McHenry: Yeah. It’s okay to just go, “Hmm.”

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah. You need a minute, and it’s okay, in a meeting, too, to do that. We put so much pressure on ourselves just to be in this go-go-go. Some of our best value is in that just stopping and thinking and giving yourself space to find the answer.

The second thing I just want to reflect back to you, which is so beautiful, is you have internalized. You keep referring to this training, which is awesome. I love that it’s had that impact, but you have internalized that into a mindset of being a BA, which has allowed you to connect those dots. I think that’s because you’ve applied it a few different times and found new ways to apply it. So, it’s just become part of your way of thinking, and that will serve you for a long time.

Amelia McHenry: Yeah, it will, and thank you very much.

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah.

Amelia McHenry: Because I go back to when I lost my job being workforce reduction and going, “Really? I can do that?” to this, “Really. I can do that. It’s such a huge transformation of confidence that…yeah. I really do owe it all to you and your training. I mean, I would not be here today if I didn’t have that.

You not only taught me the skills, but within that, gave me the confidence that I could do it because I was able to do it in the class, and it came back with great comments, or, “Here. Tweak this a little bit.” That’s the other thing: the coaches. Coaches are great. I got great coaches, and I was really glad to be able to meet some of the coaches.

Laura Brandenburg: Paula.

Amelia McHenry: Paula. Yeah. I was really glad to meet her. That was really fun, to meet her. The coaches are fabulous and gave great feedback. When I got stuck, especially in the data mapping—that was the one that I got stuck with the most. I was like, “What?” I’m analytical but not that analytical. So, their feedback during that process was really invaluable.

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah, they are, and their heart is in it. The instructors are amazing. They want your success.

Amelia McHenry: You can totally tell.

Laura Brandenburg: Thank you. It’s always good to share the love with them, too. I get to do these interviews. I hope that they watch them because they get to hear, so that they can hear about all the awesome things that they’re helping create in the world, as well.

Amelia McHenry: Oh, yeah. They do a great job of it, too. They’re on it. Really good feedback, really good suggestions to improve, really good cheerleaders on, “Hey, you did this really great.” and really good cheerleaders on, “You could make this even better.” It felt good getting their feedback.

Some Tips on Finishing The Blueprint Program

Laura Brandenburg: That’s amazing. So, I know you had some concerns about finishing. I think this is something that holds a lot of people back. What helped you have a breakthrough on that?

Amelia McHenry: That’s a good question. I have a tendency to start things and not finish them, and I think that just comes from fear of success. I actually have a really big, huge fear of success. “My life will be so different when I’m so successful that it’s scary. It won’t look like what I’m comfortable with.”

How did I get over that with this class? Because this is one of those classes that I’ve actually finished, that I’ve gotten over that. Where would I be today? Yeah, how did I finish that? I think I cried a lot, and…I honestly don’t remember what I was going through at that time.

Laura Brandenburg: And you persisted.

Amelia McHenry: Yeah. It was one foot in front of the other. It was just a determination of, “I spent the money. I’d better finish it.”

Laura Brandenburg: There’s a huge value of spending the money. [Laughter]

Amelia McHenry: Yeah. “I spent the money. I’d better finish this. I’m so close.” That last…it was the data mapping. That was so hard. It was so hard. If that had been the first, I probably wouldn’t have finished because it was like, “No, too much.”

I think it was just something that I had a feeling was really going to help me in my financial situation, in my skill sets…and just get it done. I don’t know, really, how good my last assignment was that I turned it, but I turned it in.

Laura Brandenburg: And you passed. You’re here.

Amelia McHenry: I passed, and I’m here, and I got the certificate, which, I guess, is a message of: don’t worry about perfection; just get it done. Those coaches are great, and they will give you feedback. “Hey, try this one. Question about this. Did you really mean this, or did you mean that?” That assistance of getting through helped me just be like, “Okay. I’m just going to turn it in. It’s a mess. I know it’s ugly,” and then getting the feedback it’s like, “No, it’s actually really good. It’s on point.”

It was like, “Oh, really? I did good? Thanks.”

Laura Brandenburg: That’s awesome. And just to congratulate you for that success, too, and that it’s achieved the things that you were looking for it to achieve. It started with you pushing through that resistance, for sure. The resistance happens.

Amelia McHenry: Absolutely, and a lot of my fear of success is that I’ll lose everything. Because I’m successful, everything else will go away because I’m in this box. Yeah, no.

That little box just got bigger. Everything is still in it. It’s all still good. It just got bigger, which is something I need to remember when I get up to that wall of success again. “Oh, I’m going to make it. I better not do it.” It’s like, “No. The box just gets bigger. Everything is still in the box. It just gets bigger. There’s more room for it.”

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah, that’s awesome. Thank you so much for all of this. It’s just been a beautiful…it’s been beautiful to hear your story full out, but before we close, are there any last tips that you would like to share with somebody following in your footsteps?

Amelia McHenry: Take the course. [Laughter] Take the course because there’s so much valuable information in it. Do the work, ask the stupid questions, take that calculated risk. This is a calculated risk. Your training, jumping into the BA role. Even if you don’t take the course, jumping into it and asking the stupid questions and taking that calculated risk is going to be invaluable.

Joining a group like Bridging the Gap on Facebook. It doesn’t have to be that one, but this is a great group. But joining a group of like-minded people that are striving for the same things, that have your back and are going to support your growth. Join that. Take that risk. It’s worth it. It will improve you dramatically. I’m living proof.

Laura Brandenburg: Awesome. And I’m just so excited to hear about everything that’s happening, and even seeing the BA you’re going to be three, five years from now and how awesome and everything that comes from here. Thank you. Thank you for sharing.

Amelia McHenry: I’m happy to share. Absolutely.

Laura Brandenburg: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Amelia.

Amelia McHenry: You’re welcome.

About The Business Analyst Blueprint®

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll learn all 12 of the industry-standard techniques and the business analysis process framework – to build your confidence in the best practices of business analysis.

>> Click here for more information about The Blueprint <<

What we love about Dave’s story is that he was at a crossroads in his career. With a background in software development, he was trying to decide if business analysis was the career path he wanted to continue down or if he wanted to seek out another career.

Once he identified some holes in his knowledge, he found The Blueprint® program and was able to fill in the gaps and find more fulfillment in his work.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

• How Dave was able to apply the concepts learned in the program immediately to his current role on an agile software development team.
• The value of timely instructor feedback and assistance, and how integrating the feedback was actually one of the best parts of the program because he immediately changed the way he was doing his job.
• Why the days of pulling his hair out over user stories with the developer team and product owners are now behind him, and the insights he gleaned from no longer seeing user stories as an analytical tool.
• The excitement Dave now has in his work and in his skills as a BA and his ability to use his talents in his future endeavors.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Good day. My name is Beverly Sudbury. I’m an instructor with Bridging the Gap and I’m here today with Dave Gallant, who is from Ottawa, Ontario, and he’s working currently as a business analyst for the Federal Government. Today, Dave is very kind to join us. Tell us a little bit about his journey and how his participation in The Business Analysis Blueprint® program contributed to his success. Thank you, Dave, so much for being here. I really appreciate you sharing your story today.

DAVE GALLANT: Thanks Beverly. Glad to be here.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: I am quite excited to hear about your story. So, let’s begin. How about we take a look back at 2021 timeframe before you really started thinking about The Business Analysis Blueprint program, and was kind of looking around for things, where were you at in your career at that time?

DAVE GALLANT: Well, 2021, I was kind of buried in a bunch of requirements. In my job, I’d been a BA for about a year and a half at that point. I’d written a bunch of specs for product, and frankly, the specs just weren’t, they were okay for a new BA, but it was a pretty difficult process going through the development cycle with those specs the way they were.

Because it was a waterfall type of methodology for the actual development, once we had started the development, it was not like we could rewrite the specs halfway through very easily. It was a real challenge the first half of 2021. It really got me thinking about how I was going to change things. I thought even well, was I going to stay as a BA? Was this going to work out? I needed something different. But I did figure out that, no, this is the job I want. I just didn’t know quite how to do the job. There was a gap that I needed to fill. So that’s where I found, that’s where the Bridging the Gap program came in.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: We literally became your bridging of your gap on your understanding of business analysis.

DAVE GALLANT: Yeah.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: It sounded like you had some really good achievements there that you wanted to capture and really worked towards being a BA, or I should say, not even just being a BA; being a better BA to really expand your career. What were you looking to achieve in your career as a business analyst?

DAVE GALLANT: I was looking to get a solid foundation as a BA with a classical set of tools that I could use for a long time. I’d come into the job as a former software developer who kind of knew, instinctually, parts of the job. I knew how to draw process diagram to some degree and how to do wireframes to some degree. But in a way more that a software developer would’ve done such thing, not a business analyst. There was the whole analysis part of business analysis that I didn’t really know much about. That was what I was really trying to come out with was a much more solid better ground to stand on as far as the analysis work that I needed behind the user stories that we were writing in this agile environment. Because before I just wrote the stories and kind of did the analysis ad hoc on the fly, and that just produced inconsistent results. Sometimes it was okay, but sometimes it was not that great.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Understandable. I came from a very similar background as you, starting out as a developer and kind of moved my way through and said, “I kind of like this work.” I agree. You have to kind of change your mindset. It sounded like you were looking for a good set of skills and some really good tools to take away. Is that what made you decide to go with the Business Analysis Blueprint?

DAVE GALLANT: I looked at the material fairly carefully, I think, on the business analysis and The Blueprint website. I just thought it was quite compelling. I thought that there was going to be a fair bit of depth to the course, and there was going to be a lot in there.

I particularly, saw that even people who had quite a bit of experience thought it was very helpful. That was like this is in the right zone of training. The program was about the right length. It did move through the material quickly enough as well that I was able to like use it on the fly to actually produce results, as the course went along. It was a nice integration point, too, because the course, time is relatively limited outside of work hours for these kinds of things. So it was nice to actually be able to use a fair bit of my material from my real job in the program.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Wonderful. It sounds like you really researched and really found that this was a good fit for you.

I know that I had seen some feedback that you gave about the course and you said you really liked how the course progressed through the different modules and how you had different workbooks to complete and you had support from instructors. Can you give a little bit more explanation about what you felt was beneficial about the program and the support you received?

DAVE GALLANT: Sure. I think the most beneficial thing, particularly about the way that the workbooks are set up is that just like the real job, the workbooks are an iterative process. You kind of look at them, and I learned not necessarily quickly, but I learned as I went through the workbooks that the more time you had to do multiple passes through the questions and look at the results, the better the result was going to be, and that’s very much like the real job. That’s really informed the way that I actually do the BA work is not expecting to get it right the first time around, and that you typically need to engage the stakeholders, for example, multiple times. You might see things different ways in different meetings, even with the same people in the same topic. There was a good correlation between the way the workbooks are set up and the way the real job is.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Yeah, it sounds really good. The instructor feedback was very beneficial to you as well?

DAVE GALLANT: Definitely. I mean, I think particularly, in the workbooks that I did revisions for and workbooks in the modules two and three, which where, in hindsight, I think they were the most challenging, at least they were to me anyway. I think it’s particularly in the revision workbooks where the feedback and the course corrections were extremely valuable because they actually just showed me where the real gaps were in the way I was doing the job. That was extremely.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Yeah, sounds great. Was there any other aspects of the course that you really found? I know there are times we have instructor hours and we have webinars. Was there anything else that you would say was really valuable to maybe a participant who might be coming and looking at the possibility of taking this course?

DAVE GALLANT: I would say, I mean, those things were very important and it was well worth attending the instructor hours, but also just the fact that you could email anytime if you have a question about something. There’s a good sense of a community of people, and it goes beyond the program. I think that was very valuable that you sort of build these connections in the program, and then you could also reach out later if you have a question. It provided a lot of structure. Overall, the whole thing just provided a lot of structure that I needed in a job that is being done entirely remotely at this point. My workplace is nobody’s back at a physical office yet. It did provide that level of structure throughout the entire six month program and, of course, a bit beyond.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Sounds like you gain a lot of skills and a lot of confidence in reaching out, and now you’ve got a community of people to help you out. I think that’s very beneficial to any BA coming up and it’s really good to network. I agree with you. Those are beneficial items to have around you.

Now you’ve successfully completed. You have your ACBA certification. Congratulations on that. Very wonderful to hear. How are you now utilizing those teachings in your day to day work?

DAVE GALLANT: Well, I think it’s, as Laura said in the closing remarks, or at least I either read it or heard it. I don’t remember which, but just talking about how you kind of get all the pieces together through the course, and then you just have to kind of ride the bike and that’s kind of where I am. You just have to say, okay, which of the tools in the toolbox do I need to use this week to do this thing? And you just get it. That just takes time and practice to understand what tool you want to pull out to do the analysis work or whether you have enough analysis done to do the drafting work, in this case, for like the deliverables for the user stories.

I’d say that I think over the next year, there’s going to be a lot of me referring back to the course material to go read over a section or a piece where I need to use that particular tool or skill. And it’s not, necessarily, going to be immediately in my mind. I’ll have to refer to the materials which I’ve got the curriculum in my little sort of collection so I can go and look up a piece and stuff. I think that’s where I am now. Just kind of using the pieces as I need them, and then I’ll look more up as it comes up.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: It sounds like you’ve got a really good toolkit based on the curriculum from the Blueprint program based on what you’ve learned and what you’ve experienced, and the feedback that you’ve got, which is fantastic.

Tell me a little bit about your career now. How have things improved with your work, and how have you progressed?

DAVE GALLANT: Well, I think the biggest thing is just the increase in confidence in that I actually now have a sense of what to do for the analysis work. The days of pulling my hair out over user stories with the developer team and the product owner are, hopefully, to some degree behind me. I mean the truth is software development is very complicated. I really did need that formal training as a BA to be able to say, here are the questions that need to be asked so that we can figure out how to move the project forward. I think that’s probably the biggest thing going on for me is just knowing. I’ve learned what questions to ask which helps a lot.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Sounds like your communication skills have improved greatly, too, from taking the course and learning like, as you said, what to ask and when. I think that’s going to be really beneficial to you and I hope you agree with that.

DAVE GALLANT: For sure.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Again, now that you’ve completed and things are going really well in your career and you’re looking forward to a very bright future, and many advantages that you have now, what would you say is some advice for someone that’s coming up that may see your story in this interview and say, “I want to be like him. I want to do what he’s done.” Do you have some advice for up and coming BAs or even BAs that are in the industry now and are maybe struggling a little bit like you did?

DAVE GALLANT: Sure. I think the biggest thing is, as we said at the beginning of the course, it is a commitment and you do need to block the time. You do need the time every week to work on it pretty much. You get some time off in the course, but definitely I would say one thing is you do get a sense, very quickly, of how much is involved when you start the course and don’t be thrown off by it. It is a lot. There’s a lot in there, but it’s also highly valuable and I would say that it was worth every bit of effort that went in. It is well and truly justified in that it was a great result at the end. I would say that there’s a lot to be said for just being positive to it. But when you get feedback and you do a revision workbook and you’re like, “Oh crap, I’ve got to go redo, X, Y, and Z,” but that’s actually one of the best parts of the program. I thought that was absolutely the best part, actually. It was just the fact that you got so much feedback and the revision workbooks, if you have to do them. It was just a huge learning opportunity there. You could almost immediately change the way you’re doing part of the job in your real job, if you happen to be employed as a BA at that time.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Sounds great. I agree with you. It is very beneficial when you can have that feedback from someone and you can reflect on it and say, “Wait a minute. I agree. It’s a different way of maybe approaching something or a different way of looking at something. And now let’s look at it a different way.” And you can reframe how your approaching a particular problem or a particular challenge that is put in front of you. So it sounds like you really do have a lot of great skills going forward and you really have a lot of good advice for people up and coming. Sounds like you’ve got a lot of really great value from taking the course and dedicating your time to the investment of not only the work, but also the understanding of what was presented.

DAVE GALLANT: Absolutely. You know, I would say there were some pretty big takeaways for me from the program. One of them, working in an agile software development environment, is that a user story is not an analytical tool. That was a huge thing for me, because I kept doing that. I kept wanting to say, “I’ll just do the analysis where I write the stories.” I was like, “No. Don’t do that doesn’t make sense.” That was a big win. And also the way in which BAs learn to use language in a very precise way to specify requirements and to avoid a lot of headaches down the road. That was, I think, the other major win from just this like bullets at the end of the course, or highlights, I guess I’d say.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: Sounds great. Yeah, you really, really do have a great look on this and a great amount of takeaways from the course. I’m very happy that you completed and you did so well and you found such great value in the course. I really appreciate you sharing that with us.

DAVE GALLANT: Oh, no problem. My pleasure.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: All right. Thank you so much for your time today, Dave. Is there anything else you’d like to share with anyone out there?

DAVE GALLANT: Well, my advice is if you’re thinking about it, just go for it. I think the course is well worth the time for sure. It does take a bit of time, but it’s worth the effort for sure.

BEVERLY SUDBURY: All right. Thank you so much, Dave. Really appreciate having you here.

DAVE GALLANT: All right. Take care.

How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills

(And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes. You’ll create work samples vetted by experienced instructors and have the opportunity to become a credentialed business analyst as a recipient of the Applied Certification in Business Analysis (ACBA).

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

In this video, you’ll discover:

• The difference between business architecture and business analysis
• The foundational skill sets needed as a business architect
• How to become a business architect

If you’re interested in learning more about business architecture, be sure to check out Whynde Kuehn’s new book Strategy to Reality: Making the Impossible Possible for Business Architects, Change Makers and Strategy Execution Leaders by visiting https://strategyintoreality.com/.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Hello, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging The Gap here today with Whynde Kuehn to talk about all things business architecture. Whynde, why don’t you just start to tell us a little bit about what business architecture is and maybe why it’s important to us and why you are so passionate about this topic.

Business Architecture Defined

WHYNDE KUEHN: Absolutely. Very simply said, business architecture is a macro level view of an organization, of everything the organization does from end to end, very high level of elevation. And specifically, business architecture includes or can include 10 domains. It represents the capabilities of an organization, what it does. It represents the value streams. Very high level flows of the organization delivers value. It includes the vocabulary. What’s a customer, what’s a partner, what’s an asset, those words that we use. And then other focal points, including organization, stakeholders, products, policies, strategies, metrics and initiatives.

And so that’s the what, but why I’m so passionate is the why. It’s the how we can use business architecture, and it’s kind of a Swiss army knife, which can make it confusing to people. But I like to say there are three sort of value propositions of business architecture. The first is that business architecture plays a role. You appreciate the Bridging the Gap to bridge the gap between strategy and execution. It is a discipline that can help inform strategic decisions. For example, understanding impacts, it can help us to translate strategies. For example, to catalog the changes that need to be made by value streams and capabilities across business units and products and geographies. Then it helps to shape initiatives and the scope at a very high level. That’s the first thing is translating strategy.

The second is helping organizations to design or redesign. Again, macro level blueprint. For example, to streamline our systems, or to build reusable solutions around what we do. And then the third is just making better business decisions and bringing this sort of holistic perspective to, you name it, risks or cost or compliance, sustainability, investments, and many more things.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: It sounds like an organization that has their business architecture in place is going to be a really well run competitive, forward thinking, innovative, evolving organization. Is that really what you’ve seen in practice?

WHYNDE KUEHN: I’m just smiling because you couldn’t have said it better. Competitive, or if they’re a government or non-profit, they’re going to better deliver on the mission. They’re competitive because they can get ideas into action, and more effective because of the way they design and can streamline. So you could not have said it better, exactly.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Well, thank you so much for that. Our audience here at Bridging the Gap is mostly business analysts. Our core teachings are around process analysis, like in process analysis, use cases, data modeling, which goes to that glossary of terms that you were talking about, and how to manage a whole project or really an initiative. It would be part of that translating strategy to reality, but maybe not so much the strategy piece. I know you work with a lot of people who were business analysts and have expanded into business architecture roles. Could you talk about the difference between those two roles and the difference in what they need to bring from a skill set perspective?

The Difference Between Business Architecture and Business Analysis

WHYNDE KUEHN: Oh, you bet. Because these are mutually beneficial, like tight, tight, tight partnership roles. We are better together.

Just some ways to think about. So business architecture is more of like the macro scale. If we think the scope we look at, it’s often going to be either full enterprise wide or maybe we’re looking at a capability of the organization from an enterprise perspective, so the scope is broader.

Second, we’re going to get involved, as you’re saying, earlier upstream as we’re translating ideas, we’re going to shape and describe the change at a very macro level. In other words, we want to do something to the payment management capability. And here’s a really high level people process, technology changes, but we’re not going to go into the detail.

This also means that we have different deliverables, different scenarios that we’re involved in as well. That’s a little bit of the how we might describe the disciplines, but we would actually, literally, tie things together in that you could tie a requirement, I’m speaking generally; however you define those. You could tie a requirement back to the capability that it is improving. Now we have traceability back to the strategies and the objectives and the other things going on in the enterprise. And as you mentioned, business architecture can bring the common vocabulary for everyone to use as well.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Across the organization.

WHYNDE KUEHN: Exactly.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: And I feel like one of the challenges that BAs get stuck in, we might create a glossary for our project and then it gets lost. So much of what we create that could be holistic kind of gets lost in the documentation for our project. How does a business architect transcend that, so to speak.

WHYNDE KUEHN: That is an extremely important question because this is baked into the approach. Business architecture, in its spirit and intent, is meant to be an enterprise discipline. For us to transcend that, we actually bring together a cross-functional group of business people, business sponsorship, business people in a room to build the business architecture to define the terms at a high level, the capabilities, the value streams, and then they continue to own and steward that going forward. It has to be business owned and driven to transcend and to be able to do these cool things that we’re talking about.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah, and I can imagine your projects just run so much more effectively once you have that organizational understanding in place.

WHYNDE KUEHN: Exactly. It’s like put in the time up front to speed up later. Exactly.

Business Architecture: Foundational Skill Sets

LAURA BRANDENBURG: So what are some of the key skills and mindsets that are really essential to be successful in business architecture?

WHYNDE KUEHN: Yeah, I like to think of six of them. The first is just being very business minded. I know that sounds obvious and that’s pretty natural, but, it’s really thinking business first. Even if we’re doing digital transformation or building solutions, it’s really saying, “What does the business need?” This is really about the business.

The second is a focus on value and a focus on value in the bigger picture. Not just what’s the value of maybe delivering something to the internal person, but how does this fit in the bigger picture with our customers and stakeholders. So, value.

The third is related to big picture thinking and just being an enterprise advocate because that’s how I think about it. There are lots of people that maybe work in silos, but someone’s got to be an advocate for the enterprise and what’s best for the bigger picture.

The fourth skill or sort of mindset that I like to think about is around information abstraction in synthesis. The ability to see patterns, the ability to see similarities. “Hey, you’re doing this over here, but so are you. I know it seems different, but is there a way to build a solution or collaborate?”

Then I would also say bridge builders and dot connectors. That is just naturally part of what we do.

And then lastly would be just visualizers and storytellers, helping people to take complex ideas and boil them down into simple concepts and pictures and influence people towards change.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: The picture that you’ve just given, sometimes I think I had this vision of business architecture being in this kind of almost up in this marble tower of we’re going to go figure all the things out. But that’s really relationship driven. It does not happen outside of everything else. It’s within. There are a lot of relationships and cultivating relationships within that.

WHYNDE KUEHN: I love that because the business architecture teams around the world that are successful again and again, they do two things. They focus on delivering value with business architecture and they focus on building partnerships.

Business architecture, itself, is a bit of a scaffolding. And it does have a unique role, as I was saying, to inform and translate strategy, but it’s a partner; it’s another perspective that we can add to so many disciplines and decisions. We’ve got to be out there building relationships. We can’t be in the corner. It’s not about the models, it’s about the value we deliver.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah. And I know from one of our conversations, historically, one of the things we share as a mindset is really a very practical orientation, and that’s definitely coming out of what you’re sharing here. And it can feel, the scaffolding can feel a bit abstract around business architecture. Do you have an example of how somebody has really used it to deliver value for the business? Or how do you coach people to really ensure it’s really best? Really practical and valuable for the organization.

WHYNDE KUEHN: It’s all in the approach of leading with value, not leading with model. Honestly, I say there’s a secret of business architecture, and the secret is it’s not about business architecture. I know that sounds silly coming from me, but it’s about what we do with it. The way to make it work is we literally lead with “why.”

When we start business architecture in an organization, and by the way, this is if it’s organic, bottoms up or top down from the CEO, we pick one thing that we’re going to do. Maybe we say we’re going to help translate strategy, or maybe we’re going to help with investment decision making. Maybe we’re going to help with application portfolio management.

We’re going to decide how are we going to deliver value first. Then we build the baseline, which is capabilities and value streams and information concepts, minimally, the least we need to do. And then we’re going to use it. In my example, let’s say we’re using it for application portfolio management. We might tie some capabilities to applications. We start creating views. We might start to see some heat maps of where we have system redundancy or some changes we want to make, and then we’re going to help people sort of see the story, see the value, and then we’re going to come around and do it again. And we’re going to find another scenario. And if we don’t have the business architecture knowledge base where it needs to be, we’re going to build out a little bit more.

We’re going to use it. That’s absolutely the key. It’s essentially building the plane while you’re flying it. But that’s how we make it real. That’s also how we help organizations find their way. Because how organizations use business architecture is a little bit different. It’s also about the mindset and helping people to think about things at the enterprise perspective and crossing business units at macro level. It’s often some organizational change there, so it’s bit by bit one step at a time.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah. I love that because I feel like when we’re embedding business analysis in the organization, it often needs to be the same way. Like you start with that first project that just maybe is a little different than what the organization has done before and you need to use the tools effectively to help that project versus bringing the whole kit and caboodle, so to speak, and demanding that.

How to Become a Business Architect

LAURA BRANDENBURG: What I really like about business architecture, I feel like it’s a career path for somebody to rise up who is a great business analyst, who doesn’t want to be a project manager, maybe doesn’t want to be a product manager, doesn’t necessarily want to go into management itself, but really wants to analyze at a higher level. And I could imagine people in our community are listening to this and are like, “This is the role that I’ve been thinking about for a while.” What would you suggest to them as a path if they’re in a business analyst role and this is where they want to go next in their career?

WHYNDE KUEHN: Absolutely. Well, this is not self-serving, but I wrote a book called Strategy to Reality, and I wrote it with all my heart for current and aspiring business architecture practitioners. It breaks down all of business architecture and helps us kind of understand the what and why. That is actually a good place to start because there’s a lot of information out there and it helps you sort it out, so that’s a place to start.

Then there’s an organization called the Business Architecture Guild. That is the industry not-for-profit organization around business architecture. There’s a body of knowledge called the Biz Box. There’s also a certification called the CBA, or the Certified Business Architect.

A next nice step is to join the Guild. Start learning about the resources. If you want to take it to the next level, get your CBA and the business architecture discipline is such that this juncture, having a CBA and getting into this field is very, very doable. You’ll be still very distinguished. The demand is growing and getting the CBA is just the first level of understanding the body of knowledge. But that prepares you enough, then, to start looking for a job or engaging in the community. I even see people that really want to be in this field, they’ll just go volunteer. They’ll find a nonprofit or a small business and they start using business architecture for them to start sort of getting their footing and trying it, and then the opportunities really come from there.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: We see the same thing with business analysts. I have to say go and start doing business analysis somewhere, whether it’s in a non-profit, on a project, a new company, just like taking that first step.

Is there a way that somebody who is a senior business analyst today could apply a model or a piece in their project just to experiment with a tool and kind of build some of that experience in the work that they’re already doing?

WHYNDE KUEHN: That is an excellent question. Absolutely. That’s so good I should have mentioned that. For sure. Start bringing those approaches to what you do. The key when you do that is you still have to think enterprise. Think global, think enterprise, but bring it local, bring it to your project. For example, on an effort, maybe you’re writing some requirements and you’re tying them back to the overall capabilities so that you can sort of create an overall view of change and how that’s touching stakeholders that are involved in those capabilities. But just make sure the capabilities are from the enterprise perspective, not getting too detailed. That is a brilliant idea and that is also how business analysts can be change agents for business architecture in an organization.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: I love that kind of on the job career growth is one of our, definitely our pieces of advice.

You talk a little bit about this, but I do want to give you a chance. This is a relatively new book. I know that it’ll be out a month or two by the time we launch this video, but Strategy to Reality. Congratulations. I love this cover and the colors. All of it is just beautiful.

Do you want to tell us a little bit more about the book? You told us who it is for, but what somebody might really take away from reading it?

WHYNDE KUEHN: You bet. So the book casts a vision around strategy, execution as an enterprise muscle with end to end teams working together, accountability, business ownership, a function that is as important as other functions. We don’t always think about it that way.

And then it’s focus. The book is really unpacking the “What is business architecture?” :Why does it matter?” There’s an entire chapter on just different usage scenarios for it.

And then how does an organization, kind of a playbook, how does an organization go about establishing business architecture in their organization successfully and give it the ability to scale. And then also how do you relate business architecture to disciplines, like business analysis or customer experience design or strategies?

I wrote the book. It’s oriented a little bit nontraditionally. It’s oriented around questions, but those are the questions that I hear and I wanted people to have sort of a bite size way to consume this book. Whether it was cover to cover or like a reference guide they can go back to and consult from. I wrote it for them and because of them. Just really excited to help people out on their journey.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Yeah. And I could just tell from your energy around the book this is coming from a total place of service and a give back to the community and you are just so excited to have it out there.

Learn More: With Strategy to Reality

LAURA BRANDENBURG: Where do they go to find a copy of the book if they would like one?

WHYNDE KUEHN: Yeah. You can go to StrategyIntoReality.com. If you go to the book, there’s a place where you can see book orders, you can find it in your region. However, just simply said, you can go on Barnes and Noble or Amazon or Book Depository, pretty much whatever book seller is in your region, you should be able to find the book there.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: That’s awesome. And we’ll leave a link to that below in the video notes and in the blog post as well.

Well thank you. Whynde, is there anything else that you would like to share before we close off?

WHYNDE KUEHN: I just want to thank you for your time today. Thank you so much. I really appreciate our just alignment on these ideas, the practical, the delivering value, the service. Just all the best to you and thank you for all you do for the discipline and just wishing everyone the best of luck.

LAURA BRANDENBURG: All right. Thank you so much.

More About Whynde Kuehn

Whynde Kuehn is the Founder of S2E Transformation, helping clients bridge the gap between strategy and execution, and achieve their greatest visions for business and digital transformation in a practical, business-focused way. She is recognized globally as a highly sought-after pioneer and thought leader in business architecture, with a distinguished track record of creating successful strategic business architecture teams worldwide. Whynde has worked with an extensive array of organizations to build their capacity for end-to-end strategy execution, including Fortune 500 and global enterprises, governmental and non-profit organizations, social enterprises, startups, and cross-sector initiatives. Whynde is the creator of Biz Arch Mastery, a dedicated online platform and community that helps professionals master the art and science of business architecture. She is also a co-founder of the Business Architecture Guild, a Fellow with the Institute for Digital Transformation, and a member of the Fast Company Executive Board. Whynde is author of the book Strategy to Reality.

What we love about Alison’s story is how The Business Analysis Blueprint® training program equipped her with hands-on experience going beyond the theory-based knowledge she had prior to the program.

In this interview, you’ll discover how:
● The Blueprint® showed Alison to recognize what she didn’t know and to fill in the gaps in her business analysis knowledge.
● Alison’s confidence has grown allowing her to no longer second guess her decision, but rather to move forward with certainty.
● Alison was able to find instant success at work through the activities she completed throughout the workbook exercises.
● The Blueprint® took the theory Alison already knew and made it practical and useful for every day application.

ANDREA WILSON: Fantastic. Well, hello and welcome. I am Andrea Wilson with Bridging the Gap and I am here with Alison Whitwood, a participant from the Spring 2022 Blueprint program. Welcome, Allison. So good to see you.

ALISON WHITWOOD: Thank you.

ANDREA WILSON: I’m excited to have you here. I have some questions. We want to hear about you. It’s a great time with you, so I’d like to get into a little bit of detail about your experience.

Before we get into that, I’d like to know about where you were, where you started before The Blueprint program.

ALISON WHITWOOD: Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Andrea. So yeah, I’m Alison. I live in Sydney Australia and I’ve been in IT for forever, for 30 years or so in my IT career. It started off a lot of years was technical and then in the last kind of 10, 15 years or so, I noticed that really for me, I didn’t want to go down the full on techy jobs. They seemed a little bit kind of boring, I thought. I think I was just expanding myself as a person and just was more interested in people and what they wanted and just having those conversations. Also the technology that I was working with that I was an expert in was dying. Nobody was using it anymore and I needed something different and I didn’t want to relearn something more, again, I didn’t want to go down another technical avenue. I kind of realized that being a business analyst and a technical business analyst, in particular, was something I kind of wanted to do.

I ended up, actually, getting a job with that title without really knowing what I was doing. A contract had come to an end and I’d been working with some with partners and they asked if I wanted to come and work with them. “Yeah, actually I do.” My job career was usually one job somehow led to another job which somehow led to another job. I haven’t had an interview for a long time. This job ended up being a, they said, “What do you want as your job title?” “I don’t know, Technical Business Analyst actually.” And that’s what it was, but I don’t know if I was actually doing it. What I ended up doing was some technical support, but a lot of talking to the clients that we had to find out what their problems were, what their pain points were, what they were trying to achieve, and then either bringing it back to our technical lead, or if I could do the technical stuff myself. I felt like I was the bit in the middle, that if it was too technical, we get what I call techie Steve, our technical lead, involved. If I could do it myself, I would, but it was more like, “Hey, what are you trying to do?” And, “What would that give you?” “How would that help your business?” Those kinds of questions. That kind of became what I really fancy doing, what I was really enjoying.

Then I got my redundant, got retrench, whatever that’s called. Again, I jumped from where I’d been to working with the people I’d been working with in the previous, like external people that I’d had in that previous job. I said, “Look, sorry, I can’t continue your project. I’ve just been made redundant.” And they said, “Oh, well, that’s their loss. Why don’t you come work for us?” So, yeah. That’s what I did. That was about a year ago. I’ve just had a contract extended again for another year in that organization. That’s where I am.

What I am now, a technical business analyst, and it’s quite varied. It’s quite a varied job. It’s for a mining company in Western Australia. So I’m working remotely. So I’m in Sydney, which is on the east side of Australia. The rest of the company is in Western Australia, in Perth, right at the other side of the country a few thousand miles away. They are two hours behind. My working day is just a little bit further on than there’s. I work kind of 9:30 until 6:30, and it’s a whole mixture. It’s discovery. I’ll listen, go and find out how these guys use data, what their pain points are, where is the data, how do these applications go away, and give a PowerPoint present. I’ve done that. I’m working on that at the moment.

Or it might be, put together some approvals matrix for a backup policy. Okay. So, no idea how to do that, so I go and talk to some people to find out what’s involved in that. It’s varied. And the other part of it is still a bit of technical working on a software asset management platform that I kind of know inside out. Doing a bit of techy stuff as well. That’s what I do.

ANDREA WILSON: Nice. Okay. So technical, I hear technical and I’m hearing the IT. You’re working with an IT domain. You’re doing some technical work, but I’m hearing so many business analyst things. Right. Tell me how you got to the Blueprint and what brought you to that program?

ALISON WHITWOOD: That’s a great question. That’s easy to answer. I was in this technical business analyst role going, actually, I don’t think I know what I’m doing here, and it was quite scary because I’d asked for a salary and they gave it to me. I was like, “Oh my God. I feel like such an imposter.” I’ve got massive imposter syndrome. I didn’t know that I knew what I was doing. That’s what made me want to come to the Blueprint.

I actually did the self-study one first. I think it was called The BA Essentials. I did the self-study one, which was helpful, but it also showed me all the things I actually wasn’t comfortable with and didn’t know about. I actually wanted a live interactive course where I could talk to people, get feedback and get something. I needed something practical. I didn’t want any more theory. I’d done some theory business analysis courses in the past, I needed hands on. Like, what do you do? What do you do? How do you do these things? That’s what got me to the Blueprint. I didn’t just launch into this program on a whim. It was, okay, I’ve seen some articles. I’ve done the self-study. I’m starting to understand over a few months these are the gaps in my knowledge. This is where I need more experience. This Blueprint’s going to going to fill those gaps. So I signed up.

ANDREA WILSON: Nice. Okay. We are there and you were motivated to do the program. Was the ACBA certification kind of the cherry on the top or what you were looking for, or was that just kind of the extra thing, since you knew that you wanted to do this practical application?

ALISON WHITWOOD: If it wasn’t part of it, would I have still done it? Yeah, maybe. But it was the clincher, I think. Having the certification is nice. It’s nice because I can show all the people, even if they don’t understand what it is I’ve got, I’ve got something. It was probably the clincher. It wasn’t the only thing. I needed the practical experience and information and feedback. I needed that, but having the certification that says, yeah, you’ve got this, that was nice.

ANDREA WILSON: Nice. I saw some celebrations out on LinkedIn for you. So definitely it worked and served for that. So congratulations.

I want to talk a little bit about your experience in the program. I hear you mentioned earlier about what you were doing before you started the program, and I hear all these BA things. Then I heard you say, “I wanted to know what I didn’t know,” or that, “I saw some things and I learned that these are things I needed to know. I was already doing some of them. I wanted to hone that skill.” So I want to look at that. And let’s talk about that a little bit about some of your experiences. Was there a particular module that really stood out for you or something that you really honed in on?

ALISON WHITWOOD: I’ll tell you the one that I’m using the most is the first one on process flow diagrams. I seem to be doing the process flow diagram every day at the moment. I don’t know why I’ve gravitated towards that. It’s something I’d done before, but I didn’t feel very good at it. I didn’t really own it. I could do them, but I didn’t know whether they were right or whether what people needed, but now I seem to be knocking out process flow diagrams easily, and they are well received. That’s probably the one that I’ve gravitated to most since doing it.

That’s not the one I thought I would. I thought I’d be most interested in data, the data modeling. I’ve not really used that yet. It’s been process flows.

ANDREA WILSON: Sweet, process flows. What’s different about it now? You were doing this before and now you’ve really started exploding with it, right. What’s different about before and now that makes you lean towards that business process?

ALISON WHITWOOD: I think it’s because I know that I know what I’m doing, whereas I didn’t…this is maybe just my confidence levels. They’re now much higher. But before, when I was doing a process flow, I had this weird idea that everybody else knew how to do that and I was pretending. And they don’t, and they didn’t, they really didn’t. I was just a bit scared of doing something and having it, I don’t know. It’s probably just my confidence. I was scared of doing something and having somebody else say, “Oh, that’s rubbish.” I don’t know, just confidence, just simply confidence in that area at all.

Now I know what I’m doing. I can tweak, I think this is maybe the difference; now I know the ins and outs of it. I can tweak it and change it and know that it’s still useful. Whereas before the course, I didn’t know what I could easily change. I don’t know if that makes any sense.

ANDREA WILSON: It makes perfect sense. I’m hearing confidence. I’m hearing my confidence level changed. I could do it. I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing. And now I know that I’m doing the right thing and I know that making changes to it going back, there’s going to be iterations. It’s okay. That is something that’s normal.

And it’s funny. Because I think I had kind of the same experience, right. I would do this and I could make a diagram. I can make a diagram. Right. I think I know what I’m doing. But once you get in there and you start to apply and you go back and forth through the program and you recognize those nuances, right. There are iterations and that’s expected and you’re not going to get it right the first time, and how to have that dialogue. We walk through in business process analysis, the discovery. We had that meeting agenda. We talk with folks and we help them to map out their process and help them to own their process. The confidence, for me, changed drastically. So it makes perfect sense what you’re saying.

I’m glad to hear that. I’m glad to hear you have that confidence and you’re owning it.

ALISON WHITWOOD: Yeah. I’m owning that rather than having to own their process, which you can’t. I mean, you can’t do that and it’s nice to be able to.

I’ve been doing with my boss this last week; he’s been wanting me to map out the whole project management process. I can go into his head and pull out bits that I don’t need to know, but I can extract them out of his head. Then we get this absolute mess of a brainstorm. There are lines and boxes everywhere. Then a couple of days later, I’m going, “So, is this what you do?” And he goes, “Yeah, that looks good.”

ANDREA WILSON: Listen to you. I’m hearing you talk about techniques and brainstorming and pulling those things out. That’s awesome. It sounds like you are definitely using some of the skills that are taught and that you’re feeling very confident about that.

Did you face any challenges in the program? Was there anything that you just kind of hit a wall?

ALISON WHITWOOD: Well, I don’t think there was. I really enjoyed the course. The timelines, sometimes, I think. There were four modules. I think every single module is a two or three module lesson, and then you get a week or two weeks to hand in the coursework. Pretty much every time, I’m getting to a week out from you’ve got to hand this coursework in. I’m going, “Oh my God, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing. I’m never going to do it. I’m going to fail.” And then it’s like a few days later, “Oh, oh yeah, I’ve got this.” And I turn something in. I think it happened every time. I think by the fourth time it happened, I was just going, “Oh yeah, this is just what I do. It’s all good.” The time pressure was one thing.

The content, I didn’t struggle with the content and really enjoyed the content. There were a couple of times, maybe, in that final module, the BA Essentials one where I didn’t quite relate to what was going on in my workplace. I can’t think of any examples off the top of my head, but just sometimes in the course works, in all of the modules, it was like, yeah, I’m doing this, but what I’d do in reality is just a little bit different, but that’s okay. I just need to do the coursework. Sometimes reality and coursework were a little bit, only a little bit out, but not a huge amount out.

ANDREA WILSON: Awesome. That’s one thing about business analysis. Not everybody’s going to do it the same. Even if they’re working on the same thing, they will do it differently and each time it might be done differently, and that’s okay. That’s one of the takeaways from the course. It sounds like you worked towards managing your time well and got through each module and figured out how to manage your time. And you got in sort of a cadence about getting your workbooks completed. That’s  good stuff. I had a chance to work with you there and I really enjoyed it.

ALISON WHITWOOD: Yeah, you did. Your feedback was awesome by the way. I’ve said this a few times. I want to say it again. Your feedback was awesome. It was so useful for the coursework, but it was useful for my BA career. It’s probably the best thing about the course because of that interaction with instructors like you. Having that feedback, it was probably the absolute gold of the course.

ANDREA WILSON: Awesome. You just answered my next question. I was going to ask what was your biggest takeaway from the experience.

ALISON WHITWOOD: That was the biggest.

ANDREA WILSON: The feedback, the way it’s sewn into the entire course and the practical application is phenomenal. And having that opportunity to talk with the participants via instructor hours, the webinars, with them being able to get back through the coursework and have those conversations, and then through the email. There’s a lot of support that’s built into the program. It’s nice to hear that was a big takeaway for you.

ALISON WHITWOOD: That’s good. Actually, can I just rewind back to one of your previous questions about what did I find difficult in the course? And it’s not a bad thing. It’s just the way I think the cost, this is my interpretation of how the module unfolds. You don’t get all the information and you’re meant to put things together without all the information and then your next lesson, there’s more information. I wasn’t good at that. And I think in my BA career, that’s the biggest lesson I need to learn, personally. I don’t feel comfortable with gaps in my knowledge. This is why I waited till about a week before the module coursework was due, because I’m going, I need to wait for lesson three until I’ve got all the bigger picture and then I can put a workbook together. And that’s probably what I did. It might not be the best way of doing it, but that’s what I did. I think it was an intentional teaching tool to say, “Hey, you can still do BA work without knowing all the information.” And that’s something I personally struggle with.

I am techy at heart. I kind of like to know stuff before I do something. That was my biggest struggle, I think, with the program and in my career, and I’m getting better at it.

ANDREA WILSON: Good point. What you’re referencing is that the content that comes to you comes in what we call a drip. You might get your module one materials and you’ll get part one the first week and you’ll get part two the next week and part three the following week. That’s to keep folks from being overwhelmed. That’s to help you to stay focused on this little piece at a time.

But I am also in my major domain as IT and I like to have the whole picture. But as a business analyst, you don’t get it right off. Oftentimes, you’re just kind of dropped in the middle of things and go figure it out. You only get a little bit at a time. That is also kind of a teachable moment as you mentioned that you’ll get these parts of things and you get just enough and you work on what you’ve got and you get your questions together. You start building your questions for the next piece, and then you get that next bit of information and you can sew those things together. Now you’re ready to build your next piece. You’ve got more questions. You sound like you were hungry for that last bit. And okay, now I’ve got all parts of it. I can bang out this workbook and submit this workbook in. And I feel that way in projects all the time.

I am that techie. I want it all. I want all the information. I want to flip through the whole book and get it all before I start working build in that time so it’s not so overwhelming for everybody to get all the information at once.

ALISON WHITWOOD: Thank you. That’s really well put. And, for me, if I think that’s the tech in me that I don’t want to produce something where if there’s a gap in my knowledge, what I’ve done is somehow not right, because when I get more information, it’s going to make what I’ve done somehow wrong. And that’s something that I’ve just got to learn more to just go more with the flow of things. Because there isn’t a black and white, right or wrong. This is business analysis. Things morph and change and evolve and that’s great. Actually is good. And it’s okay. That’s just my little fear. “If I do this and it’s wrong, what’s going to happen?”

ANDREA WILSON: That whole perfectionist. I do that all the time. That’s what helps to make us feel like imposters but sounds like you’ve gotten over a lot of it.

ALISON WHITWOOD: I’m aware of it. I’m aware. I wouldn’t say I’m over it yet, but I’m certainly aware. I’ve got awareness on this.

ANDREA WILSON: Well, I’m glad to hear that the program did give you that and help you to feel like you’re ready and that you can apply what you know, and you’re comfortable with going to say, okay, there are some gaps here. We need to fill these gaps. And that you feel confident in your questioning, asking so that you can say, okay, here’s what I need to know. Here’s where the gaps are. I’ve identified them through things that we need to talk about. Let’s fill these gaps. Let’s redo this diagram. Let’s redo this process flow and make sure that we’ve included everything. I think that’s a major win for you and I’m so glad to hear that you’ve kind of put that together and that you’re using that.

I don’t want to hold you much longer. I do want to kind of talk about where you are, professionally, since you started the program, or since you finished the program. It sounds like you’re super lucky and you’ve gone from position to position just because of your skillset. Where are things and what’s next for Alison?

ALISON WHITWOOD: Thanks. Well, the course finished at the end of June and my contract was up at the end of June. I think mostly because of doing this course my contract has been extended for 12 months. And if anyone’s in the contracting world, a 12 month contract is gold. That’s where I am currently. I’m in the same job as I’ve been in for the last year. And now with a security of a 12 month contract. So that’s where I am. And I keep looking. I keep looking. I’m just looking. I’m just looking to see what else is out there, but nothing. I really enjoy where I am. That’s me. I’m staying where I am, but with more confidence and I think this is probably what’s different. I’m kind of owning the BA because there’s nobody else who’s officially a BA in my organization. It’s not a big organization at all. There are not that many other people doing that work. Sometimes I wonder if there’s actually a gap in the organization, because there hasn’t been any BAs officially there. Sometimes I think there’s not really a gap for that work. It gets kind of done-ish by other people, by project managers, by, or just, I don’t know. It doesn’t really get done. But now there’s a bit more space for that business analysis work to be recognized, which is nice. So that’s where I am.

ANDREA WILSON: All right. That’s awesome. Hey, maybe they’ll bring on some more and you’ll be training those folks. It’s great to hear that you are growing and you’re flourishing and what you’re doing that you’re feeling confident. Super-duper takeaways from your opportunity or what you created as opportunity.

Congratulations on your additional 12 months. That’s exciting. Maybe the next 12 months will fall right there for you. That will be great to hear. Please do let us know if that happens.

I do have one final question for you and that’s anything you’d have to say to anyone who might want to follow in your footsteps? What would you say to them?

ALISON WHITWOOD: If they were thinking of taking on the Blueprint course, I would say absolutely do it. I think even if you are a seasoned business analyst, do it anyway, because then there are so many extra things you’d learn. And also you would know that you know it. That was the biggest takeaway for me was knowing that I know it. So yeah, just do it really. I don’t think there’s much of a reason not to. I’ve done quite a few training courses over the years. Some technical, some professional, some personal, and I’ll tell you, this has been the most useful. It really has. If anyone’s questioning, just do it really.

ANDREA WILSON: Do you think that’s from the practical application? I know you mentioned earlier and I meant to ask you about this with the theory versus the practical application. Any comments that you’d like to leave for anybody about the difference between the two and how has it impacted you?

ALISON WHITWOOD: Yeah, it’s the practical thing that makes it so valuable. The theory you can read books. I mean there are books on business analysis. You can easily learn the theory, but it’s the practical that makes this course so valuable. Each of the modules I related to my job, which meant my job got the value immediately of the learning. It’s practical. It’s useful. It’s instantly useful. That’s the biggest element of the course that makes it so powerful is the practical.

ANDREA WILSON: Sweet. That’s an amazing compliment to Bridging the Gap. I can’t wait to share that with the team. I can’t wait for folks to be able to see this. I thank you so much for your time. It was wonderful having you as a participant and then being able to follow up this way. I do look forward to hearing an additional 12 months or something new that you set out to do and how you conquer that.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Okay.

ALISON WHITWOOD: Thanks, Andrea. Thank you. It’s a pleasure. Thanks.

How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills (And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes. You’ll create work samples vetted by experienced instructors and have the opportunity to become a credentialed business analyst as a recipient of the Applied Certification in Business Analysis (ACBA).

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

The cornerstone of a user story is a single statement in the following syntax:

“As a [user], I can [do something] so that [perceived benefit].”

Discover the benefits of user stories and how they fit into the BA workflow by watching the video below.

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap, and today we’re going to talk about user stories and how to write user stories and be really effective with this technique as an agile business analyst.

User stories are a way of capturing requirements that is commonly used on an agile software development team or a team using the agile methodology of some sort.

Benefits of User Stories

There are some really key benefits to managing requirements with user stories.

First of all, when you’re using user stories to manage your requirements, you’re often organizing all of those stories into the product backlog. That allows you to rank prioritize the requirements, which is a very agile focused technique, as opposed to like a big document where everything is “priority one.” That rank priority makes it incredibly clear which requirements are the most important and most valuable to the business. You, as the business analyst are focusing on the most important requirements and the development team is also focusing on the most important requirements.

And now the other piece that I really love about user stories is the very syntax of how they’re written, which we’re going to go through in just a minute here, links each functional requirement to the anticipated business benefit, and that makes it much more difficult to just sort of add in or sneak in requirements in a big document or even in a use case. I love use cases, and we’re going to talk about how to incorporate those into your user story development process a little bit at the end.

What I have found when I only write use cases is they can get a bit bloated with extra steps and alternate flows and all kinds of exceptions, and all of a sudden something that seemed really simple becomes really complex and that becomes very obvious when you are breaking down the requirements from a use case into user stories because then you have to prioritize each of those independently.

And then the final thing I really love about user stories is that they create this powerful link between your requirements work and your development work which helps us, again, guard against unnecessary scope creep, or projects that really become more intensive without actually creating more value. That’s a great position to be in as a business analyst, making sure you’re paying attention to value.

User Stories Defined

So what is a user story? The cornerstone of a user story is a single statement in the following syntax. As a user, I can do something so that whatever that perceived benefit is of that feature. And then you include whatever accompanying details or supplemental materials you need to make the user story clear and implementable.

Often these are detailed in acceptance criteria or the conditions the software must satisfy to be accepted by a user, a customer or a stakeholder.

An Example User Story

Let’s go ahead and look at an actual example, which I think will make this much clearer.

This is an example that we include with our use cases and wireframes module of The Business Analyst Blueprint training program®.

As you can see up here, the title for this is The Username Doesn’t Exist. This is a component of a bigger use case that would be logging into the system. That use case has multiple different features and exceptions and alternates. This is just one little piece of that. What happens if the user tries to log in and that username does not exist in the system? Up here we have a, as a user. I can be notified that the username I provided does not exist so that I can provide a different username or try to log in again.

Here we have our different acceptance criteria. They’re written in this given when/then format. So given this happens, then this happens. Given this happens, then this happens.

Now what we’ve also included here is a wireframe. And what I have found as a business analyst, it’s often really helpful to have not just the acceptance criteria detailed out in words, but to have some sort of supporting documentation. In this case, the wireframe made the most sense. Other times it might be a workflow diagram. It might be the use case that this user story is a part of. It might be a data model, if it’s data intensive. It could be a data dictionary or a glossary of terms, or an ERD, like a piece of the ERD. Those are all examples of what you could include as supporting documentation. In this case, we have a wireframe.

So that’s an important piece to keep in mind. There’s some specificity to user stories, like guidelines, and how to create them. But I think there’s also a lot of judgment as a business analyst of what actually is going to communicate these requirements in the most effective way to my software development community.

Wireframes are super common. Here’s a video explaining how to create a wireframe if you want more detail on this business analysis technique:

How User Stories Fit into the Business Analysis Workflow

I think another thing that we really need to keep our mind wrapped around is how these user stories fit into our workflow as business analyst.

One area that often gets overlooked in agile circles, even still today, is how the development of the user stories fits into a business analyst process framework.

If you aren’t familiar with what a business analysis process framework can look like, here’s a video tutorial on that:

Agile is a Software Development Process, Not a Business Analysis Process.

Agile is a software development process. It is not a business analysis process.

Most agile methodologies, whether they explicitly do this or not, there’s some sort of assumption built in that the details of what goes into a user story are fairly well known or easy to figure out, and just a matter of the business analyst sitting down with a user and really figuring that out and having one quick conversation with them.

The reality is that often as a business analyst:

• You need to be collaborating with multiple stakeholder groups to rank and prioritize and estimate those user stories.
• You might need to gather information from multiple different stakeholders groups to build out that acceptance criteria or to gain alignment on what the software actually needs to do.
• You might need to dig in and figure out what the business process is before you even start defining what those software requirements are.

There could be a lot of background kind of upfront work that even though we want to be more agile, we also want to be thinking things through.

As a business analyst, when I’m on an agile team, I’ve found it a good practice to work ahead at least by one or two sprints, and that’s if things are relatively simple.

If you’re dealing with something much more complex where there’s a big business process focus, you might need to work even further ahead than that kind of doing some of that business process work before you get into the sprint part of the development process.

What that means is that I’m always prioritizing the product backlog that will be developed in the next month or two. That gives me time to refine those requirements, to get all the necessary stakeholders on the same page about those requirements, and to detail out those acceptance criteria so when we go into sprint planning, I’m ready with the good draft of what the requirements are for this user story, and then we can have dialogue with the technical team. I can go back and clarify things if I need to or add to them or supplement them.

But I’m not doing the heavy lifting of getting all the stakeholders on the same page while the developers are trying to build that feature. I’ve done that before under the pressure of agile. What happened is we built one thing and had to change it and build it again and nobody was happy, especially me, especially the developers as well. .

When Focused on User Stories, It’s Easy to Lose Track of the Big Picture

The other thing I want to say is that when we are focused on these little user stories, especially like that example of “the username doesn’t exist,” it’s a little tiny piece of functionality. It is really easy to lose track of the big picture. And when you lose track of the big picture, it’s common to miss requirements because you’re focused on this one little piece. As a business analyst, you need other techniques to maintain a view of this big picture.

What we teach at business at Bridging the Gap is use cases because we find that use case thinking and the semantics and the logic of a use case helps business analysts uncover otherwise missed requirements. And if you are a great agile business analyst, you’re like, “Laura, I write user stories all the time. I don’t ever write use cases,” that is totally possible. I’ve done that too, but it’s because I had that use case thinking background in my head and I was thinking through the use cases, even though I wasn’t writing the use cases and I was using that use case thinking to hold together and think through how all these user stories fit together.

And so it might be that use cases or use case thinking has become so intuitive to you by now that you don’t actually have to write the use cases if you’re new and struggling with how to make sense of this big glob of user stories that you might have on your plate. You might want to actually put them together into a use case or a business process model, or a process map, or a workflow diagram to help you think through that bigger picture view before you dive into each individual story.

Download our Use Case Template

If you’d like to go further on the use cases specifically, I do have a free template for you that you can use to walk through with some guiding text. It’s absolutely free. You can just use that link below.

And again, that technique is going to help you avoid missed requirements and think through the big picture of how your user stories fit together.

Again, user stories are an incredibly important technique. We need to know them as business analysts, especially if we’re working on agile teams. Mastering use case thinking is going to make you a stronger business analyst who can weave those user stories together in a meaningful way to ensure that the team delivers a solution that’s truly valuable to the business.

Again, my use case template is available through that link below. We’d love to help you take the next step with this skill in your career.

I’m Laura Brandenburg with Bridging the Gap and we build our profession one business analyst at a time. Success starts with you. Thanks for being here.

<<Click here to download free template>>

Use Cases Are One Way to Analyze the Functional Requirements

If you are looking for more guidance on use cases, here’s a video tutorial to go through:

Use Cases and User Stories Can Work Together

You can also learn about how use cases and user stories can work together here:

One of the great things about process mapping is that they are often intuitively understood by our stakeholders. They are also extremely powerful communication tools because they allow us to get great feedback on the process early in the requirements process.

Discover the 7 Steps to Diagram a Workflow or Process Map in the video below.

Process Map Defined

I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap, and today we’re going to talk about how to draw a process map in seven steps.

A process map is a visual model that shows how a collection of activities are sequenced together to accomplish work in an organization. Super simple. Other terms for a process map are process flow diagrams, workflow diagrams, swim lane diagrams, or simply a process flow, or simply a process map. Lots of different terminology often referring to the same exact technique that I’m going to show you an example of today.

Benefits of Drawing a Process Map

Now, one of the great things about process maps is they are often really intuitively understood by our stakeholders. They’re relatively easy technique to pick up as a business analyst as well, and they are super powerful communication tools.

They allow us to get feedback, really impactful feedback early in the process and before we start writing software requirements, which makes that process go so much more smoothly and easier.

They are also a really strategic technique that helps us as a business analyst discover their true problem to be solved before we dig into the details of what the software really needs to do to support the business. If you’ve been feeling like you’re kind of cut out of that early phase of the process, or not really understanding why the software or why the requirements are what they are, a great technique to pull out of your toolbox is this process map or a business process model.

7 Steps to Creating a Business Process Map

Let’s talk about the seven steps to create a process map or to draw a process map.

Step 1 – Identify the process you are mapping

Now, the first is to actually identify a process. A process captures any repeatable set of steps. It is different from a project in that a project is a set of work that needs to be completed a single time to achieve a specific result.

A process is repeatable. Look for work or activities that happen again in your organization or are a part of the repeatable work related to the software that you might be identifying requirements for. Identify what that process is.

Step 2 – Name the process map

And then you want to give it a name. This might seem like, “Laura, let’s just get to the visual modeling and start drawing it out.” That is step five. We have a little bit of pre-work to do here because I find that the pre-work really helps you get clear on what that process is and makes the visual modeling part go a lot easier. Naming your process is really important.

We teach, in our online business analysis training at Bridging the Gap, to start with a verb. So it would be, “Collect past due payments,” versus “The past due process.”

When you start with a verb, it’s much more clear and specific. I see a lot of times we see in our program participants really want to just use a broad name like, “The email management process,” or “The collections process.” But, as we’ll see in the next step, that leads to all kinds of problems and is really too vague to give you a crystal clear idea of what that process is.

Step 3 – Identify a clear start point and end point for your process

The next way to get clear on what the process is, is to identify the starting point and the ending point for the process. The most commons mistake we see in participant deliverables is that they don’t have a clear starting or ending point.

(If you’d like YOUR work to get this kind of official review, check out our flagship offering – The Business Analyst Blueprint training program.)

Visually, this leads to models that have boxes off to the side and are not integrated into the process map. So ask yourself:

• What’s the very first thing that needs to happen or the very first activity that needs to happen and what must be true before the process can start?
• And then what’s the last activity that happens? Or what signals that the process is complete?

This creates your container, your scope, what this process is.

Step 4 – Identify your purpose for the process map

And then the final piece of pre-work that you want to do is really consider what your purpose is for creating this process map.

• Are you trying to show a lot of opportunities to a high level stakeholder group?
• Are you trying to get really specific and granular with a specific team of business stakeholders?
• Is this something that will eventually be shown to your software development team as context for why they’re doing the requirements or implementing the requirements, specific requirements?

Once you understand that purpose, it’s going to help you know what level of detail to get into because you can do these process maps at various levels of detail that will give you a different view into either a really big picture process or a more specific, almost procedural level process.

Getting clear on your purpose will help drive better stakeholder engagement, which is critical to getting the details we’re going to go into next. Here’s a video with lots of tips on stakeholder engagement:

Step 5 – List or draw out a series of steps in a process map format

With that context, we are on to step five, which is to actually draw your process map. I’m going to go ahead and share an example with you because pictures speak louder than words here. What we have here is just a simple workflow diagram. This is done using swim lanes, which is a great technique to make it really clear who is doing what.

You’ll see each of these swim lanes here has a role. Contributor, communications manager, reader. That makes it really clear who’s doing what. If you’re not using swim lanes, then you need to include the clarity of who is doing what inside each of these boxes, which is your activity steps. Just using a rectangular box, really simple logic here. Simple, as often best, a lot of times is more complex, different shapes, different colors. They just confuse your model unless you are very clear and have a key for how to do them and what they mean. Here, we’re just very simple steps and no colors. It’s very clear. Each step or each box has an activity step. This would be the actual steps of your process.

Diamond is a decision diamond, so this means that there’s more than one outcome from that step. In this case, a yes answer leads to another decision diamond, a no answer leads to a specific step. That can help when there are alternative paths through your steps.

Then, finally, these little icons here are often used when there’s some sort of a creation of a document or a deliverable or an update to a database. I think the document is what they’re usually called in most tools.

And then, of course, you’ve got these arrows flowing all the way through. That is to show the flow and how the process actually flows and where it flows through.

Then the final thing I want to point out here are these activity boxes that have the little lines on them. That’s just a standard that’s used to actually represent a subprocess. That allows you to look at a high level view and to show that there’s way more detail behind this step that you’re not seeing here. You would have then a separate process flow diagram or a separate process map to show the steps in those sub processes. It just allows you to present certain information in certain ways. That’s, again, why it’s so important to know your purpose. Why are you creating this process map, and who is your audience?

Step 6 – Look for exceptions or rules to the process

You’re still not done. I’m going to go back and show that again because your next step here is to look for exceptions or rules. You might, at first, when you diagram this out, as I often recommend don’t get out a diagramming tool like this is built in, draw it out on paper. Because then you might say, well, does this step always happen the same way? And if not, that’s where you end up with these decision diagrams or decision diamonds. That, in this case, is this question answerable via a blog post? If yes, we send the blog post. If not, we do something else. We might consider it for a future blog post.

You want to look for those exceptions and those rules, and you want to ask your business stakeholders do things always happen this way? What tends to go wrong? And add that information to your model. Often it’s those exceptions and rules and alternative flows where the confusion happens. You can bring a lot of clarity, as a business analyst, by figuring out those rules and eliciting those rules from your stakeholders.

That’s step six.

Now, onto the final step. This is optional, but highly encouraged, is to create an accompanying textual business process model.

Step 7 – Why Process Maps Need Corresponding Textual Process Models

Process maps are great and they can help us get clear really quickly and kind of the overall scope of the process, but they often are not quite enough detail to fully understand a process. In our courses, we teach a corresponding textual model called the Business Process Template. We use that template and we teach that template and you can actually download that template completely for free using the link below. This helps you fully flesh out the business process to understand, to ensure that you are leveraging best practices in terminology, and that you’re actually structuring the language of each step. There’s a section in there for roles and responsibilities, so it’s really clear who was doing what.

You can upload and put your process flow or your process map into that template as part of it. It’s like the visual description of it, but the text just goes into a little bit more detail and covers some additional elements that really help bring a lot of clarity. This is really useful if you find yourself missing steps or overlooking key components of your process. Sometimes going into the textual model will help elicit that additional information and give you more questions to ask your business stakeholders to make sure that you’re really clarifying what their business process is.

Asking lots of questions is a key business analyst skill, whether you are analyzing a business process, functional requirements, or data mapping! But a lot of business analysts get stuck wondering what questions to ask. Here’s a video with a ton of guidance around figuring out what questions to ask.

So that’s it. Those are your seven steps.

And then to help you create process maps that truly improve project communication, that solve real business problems and help you move forward in your business analyst career. This is a technique that’s going to position you as a really strategic thinker and somebody who understands the business perspective, which is super, super important.

Again, feel free to download our business process template today. It’s completely complimentary.

Process maps are great because they help us get clear really quickly, but they’re often not fully detailed enough to truly understand that process. And you want to use a template like ours to get to those details.

Again, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. Thank you so much for being here. We build our profession one business analyst at a time, and success starts with you.

Download Your Free Business Process Template

When you want to get analyzing a business process, download our Business Process template (it’s free). We want to help you get started at Bridging the Gap because that’s our mission. We build our profession one business analyst at a time. Success starts with you, and we are here to help you start your business analyst career.

You’ll discover the key elements that go into a business process model, and be able to kick-start your analysis of the business process.

>>Click here to download the Business Process Template<<

Learn More About Analyzing a Business Process

To dig deeper than a process map, and explore the full textual business process model, check out this video:

In this video, I am going to walk you through possible solutions, why we use them, and what kinds of requirements techniques are important for you as a business analyst.

Whether you are working with SAP, Microsoft SharePoint, Salesforce.com, Archer, Service Now, or another tool, these requirements will help you leverage these powerful tools to lead a successful project.

I’ll be sharing specific techniques for business process analysis, use cases, and data modeling, as well as success stories from our participants in The Business Analyst Blueprint training program.

COTS Requirements are Critical to Project Success

Hi, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging The Gap, and today we’re going to talk about how to specify requirements for COTS and SaaS projects. COTS being commercial off the shelf, and SaaS being software as a service.

The vast majority of projects these days are delivered using some elements of these prebuilt solutions and it can feel like, well, do we really need requirements? Do we really need business analysts? I see a lot of projects going through our Blueprint program as well as through my work with my husband who implements Salesforce, and I can tell you that the projects that are successful still leverage business analysis capabilities and specific business analysis skills and techniques to make sure the requirements, the COTS requirements, are actually in place. Because many of these options are highly configurable and customizable. We need to do the work of figuring out even if we’re going to use the solution as is, how it fits within our business process and how we get data into it.

In this video, I’m going to walk you through what the solutions are, why we use them, and what kinds of requirements documentation are really important to pay attention to. It’s going to be a little bit of a longer video, most likely, because I want to walk you through these examples, give you some visuals so you can see what they are, as well as share some success stories from our program participants on how they’ve actually used these techniques on their projects, doing COTS and SaaS type requirements work.

Let me go ahead and share my slides.

COTS and SaaS Defined

Now, the first slide I want to bring, just to kind of revisit these actual definitions and make sure we’re clear. COTS is commercial off the shelf or a solution that’s usually deployed internally. It’s where you license a software or install a piece of software on either a centralized server within your organization or maybe on specific computers that employees are using.

SaaS is software as the service. That’s in the cloud. You are not actually hosting it as an organization. The service provider is hosting it. You might still have quite a few customization and configuration options depending on the solution.

Just to be really clear, the kinds of requirements you do from a process and functional requirements basis are very similar regardless of what kind of solution you’re using. You don’t really have to worry too much about that from a functional perspective as a BA.

Examples of COTS and SaaS Systems

What are some examples of these types of systems? We’ve got SAP, Microsoft SharePoint. Salesforce.com is huge. Lately, we’ve seen a ton of people come through the Blueprint program, The Business Analyst Blueprint – our business analyst training program –  and work on Salesforce.com projects and go on to become experts in Salesforce business analysis. I’m going to share a couple of their stories.

And then Archer is another one. We’ve got document management tools. We’ve got ServiceNow. I’m going to share an example of that. All these types of tools are, software as a service or COTS tools, and they all need requirements if you’re going to implement them successfully at your company.

One example I want to give you from my career where this didn’t work, it actually was a project I came into after the fact as a business analyst, was a document management system. They had implemented this document management system, just kind of put it in place, and the whole goal of the project was to reduce the amount of paper used and make the process more efficient.

The users at this other location hadn’t been trained on how to use it. Their workflow hadn’t been well understood, so they were given a solution that they didn’t think worked for them. And instead of printing a document once and then kind of handing it around the office using their old workflow, they were actually printing it and uploading it multiple times at each step of the workflow. It was more labor intensive and used more paper. It was actually a negative return on investment. That’s what happens if you just put a tool in place and don’t actually understand what your business process is or how to use that tool successfully within your organization.

COTS Requirements: Business Process Analysis

Let’s just share the first technique that’s really critically important, and that’s a business process or a business process flow diagram.

You need to understand how the business works today. It might be using spreadsheets; it might be a paper process. It might be using another system that you’re migrating away. You need to understand how that process works so that you can understand how it’s going to work using your new system. There tends to be a lot of flexibility right in how those solutions work, so you really need to understand what that process is so you can figure out what you need to implement.

You also need to understand the constraints of the software so that sometimes it’s actually easier to adjust or tweak the business process versus adjust and tweak the software. It gives you a more maintainable system with more longevity. You might need to understand how the software works so that you can adjust the business process, and your to be process actually changes to work better with the software that you’re implementing. Either way, you just need to understand what that business process is. And a process flow diagram like this one is, is really important as well as a detailed process textual template.

I’ll leave a link below for our free template that you can use to articulate your business process. We also have videos on that technique as well as creating a process map like this one. There are other videos here that you can check out as well.

Now as an example of this, Manuel Ninapaitan was in QA work when he joined our Business Analyst Blueprint program. And he was specifically doing QA work using an application called Service Now. He took it upon himself, as part of understanding the business process, to really look for opportunities to be more efficient. He also updated his email signature to have the job title of Business Analyst. This is why I wanted to share this story with you. It might be intuitive of how it works for you as a business analyst. It also can work if you are not yet in a business analyst role because it will give you opportunities to understand the process, to ask questions about how the process works. Bring that business analysis mindset to whatever role you’re in, because often these solutions do get deployed without business analysis. We see a lot of Salesforce administrators, for this reason, becoming somewhat de facto business analyst because their role is to administrate the system, but in order to do that work, and in order to meet the user needs, they have to start understanding the business process so they can make the little tweaks that they’re able to make.

An admin role is a great way to progress into business analysis. A QA role is a great way to progress into business analysis, and you can do that starting by understanding and analyzing the business process. Again, if you haven’t already downloaded that template, it’ll help you get started with that technique.

> Click here to download the Business Process Template <<

Learn more about business process analysis in this video:

COTS Requirements: Use Cases

Now, another technique that’s really important is use cases, or some way of analyzing the functional software requirements. This is not required for every feature. You wouldn’t analyze the login use case for your COTS tool because most likely you are not going to be customizing that. And if you are, there’s got to be a really specific business case for that. You might want to push back on that one. But there are going to be features where there’s maybe a lot of configuration options, or you do need to customize it to work within your organization’s business model, and that’s where the functional requirements are. Here we have a sample use case as well as a wire frame are incredibly important.

Now, an example of this was Jamie Moore. She had a particularly challenging feature, and there were multiple ways it could be used or implemented using Salesforce. There were different ways that it could happen. And so she wrote a use case to decide to show how different areas of functionality could actually be leveraged in Salesforce to accomplish the end user objectives. She got this great feedback from a senior level stakeholder. I’ve never seen it done this way before. And it’s absolutely fantastic.

Wouldn’t you like to receive that kind of feedback? Often we can feel like we’re presenting tools that are new to our community and that maybe that can be a little scary. Like, oh, I don’t know. Nobody’s asking me to write a use case for this. But you can see the indecision and the uncertainty and the lack of clarity about what that feature’s actually supposed to do. There are tools in your toolbox that you can pull out to use in those scenarios. And a use case can be a great one if you’re trying to figure out how a feature could work or what you need to configure or customize and how that can work because it gets really specific about how the user interacts with the system and what the system needs to do to support that business user.

Again, if you do want to go back, I’ll just show you that use case again, and that’s probably a little bit hard to read. But we also have an absolutely free download for the use case template where you can go ahead and have this template fully at your disposal to start using right away in your work as a business analyst. And again, that’s another free download and we’ll leave a link for that below.

> Click here to download the use case template <<

You can learn more about use cases in this video:

COTS Requirements: Data Modeling

Okay, so third element of COTS requirements is data modeling. I would say data modeling is always important. Data is everywhere these days. It’s kind of a buzzword in a way, but as part of a COTS project, it might be one of the areas that you need to pay the most attention to. Maybe the second to only the business process.

What happens is often you are either migrating data from one system to another, maybe a legacy system to your COTS system, or maybe even spreadsheets to your COTS system and you need to migrate that data. That’s considered a one-time move.

And then the other example would be if that COTS system is actually integrating with another system. It could be your legacy system. It could be two COTS systems integrating together using an API. It could be any multiple number of things. But in that case, data is moving back and forth. In both of these scenarios, understanding the data dictionaries of both the source system and the target system, where the data is now and where it’s going to, as well as how those data fields map together is really important because often there’s logic. If your target system only allows 20 characters for company name and your source system allows 25 and people are often filling that in, it’s going to get truncated and you want to figure that out before you move data over and then people are saying the system is broken. You analyze these requirements with a data map.

It could be that there are fields that are broken apart in different ways or combined in different ways, or that are labeled the same thing, but actually used differently by the business. That’s where the business process layer comes in. You really want to understand what that data is and how it has an impact or how it’s going to flow.

One of our participants, Stephanie Belhomme, she is now an independent contractor as a Salesforce business analyst. She really learned to see how critical data modeling was as a tool that she could bring to her clients.

She says as a contractor, my clients are paying me to bring my best, to bring tools. It’s really important that I can do that. The Bridging the Gap program really helped her elevate her skillset.

But particular to data modeling, she realized that past projects she hadn’t really gone into that level of detail. There are always project pressures. Just like get it out there. Often, this was a great way to have a bigger impact for her clients and to make those projects go more smoothly as well.

To learn more about data mapping, check out this video:

Your Business Analysis Skills Can Make You a More Valued Contributor on COTS Projects

One other final thing I want to leave you with is about, just in general, how business analysis skills can make you a more valued contributor on COTS projects.

The example here is Tammy Schlador. Tammy was and is an expert in SAP. It’s another system. We’ve talked about multiple different systems here. She found that she was getting job offers that were very like SAP, developer or administrator focused because she was emphasizing her SAP skillset on her LinkedIn profile and her resume. And then when she would interview for a business analyst job, a new job she would find that she would do great at those SAP questions and she would fall short or felt like she was falling short at those business analyst questions about how she would actually work with users and end users, and how she would actually make sure the requirements reflected the process that was needed.

When you’re thinking about moving from one industry to another, which you may be just wanting to, think about, well, where is my career going to go? Am I always going to be in this one industry with this one domain and have a lot of expertise, both in the technology and in the business?

Probably not. Probably you’ll switch that multiple times over your career, and that’s going to give you a lot of opportunity to explore new opportunities. And in Tammy’s case, she moved from the steel foundry industry to the pharmaceutical industry and earned a 20% salary increase as a result of being able to shift industries like that. And it was because she had learned the business analysis skillset. Even though she had, I think it was like 20 years of experience doing business analysis on SAP, it was the. understanding and the grounding and the skills that we’ve just talked about that enabled her to move into a new job in a new industry. She actually had a recruiter contact her based on the updates she made to her LinkedIn profile, both to emphasize her business analysis skill set and add her training.

Just another example of how having a breadth of business analysis skills is super important and it’s really seen as valuable by your stakeholders as well, and by your hiring managers.

There we have it. A really good, detailed rundown of COTS requirements, the kinds of requirements that you need for these types of projects. Be thinking about your business process, your use cases and wire frames, your functional requirements. Definitely don’t forget those data requirements. A lot of people overlook them.

Also, this might seem like a lot to focus on, but realizing what’s in it for you is a much more longevity in your career and much more transportability of your skill set.

You’re not cut down or constrained by one area of expertise in either an area of software or an area of business domain expertise. You start to build a skill set that you can take with you anywhere, and that’s what we want for you.

Again, lots of resources that will further cover these concepts in other videos as well as the free business process template and the free use case template. Go ahead and download those if you want to get started right away.

Again, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. We build our profession one business analyst at a time, and success starts with you.

Thanks for being here.

>>Improve Your Requirements Analysis Skills<<

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll learn all 12 of the industry-standard techniques and the business analysis process framework – to build your confidence in the best practices of business analysis.

>> Click here for more information about The Blueprint <<

Today I’m sharing 10 tips for engaging your stakeholders.

Looking to Take These Stakeholder Tips With You?

• Save time and effort by clarifying the requirements more quickly.
• Build stronger relationships that elevate your reputation and career.
• Improve project outcomes by communicating more effectively.

Click here to download our FREE GUIDE – 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

My name is Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. Do you ever have stakeholders not show up to your meetings, or they show up and they’re distracted on their phone or their laptop, and they’re physically there, but presently somewhere else mentally and emotionally? Or you ask questions and you don’t get the answers that you need.

All of these problems will slow down your requirements process. They will make you less effective as a business analyst, and they will make it more challenging for you to discover the true problem to be solved and get the information you need from stakeholders to make sure that you’re solving that problem in the right way.

Today, I have 10 tips to share with you to engage your stakeholders more effectively and to help you work through all of these challenges.

Let’s talk about how to actively engage your stakeholders often through meetings, sometimes through email and other mediums, but most often, we’re engaging our stakeholders through some form of either in-person or virtual meeting. We’re going to talk about that today.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #1 – Start Your Meetings on Time

The number one tip I have for you is to start your meetings on time no matter what. Be the person in your organization that isn’t the one that starts meetings five minutes late, or 10 minutes late. Your meetings start on time, and if they’re late, they missed something juicy and interesting.

You are encouraging a culture of showing up on time, of starting right away, and making the most of everyone’s time. It’s difficult at first, but as you cultivate this habit, people will show up on time and they will be more engaged.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #2 – Make Sure Your Meetings Are Working Meetings

Second, in order to do that, you need to make sure your meetings are truly working meetings and that you’re really getting something done, and people want to be there because when they’re there, they are part of the decision, they’re part of the input, and if they’re not there, it’s like they’re missing out on the good important work that is happening to move their project forward.

Make sure your meetings are productive, they’re adding value, they’re moving projects forward, and that work is tied to an end result that’s important to your stakeholders.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #3 – Ask Powerful Questions

Third, ask questions. Ask powerful questions. Learn how to ask why 20 different ways. Learn how to use analysis models to discover gaps so that you can find the questions that no one else is asking. Those gap filling questions, you’ve got to ask them, you’ve got to hold the space for people to answer them.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #4 – Use Statements to Root Out Assumptions

Fourth, sometimes you will ask a question and people will be like, “I don’t know.” They either get brain freeze or they literally don’t know the answer, or they get stuck answering the question. Sometimes you do need to make a statement. Sometimes a bold statement to get them thinking. “Oh, wait, that can be an answer to the question. That can be an answer.” You get them thinking.

Sometimes you need to put something almost ridiculous out there because, then, it’s like, “No, not that.” That’s not the answer to this question. With that bold almost ridiculous statement, you’ve at least got them engaged and you’ve got them thinking of alternative answers.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #5 – Be Quiet and Listen

Number five is to be quiet and listen. A lot of BAs are good at this, but some business analysts still like to talk, like to show how much they know about the solution, like to demonstrate their competence through showing how they’re figuring things out, instead of asking the questions, receiving the information, creating the model to show that.

Sometimes they do just need to be quiet and you need to let somebody work out the answer in their head, need to probe them and ask more questions to get through it. But mostly, you’re quiet and you’re listening and you’re receptive, and you’re taking it all in.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #6 – Use Your Analysis Tools to Discover the Gaps

Number six is use your analysis tools to help you discover those gaps and ask powerful questions. This might not happen all in one meeting. You might need to listen or ask a question, listen, go back, and have your quiet space to analyze and piece together all the information that you found, then come back and be like, as I was putting this together, I discovered this gap here and this gap here. That’s how you come back the second, third, and fourth time with more powerful questions that demonstrate your insight, your value and get people even more engaged.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #7 – Clarify What You Don’t Understand

Number seven is clarify what you don’t understand instead of pretending you do understand. This sometimes means you have to go away and digest that information and schedule another follow-up meeting. Sometimes it means in the meeting itself you are defining a term, or instead, somebody’s talking and it’s sliding past me.

Bring yourself back. “What I hear you saying is this. Can you clarify this piece?” Or, “I didn’t catch this and this. Could you clarify that?” Or just asking, again, a clarifying question, clarifying terminology. It’s one of the most powerful things you can do as a business analyst is be the one who’s willing to clarify what you don’t understand.

Trust your brilliance. Trust your knowledge and your insight. Trust your ability to comprehend. Asking questions shows what you do understand and what you don’t, and that’s not a position of weakness, it’s a position of strength. I’m a smart person. I get a lot of things, but this piece isn’t clear to me and here is why it’s important to the project.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #8 – Reflect Back What Changed as a Result of Stakeholder Input

Number eight, through all of that, reflect back what you’ve heard. There are a few powerful ways you can do this. One is an immediate paraphrase, “What I heard you say is this.” Another way is when we do go back to our desks and are doing our independent work on our analysis models, when we bring that back to our stakeholders to say, “Here are all the things I heard in our last discussion. Here are all the things I took away from that. Here’s the model I put together. Not just because I’m a business analyst and I know all these fancy models, but here’s what I put together to reflect and to summarize, and to capture what I think we, together, created.”

You’re involving them as a co-creator of that model even though you’re the one that did all the work in Visio or put the template together. But you want to show that what you put in there was a reflection of what you understood from them and, again, inviting additional feedback. You’re reflecting back that you value their input, and that’s going to lead to more input and engagement in the future.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #9 – Assign Action Items

Number nine is assigning action items. When you are in a meeting and somebody’s like, “I just don’t know how that works. I need time to think about that.” Or, “I’m not sure if I want A, B, or C. I need to think about that.” If it’s legit, not just, “Let me think about that and I’ll get back to you later,” but “I really am not sure.”

One way is you can engage in discussing their decision process. You can help them through the decision. “Can you take some time to do that in the next couple of days? Could you get back to me with your decision on X, Y, and Z?”

You’re assigning a very clear action item. (I use an Issues List to manage this.) You’re linking it to forward progress in the project. You’re engaging them. It doesn’t always have to be in the meeting. You’re engaging them in the process. Or “I need to go research this and see how my team is going to handle this.” “Okay, great. How long did you need to do that and can we meet again in two days?” or “Can you summarize for everyone via email what that looks like so we can incorporate it into our decision-making process for this project?” Another way to engage people.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip #10 – Be Clear When Lack of Understanding is Holding Up the Process

Finally, #10, you want to be clear when lack of engagement is holding up the process. A lot of times I think people don’t understand that just showing up to a meeting isn’t enough. “I showed up for all the meetings that the BAs asked me to.” I didn’t realize that because of the way I was showing up unengaged or I couldn’t answer those questions, it was holding the project back.

It takes the discipline for you to know how does this decision fit into the context of the project, and where does it fit in the dependency so that we’re continuing to move forward. You have to have that structure, that approach, and that leadership for your project. It also means communicating to someone the impact that they’re having on the project. A bit of leadership, stepping into a bigger role for some of us as business analysts.

Stakeholder Engagement Tip Bonus: #11 – Believe in Yourself

I have one more bonus tip for you. That was #10, tying in to the result. The bonus tip for you is to believe in yourself. The more that you believe in yourself, in your tools, and have an inner confidence, this shows up in asking questions, in not being afraid to be the one who doesn’t understand a piece of things. The more you can believe in yourself, the more others will believe in you. And the more they will want to be around you and be engaged in the process because you are engaged in the process.

Again, this is Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. We had 10 tips here for engaging your stakeholders. We came in perfect just around 10 minutes. I hope that you take these tips and apply them to your career, and I’d love to hear what lands for you.

Download Your Free Guide – 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement

Looking to Take These Stakeholder Tips With You?

• Save time and effort by clarifying the requirements more quickly.
• Build stronger relationships that elevate your reputation and career.
• Improve project outcomes by communicating more effectively.

Click here to download our FREE GUIDE – 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement

What’s the difference between the two roles? And how do you transition from one role to another?

That’s the question we address in today’s video.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

Hey there, this is Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap, and we help business analysts get started in their careers.

We’ve been receiving a lot of questions about the difference between product manager roles and business analyst roles, how they work together, and how you can move between these different roles as you plan out your career, so I decided to chat about that today.

Before we jump into how they work together, let’s talk about what each role is.

Product Manager Role

A product manager, you could think of as the CEO of the product. They just own the product. The own the strategy. They own the roadmap. They own the future definition of what is that product going to do. Sometimes they’re also in charge of the marketing, coordinating with the sales team, maybe forecasting, and have overall profit and loss (or P&L), responsibilities for their product, or for an entire product line with an organization.

Business Analyst Role

The definition of business analysis from the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA^®), is that it’s

“the practice of enabling change in the organization by defining needs and recommending solutions.”

Often, when that change involves software, then the business analyst is collaborating and facilitating a discussion and requirements between business and the technology team. So, it’s the business team that is desiring the software or business change, and the software team that is enabling that by delivering a software solution.

And they’re in the middle of collaborating and making sure everybody is on the same page about the requirements and what that updated business process will be. That could include business process definition, a functional requirements definition, and data requirements definition.

How Product Managers and Business Analysts Work Together

When that change or that software involves a new product, then, often, that business owner is actually the product manager. And, so, the business analyst is coordinating and collaborating with the product manager and making sure the requirements are understood and defined so that the software team can build against those requirements.

I actually got my start as a business analyst in the product space, or the product world, so, I want to share a couple of examples from my career.

Product Management + Business Analysis on an eBook Platform

My very first project, or company that I worked for, they were an online publishing company. The first product I got to work on was an eBook platform. I was the business analyst. We were mostly focused on the software changes – the software features and functions, the functional requirements for that eBook platform. I worked with a product manager who owned that platform.

Just like we talked about, she had the profit and loss responsibilities. It was coordinating with the sales team for the rollout, coordinating with marketing for the marketing plan, and she owned what that software needed to do in order for it to achieve its financial objectives for the company.

An interesting part of my role though that developed  ̶  she was in charge of the customer-facing features, but there were a lot of features that we had to put in place to successfully serve our customers and fulfill our customers.

I ended up, as the business analyst, taking more of a leadership role in the internal part of the product, working with somebody from customer service and fulfillment to define what their needs would be and make sure that those requirements were covered as well, so that we could serve not only our customers, and not have just those customer-facing features, but make sure our business processes are and our internal products were in place to make sure that the product could be a success.

(Want to learn more about business processes? Go here to download my free business process template.)

Quite a few of my experiences throughout my early days as a business analyst were very similar. I was working on a lot of online content, a lot of online publishing companies, and we were doing similar kinds of products in that my role was very similar in all of those.

Product Management + Business Analysis to Build a Website for Customer-Facing Processes

Then I started working as a contractor for another organization that was taking their internally focused business process and getting that online. It was, essentially, another way of creating a product.

They were enabling, through a website, to have their customers interact with them through a website where it was, previously, they were faxing in information and calling. I don’t even think they used a lot of email  ̶  a lot of phone and a lot of fax, some email. We were putting that business process onto a website and enabling the end user, the customer, to collaborate with the company through the website.

In a way, that was another product. I wasn’t really a product manager in that one, interestingly. There was a project manager who was a business subject matter expert. They filled the role, essentially, of product manager, as well.

The Product Manager Role Has More Decision-Making Power

The biggest difference, if you look at some of these examples, is that the product manager has more decision-making power.

• They’re deciding what the software should do.
• They’re often collaborating up with executive teams to make sure that the product is aligned with the bigger picture organizational objectives.
• They might have some true financial responsibilities for the company as well.

The business analyst is more of the facilitator role discovering the requirements from the product manager who might be collaborating with end users, hopefully, figuring out what the customer wants, and bringing that information into the business analyst.

Sometimes the business analyst and product manager will do that together. As a business analyst on a product, I would get to sit into some of those end-user sessions, or the discovery sessions that the product manager was doing with actual representative customers as well. I was hearing firsthand what those needs were from the customers.

My role was taking that information, making sure that I understood what the product owners’ priorities were based on that information, and then defining, and detailing out the requirements and collaborating with technology to make sure that those requirements could get implemented.

Product Management and Business Analysis Career Paths

Because of this, many business analysts see product management as a logical step forward in their careers. It does. It involves more authority, more decision-making power, probably advanced salaries as well. You could look at it as a promotion. But if you are a product manager, you’re probably going to be working with business analysts. It’s worthwhile to know a little bit about business analysis as well. Here’s a list of key business analysis skills to get you started.

If your ultimate goal is to be a product manager, I think there can be, unless you have a lot of prior professional experience, it can be a pretty rough role to just jump right into right away. You could be looking at business analysis as an interim career path on your way to product management.

Because business analysis is going to be a great way to build a lot of those communication skills, to understand what a product is, to work with a project team, and to start building those leadership skills, as well, that you’re going to need at even more advanced levels as a product manager.

Again, I’m Laura Brandenburg at Bridging the Gap. At Bridging the Gap, we help business analysts start their careers. We’ve got lots of great resources for you if you do want to pursue a career in business analysis. Be sure to check out our website.

Until next time, great to be here, and I’ll chat soon. Thank you.

Learn More About Business Analysis

In How to Start a Business Analyst Career, you’ll learn how to assess and expand your business analysis skills and experience.

This book will help you find your best path forward into a business analyst career. More than that, you will know exactly what to do next to expand your business analysis opportunities.

Click here to learn more about How to Start a Business Analyst Career

From Program Instructor to Program Manager and now to Director of Operations, we are going behind the scenes and sharing exactly what this transition has looked like for Paula and the Bridging the Gap team. Laura shares more about her decision to hire her first full-time employee and how Paula has added immense value to the company in just a few short months. 

In this interview, you’ll discover how: 

• Laura and Paula initially connected and how their relationship has evolved over the years as Paula’s involvement with Bridging the Gap has grown. 
• Paula’s personal goals aligned with Laura’s business goals which made the decision to hire Paula as the new Director of Operations a no brainer. 
• The transition into being the first full-time employee of Bridging the Gap is going for Paula and how it’s freed Laura up to serve the business even better. 

Laura Brandenburg: Hey there. I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap here today with Paula Bell. Hi, Paula.

Paula Bell: Hello!

Laura Brandenburg: Paula just started as our Director of Operations. When we’re recording this, it’s close to four months ago. By the time you see it, it might be five or six months. We thought it would be fun to record a video about what it’s been like from both of our experiences.

This has been a new role for Bridging the Gap, a new role for Paula and I know for me hearing from other business owners about how they’re building their team is always really exciting and illuminating. I think, also, we have a lot of business analysis business analyst professionals in our community, hearing how that set Paula up for her path to Director of Operations, or if you’re just considering working for a smaller company or exploring different career pivots, it could be really interesting to hear about her journey into this role as well.

We were just going to sit down and chat. We have a few questions and topics we want to cover, but we’re going to just see where this goes.

Paula, we thought it would make sense to start with how we met originally. When we’ve tried to talk about it, we’re both like, “Oh wait, I’m not really quite sure exactly,” but I know it was at a BBC or for those, you know, Building Business Capability conference several years ago now. And I think you were part of a contest, right? You were trying to take pictures with all the speakers.

Paula Bell: Exactly.

Laura Brandenburg: Is that how you remember it?

Paula Bell: I had to send you that picture because when I was looking at pictures, that one just popped up. But yes, it was, maybe, I don’t even know. I can’t even say what year. I’m not even going to try and say what year it was when we met at BBC, but one of the contests that they had so that you could win some sort of gift card was to take pictures with all the different speakers. You were one of the speakers that year. I took a picture with you, but I really believe where we connected was I remember it was the year the Iowa chapter was the Chapter of the Year and we were about to take a picture by the banner.

I was sitting at a table and you were walking over and we just started chatting. That’s initially how it began. It just started with us just chatting. Now what we were chatting about, I can’t tell you, but I know we were chatting about something.

And then from there, that’s all I know. I don’t even know the rest of the story, how we even stayed connected or anything, to be quite honest.

Laura Brandenburg: My recollection, because I can remember the table that you were. I don’t remember the Iowa part, but I remember that. I feel like I came away from that BBC and that connection feeling like I was going to talk to you about being an instructor for Bridging the Gap. Which is really the first way that we officially worked together.

Possibly, at that time we were offering a variety of career mentoring programs as well. It might have been supporting me of those. I feel like you had prior experience in training and instructing as a business analyst. And that just blew my mind. I was like, “Wait, wait, I could have your help with this.”

Paula Bell: I don’t even remember how that connection really happened though. I don’t remember if it was you emailed me or if we connected on a social media platform or what have you. I do remember the initial conversation about being an instructor and what that would be, but I had no idea from there, which was probably about six years ago, I’d be here where I am today. That wasn’t even in my mind, at that point in time.

I almost really looked at being an instructor as simply a side hustle in a way, as a way give back to the BA community, make some extra money. My kids were small at the time, so it was just a good way to bring in some extra income.

Wow. Giving back to the business analyst community, but how it’s morphed since then has been pretty amazing.

Laura Brandenburg: I wish I could say I had the foresight to know we’d be where we are today, but I also had no clue. I think at that time Doug was already an instructor when you joined. I can’t remember.

We had a bit of an instructor team, but definitely not the team that we have today. Definitely not the processes we have today, which we can talk about a little bit too. I must have been looking to expand the team and I know we had a great connection. I just remember feeling really confident about that initial connection.

You shared a little bit about why you took the instructor role. Is there anything else you wanted to share about that? What was appealing about that role for you?

Paula Bell: It was something different. I had not really ever been an official instructor before. I was a mentor and I actually got out of mentoring because at the end of the day, what I found is I was mentoring a lot of people, but I was giving out a lot of resources, but not getting a lot back in. Let’s put it that way. I was trying to build my own business at the time, too. I wanted to expand my business, get more visibility speaking and things of that nature. I had to really prioritize where I wanted to focus. The instructor part was really appealing to me because it took me out of my comfort zone.

A lot of people see me speak and they’ll say, you’re confident, you’re engaging, but what people don’t know is I’m a nervous wreck before I hit the stage. A lot of that is because I used to stutter when I was younger, and so I had a fear of speaking. The instructor was another way for me to speak, but in a different way to where I’m teaching and I’m helping individuals understand concepts and to get things in their minds, change their mindset on certain things, help them increase their toolkit.

I thought it was very interesting, but I will tell you, I remember doing my first instructor hour. That was nerve wracking. Data modeling instructor hours were always the hardest ones. Every time I signed up for one of those, the amount of prep work that I would do, because you just don’t know what people are going to ask you. But I like that because it’s the unknown, that’s where the fear comes in. It was helping me get over that fear, but also giving back to a community.

It was appealing to me for a couple of reasons. Strengthening me as an individual. I was gaining new skills and then I was also able to give back to the BA community as well. I think that’s really what was the appealing part to it. And the Bridging the Gap company, I had respect for. If I was going to put my time and resources into something, I wanted to put it into a company that I respected. Though, I didn’t know everything you offered and everything you did, I knew enough to know that this would be a good place to put my energy. That’s how that started.

Laura Brandenburg: Sure.

Paula Bell: I’m  glad you remember the conversation, Laura. I do not remember everything you talked about, but you had a good feeling when you walked away. I love to hear that. I like to hear that people have good energy for me.

Laura Brandenburg: It felt like it was a good decision, for sure.

Paula Bell: What was it about when you walked away from that conversation that was like, “Yeah, she would be an ideal instructor for BPG?”

Laura Brandenburg: I wish I could tell you. That was such a long time ago. But I just remember like a strong gut feeling, you know, how sometimes you can remember how you felt, but you don’t actually remember what happened? That’s how I feel about that. But I will say, to that point, that feeling has continued to evolve and expand as we’ve expanded your role within the company. There’s always just been this gut feeling that Paula would be the great fit for this next thing that’s opening up.

I feel it’s often been your commitment and your dedication and the skills that you bring as well as just your motivation and compassion and passion for the role. There are a lot of factors to that. I’m sure that showed up in that initial conversation, but I can’t say I remember, specifically.

In the early days, for anyone listening, I made many of my instructor hires very much based on my gut. Some of them were amazing and some of them not so much. And now we have a very structured process that we know brings us in great instructors. If you’re watching this and be like, “How do I just get it?” We have an actual process now.

It’s very different. And it also, I think, really helps the instructor understand what’s expected. Because I know when you started, it was like, “Oh, just go ahead and review these workbooks and give them some feedback,” was pretty much the instruction. We’ve come a long, long way,  which is a great segue actually, I think, into the program manager role, because that was the next role that you stepped into.

You’d been an instructor for a couple of years and then I opened up this opportunity for a program manager because it was becoming a lot for me to manage the marketing and manage the entire Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program. As we had more instructors coming in, we were starting to see not total inconsistencies, but just people were doing things in different ways. There was not a lot of standardization and so that program kept demanding more from me from a delivery perspective, and I felt like I needed some help there. That’s my recollection of why I originally created that role. I remember sending you this email with like, “Here’s a new role I’m thinking about. I think you’d be great for it. What do you think?” And you were like, “Hmm, I need to think about this one.”

Paula Bell: You’re right. At the time you sent me that role, I was very heavily involved in expanding my own business as well. I think at that point in time, I had rebranded myself for a while to be a martial artist. There were things that I was going into and delving into and I was working a full-time job. I was like, oh, good grief. How am I going to handle all of this?

I was hesitant at first when I saw everything. I think, initially, I might even have passed or I worded it in such a way where it came off as I had said, no. And then you were like, “Well, let’s talk about this for a little bit. Let’s go through it and let’s talk about it and let’s see if there, because there were so many different things.” I think I had made a comment, “Are some of these items, something that others can do that’s not necessarily on me?” We went through it. And when we started to go through it and talk through the actual expectations in that role and we started to think about who else on the team could potentially do some of the items, it began to become more feasible for me to do.

Because what I didn’t want to do was take on a role and not give what was needed for that role and not be successful in that role with everything else I had going on, because I was still very focused on expanding my business because my goal was to leave corporate. I had that goal in my mind that I wanted to leave corporate America and I wanted to go into roles that more aligned with what I wanted to do with my life going forward.

I’m glad I did it. It wasn’t nowhere as much as I thought it was going to be. We came up with a really good process to get things done, and we started getting more consistency and standardization, like you said, and the instructors were all in. The instructors are phenomenal. The feedback from the instructors and the insights and the things that we should do to change was great.

We did our own business analysis on our own business analysis platform. We were doing BA work as well and it’s been great. At first, it was a little bit, again, challenging because I went into the role and now I’m going a little bit deeper into your business. Being an instructor is one thing. Okay. I have a workbook, I have guidelines, I have things that I need to look at. Okay. Now you want me to actually run the Blueprint delivery, the Blueprint program delivery. And I’m like, I don’t know. I’m not into the actual scheduling and all that.

I remember being on a call where creating a schedule would take us hours, and now we’ve got that thing down to such a well-oiled machine. I can knock out a schedule in 30 minutes to an hour and get the next schedule ready for the next session. It’s been the things that we’ve been able to do to elevate the company to the next level, to provide phenomenal and exceptional service. For the customers we serve, it has been great to watch and know that I was a part of that.

Groundbreaking has been kind of amazing too, because I don’t think I’ve sat down enough just to think about…we’ve done a lot. I’ve only been with the company for five to six years. It hasn’t been like I’ve been with you for 25 years. I’ve only been with you for five to six years and we transformed three times in that five to six years, and we continue to. It’s pretty amazing.

I was honored for you to think that I would be great for that next role, because I know when I started as an instructor, I was making some mistakes and things of that nature. But when you came to me with that, I mean, why did you feel that that was the next step for me, that I would be the next good fit? Because you had other instructors. Why did you feel that I would’ve been the next good fit for that role?

Laura Brandenburg: What stood out to me, specifically, for that was because we have, obviously, all of our instructors are great business analysts, otherwise, training other business analysts isn’t a great fit. I don’t remember exactly what you did, but it also just was apparent to me, you were also a great project manager. The program manager role, yes, there was like procedure development, but it was also very much a project management role. I feel like that has also carried you into the Director of Operations role. It’s also very much a project management role. I saw you as somebody who could wear both of those hats very well.

I don’t exactly remember what it was that you were doing at the time that showed that to me, but I know you do. You were doing event planning. There was a confidence I had in your project management abilities that, to me, made you stand out for that particular role.

And I would say in addition to that, I don’t know if I was aware of it at the time, consciously, but maybe unconsciously, your leadership and ability to manage others and build relationships with others and just the teamwork part of it, which has been essential as we’ve grown as well.

Paula Bell: That’s a hard thing. When you are working with your peers and then you actually ask all your questions to Paula. You don’t go to Laura or to the ops team. You go to Paula. I’ve had that happen in my career before and sometimes that’s hard when you’re like a peer and then now you’re the lead and just going into that.

What was really cool though, is all the instructors were all supportive about it, all behind it, loved it. And the ops team too. I didn’t have that feeling as if anybody felt slighted or anything like that. It was sort of a totally different shift where it was all about the support.

The same thing happened when I moved into the DOO role. The support was amazing on the team because, again, you just don’t know and everybody was just, “This will be amazing for you. This will be awesome for you to do.” It does, it feels good when that happens. I think that was probably, maybe, my biggest concern is how would the team take it as I’ve made these shifts. But we have such a great culture here that it’s not about competition or anything like that. It’s just doing what you love to do. And that’s amazing in itself. The environment’s amazing.

Laura Brandenburg: I do have a question for you that I would think other people thinking about this way of making a pivot might be wondering. I know you get this a lot. How do you do everything you do? How did you manage to work a full-time job, build your own business, and you were working in the program manager role. It was like five to 10 hours a week. I remember one of the things I felt really strongly about was we need to have meetings during the day. I’m not able to do evening meetings for this role. We still have instructor meetings sometimes in the evening, but our day to day interaction needed to be during daytime hours. I know that was not an easy thing to sign up for initially. How did you make all that work?

Paula Bell: I do get asked this question a lot. How on earth are you able to do all the things you do and you have to manage your kids? I have kids too, and a family too, have all that involved. Really and truly, you have to set boundaries, you have to prioritize. And I am run by my calendar. If it’s not on my calendar, it pretty much doesn’t exist. I literally put everything on my calendar. And when it comes to work, how it worked really well is because in my day job, I worked with so many different time zones. A lot of my meetings would happen mid-morning up into early afternoon and then I would be pretty much okay.

When it came to certain meetings, we had 1:1 or webinars that I needed to be on. I just needed to make sure those were on my calendar early enough. The thing that was good for me is I was in a position in my day job, high enough, where I could control my calendar, where I can say I have another meeting over the lunch hour or something like that.

And then there were sometimes I couldn’t. Because of where I was in the organization, I had to be on certain calls, especially if issues came up or something like that. It’s just having that flexibility. And then having a backup plan. Having people that can help you and support you if you can’t be there or being flexible.

You were really good on being flexible. We were able to rearrange things relatively easy. But for those things we couldn’t rearrange, like kickoff meetings, recap webinar, credibility boosters, I would put those on my calendar ahead of time. If somebody would schedule something over it, I just couldn’t make it because those meetings weren’t meetings that happened every single week. It happened once in a five month period. I didn’t feel as bad about that when I did that.

But I would have to tell people is you have to set boundaries. I have watched people say, “Well, I can’t tell them I can’t be on this meeting,” or, “I can’t do this.” And I’ll ask them. “Why?” And a lot of times it’s just fear. Because they feel that if they say they can’t do something, they’re going to get in trouble for it. But there were times, and I didn’t explain. I would just say I have another meeting; I have a conflict. I didn’t have to go into a ton of details. But it is a little bit different depending on what type of role you have. If you’re trying to do a day job and do a side hustle, depending on where you are in the organization, your options may be limited on how flexible you can be.

But I think because of where I stood in the organization, I had a little bit more flexibility on my calendar, even though to be quite honest, people still put stuff on the calendar, regardless of what you said, but I would send a delegate or have somebody else cover for me. But it is a lot of prioritization, setting boundaries, saying no. All of that.

You saw my journey of saying no, because I was very bad at saying no when I started with Bridging the Gap and now I don’t have a problem with it, going forward. You’ve seen my journey of the things that I’ve had to implement to be able to do the things that I want to do, even with my business and things, things of that nature.

It’s been, definitely set your boundaries and let them be. And prioritize your time. And as long as you’re delivering and you’re producing what you need to produce, a lot of managers are cool. As long as you get your job done, just get your job done. But if you’re not a good performer, that’s where you’re going to come into issues, because they’re going to say, well, if you can’t even do this, how are you doing this and that? So, that could be a problem.

Laura Brandenburg: I think that makes a lot of sense. There were times we had to adjust something which was fine. That was part, I think for me, one of the big shifts to the Director of Operations role, realizing I can ask Paula to meet anytime. Not anytime, because you still have other things going on, but there was definitely that constraint on my end knowing as a business, we have her five to 10 hours a week, so I can’t just on a whim say, “Paula, let’s have a meeting on Thursday,” and have it happen. We need to plan these in advance. There needs to be flexibility.

From a business owner perspective, I think it’s a great asset to have people who are doing side hustles. There’s some flexibility that’s required to make it work on your end, as well. It was important to me to be clear on what my boundaries were because I knew I didn’t want to be doing evening or weekend type work for the most part, but I could have some flexibility during the day. That’s where our medium was in terms of meeting each other’s boundaries.

Paula Bell: You’re right. You’re definitely right.

Laura Brandenburg: I feel like we should shift gears to the Director of Operations role. Was there anything you wanted to say about program manager?

Paula Bell: Oh, no. Let’s definitely go to the DOO role.

Laura Brandenburg: The exciting part.

Paula Bell: Yes.

Laura Brandenburg: This has been, like, I feel that it was something that I had wanted in my business for at least a few years. And always just felt like the real grown up entrepreneurs had Director of Operations or Integrators or Chief of Staff, whatever they called them. It had been there in the back of my mind for a long time. And then, my recollection, I remember putting it on an org chart and being like, “It’s happening next year.” This was probably in 2021. And presenting it to our core team, “Just so you know, I think next year is going to be the year that I hire for it. If you’re interested, let me know.” And you were like, “Laura, I’m interested in that.” That’s my memory. Is that how you…?

Paula Bell: You’re right. You had it on an org chart and then I don’t know if I said it on that call or if I would’ve said it in our one to one, but I do remember saying, “I am interested in it, because this would be a great transition for me to get out of corporate.”

Now  let me be clear. You are still corporate. You’re corporate America. I just don’t put you in the same as I put other corporate America. The reason I say that is because the culture is very different here. What I was really trying to get away from was working in a culture where I just felt I couldn’t strive to my optimal, to what I know I could do, and I really wanted focus on my own business because I love what I do in my own business. And at some point, you have to break away in order to focus on that. And I felt when you had this, I was like, this actually could be a really good thing to do.

The reason I thought it was a good thing to do, there were a couple of reasons, some of it was selfish and then others was, you know. Selfishly, I did want to leave my day job. I did want to get out of that. It was time. It was time for me to leave. My kids were about to graduate from high school, and I’d always said when they graduated from high school, I wanted to shift into doing my own business.

What I thought was interesting about this role is the way, also, our companies kind of work together in a way. You do training. I don’t have to do BA training. I could send my clients who might be interested in that, go to BTG. It’s already created. I don’t need to do this. I don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

You don’t do the coaching aspect of it. That’s the part I love. I love the coaching aspect of getting to know people, interacting with them, helping them work on projects and stuff. I was like, this could be a great segue into me actually doing what I want to do; leaving corporate, but I’m still involved in a company that aligns with my values and the things that I like, and I can still help.

I have a loyalty to Bridging the Gap. It wasn’t like I could just leave Bridging the Gap that easy. I mean, you probably have to fire me. It’s not like I’m just going to come up one day and say, “Laura, I’m done. I just want to quit.” Right? No. I just don’t see that. You’re so supportive. The majority of the instructors…No, I probably can’t say the majority. A few of the instructors have their own businesses as well. And you’re always supportive of that. It’s never felt like a competition and it’s really rare to get in a culture like that where you can do your own thing and still work and it’s not feeling like we’re in competition with each other. We’re doing our thing.

It was exciting for me to have the opportunity, but you’re right. That’s how I saw it on the chart. I was like, “Really, she’s going to go full time?” “We’re going to a full time position. Hmm. This might work. Let’s talk about this a little bit.” And then to hear you say to me as you were thinking through it and whatnot, I think you were a little bit shocked that I was actually interested.

Because when I said it you were like, “You are, I think this would be the next perfect role for you.” And I was like, “Okay.” And then here goes the selfish part. I really didn’t have to interview for it. And that was great for me. I was burnt out on interviewing. I really didn’t have to interview for it because I was already a part of it. It just worked. It’s just that sort of next level promotion where I could do even more, understand the business even more.

We’re going to go into what scared us after the fact, but it has been challenging. There have been challenges as we’ve been doing this. I don’t think it was as smooth as me moving into the Program Manager position.

Laura Brandenburg: Right.

Paula Bell: This one has been a little bit more bumpy. We’re still good. It’s just been a little bit different.

Laura Brandenburg: Well, and it was. I felt like the Program Manager, from a business perspective, there was a safeness in having you work that five to 10 hours a week. It was a safe kind of level, or it was an incremental upgrade from a project perspective. Whereas bringing you on full-time, like you are my first full-time employee. You came in with a very fair, but also bigger salary than I’ve paid for anyone. Makes perfect sense. But also that was scary for me. It actually still feels a little scary for me. I’m sure you can hear the energy of it. Because I was like, what if I hire this person and then something happens and we can’t sustain the role? There are just all the what ifs came up for me, for sure. That was part of what scared me. It was that, but also I think my tendency to avoid conflict.

I knew that in a contractor, even though we have a great relationship, there’s just a difference that happens between a contractor role and a full-time employee where I knew I needed to express what I really wanted and be clear about what I really wanted or correct if something went off. I just needed to hold myself to being really proactive with that communication.

I would say one of the things I was scared of before was just not doing that and then feeling like I was burying resentments or things like that. That’s more of a tip for others. We’ve been real. I feel like we’ve had many conversations and we prioritized that before. You didn’t interview, but we had a two-hour conversation where we talked about what our motivations were, what we were scared about and what we were going to do to overcome it. We had these big, big conversations that I think set us up for success and continued to invest in those conversations on an ongoing basis because it doesn’t work any other way.

Paula Bell: A hundred percent agreeing. Some of those conversations are hard conversations too, because one of the things that I think scared me was, again, I was leaving this job that I’d been in for 15 and a half years. I’m making a massive career pivot. What I say by that is I’m going into a totally different role. Totally different industry, which is fine. I’d been working in it, but it was a risk because you just don’t know what you don’t know.

There’s a safety that you have working for a Fortune 500 company versus working for a smaller company where you’re the first full-time employee. There are financial considerations and all those sort of things that you have to take into consideration, and trade-offs and things that you have to think about.

But to me, what I’ve learned is there’s nothing better than having peace and really enjoying the environment you work in. It doesn’t make sense to work in an environment where you feel lousy all the time. You don’t like to get up and go to work because you’re just getting a paycheck. I’m so over that at this point. I want to work in an environment where I can thrive. This is a little bit different because for me, in my previous roles I have a certain function that I’ve been over and that’s it. I am over multiple things in this DOO role.

I remember telling you point blank, “Laura. I do not want to be over technology. I don’t want to deal with your technology. I don’t want to troubleshoot the technology. I don’t want to do technology.” It’s not that I’m scared of technology. It’s just that I know in my own business, I manage all of my tech. I know what that takes and what that is. I just didn’t think I had the bandwidth to do more of that.

Whereas I’m now looking at sales, I’m looking at projections, I’m looking at forecasting, I’m looking at strategic initiatives, I’m managing projects, I’m doing work, I’m writing standard operating procedures, I’m creating process models. I’m leading all the project calls; I’m leading all the ops teams calls. I’m leading the instructor meeting calls. It was all of this other stuff. And, granted, I have a learning curve because I don’t understand how everything is set up in Bridging the Gap and understanding what it takes to drive the Blueprint.

The launch was very eye-opening. What it takes to launch the Blueprint. All the different promotionals and things that you do. And even though I understand the concepts, because I do a lot of this in my own business, it’s not my business. I didn’t create it. And so I have this learning curve.

This is actually the thing that was really rough for me, especially the last couple of months, was I feel like I’ve gone into entry level mindset again, because I worked in a company where I knew the stakeholders. I knew the culture. I knew how to get the information I needed. I knew who to talk to. If I didn’t know the answer, I automatically knew who to go to. I knew where to look and that’s a little bit different with what I’m doing now for Director of Operations right.

Now, I’m like, “Okay, where do I find this information? Who do I reach out to?” I pretty much know who I reach out to, but it’s just finding the information and putting the stuff together and understanding that in addition, making sure I’m not dropping the ball on anything that needs to get done for the day.

It’s a lot of balancing. I do believe I’ve gotten better. I still think there’s work to be done, though, because I’m trying to, again, with the learning curve, I’m documenting a lot of things. That takes time. And then customer support, all that takes time. I’m trying not to be too hard on myself either or be too critical on myself because it’s only been since I started in, what, April. I’ve only been here for three, four months. It’s not like if I’ve been doing this for a while, but I try not to be too critical of myself, but it has definitely been just a different mind shift, a mental shift. Do I regret any of it? No. Are there times when I’ve been disappointed on how things went and what’s happened? Of course. That was even when I worked in my corporate job, of course.

I think for me, it hurts more when you’re in a culture that you really, really love and you have that loyalty and respect for someone and you feel like you’ve let them down because of something you’ve missed.

For me, when I worked in my corporate job, we were missing stuff all the time. That was just a part of the culture. It was just like, “We missed this one again. How are we going to fix?” We all jump on a call, but this one was a little bit different because we are pretty well-oiled machine and the things that I knew, I’m coming into something I don’t know that is typically a well-oiled machine, and we messed up me parts of it as we’re learning. That was the hard part, I think, for me to figure out. How could I stop that from happening? Well, I don’t know how I could have stopped that from happening because I’m juggling 15 other things. I don’t know how I could have made that any better.

Laura Brandenburg: I have the same questions around, I mean, I think on the learning curve part, I would say because we also had some other team transition. And so we lost that background knowledge. That, from a CEO perspective, required more from me than I was expecting, because in my mind it’s just clear. We’ve been talking about this for a while or it’s documented. And then I would feel that way. And then I would get in a meeting with you and other team members and it would be very apparent to me it wasn’t as clear as it felt in my head, and that we did need to talk through things.

It makes sense to me that things got…this doesn’t even feel quite like the right word. There were things or challenges that popped up and some of them just happened. And I think what really stood out to me, though, was how you led the team to figuring out how to problem solve and troubleshoot and kept to that positive culture in place. Because there was a few times when I had a little bit of like frustration too, and you were able to hold the energy of the positive culture, which is something I usually really pay attention to holding the energy for.

That was unexpected for me to be able to relax a little bit around always needing to hold that energy and to have somebody who can also hold that energy, or at this point, like, “Laura, I’ve got this, you just go do whatever you need to do to get yourself right. I’ll take care of this.”

I’m still learning how to shift out of feeling like I need to hold both, energetically, the company and all the things that need to get done, because my way of managing all the things that needed to get done was very different than yours. Yours is much more methodical and much more action based. That’s what’s going to help us grow going forward. Not me having it all in my head and thinking things through.

There’s a transition period as you go through that. And we’re in that right now, in the thick of it. And we’ve gone through a lot of it. I’m sure there’s still more to come. It’s exciting to me because I know what’s on the other side is worth it. We have built, already, a much stronger company because of it. And we’re continuing to get stronger because of it.

Paula Bell: 100% agree. It was a little bit, no matter what challenge we had, we definitely rose above it and we work well together. I think I can read you pretty well to where I know where your energy is at the time and I have to offset it. I think we offset each other good too. If I’m having a day or you’re having a day because of things that are going on, or for example, when I had COVID, it was sort of like, okay, everybody leave Paula alone because she can’t function, because she really can’t and we’re going to handle this until she comes back.

We do that for each other all the time. We give each other that sort of space to be able to have your moments where you’re not 100% at your optimal self because we’re human. I do think that’s great.

Because of culture, that’s what makes a difference. That’s one thing I think we should mention here too because I’ve talked about it quite a bit. Culture makes all the difference in the world. And the last two instructors we hired, one of the items that they both brought up consistently was they wanted to be a part of our culture.

What I would love to hear from you that might help other organizations or corporations is how on earth did you build this culture? It’s like the optimal culture you want to work in. And I’m not just saying this because I work for you. It really is. It’s like everybody respects each other. We know what the expectations are. We know what your vision is. We know what your values are. And we continue to review them every single month. We keep that front of mind. We know the type of environment you want to create. We want the interactions to be as positive energy as possible. Even with challenging situations and scenarios, we still try and keep it positive.

How did you build that? How did you create that culture? Because I think a lot of companies want to create it. And you have diversity on your team. Can I also throw that in there? You have diversity on your team. You have diversity from ethnicity, from gender, from age, from skill set, from industry. How did you build that?

Laura Brandenburg: I wish I could give you the 3-step or 10-step formula. I honestly asked myself this question because you’ve asked me this before and I’m like, I don’t know. I would say the value; you called out the values. I think that was a key piece, but we’ve really only got those written down like three years ago. I feel like those were a formalization and recognition of these are the values that have been in place in this company for a while. Now we can share them and talk about them.

If I had to identify something, I would say maybe it’s showing up with authenticity with people and not trying to be somebody I’m not and being really clear about what the business is for and why we’re doing what we’re doing. That’s always been really clear to me. The people that we’re serving, the mission that we have to help people really build a practical skill set. I feel like that and the transformations we see people go through really does gel the team, because they feel like they’re part of something that’s bigger.

You mentioned it right at the beginning, this is meaningful work. It was like an outcome. You were giving back. Yes, you’re profiting. Obviously, everybody on the team is getting paid for what they do. Hopefully it feels like that’s a fair compensation. But you’re also doing work that feels meaningful and has a positive outcome. That was important to me when I started the business is that I was doing work that mattered to me because I had left a corporate job where I felt like the work I did really didn’t have an outcome that I cared about.

You layer a toxic environment on top of that and it’s like, why am I spending all my time doing something I don’t enjoy for an outcome that doesn’t matter to me and being treated like crap. I knew I wanted the antithesis of that. I had no idea it would become what we have today, but it was like the impetus behind starting Bridging the Gap. It’s really been just one step at a time. How do I make this decision in a way that fulfills that vision?

I would say, I guess, that’s the other piece of it. It’s been very incremental. The vision has been there, the vision has expanded and it’s just been like, how do we deal with this challenge in front of us with the tools and the people we have and bring my best to it? Not like some grand scheme every single time.

There are places where we’ve made corrections in the culture. Like we’ve made corrections to certain team members and we’ve made corrections in how we hire instructors because we had some great fits and some not so great fits. Also, just being able to make those corrections when you see it’s not a good fit and to kind of see the truth of that. Those are some of the hardest decisions that I’ve had to make, to be honest. But often they are the most impactful as well.

I will say for you, Paula, you were a big part of that instructor hiring process, which to me, it does define a lot of our culture, like how we hire for instructors. I also think how we hire has helped create diversity because it creates a very level playing field. Everybody is assessed according to the same rubric using the same questions. It’s very standardized. There’s this level playing field that helps take unconscious bias out of the process so that the most qualified candidates end up getting hired.

That has, organically, led to a lot of diversity on the team. That’s my perception of how we’ve created diversity. It hasn’t been like a strategic thing. I feel like there’s probably desire there, but it hasn’t been like, “Oh, I need to hire this person to feel like we are representing. That’s not how people want to be treated anyway. I don’t think anybody wants to be the person who represents this specific thing on a company. You want to be hired because you’re qualified and that’s what that process does.

Paula Bell: Right. 100% agree. We have done a ton of work over the last few years on just how we make sure that everything we do is done with integrity and credibility. Even if people don’t necessarily understand it or agree, that’s okay, but I know I can go to bed or look at myself in a mirror knowing we’re doing our due diligence and we’ve done the right thing. We’re not for everybody, but for those that engage and participate it’s, it’s been a great community. And there’s been great work that’s been done.

Being in this role, if there are other business analysts out there, or even project managers, I mean, I’m a living witness right here on how you pivot. I’ve been in many different industries. I started my career as a software engineer back in the late nineties. And then I moved into, I was a help desk analyst. Then I was a business analyst when it wasn’t even known at that time. They called me an Integration Specialist and I formally got trained and was a business analyst.

I just moved into so many different industries and in so many different roles and it all started, I personally feel, I just had business analysis skill set in my DNA. It always came easy to me. It wasn’t really hard. When I did the formal training, I was like, “Oh, this is easy,” when I watch other people really struggle make an E R D or a use case diagram. Wire frames was really easy to me. It just made sense to me.

I’ve been able to take all of these skills and build my own company and it started out as event planning. That’s when the project management came in. I was able to do my own company and I rebranded myself multiple times to where I am today. And it’s all using the project management and business analysis skills that I’ve had with the technical skills as well. All of that’s been transferable, not knowing back then that I would be in a company, well, and CEO of my own company and DOO of another company in the business analysis space serving BAs, serving project managers and not knowing that at that time. It’s kind of funny how life does that.

You can do it. You don’t have to necessarily be in a BA role. You don’t have to stay in a BA role. You can serve business analysts in many different ways and you can use the skills in many different ways. And that’s what’s been great about this. I’ve been able, now it’s not like I, I don’t really do instructor hours. I do some webinars. I don’t do the teaching webinar. I’m not doing the teaching anymore. I’m not reviewing workbooks unless the second level review. That’s what the team’s doing. I’m more now I’m strategic. To me, it’s more like the strategic leadership sort of role, which is fun that I get to do, some days, not so much, but most days it is right.

There are some days it’s a little bit challenging than others, but it’s still the goal and the culture is what is what keeps me going. If I mess up, I would rather mess up in this company than mess up somewhere else, because I feel like it’s more of a grace that you get a little bit, unless you keep doing the same thing over and over again, but it’s more that grace.

And even when we have those days that have been challenging, we’re human. We have our emotions; we have those things. We’re always able to come back. We bounce back relatively quick. We’ll bounce back either in a couple of hours or by the next day, it just depends on when the scenario happens, but we bounce back pretty quick and then we get back on. What do we need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future? It’s just the way we work really well together.

What’s also amazing is how we are both pretty savvy at, even if we’re having those scenarios, we’ve got to do a webinar, we can get on that webinar. We’ll be just as happy and positive as all get out, though we just had a challenging scenario that hit, but nobody will ever see it because we’re just on there and we’re back. We bring that.

Laura Brandenburg: The show must go on.

Paula Bell: Exactly. It must go on. And, again, to your point, if either one of us are at a point where we need that break, we both know that and we can give that. If you’re not up to it, I’ll be like, you go do what you need to do. I’ve got this. I’ll take care of it. And we just keep it moving and give each other that space that’s needed. It’s been great. The first four months have been great. There were a couple of days, again, we had some challenges and stuff like that, but we worked through them. That’s it.

Laura Brandenburg: Tell me about the best part, because we’ve talked kind of about the challenging and the scary, I feel like. Not that we’ve dwelled on the negative, but what’s the best part of having made this move?

Paula Bell: Let’s do talk about that. One of the best is the flexibility, the time flexibility. Let me tell you, when I worked in my day job, I was on meetings all the time. I mean, it was like. I swear, we had meetings just to figure out when the next meeting was going to be. It was just constant meetings to where I didn’t feel like I was able to be productive.

What I love is how we have it structured. We don’t have meetings on Monday mornings and we very rarely have a meeting on a Friday at all. I feel like I have some days that are just work days and then we are very intentional on the type of meetings that we have and how many.

If we institute another meeting, is there another meeting we can get rid of because now that’s being captured in this meeting that we’re implementing? The flexibility of time in my calendar has been great where I don’t feel like if I have a doctor’s appointment, it’s the end of the world. I have to rush through my doctor’s appointment because I have to be on this call because if Paula is not on this call, we can’t have the call. I don’t feel that sort of pressure. The flexibility of time and of the culture has been  freeing. I don’t feel as stressed and as tense.

I get up, come into my office, I do my work. After I exercise or eat breakfast or what have you, or eat breakfast while I’m doing my work, but I just get it and I get it and I do my thing. I have control of my schedule and how I can work.

And then the ability to just take time, myself. Again, we got done with the launch and it was really interesting when you said to me last Friday. Well, you know, Paula, you know, we’ve been working really hard the last couple of weeks. If you want to head out early, because I had Monday off, on Friday do that. I’m not used to that. I’m not used to having that. I was like, “Really I can leave early?” That’s a thing? I can do that and not be bothered and not feel bad about it and not feel guilty about it?” And it was great because I checked out at 1:00 and nobody sent me anything, because I was checking. Nobody sent me anything until I came back in the office on Tuesday, and it was pretty cool to be able to just take that time and do that.

Just, again, the culture, the time, flexibility, the ability you allow me to do my own thing. You do not micromanage me. You’re not looking. “Okay. Is Paula online? What is Paula doing today?” and whatnot. Are there things that you’re looking at to make sure that we don’t miss? Yes, but I think that’s normal because you’re trying to make sure that these things that we may not know that have been checked in the past, they’re getting checked.

To me, that makes sense. I don’t look at that as micromanagement. I’m just looking at that as transition items. But you don’t really do that. You always ask me if I, this is nothing I’m not used to either, you always say, “Are you available for this meeting at such and such time?” Usually people just put the meeting on my calendar, don’t ask me anything and that’s it. But you actually ask, “Can you do this meeting?” And I’m like, “Well, Laura, if you require me to be on the meeting, just tell me I need to be on the meeting.” But that’s not how you roll because you don’t know what else I have on my calendar. You don’t know if I’m doing a quarterly connect with an instructor. You don’t know if I’m having a meeting with another ops team member. You don’t know. The simple fact that you ask me is kind of cool.

How we do meetings is really cool too. I don’t have that stress of I have to give up something to be able to do everything. That’s been me of the exciting things. I don’t have the stress that I had. I do have some stress. You naturally have stress as you do work, but I just don’t have the amount of stress I used to have. And I feel like I’m more productive where I can create things.

I know Monday morning and Fridays; I can at least have those days to create. And my Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays sometimes are busy, but I still have days to be productive and I like that, and I hope that doesn’t ever change. I kind of like that flow.

Laura Brandenburg: Well, that’s awesome. It’s so gratifying to hear that.

Also, as a business owner to have been in a position to create a position for somebody else to have that is pretty awesome.

I will say that’s one of the things I like the most about as we’ve grown with Bridging the Gap, both for this opportunity, but also instructors, just being able to see people get excited about the work and create these opportunities that didn’t exist before, because our business is supporting that. That has been really exciting to me.

One of the things I’m most excited about with having you in the DOO role, it’s so funny that you mentioned, there was a shift when like, oh, I can actually, if I need to talk to Paula tomorrow, most likely we’re going to be able to talk tomorrow. Where before that whole needing to plan ahead or only feeling like I could use so much of your time because you had, obviously, other commitment. But I knew, I just had that sense of your form of energy in our company was going to make such a big difference and it has.

Just seeing the level of documentation and standardization and the resources that are coming out of that, it feels, for the first time, like everything that’s flowing through my head and out that we’re talking about, things are getting created from that. It’s not just that work is getting done, but like also it’s getting put in place in a way that other people could do it if they needed to. It’s being improved along the way. And it’s been really cool to see that unfold as well. And I know we’re just getting started because, obviously, there has been a learning curve.

When you think about what’s going to be possible six, 12 months from now when the learning curve is in the past, then we’re creating new things. I think our synergy’s really going to enable a lot of exciting things as we go forward.

Paula Bell: I agree. It’s interesting as well, because I manage quite a few different projects and one of the things that I love that we do too, is I’m like, okay, Laura,  we have all this going on. Let’s think about prioritizing again because I want to make sure I’m not dropping the ball on anything. It’s just being able to have those conversations and reevaluating and reprioritizing and the ability to do it quite quickly and, and whatnot. And to have a team, a tech team, a marketing team, that’s just really big on delivering the value that we want to bring to the customers we serve. It’s just amazing to watch.

And, again, no matter what, it’s just a great team to work with, because everybody’s just so motivated and positive and optimistic and just really passionate about the work that we do in the company. And that’s just awesome. It’s awesome to see.

If there’s one thing that I don’t ever want to change, I don’t ever want that culture to change because the culture is what’s going to drive the right people in and we just want to make sure that we continue to keep that culture going, because there’s something about the culture, because everybody mentions it. That’s the reason why they want to come to BTG, because of the culture. It feels like a family and we are a family. A true family. We’re not just saying we’re family. We truly are family. I mean, we truly look out for each other and we want to make sure everybody’s okay.

Laura Brandenburg: All right. Well, I feel like we have probably talked way longer than we were expecting to in this interview. Do you have any last words that you want to share before we close things out?

Paula Bell: I can’t think of anything outside of, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for giving me a position in life where I actually enjoy working all day now. It doesn’t feel like I’m actually working though, because I enjoy what I’m doing.

Even when I’m done with Bridging the Gap and I move into my own company, the same energy is still there because I love what I do. It’s not like, oh, I’m finally doing what I love in my company. Thank you for creating that opportunity and having the faith that I was the right person and the right fit for that even though I did question it a couple of times the last couple of weeks, but we pulled through it and everything’s good. I do want to just say, thanks. Thank you for that. I appreciate that.

Laura Brandenburg: Well, thank you for stepping in and I feel like your decision to say yes to that Program Manager role, which I remember that moment, that got us to where we are today. That really allowed our relationship to grow and expand. I know that that was a big thing to step into, and I just appreciate you stepping in every step of the way.

If there’s another business owner out there, I think, maybe the takeaway is get really clear on what you want in the role and why it’s important to you and always the building of those relationships, because you just never know who on your team is going to be the next person that can be elevated.

Paula Bell: Agreed.

Laura Brandenburg: All right. Well, thank you so much for listening. I hope that you found this valuable. If you have questions about it, feel free to leave a comment below wherever you’re watching this or reading this. We’d love to hear from you.

Paula Bell: Exactly.

Laura Brandenburg: All right. Thanks everyone. Thank you, Paula.

Paula Bell: Bye everyone. Bye Laura.

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There are many requirements elicitation techniques. When many BAs think of elicitation, they think of big complex, full day workshops. In most cases, elicitation happens in much smaller sessions involving just a few stakeholders. 

In what follows, I’ll share my top 5 elicitation techniques that can help you get started on just about any type of project.

Hi, my name is Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. And today we’re going talk all about the requirements, elicitation techniques that are used by business analysts. I’m going a give you my five top requirements elicitation techniques, as well as a free checklist that you can download to help you get started right away.

When we think of requirements elicitation, most business analysts think of big, complex, full day workshops. Big events. The reality is in most cases, requirements elicitation happens in much smaller sessions and also techniques that don’t even involve stakeholder interaction at all. But those smaller sessions can involve just a few stakeholders. Let’s just take a step back and talk about what is requirements elicitation.

Simply put, elicitation is the process of discovering information that allows you to put together the requirements or draft and analyze the requirements. In particular, elicitation will often refer to engaging with stakeholders in some way to understand their needs and expectations when it comes to the scope and the detailed requirements of a project.

As I mentioned, there are techniques that do not explicitly involve stakeholder interaction. I’m going give you one of those in my top five as well. So let’s talk about these five requirement elicitation techniques.

Requirements Elicitation Technique #1 – Observation

Number one is observation. This is when you’re sitting with a user, or via screen share in a virtual environment, and you watch them do their work, or you have them demonstrate doing their work in a hypothetical way, like this is what I would do if I was processing a new account or processing an order or completing a refund.

There’s a distinction here in user experience circles. There’s sometimes a preference towards pure observation where the stakeholder doesn’t say anything that they would not say in their normal course of doing work and you as the business analyst don’t ask any questions, or for any clarifications. That is to achieve a different objective around really understanding the stakeholders full environment.

As a business analyst, we often will ask questions. We’ll have the stakeholder articulate what they’re thinking, why they’re doing what they’re doing, share the business logic, and we will ask those questions to really clarify the logic as well as alternative scenarios. If it looked like that one worked, what if we had clicked something else here, or if you didn’t receive that document. You start to ask questions so that you’re getting not just the stream of work for that particular instance, but for a broad range of instances.

Requirements Elicitation Technique #2 – Diagram Review / Walk-Through

The second requirement elicitation technique I want to share with you is to do a diagram review or a walkthrough. This could also be called prototyping. This is a great way to elicit unexpected information and to use the structure of a requirements model, like a workflow diagram, or a use case, or a wireframe or an entity relationship diagram, and to use that structure, to help collectively fill in that model which often leads to unexpected information surfacing.

You could start with a draft model. If it’s an entity relationship diagram, you could have a few key concepts drawn on the whiteboard or print it out in a sheet or up on a shared screen if you’re doing a sheet screen share. If you’re doing a wireframe, you could have kind of a skeleton with some navigation and some pieces in place. Or you could start with a blank page. It really depends on your stakeholder group and how adept they are at using that model. You could also start with a fairly finished draft of that model and walk through it piece by piece to get input and feedback from your stakeholder. All different ways to do walkthroughs and use the prototyping technique with different stakeholder groups.

Requirements Elicitation Technique #3 – Structured Interview

Now, the third technique I want to share with you is called a structured interview. This is by far the most common technique that business analysts use. It’s usually with either one or a small group of stakeholders in a meeting. It could be an in-person meeting, or it could be a virtual meeting. You want to be prepared for that kind of meeting with an agenda. You want a meeting agenda, and you want a requirements checklist. You want to know what questions you are going to ask. You might share that with your stakeholders ahead of time if you think they would benefit from doing some preparation. Some stakeholders are much better if you’re asking those questions on the fly and you don’t overwhelm them ahead of time with all the questions that you might have to ask.

You can download a sample requirements checklist absolutely for free. I really invite you to check that out as a way to start thinking through what questions would you ask in an interview. Of course, that checklist is for a specific type of requirement, so you want to be clear of what objective you are trying to accomplish in that meeting and what questions do you need to ask in order to discover the information to achieve that objective.

As you are using a structured interview, it’s really important that you actively engage your stakeholders. Here are a few of my top tips for building stakeholder engagement.

Requirements Elicitation Technique #4 – Documentation Review

I promised you one technique that did not involve stakeholder interaction, and that is our next technique. It’s called documentation review.

This is a requirement elicitation technique where you can discover a lot of information by analyzing any existing documentation to understand potential requirements. This can save a lot of stakeholder time. If your stakeholder time and your access to stakeholders is at a premium, you definitely want to prioritize what documentation you can review ahead of time so that you can be really prepared. It can help you come up with those questions for your structured interview or drafted diagram that you can use, or make your observation more clear as well, or more pointed and specific.

A big caveat on this is that as the business analyst, you don’t want to over invest in documentation reviews or make assumptions. You don’t want to use documentation that could be dated, might not reflect your actual stakeholder perspective to just decide what the requirements are. Often you need to come back to the stakeholders and validate the information that you’ve used or use it to develop, as I mentioned, the requirements checklist, the discovery checklist that will allow you to have a very productive, structured interview to ask those questions.

Requirements Elicitation Technique #5 – Survey or Questionnaire

Now, the fifth and final technique that is sort of a blend of stakeholder interaction, and that is to do a survey or a questionnaire. This is a great way to get information from a lot of people or from people with whom you don’t have a direct connection.

A survey is also a great way to receive more objective information in a low intensity way. Often people will write things into surveys that they may not share personally. On the flip side, sometimes the information is unclear and difficult to interpret without more context. We use surveys here at Bridging The Gap to gather feedback from potential customers and also to get feedback from our course participants after they complete the program.

Most BAs Use a Combination of Elicitation Techniques

You really want to be well adept at multiple techniques so that you can pick and choose what technique is going to work in your specific situation.

And again, if you want a quick way to get started, I invite you to download our free requirements checklist. It’s for a specific domain or specific area of requirements called supporting a customer. And then it will help you get started right away in just thinking through what questions to ask. Even if that’s not the area that you’re working on, just seeing the questions that are available and reinterpreting them for your specific situation is really going to help you get started in figuring out what questions to ask, which is often where business analysts get stuck in the first place.

I’d love to hear in the comments below what requirements elicitation techniques you use as a business analyst, where you want to improve on, and how you are finding that checklist, and how it’s helping you in your business analysis career.

Until next time, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. We build our profession one business analyst at a time, and success starts with you. Thanks for being here.

Knowing What Questions to Ask

Part of being strong at any elicitation technique is knowing what questions to ask. Here’s the next video I recommend to help you cultivate this skill set.

And that’s why we resist requirements prioritization. If you’ve been told you are “too business oriented,” this is an area you want to focus on – helping your stakeholders get clear about their priorities and what is really, truly important.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. We help business analysts start their careers.

Today, I want to simplify requirements prioritization. If your experience is anything like mine, when you ask your stakeholders to prioritize their requirements, you just hear groans of “Nooooo. Everything’s important.”

When you think about even asking them to prioritize their requirements, you probably go, “No.” Maybe you feel like everything is important, or maybe you feel like it’s just hard to ask what’s most important from your business stakeholders.

And if you’ve been told that you’re too business oriented – this is feedback that some business analysts receive when they are kind of a doormat for the business – and just say, okay, you want everything. Let me put everything into the requirements.

If you’ve been told that, that you’re too business-oriented, or something along those lines, prioritization is an area that you need to focus on and get clear on and start adding to your toolkit in how you work with your business team.

Let’s talk about some simple and easy ways. This does not have to be complicated.

Requirements Prioritization Get Easier When You Know What Problem You Are Solving

The first thing to know is what problem are you solving? I say this again and again and again. I’ve been saying it a lot in videos lately, but it’s such a critical part. If you don’t know what problem you’re solving, you don’t know what requirements are most important. It’s simple as that. That is the information you need.

If you know that you’re solving XYZ problem and your business objectives are to increase sales or improve retention, or make a specific thing more efficient, then you know what requirements are most important because you can look at what requirements are in surface to that business need.

As we’re implementing our new learning management system, the most critical business problem for us is to streamline the participant instructor interaction and eliminate the manual pieces in between that are slowing the process down.

They’re also making it difficult to scale that process as we serve more customers. Everything that we’re doing is coming up against that problem. Is this feature helping us solve that problem? Very clear filter.

Requirements Prioritization Gets Easier When You Make It Simple

There are a lot of sophisticated tools out there for prioritizing requirements that you can try and experiment with. We focus on practical real-world simple best practices at Bridging the Gap, and so, the two ways I suggest prioritization are either 1, 2, and 3.

So, you give every requirement a 1, 2, or a 3; 1 being high priority, 2 being medium priority, 3 being low priority or a nice-to-have. That is pretty simple. The challenge is that everybody wants everything to be a 1.

You have to go back to what problem are we solving – 1’s are the things that help us solve this problem in the most impactful way, 2’s might be like they could add to the problem, but they’re not essential to solving the problem, and 3’s are related things that we’d like that came up but probably aren’t going to see the light of day in this project. You’re clear, then, on your 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s.

The other idea is to rank order. So, 1, 2, and 3 would be every requirement is a 1, 2, or 3. Rank ordering would be like there is a 1, a 2, a 3, a 4, a 5, a 6, all the way down the list. You’re saying #1 is more important and #2 is more important than #3 and you’re rank ordering the priorities.

That’s a strong way to prioritize that’s used on agile software development teams to rank the product backlog. There’s no ambiguity about what is more important than what. There’s no sense of like there are 20 things that are #1 and we can only do three things in this sprint. What are the three of those 20? “Oh, we’ll do 1, 2, and 3. And then the next sprint we’ll do 4, 5, and 6.”

I find that combining the techniques works well because if you have a product backlog that has 20, 30, 50 items, ranking 1-50 starts to feel like is there much difference between 45 and 46? Does that matter?

While we’re still working on numbers 1, 2, and 3, using 1, 2, and 3 to chunk out that backlog and then ranking the ones that are our 1 priority can be a way to sift through it and not have to rank everything on that backlog, which would get to be a tedious task that’s adding less and less value as you get further down the backlog.

Requirements Prioritization Gets Easier When You Understand Timelines and Costs

The other final tip I want to share with you in terms of making requirements prioritization easier is that it can help to understand the time and the cost involved in implementing that requirement.

How this is coming up for us in the learning management system is I did the 1, 2, 3 and we had some 3’s; we had some things that were non-essential, but if they weren’t there already that would be great. But if we have to do anything to make them happen, not going to happen.

Then the 2’s, the rule that I set out for the 2’s – the 1’s were essential; they were essential to solving the problem, and they were essential to how we deliver the courses and deliver our business. We had to have the 1’s. They were essential in order to release this product to our community.

The 2’s were really good stuff. They weren’t just like, “Oh, it would be nice to have that.” They were good features that were going to add a lot of value to our business. I wanted to make sure that we could keep the scope of the project tight to get it done in the timeline that we had and use the tools that we had, and to manage the budget that we had available.

With 2’s, I said, “If it’s a configuration,” if it’s just a matter of somebody setting something up and configuring it, or maybe less than an hour of work, let’s do it. If a 2 is going to require custom development or a new tool that we don’t have or not available out of the box, we’re not going to talk about it for the scope of this project.

It made it clear what that 2 meant, and it became easier to prioritize as we understood what was the time and cost available. Then we could look at the 2’s that were potentially in scope based on knowing how they could be implemented. It takes a little bit of analysis, a little bit of collaboration with your team to give a gut check on each of those requirements and say, “How much would this take?” “How much would this cost?”

You can find your stakeholder priorities tend to shift a little bit. Sometimes something you thought was important, like a 1, you’re like, “Oh, that’s two weeks of work?” It’s not a 1; maybe it’s more like a 2 or a 3.

And you see people when they understand the time and the scope and the budget that goes into implementing that requirement, then, they start to get more comfortable with the prioritization because it has more meaning. It has an actual value assigned to it that’s not just, “Hey, as long as I can ask for everything, I’m going to ask for everything until you tell me that I have to pick and choose to fit within a budget.”

Requirements Prioritization: Keep It Simple

Those are my three tips. You’re focused on keeping it simple. It doesn’t have to be a complicated process. More than likely, if you’re trying to make it a complicated process, it’s because you don’t understand what problem you’re solving and it’s not clear who is in charge of making decisions for this project.

You’re using a more complicated technique to try to, under the hood, facilitate between the stakeholders who are just not getting together and agreeing, and instead, we should be focusing on those core conversations that they’re having about what problem they’re solving and what the end result of this project needs to be.

And getting a clear direction and clear decision on that, which is going to make our whole project go easier, and going to make prioritization quite apparent once you get into the details and provide people with the information they need to make a good decision.

I’d love to hear how you prioritize requirements, or what challenges come up for you as you do this. It’s simple, conceptually. In the real world is where the fun happens. I’d love to hear what’s coming up for you on this topic.

Again, this is Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. We help business analysts start their careers.

>> Get Your Quick Start to Success as a Business Analyst

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If business analysis is a career that you want to excel at, the absolute best next thing to do is to join my free Quick Start to Success workshop. You’ll learn how to avoid the most common pitfalls faced by new business analysts and the step-by-step business analysis process to create predictable, consistent project success.

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>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills

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Of course not! Business analysts add a tremendous amount of value to projects. This video takes a look at the specific ways business analysis increases the return on investment.

(If you are a business analyst, this would be a good post to share with your manager or project team too.)

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

I’m Laura Brandenburg, from Bridging the Gap. We help business analysts start their careers.

Today, I want to talk about how you, as a business analyst, are adding value to your organization. We’re going to use the concept of return on investment. We’re going to break down, specifically, how business analysis and business analysts create a better return on investment when they’re assigned to critical projects in their organization. Let’s dive right in.

Quick Introduction to ROI (Return on Investment)

First, return on investment. What does that mean? The acronym for that is ROI. It’s the weight or the value of the return on a project, or what benefit the organization receives vs. the investment that the organization makes in that project.

If an organization invests in software development team to build or customize or implement a new software solution in all the business stakeholder time that goes into figuring out what that system should do, that’s the investment. The time, the money, the energy that gets invested in creating that solution.

The return is the benefit that organization receives from that solution once it’s in place in the business. It could be more efficient turnaround time, more customers, more revenue, more efficiency, relieving staff that can be re-used on other projects, or being able to eliminate exterior staffing or redundant staffing. Lots of ways to measure the return on that project.

Business analysts, we impact both sides of that equation. We help streamline the investment – minimize the investment in the project actually is – and, also, maximize the return. Maximize the value we’re getting out of that process. That probably sounds counter-intuitive at first. I want to dig into the specific ways that business analysts do this and give you a few examples as well.

Business Analysts Add Value Through Reducing Project Costs

Let’s talk about how business analysts reduce the investment, or the cost, of a project. This probably does feel counterintuitive if you’re thinking…you’re a hiring manager and you’re like, “Well, should I add a business analyst to my team? Isn’t that an additional cost? Aren’t I expanding how much this project is going to cost? Why don’t we just get starting coding, because that’s what we really need? We need that code, or we need that configured system into our business user’s hands. Why don’t we just skip the analysis and go right to coding?”

Well, we know it doesn’t always work that way, but some specific ways that business analysts help reduce costs, even though, of course, their salary is a line item on your budget for the project, is that they’re going to reduce re-work. So, when you just start coding and start figuring things out, and then you put that into the hands of a business user, they’re going to be like, “Oh, no. I didn’t really want this. I wanted that.”

All of a sudden, something that maybe seemed simple, gets complex as like stakeholder requests come in, defects come in, change requests come in, and you have this re-work where you’re going back and revisiting the same code, the same implementation again, again, and again. That is, obviously, you know, your costs go from here to here. You add some analysis up front to figure out what is needed, and that re-work time should go down.

The other place that business analysts have an effect on project costs is in the reduction of what I like to call requirements churn, or the time it takes for the business community to figure out what it is they actually want.

A lot of times, that isn’t like a line item cost on a budget. But if you think about a requirements meeting, especially one that might have high-level stakeholders in the room, there’s a definite cost to that meeting. If you’re having duplicate meetings again, and again, and again to discuss essentially the same issue and never getting to a solution, that’s an expense that your organization is taking on that’s bloating the impact, or cost, of what needs to be invested to figure out those requirements.

Good business analysis is going to help present solutions, create a logical decision-making process, remind people that we went down that road before, we don’t need to go down that rabbit hole again, and plug those communication gaps, and help facilitate communication across departments, across different levels of the organization.

Yes, that process takes time. It’s not like you put a business analyst in and, snap, they come up with the requirements. But it’s going to take less time and less churn than if you didn’t have somebody who was in charge facilitating that part of the process.

Finally, when it comes to the investment side of the equation, the other way that business analysts can help is helping find more cost-effective solutions. When you dial into what problem are we solving – you’ll hear me say that again and again – what problem are we solving? Why is this project being implemented in the first place? Sometimes creative solutions just pop up.

They don’t even have to be big technology solutions. Maybe there are tools that you can use that you already have. Maybe there’s a business process change that can get you a certain amount of the way there. That’s where we can take what maybe was a big investment and reduce that by half and still get that same return. It doesn’t always happen. But if it is possible, your business analyst is going to help you find it.

This topic of saving time through improved communication and effective requirements processes was a big theme in this live panel discussion on How Business Analysts Add Value – you can watch the entire video here below.

Business Analysts Add Value through Increasing the Potential Return, or Benefits

Let’s talk about the other side of the equation and how business analysts help you increase the potential return, or what the benefits are from that project. Remember, we’ve made an investment in a solution, and now it’s out in the business. How does that actually have more benefit?

The first thing is we talked about how a business analyst is always going to go try to find the problem to be solved. Not try; will find the problem to be solved. As part of that, we often discover new business benefits. While we’re looking at this part, is there something here that we can do as well?

I remember early on in my career meeting with an end user who was showing me how they were copying and pasting documents into this field. They had to edit it, too, because it wasn’t copying right. It ended up being a simple change to enable the workflow and save them tons of time. As a business analyst, I could see there was a possibility of as we were touching the system to add on a piece that would save them a lot of time in their workflow.

Until I saw their work environment, I would have never known that. It would have never made it into the requirements for that project if we hadn’t analyzed their current business process and understood how their work flowed. There were lots of ways we could have solved that problem. It ended up being a small technology tweak that added a lot of value. That’s an example of discovering new business needs that can be easily included in the investment that’s already being made to deliver even more value to the business.

Another way that business analysts support that increase of value is through prioritization. Typically, it would be like we want all the things, the list of all these requirements and let’s just say it’s 100 things. We hand that to our development team. They start going through them in order. Maybe they group them by technical component or area of the system and implement them that way.

When you do that, and you say all these things are required, maybe the first 10 things aren’t the most important things. Maybe they’re not the most valuable. Maybe we start working on an area of the system, and three of those things are really important and another five of them are just nice-to-haves that complicate the system more than it needs to be and don’t deliver the value that needs to be.

Relentless focus on that prioritization in making sure the most important requirements get dealt with first in the project that we know what the most important ones are, which ones are going to add the most value, and then make sure those are clearly communicated as part of building the solution.

Another way that business analysts increase that return is the way that they facilitate this communication with the business community. I have this story I love to share where I walked into a contract as a consultant and they had implemented a document management system. There were business users printing the document twice. The goal of that system was to reduce paper and make the process more efficient. After the system, they were printing and writing, and uploading and writing, and uploading and printing. Multiple steps, additional steps, in order to use the system that IT said they needed to use in a way that was going to work with what they understood their business process to be.

As a business analyst, we don’t stop when the solution is built. We stop when the business has accepted that solution and understands what their updated business process is going to be. That’s where the real business value gets realized. (Before I forget, be sure to download our free business process template which incorporates a host of best practices on process modeling.)

One final way that we help increase the return is providing a framework where IT can scale. If you’re a small organization, or with a smaller team, you can communicate well, and you can have a tight-knit team where everybody knows what each other does and who to ask what questions.

As you start scaling your capabilities and scaling your team and growing your organization, that informal kind of “everybody knows each other” communication tends not to scale. And you need somebody in the middle of engaging the new business stakeholders, helping educate the new business stakeholders, figuring out who knows what in technology to facilitate that as well.

Think of your business analyst as a role that’s going to help that IT team scale to deliver even more value to the business and help your business scale as well.

How Will You Expand Your Value?

Those are my immediate takeaways on how business analysts add value on projects. It’s just scratching the surface. There’s a lot more that we could cover here. I’m going to challenge you, if you’re a business analyst listening in, think about it.

Are you adding value in all of these ways in your organization? If not, where could you be adjusting how you approach your work to add more value? This is what’s going to increase your reputation, get you on the interesting projects, be the person that everybody wants to work with because they know when they work with you, they’re going to have a value-added resource on their team.

If you’re a hiring manager or a technology leader, or a business leader who’s wondering if you should start a business analyst team, think about where you’re experiencing some of the pain points that we just talked about and who in your organization could start doing these activities, essentially stepping in to this business analyst role, and creating a more predictable project lifecycle and development process. It’s going to help your projects be more successful, and it’s also going to help people on those projects be happier because they know that they’re contributing to a successful project as well.

Those are my tips for you. Leave a comment below. Let me know how you add value as a business analyst or anything you’re going to change as a result of listening to today’s video.

Again, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap.

>>Download Your Free Business Process Template

One way to expand your value right away is by analyzing a business process. Get started analyzing a business process today, with our complimentary business process template.

• Help business users from multiple departments clarify their actual step-by-step workflow;
• Avoid wasting money on software solutions that don’t solve the right business problems;
• And even helping new business analysts figure out what questions to ask when starting on a new project or domain.

Business process analysis is often the very first technique used by business analysts when we start learning a new domain or analyze the scope of a project.

Click here to download your free business process template today

You’ll receive a sneak peek into:

• BA Template Toolkit
• Email Communication Templates
• Requirements Discovery Checklist Pack
• Project Prioritization Organizer
• Visual Model Sample Pack

You’ll leave with a better understanding of how templates support business analyst workflows and if the templates offered by Bridging the Gap would be a worthwhile investment for you.

You’ll see a lot of advice saying that you need to go back to school, get a degree, and wait years to move into your first business analyst role. In my experience, that’s just not the case.

What is true is that you need to:

• Understand the role
• Identify your transferable skills and experience
• Expand your skill set, with high-impact, practical, real-world training
• Expand your experience by doing business analysis, in your current role of a volunteer setting
• Focus on the best opportunities given your unique experience and career background

I’ll Help You Become a Business Analyst

I’m Laura Brandenburg, the author of How to Start a Business Analyst Career – the career guide that’s helped thousands of mid-career professionals break into their first business analyst role.

I’m going to share everything I can with you about how to become a business analyst in this article, with links to all kinds of related resources and video trainings for more in-depth information. It’s truly the ultimate guide to becoming a business analyst – even if you have no official work experience as a business analyst and an unrelated degree.

But in all transparency, if this is your career path, you’ll want to pick up a copy of my book to go even more in-depth with more practical strategies and approaches.

This is an in-depth article. For a quick overview of these strategies, check out this video to get yourself started – and then come back to watch more of the video trainings below.

Before I forget, I want to be sure you know about my Quick Start to Success free workshop, that’s designed to help you, the mid-career professional, kick-start your business analysis career.

With that out of the way, onward with the 5 steps!

Step 1 to Becoming a Business Analyst – Learn about Business Analysis and Confirm Your Career Choice

If you want to become a business analyst, you need to understand the role. There is a lot of confusion about the role, and business analyst job titles are used inconsistently.

Business analysts  are professionals who help organizations identify and solve problems. They analyze data and use various tools and methodologies to identify areas for improvement and to make recommendations for changes. At Bridging the Gap, we provide online business analyst training for business analysts who literally “bridge the gap” between business and technology stakeholders. This means they help ensure that the software solutions actually do what the business needs them to do and solve real business problems.

Understand the Techniques Business Analysts Use

A business analyst doing this kind of work would use a technique like business process analysis to understand that business workflow and the problem to be solved. They would use use cases, wireframes, and user stories to analyze and define the software or functional requirements.

They would also use a variety of data modeling techniques to define how information is stored and flows through all the various software systems. This type of business analyst starts out a project by defining the needs or outcomes, takes it through to scope, defining the detailed requirements and collaborating with the business and technology teams to ensure a successful implementation of the requirements.

Here’s a video with an overview of the foundational skills necessary to be a business analyst.

Before Becoming a Business Analyst, Be Sure the Role is a Good Fit

Before pursuing this role, you really want to be sure it’s going to be a good fit. Check out 42 Reasons to Start a Business Analyst Career and The First 5 Signs that Business Analysis is the Career Choice for You for some clarity on whether or not you’ve found the right role for you.

Even if these checklists confirm you are on the right track, you might still not be 100% sure. A second and more concrete litmus test is to practice some BA techniques to get a feel for the role.  We’ll speak to this specifically in Step 4, so keep please reading.

Step 2 to Becoming a Business Analyst – Identify Your Transferable Skills and Leverage Points to Develop Your Positioning

There are relatively few entry-level business analyst roles, and they only make sense to focus on if you are a recent college grad. (I cover this more fully in the FAQ.)

As a mid-career professional, you’ll be focusing on mid-level, and sometimes even senior-level business analyst roles.

Here’s the good news – You most likely qualify for a subset of BA jobs already. (Don’t be frustrated by only qualifying for a subset – even the most experienced BAs do not qualify for all BA jobs.) Many professionals we work with are able to skip right past entry-level BA positions by identifying their transferable skills and the unique qualifications from their career backgrounds. You may also be able to open up opportunities within a slice of business analysis or in a transitional role.

Yes, You Have Transferable Business Analysis Skills!

Transferable skills come from experiences using business analysis techniques in a non-BA role.  And here, I share 3 real examples of transferable skills.

Whether or not you have a deep career history in business analysis, it’s likely that one or more elements of your career history give you expertise to leverage into business analysis. Whether it’s your knock-your-socks off communication skills or your deep experience in a relevant industry domain, you have a quality that potential managers are specifically hiring for.

If you are currently employed in a company that employs BAs, then your most valuable leverage point very well could be knowledge of that individual organization, the business model, and the business stakeholders.

(You might be thinking this step doesn’t apply to you. I’ve worked with many, many mid-career professionals on their career transition plans and we’ve always been able to find at least one transferable skill and career experience. More often, we’ve discovered several transferable skills and relevant experiences.)

And Don’t Overlook Unique Skills That Set You Apart!

But your business analysis experience alone often won’t qualify you for a specific business analyst role.

Other factors can include:

• Industry domain experience (Read about how industry expertise can impact your job search)
• Application expertise (Read about how system knowledge helped me qualify for my first BA position)
• Expertise in a specific process area, such as HR or finance
• Expertise in a broad set of functional areas or a broad collection of organizations

All of these can be leverage points, or ways to focus your job search, that give you more opportunities to get started in a business analyst role sooner rather than later.

After discovering your transferable skills and leverage points, this is a good time to update your business analyst resume to showcase how your past experience qualifies you for roles within or close to business analysis.

Step 3 to Becoming a Business Analyst– Invest in Your Business Analysis Skill Set

as part of preparing for a career as a business analyst, you’ll need to invest in developing your business analysis skill set. While a formal degree in business analysis is most certainly not required, some professional training will help you perform business analysis responsibilities effectively.

At Bridging the Gap, we offer online business analyst training in the foundational skills you need to be successful as a business analyst. We organize the BA skill set into a visual model we call The Business Analyst Blueprint®.

Analysis & Communication Techniques are Both Key Sets of Business Analyst Skills

The first thing you’ll notice about The Business Analyst Blueprint® framework is that the techniques are organized into Analysis Techniques and Communication Techniques. The Analysis Techniques are the models and templates we use as business analysts to analyze and think through the requirements. But these requirements do not get created in a vacuum. We must elicit or discover them from our stakeholders. This is why knowing the right Communication Techniques to use as a business analyst are equally important.

The key Communication Techniques for collaborating with stakeholders are:

• Discovery Session – to discover information related to the process or requirements from business stakeholders, so the requirements represent their needs.
• Requirements Review Session – to validate the requirements that have been captured are clear and correct.

We also consider the glossary and user stories to be communication techniques, because their primary purpose is to capture and communicate requirements-related information to various stakeholder groups.

The Key Business Analysis Techniques

The second thing you’ll notice about The Business Analyst Blueprint is that there is not just one set of analysis techniques. One of the challenges that plague way too many projects is “missing requirements.” We miss requirements either when we don’t involve the right stakeholders (i.e., apply the right communication skills) or overlook key areas of requirements because we are only looking at one view.

The Business Analyst Blueprint® – our flagship business analyst training program – walks you the 3 key levels of analysis that are important to fully understanding a problem and solution domain, when software is being implemented as part of the solution. These are:

• The Business-Level, or how the business work flows operationally, often completed by analyzing the business process (a textual model) and creating business process maps (a visual model).
• The Software-Level, or how the software system supports the business workflows, often completed through functional requirements models like use cases and wireframes.
• The Information-Level, or how data and information are stored and maintained by an organization, completed by data modeling techniques including an entity relationship diagram (ERD), data dictionary, data map, and system context diagram.

When you use multiple techniques, particularly powerful analytical and visual models, you will find that you naturally see gaps that others gloss over and identify the downstream impact of a change or new solution.

The Business Analysis Process Framework

The third thing you’ll notice about The business Analyst Blueprint is that there is a foundational framework underlying the techniques. This is the business analysis process, or the end-to-end approach you apply to be successful and effective on a typical business process improvement and software project.

As you leverage this process framework, you’ll gain increased recognition for the value of business analysis, and you’ll start to get pulled into more interesting projects, and be engaged earlier in the process. Here’s a video about the business analysis process framework.

And, to complete a self-assessment against these skills, we have an absolutely free business analyst skills assessment for you.

Download the FREE Business Analyst Skills Assessment

In this FREE assessment, you will:

• Discover the essential skills to succeed as a BA.
• Gain clarity on your strengths and transferable skills.
• Define an action plan to expand your business analyst skill set.

>> Download the Assessment <<

Step 4 to Becoming a Business Analyst– Build Experience By Approaching Your Work with a BA Mindset

As part of the analysis you did in steps 2 and 3, you may have discovered some gaps. Add these to your professional development plan and explore opportunities to fill them through volunteer positions or by building on-the-job business analyst experiences. What we see is that one business analysis task tends to lead to another, creating a virtuous cycle of new business opportunities and expanded experience.

Practice techniques such as:

• improving a business process
• facilitating meetings
• crafting use cases
• scoping projects with these 5 questions
• eliciting information

How One Business Analyst Experience Leads to Another

As you a cultivate a BA mindset, you’ll find that business analysis begets business analysis. Once you see your first opportunity, several more sprout up right in front of you. Is a virtuous circle that can lead you to a full-fledged business analysis role, step-by-step.

Want some inspiration? Here are a few success stories of participants who built BA experience in non-BA roles:

• Amelia McHenry transitions from Technical Writer to Business Analyst
• Zineb Iotti transitions from Underwriting to Business Analyst
• Roshni Dominic transitions from Support Analyst to Business Analyst
• Becky Goll volunteered for a CPA to build business analysis experience
• Todd Fleming landed paid contract work by volunteering with his old employer!

When in doubt, it almost always makes sense to start by analyzing a business process. Here’s a video tutorial on this essential business analyst skill:

Step 5 to Becoming a Business Analyst – Focus Your Efforts to Find Your First BA Opportunity

In time, you may qualify for a business analysis role in your organization or be in a position to propose a business analyst role in your firm.

But not all job situations provide the same opportunities. Some BAs find themselves looking outside their organization for their first BA jobs. If that’s you, you’ll want to read more about our business analyst job search process.

Showcase Your Business Analyst Skills in Your Resume

You’ll want to prepare a business analyst resume, that highlights your transferable business analysis skills and career experiences.

 Prepare for the BA Job Interview

Prepare for business analyst job interviews by being ready to share specific stories and examples related to your business analysis work experience. I share more about how to do this – even if you’ve never held the BA title and have no “official” BA experience in this video:

Be Open to Transitional Opportunities on Your Path to Becoming a Business Analyst

And if your transferable skills assessment came up a bit short, you may need to explore a transitional role to lead you on the path to BA. Focus on roles where you are working on projects or interacting with business analysts in some way. Start to build up more transferable business analysis skills, while you expand your business analyst skill set through professional development training opportunities.

Not sure where to start? Here are 13 jobs that can lead to business analysis.

>>Plan Your Next Step to Become a Business Analyst with our Free Workshop

While this is a lot of information, you might be wondering exactly what steps you can take. We offer a free Quick Start to Success workshop  that will help you figure out your next step. And before you move on – be sure keep scrolling for answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive about becoming a business analyst.

How to Become a Business Analyst – Frequently Asked Questions

You might be thinking that these steps don’t apply to you because {fill in the blank here}. I’ve corresponded with hundreds of aspiring business analysts as part of my online courses and helped many successfully make this transition (just check out our list of success stories).

What follows is a list of concerns and questions that most commonly come up and how to address them.

How do I become a business analyst if I’m unemployed?

If you are unemployed, focus your efforts on step 2 and use the results of this analysis to update your resume and strengthen your positioning for BA jobs. If you are still not able to qualify for a small slice of business analysis roles and your timeline to find a job is short, refocus your job search on transitional roles. If your timeline is longer, you may consider investing in step 4 as a business analyst volunteer.

How do I become a business analyst if I just graduated from college with a degree in business analysis?

If you are a recent college grad, you can still use these steps. In any given location, there are often a select few organizations that actively recruit recent college graduates into entry-level business analyst roles. Find them and apply!

If you worked through college or actively leveraged internship opportunities, you may have adequate experience to invest some time in step 2 and qualify yourself for a role requiring 2-3 years of experience. (For more information on how this works, read Eric’s transition story – he landed a BA job just 7 months out of college.)

If neither of these options works out for you, consider investing a few years in a transitional role working your way towards a business analysis, particularly focusing on step 4 above, and then working your way back through the 5 steps.

Here’s a full tutorial on starting with an entry-level business analyst role.

How do I become a business analyst if I have my MBA? 

While it might give you an extra edge in your positioning, but it’s not a silver bullet into business analysis. If you participated in real-world projects as part of your MBA, then analyze those using step 2. And also be sure to heavily leverage the professional network you built during your MBA as part of your job search in step 5.

If you pursued your MBA right after your bachelor’s, refer to my answer above. If you pursued your MBA mid-career, be sure to go through all 5 steps as it’s likely you have a lot of experience to draw from. And ask your employer for opportunities to apply your MBA and build relevant professional experiences (see step 4).

What training do I need to become a business analyst?

Good question. Look for training opportunities that help you build your business analysis skills AND expand your experience and covers the foundational skills in business process analysis, software requirements analysis, data modeling, and an end-to-end approach to a project as a business analyst.

Our flagship offering –  The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program – covers all of these skill areas and offers practical, results-oriented content and learning.

You’ll leave the program with instructor-vetted work samples and real-world experience as a business analyst.

How can I become a business analyst if I don’t have IT skills and experience?

You don’t need to be able to code to be a business analyst! If you are going to be a BA on an IT project, you will need a technical understanding, but you don’t need to know how to code or create software.

Here’s a post describing the difference and why we see technical skills in BA jobs.

Here are the technical skills and understanding you do need to be successful as a business analyst, which include:

• The ability to analyze and specify functional/software requirements in use cases and wireframes.
• The ability to model data and specify data requirements
• The ability to ask good questions about what the technology can do and what the business wants it to do.

How can I become a business analyst if I don’t have business domain expertise?

Business domain expertise is a leverage point and many aspiring BAs are very successful at leveraging expertise in a particular domain to find their first BA position. But if you don’t have expertise in a particular domain, it doesn’t mean that you can’t become a BA, it just means that you need to focus on the opportunities where business domain expertise is not such an important qualification.

At times this can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. But believe me, the opportunities are there. Keep working away at step 4 and putting your feelers out. An opportunity will surface for you.

>> Get Your Quick Start to Success to Become a Business Analyst

Earn the respect you deserve and get the insider details on how to get into a business analyst career quickly, with our free Quick Start to Success training. You’ll learn how to avoid the most common pitfalls faced by new business analysts and the step-by-step business analysis process to create predictable, consistent project success.

> Click here to register for the free training today <<

What we love about Michelle’s story is how she was already a business analyst, but knew The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program would provide her with the skills she needed to solidify her skillset and gain the confidence she needed. 

In this interview, you’ll discover: 

• Why Michelle chose The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program over other training options. 
• The specific skills and lessons that Michelle learned through the program that gave her confidence in her senior role. 
• The templates and tools Michelle uses in her job to provide structure and clarity for the leadership team. 

Beverly Sudbury: Good day. I’m Beverly Sudbury, an instructor with Bridging The Gap. And today I am very happy to be here with Michelle Bosomworth, from Southwestern Ontario, who is currently working as a senior business process analyst in the cybersecurity industry.

Today Michelle is going to share with us her journey and show how her participation in the Business Analysis Blueprint Program contributed to her success. 

Hello, Michelle. Welcome.  

Michelle Bosomworth: Hi Beverly. Thank you. 

Beverly Sudbury: Hi. Thank you so much for being here to share your story. I really appreciate it.  

Michelle Bosomworth: Yes, I’m happy to. Thank you.  

Beverly Sudbury: Thank you. So shall we get started?  

Michelle Bosomworth: Sure. Let’s go.  

Beverly Sudbury: Okay. Can you take us back to late 2020, early 2021 just before you joined the Bridging The Gap program for the certification? Where were you in your career at that time and what were you looking to achieve? 

Michelle Bosomworth: Sure. A couple years ago, well, actually five or six years ago, I started as a business process analyst. It was a mid-career change for me. Previously, I had studied journalism and I had been working as a copywriter and a technical editor for some software and non-profits and working on a lot of process documentation in my role on those teams. 

I had this opportunity. There was a reorg in my team at my job at the time where I had this opportunity to work on some strategic and process-related initiatives coming up. A year or two ago, that’s where I was. I was working on some process initiatives, mostly related to our technical documentation process and the tools that we use with the vendor. 

Also, I had the opportunity to build from scratch a new translation process working with our vendor and our internal teams on how to translate our software UI strings and our technical documentation. That was an interesting project because I was able to look at all of the different facets – the stakeholders, the processes, the tools, and also the money. The end result there was over a few years, we were able to realize some hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings just by streamlining this process.  

Going back to 2020, that’s kind of where I was. I had been working on these initiatives for a couple of years. I was hoping to move into a more senior role and work on some more strategic initiatives. I was very happy to have the opportunity to be promoted to a senior role, about this time a year ago, actually, just before the Blueprint started.

What I was looking for with the blueprint program was to sharpen some skills that I already had, but mostly learn some new ones and get some tips and tricks. And also some of the modules were related to some areas that I hadn’t really gone deep into. So, I wanted to learn more about those and grow in that area.  

The key thing that I liked about the Blueprint, because I had attended many of the information sessions in the past was the targeting of people in that career transition and how to grow their capacity as a business analyst. 

That was really exciting to me and the idea of getting a business analyst certification at the end of it and going through all of that hard project work at the end was very enticing to me. I’m really happy to have attained that certification.  

Beverly Sudbury: Sounds like quite a journey you had even before you began with us. It sounds like you did achieve a lot which really is very beneficial, I’m sure to how that helped you through the modules in the program. 

Michelle Bosomworth: Sure. Yeah. The first module with business process analysis, that was sort of my bread and butter because that’s the one I had the most workplace experience in up to that point in time. But then as they progressed, I was really happy to dive deeper and deeper into the different levels of data with the other modules and grow my experience there.

The key thing is although I work within the engineering and QA department at my company in my role, I’m not a very super technical person. I am coming more from the communications and the business side of things, the strategy and the focus on customer experience and user satisfaction. What I really liked about as the modules progressed, my ability to learn more and more about how to better understand and talk to the technical side of the business. 

Being situated there in the middle as a business analyst, the certification program provided a lot of value and insights for me there.  

Beverly Sudbury: Yes. And I know one of the things, because I was very fortunate to be able to talk with you during the program and work with you. One of the things you quite often mentioned was you were gaining confidence and you were excited about how you could implement these new skills. 

Michelle Bosomworth: Yes.  

Beverly Sudbury: What was the biggest thing that helped you gain that confidence within the course?  

Michelle Bosomworth: The confidence, the workbooks, they really take you to deep levels of a project and planning and thinking about it. So the more that I focused on the questions and the tasks and being really thorough in my answers, and I was working on a project that I’m trying to bring to life right now with my workbooks, that really…the more you work on those skills through that thinking process, I think the confidence just comes naturally because you are more immersed in the content and you’re getting feedback.

Listening to my peers in the program in the instructor hours or in the online lessons, the workshops, that was super valuable to me, too, because I could learn from other people and I could also see where people are experiencing similar challenges to what I was facing at the time. Just knowing that I wasn’t alone and that I was part of a community in this program and the feedback, especially, your feedback in the program was very thorough and very helpful because it really provided some thought-provoking questions that I had to really think, okay, I have to be more specific here. I need to be more clear here to communicate what I needed to communicate to the intended audience of that task. I think over time, the confidence grew. 

Beverly Sudbury: And that’s a good thing to hear, and I’m glad to hear that you’ve mentioned the thinking because business analysis is a very big thinking job and a job that we really need to analyze, for lack of a better word, what we’re trying to achieve. And it sounds like you were able to utilize a lot of the resources that were available from the Blueprint to help you with that. It sounds like you really were invested in this particular program. I appreciate that feedback because that’s really great to hear.  

Michelle Bosomworth: Yes. I love to learn and the modules were really clear and easy to follow. And the transcripts, you could go back and highlight the things you needed to make sure you were going to focus on when completing the workbook. The resources, the templates, many of them I’m using in my project work today. And I expect to pull them out of my toolbox on future projects when they fit the bill.  

The thinking piece, it really, having a live project that I was working on really enhanced that, too, for me, because I was able to really think about the situation that I was trying. It’s like a puzzle. What are these pieces I’m trying to put together? How can that puzzle, when it is put together, provide a really clear picture for the audience and the stakeholders that I’m trying to address in my work? That, I found a lot of value in. 

Beverly Sudbury: Very good. It sounds like you’ve got a little toolbox prepared for your future projects, which is a fantastic tool to have.  

Michelle Bosomworth: Yeah. I love to draw out those templates and the things that we learned in the last module, the master class, that really brought everything together because so much of the other modules was around the data and very specific tasks. This one was end to end process and focused, too, a lot on the business analysts role in that whole process and how they can prepare and pull off a successful project. I really appreciated having that template of a process to follow, as well, in my work.  

Beverly Sudbury: Very good. You’ve completed and you’ve received your ACBA certification, which is fantastic. Congratulations again. 

Michelle Bosomworth: Thank you. 

Beverly Sudbury: It sounds like you’re utilizing the teachings and the skills from the course. How is that benefiting your career now and your job now?  

Michelle Bosomworth: Sure. My peers and my manager are aware that I was participating in the program. They were very helpful in contributing at the points along the way in the process. How that’s benefiting me now is I have good communication with my stakeholders. I think it helps to elevate us respect, mutual respect for the roles that we play.  

I also feel, back to the confidence factor, I’m able to bring a lot more to the table, maybe, that I’m aware of that I’m doing that as opposed to before, serving up good strategic options, delivering solutions. I feel like confidence is a key piece of it, but I also now have a better clear vision of what I’m delivering with each project.  

I think I get good feedback from my peers and I feel like the way some of the templates and tools, the lessons talk about with agenda setting and hosting meetings, so stakeholder interactions and how to provide value. That also, ultimately, helps enhance those relationships as well.  

A lot of it is about communicating whether it’s on the page or in person. And I think that I was able to enhance a lot of the skills that I already had and learn a few tips and tricks and new ones during the program that I’m able to continue growing with, as we move along. Yeah.  

Beverly Sudbury: Good. It sounds from what you said, you said your coworkers are noticing your improvements as well. I imagine that they are congratulating you. You said you were getting feedback. Are you getting that congratulatory type of feedback saying you’ve improved greatly? 

Michelle Bosomworth: Yeah. In some meetings you might get called out to say, “Thank you for this job well done,” or, performance review time comes along and it’s great to see some of the feedback you get in a performance evaluation from your manager and peer feedback that may be communicated to you through that process. 

My teammates will come to me for help with certain question now. I’m starting to work with some different teams related to the beta program. That is my primary project right now. So I’m working with some new stakeholders, but I feel like I may also have just sort of their trust from the get-go, because I have a track record of success till now. The proof is in the pudding as they say. Right.  

Beverly Sudbury: It sounds like you’re doing very well, and it sounds like a lot of the skills and a lot of the items you’ve learned have really helped you with your success. So congratulations on that, Michelle. That’s fantastic. 

Michelle Bosomworth: Yeah. Thank you. I sort of landed into business analysis six or seven years ago, just sort of by the organizational change and this role being available. But I really feel like I’ve landed into a spot that I can really grow and thrive in. I really love it so much. I’m excited about expanding and growing and working on more and bigger projects because it is really an exciting area to be in. 

Beverly Sudbury: Very good. We’ve touched a lot on how the business analysis program has actually helped you and how it’s actually benefited your career. If you hadn’t taken the program, where do you think you’d be right now?  

Michelle Bosomworth: Well, I think I would be doing a lot of self-discovery, watching YouTube videos and looking up resources online. I wouldn’t say floundering a bit, but do you know what I mean? You just sort of kind of case by case reacting day-to-day to what you’re doing and trying to do the best you can. I feel now like I have a bit of a more solid roadmap and I have some tried and true tools and methods and templates that I can use to pull off something successful rather than maybe trial and error. 

I have taken other business analyst training courses and watched webinars and YouTube videos along the way, just out of interest and to enhance my skills in some areas. But I feel like this really was a beginning to end, such a valuable experience to go through and to solidify my confidence and my skills, especially in some areas that opened my eyes. 

I didn’t even realize, for example, how beneficial something like the use cases in wire frames or the data modeling could impact sort of a business side project that I’m working on. I’ve been able to integrate some of those elements into the work that I’m doing because I went through and experienced those modules through the program. 

Beverly Sudbury: Great. It sounds like without that hands-on experience of actually doing the modules and doing the workbooks and doing the actual work that was requested. It sounds like it was a lot more beneficial than going and doing it another theory based type of lesson plan.  

Michelle Bosomworth: Yeah. The thing that attracted me to this certification is the hands-on element to it. I am still looking to obtain my professional certification with those more theory based programs. But this one, in terms of hands-on, it was a good exercise and convincing proof to myself, too, that I can get right in the dirt there and go through this process and be successful. That, I think, the hands-on aspect is a really nice element to an experience to have. 

Beverly Sudbury: Sounds fantastic. Now, you’ve gone through the course. You’ve been very successful and you’re seeing great results in your career now, which is all fantastic. What type of advice would you give to someone who is maybe starting out in their career or like you, was transitioning from maybe a mid-level career or start out of a BA career into a more senior role? 

Michelle Bosomworth: I guess I would say have fun with it. Be confident in yourself. Explore it. Even if you just have a little tiny bit of confidence, let that confidence grow. Give yourself the opportunity to explore. If this is a profession or job role that you’re interested in, then explore it. Because business analysis isn’t really just only a title, right?

People in multiple different careers perform aspects of business analysis, and it can really, really enhance your contributions to any type of project. I would just say have confidence and have fun with it and explore it because I’m really happy that I did. I just find the value really tremendous.  

Beverly Sudbury: Fantastic. Thank you, Michelle.  

Michelle Bosomworth: Thanks.  

Beverly Sudbury: I do appreciate your time here today. It was really fantastic hearing about your story and how much you enjoyed going through the Blueprint program and how much you enjoyed learning the new to you materials. Fantastic. Is there anything else you would like to leave us with for some final words?  

Michelle Bosomworth: Just that I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciated the learning experience with both the instructors and my peers in the program and the lessons. They’re really valuable lessons that I can go back to when I need them. I’m really happy. I’m really proud to have attained the ACBA certification. Yeah. Thank you.  

Beverly Sudbury: Thank you so much, Michelle. And thank you, again, for your time today. It was really an honor to speak to you and hear about your journey throughout your career. I do really appreciate your time. Thank you so much. 

Michelle Bosomworth: Thanks, Beverly. It’s been lovely talking to you too. Thank you. 

Beverly Sudbury: Thank you so much.  

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills (And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes.

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

What we love about Wendell’s story is that, similar to many course students, he wasn’t aware that he was already performing business analysis work in his work as a project manager. Through the help of a recruiter friend, he joined the program to showcase his value to his superiors.  

In this interview, you’ll discover: 

• Wendell’s journey of becoming a business analyst 
• How Wendell uses the skills, knowledge, and templates from the program practically in his career 
• The confidence Wendell has gained knowing he has the skill set and templates to serve the stakeholders and directors well 

Andrea Wilson: Welcome. I am Andrea Wilson with Bridging the Gap. I am here today with Wendell White, who was a participant in our 2021 Blueprint program. Hello Wendell.

Wendell White: Hi  Andrea. How are you?

Andrea Wilson: I am doing well. How are you today?

Wendell White: I’m awesome. Thank you.

Andrea Wilson: Fantastic. Very glad to have you. We’re here to kind of talk about where you’ve been, where you’re going, what’s changed for you. So I’d like to start out kind of talking about your career. Will you tell me a little bit about you and your career?

Wendell White: I will. Primarily I’ve been, for the past 20 or so years, and I’d say off and on a project manager. I started off like most, coming out of the college, just in the business world, working in technology, and I had a knack for computers and computer science in which I majored in while in college. I never knew it was something that I had a passion for or a skill until some others told me.

And for me, it was all about getting certifications and computers when it came to Microsoft certification and so forth. I would learn how to use a number of tools that I realized I was helping businesses manage projects. So I deemed myself early on as a project manager, really not knowing what managing a project was all about. But as I kept doing it, I went on and sought, further, more formal education in terms of managing projects. I’d like to say, in some cases, I felt rather good at it, rather accomplished at it, at least many of the people that I reported to said I did a good job, whether it be in their operations department or different various departments, but I’ve always had different titles.

So, as I looked at growing my career and furthering my career, and I’ve always been a believer in education. In most cases, I always look for the company to put together an educational track for me. However, when it came to the world of analyzing business or business analysts, I really didn’t know much about it. However, I thought I knew more than I really knew. It took a colleague of mine, someone I went to college with, to let me know she knew that I had been a project manager for a number of years, and she said one day, “Have you ever thought about being a business analyst?” And my response was, “I’d never be a business analyst.”

I worked with them all the time because as was a project manager, I would work with them, but I realized in the projects that I was managing, there were two things that I didn’t capture very well in my own personal career. One, I manage every project in a traditional manner. And I never knew what was coming when agile projects came into play and there were more changes than I was comfortable with. It was a business analyst that I didn’t realize her title at the time, but she was the business analyst that I was assigned to work with. And as she was putting together functional requirements documents, she put a 70-page functionals document in place. And I think she did it in a, maybe about 14 days, which it would have taken me by myself, maybe six to eight months to do. And I had no idea how she got accomplished that.

So after realizing what she had done, and this was years ago, I kept the requirements documentation because it was so well put together. I just could not figure out how she put it together and the way that she put it together. And it made me look at my requirements gathering process that typically I would do myself. And again, I thought that was a little bit more accomplished than I really was in pulling requirements. And I’ve looked at some of my documents and projects that I had in the past and I realized I could have done things a lot better. And even though most of the projects that I completed, they were typically under budget and within the guidelines.

However, I just realized they could have been better. So rather than me looking for a company organization to improve that, I just took what my friend was sharing with me in terms of to look at the business analyst route to see what really that was all about. That led me to wanting to get certified in analyzing business, because I’ve said, okay, well, I’ll get certified. As I was going down the path of getting certified, the same person that said, “Hey, look at it.” She said, “Hey, look at this company here.” And it was Laura Brandenburg’s Bridging the Gap program that she sent me over an email and I was amazed because I said, well, here’s a program that rather than me studying for, I say the initials, which is great. Here was a program that was in place that would actually give me hands-on learning and business analyst training.

And at the time, and which I’m currently today, a project manager, I was hired as a project manager. I was hired for a new project. And the first thing that I realized on the project was right around the time I was looking at the Bridging the Gap program, the first thing that I noticed was I’d asked the manager I was to report to what projects will we be working on? And the first thing he says, “Well, we don’t have any projects.” So I was left at a loss because I knew they had hired and I was sent over as a project manager, but they didn’t have any projects. So we had conversation. I explained that and I realized maybe two weeks into it that they needed a business analyst and the company had business analysts, but they had spent their budget on a project manager that, yes, I’m a competent project manager managing, but they didn’t have projects, necessarily, to manage.

So I took it upon myself to tell the company that since you don’t have any projects, I’ll work with the business analyst. And again, since they didn’t have one assigned, I took on the role of learning how to be a business analyst. And again, learning about the Bridging the Gap program, for me, it was timely because as I was receiving information from Bridging the Gap, it was giving me sort of the structure and understanding and the deliverables the company wanted and many of the things that I was learning and doing in class with Bridging the Gap, I would take those assignments and got to customize them to my job and what I was doing with the company that I was contracted to work with.

And it worked out really well outside of the fact that many of the things that I was learning in the Bridging the Gap class, the company, they loved it, but they weren’t at a pace to keep up with the pace of the class.

Andrea Wilson: Interesting.

Wendell White: That kept it going. And again, many of the processes that I learned with the Bridging the Gap program I’m implementing to this day. The documents that I put in our corporate Wiki site and in different pages, senior level representatives of company, they’re noticing that Wendell, myself, had done this months ago when I was in the class and I would actually put it in the Wiki in terms of here’s a pathway, let’s follow this pathway. So we’re kind of catching up now.

I’ve practiced many of the things with the Bridging the Gap program that I learned to kind of get me to where I am today. And that is, again, as a project manager, which I love being a project manager. I’ve opened my eyes and my career, and I look at more opportunities and I feel more accomplished that pursuing those opportunities that now look for business analysts to perform at a certain level of function. So I look to kind of bring my business analyst skills up along with my project management skills in these agile environments that I continue to find myself in.

Andrea Wilson: Sweet. That sounds like quite the journey there. So you started out as a project manager and you were doing some project management and you had this other person that had some BA skills and kind of opened your eyes to what it could be. And maybe a little hungry for more is what it sounds like.

Wendell White: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And the person that did the documentation of the functional requirements documentation, again, from 10 years ago she, too, was a project manager. However, she was trained and certified as a business analyst that I found out and we keep in contact. But that’s different from the person that introduced me to the Bridging the Gap program.

Andrea Wilson: All right. So tell me a little bit more about how you got introduced to Bridging the Gap, and what led you to pursue the ACBA business analyst certification?

Wendell White: The program was introduced by a friend in an email that had knew, for the longest, I had been a project manager. However, in me pursuing managing projects, I would say I got a little bored. And not only did I get a little bored in pursuing projects, I think projects were not… more of the projects that I found myself on, there was something wrong with project management world, and I just kind of wanted to take a hiatus from it. And it was during that time that COVID had come about and a lot of the companies and corporations were shutting down their offices and so many meetings are going on.

So, while I wasn’t necessarily pursuing any more tasks or jobs or contracts in terms of managing projects, she had sent me over an email, and I’m not exactly sure. I believe she was in the process of learning to become a business analyst, but she had somehow come across the Bridging the Gap program. I don’t know how she came across it in her world and what she does. She works from home and works as a recruiter. I didn’t know how, but she had sent me that information.

A matter of fact, I just thought. She was helping me as a recruiter find job opportunities that was outside of being a project manager. And I remember telling her that I wasn’t a business analyst. However, she kept sharing with me how there are so many opportunities out there that as she would say, they were requiring field’s that she knew I had. So, I kept reminding her because she had my resume and my curriculum vitae, that I’m a project manager, but she kept insisting that, “No, you do business analyst work,” and she’s looking at it on my resume.

So I said, “Okay, well send it over,” because I really didn’t feel that I was a business analyst. So when she sent me over the information for Bridging the Gap, I listened to, it was an introductory, maybe like a precursor class to Bridging the Gap, but it wasn’t the program. But for me, because if I want to learn something, when it made sense to not go directly for  certification, because certification would give me a certification. You take a test. And I know it’s a very difficult test. I believe I had a conversation with someone from Bridging the Gap. I don’t remember her name, out of Iowa, about my path. And it was a conversation with her that she said you know, yes, you can take a certification and get the letters.

Yeah, of course, if you passed it’s a difficult exam. She said you may want to take a look at this course. And in taking a look at the course, it was at the beginning of the year. Now I believe it was at the end of the year because I said, well, if I’m going to take a course, I wanted to make sure I had a way to pay for the course in terms of if it’s going to enhance my business. So, I just took account and followed Laura’s process of just getting a precursory look at the, Bridging the Gap program and then have a conversation with one of the Bridging the Gap employees just about what it is when the wants.

And it was a combination of that. And for me, because it wasn’t so much of me getting the letters. I truly wanted to learn how business analyst went about going into a business, going into a company and systematically, with a process in mind, that you can follow. I’m a process person. I said what better way, particularly when it was hands-on. And I knew if it’s, hands-on it’s a matter of me putting in the effort to show up for class, take the assignments, complete the assignments, but also at the same time complete your job.

Because again, I was hired as a project manager and I just think it was a bit of luck that I found the program and completed the program, stuck with the program and got frustrated with the program because it was a lot of work, but thoroughly enjoyed the learning that it took me through.

Andrea Wilson: There is a lot to the program. You mentioned kind of having that need for the formal education as you moved yourself along your career and wanting to know what, you know, and have something that says that, you know, what you know. And the program is built that way. Right? So there is a lot of work. It does produce some really good fruit, right?

So I hear confidence that it sounds like in the beginning, maybe we’re a little shaky about, maybe your friend pointed out to you that, hey, you’ve got some BA skills here and you said, “Oh, I’m a PM,” and you’ve worked along and you’ve worked along and you started the program and you realize, hey, maybe some of these are transferable skills. What are some of the things that you saw that maybe your friend was saying, and that, perhaps, you’d already had some experience with that once you got into the program, you thought, okay, this makes sense? Now that we have some framework to work in, what are some of the transferable skills that you came across?

Wendell White: What immediately comes to mind is because I’ve gotten into a habit of managing projects, you go into an organization and, again, with the company that I’m kind of attracted with, it’s a fortune 500 company rather than a large company. You need a certain level. I knew I had the confidence when it came to managing projects, but I really was sort of thrown off guard when the director said there are no projects and I knew there were projects.

So for me, I always knew for any company I’ve ever worked with, any project, I hit it hard first. And there was a portion in the Bridging the Gap program that kind of admonished against, hey, you guys, you want to jump in fast. I never thought it was important, and this is funny because it crinkly is important. I’d never thought it was important to sort of hone in on the, as is current state. I knew it’s kind of tell me what direction you want to go, where you want to be and work towards that. And I remember the first day of a project early in my career, and I kept this as a habit, was I hit the ground running and I always want to jump out the door and identify the stakeholders as we’re in the process of putting together a charter document.

That’s the first thing you do when initiating it. And one of the young ladies that I was working with, this was years ago, she had a question in terms of why I was going to meet these people to put together a stakeholder management plan or just to gather stakeholders. And I thought it was natural, but it was the Bridging the Gap program that made me realize, Wendell, the only reason you’re kind of identifying these stakeholders is because of these things called requirements, which I know what a requirement is, I know how important it is. I just didn’t know how to systematically get there.

And the young lady that refused to go from department to department, I could not convince her and explained to her, then, what I was doing. And it was the Bridging the Gap program that at least put in front of me, well, this is what you’re doing, and that is when you are putting together a charter document and putting together and listing out those stakeholders, you’re pulling together the information.

It’s going to come into the requirements and the objectives that the company and overall is going toward, while at the same time, you’re documenting where they are today and sort of keeping them along throughout the path from initiating to planning, to executing and ultimately closing either a phase or a project. So those were the transferable skills in terms of, I knew sort of, I kind of had an understanding of what to do, why I was doing it. The Bridging the Gap program, in my opinion, sort of put it together just in a more academic process that I could understand. And now I can actually document it.

And if I am meeting or doing, let’s say trying to put together a focus group, before putting together the focus group I learned from the Bridging the Gap program, why not send out a memo first or an email first indicating what type of meeting, what you want to accomplish with the meeting, who you plan to be there, and leave some of those assets in place prior to the meeting before just showing up? And if you look at any of my projects in the past, I really was the guy to knock on the door and show up and I didn’t have an outline in place. But again, in the past we’ve managed to get through it. I just think I kind of learned to get through in an efficient way.

Andrea Wilson: So that framework that was provided through the process allowed you to recognize, okay, we need to stop and get oriented. Right? That’s one of the big things that comes out of the program. Thank you so much for making that observation. That’s one of the big things that Bridging the Gap does is to share that framework with you and help you to kind of figure out how to get organized, right, instead of just jumping off the deep end in the beginning and getting down in the weeds of things, standing back, getting oriented, acclimating yourself to who’s, who.

What does the business want? And getting to know what’s going on here? What is the as-is process? And let’s think about a methodical way of approaching gathering these requirements. Those are great takeaways from the program. You kind of jumped the gun here because my next question was which module really resonated with you? It sounds like that initial business process analysis, as well as that kind of essentials at the end of bringing anything together. But is there anything else that really resonated with you? Any other module? We talked about use case and wireframes, data modeling. Anything that stood out and resonated with you?

Wendell White: To be honest, yes. It’s hard to say which one, and what I mean by that is. In managing projects in the company that I’m with every module, we’re in the middle of implementing and working through now. So my natural the section with the ERDs, because I’ve done in the past, data transitions and system migrations. I’ve done that in the past. So for me, kind of being, I say a past computer guy and kind of one of the reasons I moved away from being the computer guy is because I did find that I liked being a people person.

So where my natural is, yes, migrating systems and building code. With the current project that I’m on now, I’ve been asked to code and develop. I’ve been asked to migrate systems. And, again, they hired a project manager that just kind of made me realize they have no idea of their as-is state. So that gave me an opportunity to sort of dig into the module to understand how important is the as-is state, the current state and understanding there’s a difference between the as-is and the future state.

So, why enjoy the opportunity that the company has given me to sort of pull it apart a little bit in terms of the company. They’re buying new systems. They’re getting new software programs. I have a product owner that’s doing something. It’s the Bridging the Gap program that at least allowed me to step back, put a process in place that I was able to share with the director, really with the sponsor to say, as long as we stick to the process that I’ve put in place, and the only reason I was able to come up with the process to give them and feel really confident that it’s a process that works, if we follow it, was the Bridging the Gap program.

And I will admit one of the comments you had made in one of the projects that I turned in; I forget which module. We were about to have a big meeting and you had put in your notes, make sure you ask these questions. And it was the set of questions that I do have someone that’s an influencer in the group that really doesn’t like to answer questions and really likes to get through a meeting very quickly.

I remember keeping the meeting a little bit longer than usual saying, hey, I have to get these questions answered before we move on. And they were really critical questions to where we were trying to go. So, I really can’t say I had a particular module that I enjoyed because in all honesty ,my goal when the class ended, was to get to the level of super BA status. And that is where I want people in the group, in the company that I work for now to ask, “Hey, Wendell, you put it in a number of processes, we appreciated you working with us. It was rough, but we want you to actually work with this team.” So that’s the piece that I kind of want to get to eventually deploy all the different modules with the company that I’m with, because again, they are going, literally through every aspect, every module within the Bridging the Gap program that you guys laid out.

Andrea Wilson: That’s awesome. I’m super glad to hear that. I like that super BA status and it sounds like you’re getting some really good feedback from your senior business folks. I read some of the comments that you mentioned about gaining some foundational knowledge and then gaining that confidence. It sounds like you’re sharing some of the documents that you built. So you got some hands-on experience and you are using that in your workplace. So you got kind of a bonus and able to do that through the ACBA program.

You’ve mentioned meeting agendas. Isn’t that awesome to have those agendas to help you to get off the ground in your meetings and to do that preparation. So it’s great. It does sound like you got a lot from that section as well. Having those agendas before you had these meetings, whether it was a discovery or to go over something existing. So, I’m glad to hear that those artifacts are working for you. Any tips or tricks?

Wendell White: Well, I will mention the process flow diagram. That’s the document, I believe, that’s the first module. That’s the document that we had, large company had a process flow, and I know that it was in a different department and I noticed their process flow diagram. It was put together by a senior BA. It had no swim lanes and it needed swim lanes, but again, it was a different department. It wasn’t my job. However, the department that I was reporting to was in the process of putting a process flow in place. It was just by fate that the Bridging the Gap program started that module first.

That was the one document that I will say I enjoy it because again, when I was provided my laptop and all the information with the company, it had most of the programs I’ve worked with in the past, particularly Visio. However, I’ve never done a process flowchart with swim lane diagrams before until Bridging the Gap. I’ve used Visio for a number of years. I don’t know how.

But long story short, I put together the process flow that really the following year, meaning this year in 2022, they adopted that process flow that I’d put out there in the Wiki. And it was my assignment that I turned into Bridging the Gap because Laura and the team did a very thorough job in just putting together the process flow diagram, putting together the legend, putting together the information out there that allowed sort of a new team, even though Bridging the Gap was working with me, it allowed the new team to see, okay, how did we come up with this end document, which is the process flow diagram.

And I was able to walk the entire team through a process flow diagram with minimal modifications. But we now have an actual process flow diagram for an engineering group with the company that I work for that’s able to look at it, work toward it, improve it and gain that buy-in that I learned from the Bridging the Gap program. So many things that I have to tell you that the program put together in a very short period of time. But again, I only say that because we only have you guys from what, August to January. It went fast for me though, again, a lot of work, it was longer days for me, but for me, it was a work in process because I was able to use what I was learning real time with the company that I’m currently working with now.

Andrea Wilson: There’s a ton of compliments in there. But I do have to give you one because Bridging the Gap didn’t put together that process flow chart, you did, based on the knowledge that you gained in the program. I’m glad to hear that it is working well for you and the process that you have put together to review that with your stakeholders and your team. It is producing really good fruit for you.

I’m glad to hear that was your work. That was the hands-on work that you did as a part of the program. So kudos to you for sticking to it and building a great product. I did work with you directly. You did work with a lot of the instructors, but I did work with you in reviewing some of that information and you did great work. So thank you for that. Like I said, we got to see some of the feedback after you went through the program, which is the reason we really wanted to talk to you. We like working with the participants, seeing where they came from, where they’re going.

What’s next? So any tips, advice you’d like to give to anyone that might be following your footsteps?

Wendell White: Yeah, the tips I would say is follow the process, follow the program. I do think an apply type of program, it’s almost ingenious to take to, literally, have just hands on work. And I just think that’s difficult to do in how the program put it together. It just makes sense. It flows.

Tips? Like I said, I believe the program sends out information that’s accessible. You can access it at any of the time of the day or night. So for me, a lot of times, yes, I did have to download the audio and I did listen to it while I was at work, but I felt good about listening to it at work. Not that I was not doing my job, but it was helping me improve what I was turning in to my senior level managers and so forth. So, so for me, I just say stick with the program and be open to maybe a little bit of a different way of obtaining a certification.

And yes, the certifications are great. And if anything, I would say if there was a little bit more time where I haven’t had an opportunity to really tell anyone about The Bridging the Gap program and the certification because I just have a lot of work that the company has me doing and it takes me a while just to at least relax and say, “Hey, you know what? I got the certification. I think is pretty cool.” And there are a lot of opportunities out there for business analysts that really know what they’re doing in terms of understanding that it is a process. It’s doable. It just takes a little bit of learning.

Andrea Wilson: Nice. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you. We’ve gotten where we wanted to go here. Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

Wendell White: No, just, I look forward to getting the emails and I think I still get a few emails from you guys and  learning even more Bridging the Gap II, the sequel. But again, my pursuit, like I said, I do remember in the program the super BA status, quite possibly just events. Actually, I do think one day we’ll get in the training and it would probably more be on the BA side than the project management side only because I do enjoy and starting to kind of really understand that whole BA stuff.

Andrea Wilson: Well, I’m glad we could be a part of starting your BA career, that you’ve had an opportunity to go through the program, that you’re seeing success from the program. And maybe thinking about doing some training as a BA yourself. Bridging the Gap works to build the business analyst career one business analyst at a time, and we’re glad to see the success that you’re having.

Wendell White: Wow. Nice.

Andrea Wilson: All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Wendell White: You’re welcome.

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills (And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes.

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

What we love about Stephanie’s story is how the program provided her with concrete, quantifiable skills to increase her value to her clients no matter what the project is.

In this interview, you’ll discover how:

• The program provided Stephanie with the proper training so she could stop ad-hocking her business skills together through online searches.
• Stephanie adapted to complete the program despite various life circumstances coming up.
• Stephanie uses the skills she learned in the program to better serve her contract clients.

Michael: Hi everybody. This is Michael with Bridging the Gap, one of the instructors here. Today I am here with Stephanie Belhomme. She is one of our previous participants. She is currently a Salesforce business analyst and is joining us from New Jersey. We’re going to get a little bit into her journey with the program. But first of all we want to thank Stephanie for joining us and give her a chance to say hello.

Stephanie: Hi, everyone. Pleasure to be here. And thank you, Michael and team at Bridging the Gap for the invitation. One side bit, I am both a business analyst and a Salesforce admin. So I can’t drop my admin cred.

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. That had a big part of your project as well. We definitely need to include that for sure. Awesome. I am pretty excited to learn a little bit more about your journey, even though I know quite a bit because I was your instructor, but I also want to hear a little bit more about your story along that journey from your perspective as well.

My first question for you today is to take us back to last year and tell us about before you joined The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program where were you at in your career and what were you looking to achieve by joining this program?

Stephanie: Sure. I would have to go back a little bit further than that to when Laura Brandenburg and Bridging the Gap sort of hit my radar.

It had to be during my most major contract within a corporate environment. And it was somewhere between 2019 when I started and then late 2020 when I ended. Definitely in the midst of that or a little bit before that Laura hit my radar. I ended up watching a couple of her YouTube videos and she just stuck. I just kept following her content. I think I signed up and would get interesting little tips and blurbs in my email box. Some I would read. But over time, the first resonance just grew more and more, the more I got to hear from her. The thing that hit me with Laura is that she came up with a really succinct, direct way to explain that business analysis is a thing.

Michael: Yes.

Stephanie: It’s a process. You basically brought sanity to a process, because I think I also discovered during our cohort that I wasn’t the only one that was sort of ad hocking and learning these skills in job, in process, or in project. And when you do that and you do that over years, yes, you develop strengths and weaknesses in the overall tools and structure. We’ll talk about this later, but without the cohesive sort of 360 degree view of all of the components, how they work together, how it fits together, you don’t know what you don’t know. Her conversations stuck because it was like, oh wait, I can bring a bit more sanity to the thing that I’m doing. When you’re doing it, you’re sort of neck deep or eyeball deep into a running project and it’s hard.

Michael: Yeah. And when you’re kind of coming into the world of business analysis, a lot of people still don’t understand it. A lot of practitioners are looking for an actual framework. They’re like, I need a BA framework. With Laura being able to outline that eight step business analyst process that you’re referring to, it really adds a lot of clarity. There will be some things that might shift around a little bit, but it really gives a core type of framework for people or a guide for people to kind of go through the process and feel like they kind of have some way to navigate through this whole thing.

Stephanie: Right, exactly. And to touch on that just a little bit. I ended up going full all in into the Salesforce ecosystem because of the first company that I was working at, a nonprofit that had Salesforce. And I ended up doing all of the business analysis work along with a bunch of other factors and a bunch of IT things going on at once that I helped sort of get a handle on. But I didn’t realize that I was doing business analysis work until much later in my Salesforce journey to get more experience. And then when I hit Laura’s class, it was like, “Oh, my God. I’ve been doing this for a long time and didn’t know.”

Michael: That’s what that’s called.

Stephanie: Right. Before the people I worked with didn’t have names for all this stuff, but yeah.

Michael: And, and you know what? That’s so common. I think that’s one of the most. The, one of the funnest part about being in this line of work is I love when people get that aha moment and are like, “Oh, that’s what it’s called? I’ve been doing that.” Or, “Oh, I can start doing this, then make this and get this result.” I think that’s very common and we always love to hear that part.

Stephanie: And it’s funny. The last thing I’ll say about it is that Laura would mention this in her videos, but there was something that was more impactful being in the cohort and in the class that you really got that this is a multi-disciplinary, multi-sector, multi-industry skill. She would point out too, this is a high value skill. But I knew it from my Salesforce work, but then again, being in our cohort and seeing the diversity of people and practitioners from all kinds of industries, like, oh yeah. Six figures, high value, business bottom line return on investment, costs and savings culture. All of it.

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. And we’re thankful for that. That’s what we’re here for is to allow people to recognize that they are valuable and they can, hopefully the business analyst certification program is going to allow you to command more. Like, yeah, this is what I’m able to do. How can you help me? So great. That’s awesome.

All right. So let’s talk a little bit about the program. You now have your ACBA. In regard to your success with that, what are some of your key or main takeaways from the program?

Stephanie: Sure. I think the first and biggest one was commitment. That was crucial and huge. As you know, throughout this project, I stumbled upon some significant points of grief and loss. I mean, I think they won. If we put this in the context of the timeline, we did the summer session which started around July and ended in December. I’m, first-generation. Both of my parents are Haitian. In July in the summer, we had the assassination of the president. And I still had family that’s back at home. We have family all over the world, but the family that’s at home, we’re still connected to. So that happened.

And then there were the floods and the earthquakes.

Michael: I remember that. Yeah.

Stephanie: And we’re still going through COVID deaths and things like that as well. Throughout that six-month period, there were these hiccups of I remember that first weekend and I think I typed you an email. I submitted my first module. It was, I want to say shameful, but in context, pathetic. But in context, the best that I could do. And I thought, God, I want to quit before I had even started. How is this going to work.

Michael: But you definitely pushed through. I was so proud of you for persevering and pushing past that. I was like, I don’t know if she’s going to make it, but you did. And I thought that was absolutely awesome because to be going through a program at this level and to be going through the things that you were going through with your family and other loved ones, I think that’s definitely worth noting because that, that was a big, big hiccup and a lot of other people probably could’ve just been like, look, I just can’t do this program right now, but you definitely kept pushing forward. So I’m definitely proud of you for that.

Stephanie: Thank you. And I have to say to your credit and the credit of the team as well, you guys did an excellent job of holding space for me and giving me that gentle push. Not too hard, not too little. Like whatever decision you need to make, we’re here. But it was really very special and very supportive because I think any other group would have been like, “Well, thank you for your money. Peace out. Be well.” But you guys were not that. And I could kind of feel you were gunning for me in the background. You kept your poker face. I didn’t know until now, but it really made a difference. Just the sincerity of the emails. It’s not like anybody wrote me a long love letter, but it was just sort of, this is what we can do. We worked around some things and then it was like, okay, just show up, Stephanie, just show up. And that kind of got me through each piece.

I would say that the second thing that was sort of like neck and neck in terms of challenging was if I go into like the modules and the components of the content, the data dictionary was probably the most. That and the final module, which was the culmination of everything we had done.

And I say that because the final one where even though we had covered everything else prior, right and it was sort of the culmination and we passed with flying colors, so there’s a certain relief, it was really that test of being able to sort of back yourself out of a cul-de-sac of hyper analysis. As an analyst, we like to analyze things and you can overthink something and then make it more difficult than it needs to be. But then being able to be like, okay, let me reference the frame. Let me rethink this. Step back and go back and then look at it like, oh, okay, wait a minute. There’s a simpler way, more elegant way, a more logical way to do this. And then it was literally the test of can I integrate all of these pieces into this one framework?

Michael: Yeah. And I think your perspective is actually pretty common that a lot of people do struggle with the data modeling module the most, because that’s what most business analysts are least familiar with. So yeah, definitely people struggle with that, but also, the final module. The other three modules are much more guided. It’s kind of like, this is right. This is how you do it. It’s a little more like either you do it or you don’t, or you do it correctly or incorrectly, and we give you feedback.

But with that final module, we have to bring everything together. It’s a lot more subjective. It’s more about telling what you did and giving your opinions and thoughts on it. It really requires you to think in a different way. Like, oh, now I have to now have to really put it out there.

Stephanie: And one thing that made it, I guess I won’t say easier because it was hard to do was that as I sort of, doing the summations of each step, it was really easy to see how I could be in a meeting and having to make the business case and defend this position for myself. Or if I had a team, or the other admins on the team would say, “Hey, if we do it this way, it’s going to cost us money. If we do it this way, It’s going to cost us time. If we do it this way and find the middle ground, we might be all much happier.” And it was really sort of, I could see those moments of those conversations, both past ones and future ones.

Michael: Yeah. Wow. Well, yeah, I’m glad. And that’s the thing. We want you to be able to apply the concepts. It’s not a theoretical course. It’s an application course and application and certification. So that’s definitely a relief to hear you say that.

Stephanie: I would say with the data dictionary, the thing that made that one hard that I had encountered that tool before. Doing implementations, you often have to do that kind of thing. But the level of detail and the degree to which we really dove into the nitty gritty and needing to reconcile discrepancies and the different types of forms of data, all of that work that happened in an Excel document before we even have a conversation with the business owners and stuff.

It made me feel a little ashamed for the past teams and projects I was on where we just sped through that as fast as possible because of project pressures. We’ve just got to get it done and move on to the next step. Knowing really the full breadth of that and all the places that you can actually have a better cultural impact or process impact, or again, bottom line impact, I will definitely be taking my time in the future just because it’s like, oh, this is what it could actually do.

Michael: Yeah. That’s the old saying that ignorance is bliss. Now that you know what’s involved, it’s like now I got to really apply these concepts.

Stephanie: Right.

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. That’s cool. All right. So tell us a little bit about your career now. How have you progressed, kind of a good lead in. How have you progressed in your career now that you’ve gone through the program, now that you have your ACBA? Tell about how any changes that have occurred from that?

Stephanie: Sure. I will say that every opportunity I get to use one of these tools or introduce it, I do, and it’s fun to. The project, the Blackstone launchpad project at the community college where I teach that I’ve helped to launch, just this past month we got into the nitty gritty around the reporting stuff and what that’s going to look like and what the lift, the labor, both the emotional labor and typical labor will look like. And it was interesting because then I pulled out the glossary that I made.

Michael: Yeah. Because it was an actual project that you were on.

Stephanie: Yeah, exactly. I pull out the glossary. My academic champion, my co-director, and then the folks who are the lead point people on the software that we’re using for that project were there. I needed to make a point in terms of we’ve gotten super familiar with the software. We understand the back end and the front end and all these things. But once you pull a report, we need to know what these things mean on a screen and then these sub memories.

I only understood that because I had done the glossary for us in terms of what is it that we want to measure? What is it that we want to track? What is the value, both quantitative and qualitative? And I came up with this glossary for us in terms of all of the things in the outcomes we want for the students. But now when you now have to match that with what’s on the screen and what’s already in the software that they built, I was like, okay, how much of, what we want is in there already and how much is not and what can we configure? That document is screen-shared and every time I screenshare it they’re like, “Wow, Stephanie, this is so well organized. This is amazing. This is like,” I’m the guy. I’m like, “Thank you.”

Michael: Yeah. That’s pretty amazing. Wow. Awesome. And so what does that mean to you personally, being able to have that type of feedback that it’s like, not just, “Okay, great job,” it was kind of like they were actually impressed now.

Stephanie: One part is just pride because I know the effort that went into understanding the tools and doing all that work. But then the other part is just how much more should these conversations unfold around a project? We’re not getting caught up in either, let’s say, the ego level of, I want this and I want that and the different, you parties. We’re getting down to just very logical. What do we need? And does the tool match what we need? If it doesn’t, then we start to have conversations about those things. So we’re actually working towards solving the problems rather than getting caught up in all these other details. It just streamlines conversations so, so well.

Michael: That is awesome. I’m so happy to hear what you’re telling me right now, I just, I really am. Because like I said, we have a purpose with the program, but when we actually get to hear and see the results, we’re always super thrilled. There are always some good ones. It’s just something that never gets old. So, awesome.

Stephanie: Definitely. I would say that on a larger macro level with my career, I had continuously postponed getting my Salesforce admin cert simply because I’d be eyeballs deep in a project and then 40 plus hours a week later, that aspiration would just get pushed off, pushed off, pushed off, right to the next project, to the next project or in between projects and just never happen. And part of that was before I actually really wanted the cert, I wanted to have enough experience that getting the certification was then contextual and experiential. I was just studying and cramming for something and then it had no meaning to me. By the time I got busy enough where, okay, I’ve got a bunch of experience, but then I had no time to do it.

The business analysis piece then became the more dominant thing of, I want to do. ASAP, like I’ll do the Salesforce admin cert anytime, but I want to do this ASAP because it directly spoke to all of that pre prep work before you get into the admin stuff of configuring things and doing all the declarative coding and all of the work that you do with the developers who do hard coding.

All of that work in Salesforce, there’s the customer success aspect. And then there’s business analysis, which I think is becoming more formalized now, but so much of what I took away from our program with BTG is that the business analysis work encompasses both the customer success piece, as well as it happened to have the technical skills in terms of my case with the admin piece. It bridges both sides of that.

Michael: It bridges the gap.

Stephanie: Right, exactly. And it’s funny because for me, I really have found my groove in contracting. I really love it. And part of the reason I love it is because it gives me a certain amount of latitude that if I was an employee, I would be censored by either the blind spots that are entrenched or other things that are habitual, things that are entrenched in the culture where I don’t get to speak to things that come up or that I notice in a way that is fully let’s say transparent, open or multi-level right. In terms of the stakeholders.

As a contractor, it’s sort of like, I can bring my full professionalism and my full self with always great care and respect obviously, but there’s this sense that I’m not bridled in any way.

You’re paying me as a contractor to bring my fullest and my best. And the tools with BTG. Just let me do that, that much more. I want to be able to develop my LLC and grow my business so that I can deliberately pick the projects, the clients and the things that are most interesting to me to work on.

Michael: That’s pretty amazing. It’s actually a great lead in. Which is kind of like the opposite of this is that if you invested in the Blueprint or the ACBA program where do you think you’d be today?

Stephanie: The Salesforce cert would definitely be checked off the box. I’m working on that now. Finally, the breathing from study. And probably hopped into my next contract treading water. There’s the analogy of the duck on a placid lake or placid body of water and you just see them gracefully moving along the surface as if it’s nothing, but underneath they’re paddling like hell. Because of BTG, I’m saving a bunch of calories. The paddling is not so frantic.

Michael: Yeah. Wow.

Stephanie: So without it, I would still be paddling frantically and just the facade of that grace along the water. But underneath it all, like just wondering like, oh my gosh.

Michael: Chaos underneath, right?

Stephanie: Yes.

Michael: That’s awesome. Great, great, great. Well, I think that is nearing the conclusion of the questions I have to ask. Again, I want to thank you so much for your time.

Is there anything else that you want to share? Any words of encouragement for anyone or anything like that?

Stephanie: The first thing I would say is if you choose to do the program, do it eyes wide open. It’s not easy by any means, but it is so worth it. It’s so rewarding. And I would say that, thank God it’s not longer than it is.

Michael: Yeah, it’s pretty long.

Stephanie: But also thank God it’s not shorter than it is. I think you guys hit the right sort of sweet spot. If you go in, just go in with eyes wide open and it’s worth the effort. Don’t give up. It is so worth the effort.

I didn’t realize this, I think, maybe until talking to you, but the validation that comes with understanding, like, “Oh my goodness, I’ve been doing this all along,” or “I know this tool, I know that.” But then also the places where you had blind spots and you didn’t know this other way that you could use this tool or this whole other tool altogether that you were never introduced to but would complement and supplement this one over here.

All of this stuff that comes together, it’s both like there’s the validation part, but I think the confidence comes from that, that you leave with from deliberately engaging with what you know, and also improve and fill in the gaps of what you don’t know to then make your projects, your teams and the culture of that experience so much better.

Michael: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Absolutely. Wow. This has been a great interview I must admit.

Stephanie: Agree. Same here. Yeah.

Michael: So again, thank you so much for your time. It was such an honor to speak to you today. I know your story is going to help a ton of people out there who are interested in the, The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program and the ACBA program, but also people that are just interested in business analysis or maybe Salesforce.

Thanks again. We will catch you next time.

Stephanie: My pleasure. And thank you.

Michael: You’re very welcome.

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills (And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes.

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

The concept of mental fitness is all about our ability to deal with life’s challenges big and small, with positive emotions (like empathy, compassion, creativity, curiosity) instead of a negative emotions (like fear, anxiety, shame, and stress). And the end result of being mentally fit is being able to achieve our goals more easily.

I felt this topic was so important to the business analysis community, that I invited Michael Glazer, a Certified Leadership Coach to talk about the specific mental fitness challenges business analysts are most likely to face, and how to address them.

Laura Brandenburg: Hello. I’m Laura Brandenburg here today with Michael Glazer. Hi, Michael.

Michael Glazer: Hi Laura.

Laura Brandenburg: Great to have you here.

Michael Glazer: I’m so excited to be here with you.

Laura Brandenburg: Yes. Yes. Thank you. I’m really excited to talk about mental fitness today. Just for those who don’t know you, you are a certified leadership coach and consultant. You’ve worked with leaders at really top companies across the globe. I find it fascinating that you’re in Tokyo and that you speak both English and Japanese. So I feel like you have a lot to bring to this conversation.

Michael Glazer: Thanks.

Laura Brandenburg: Obviously, our community is business analysis professionals and in a corporate space and you help people in professional spaces with mental fitness. And so we wanted to talk a little bit more about that. It seems really ripe for that. You just shared a little bit about what mental fitness is and why we should be concerned about it.

Michael Glazer: Sure. So, essentially mental fitness is our ability to deal with life’s challenges, big and small, with a positive mindset instead of a negative mindset. And when we’re able to do that, three really good things happen. One, it gives us the ability to reach peak performance. It gives us the ability to increase our wellbeing, our peace of mind. And, then, the third thing it does is it gives us the ability to create and maintain high quality relationships.

Laura Brandenburg: Which are all important.

Michael Glazer: Yeah. I can’t think of anybody who doesn’t either want those or doesn’t want a little bit more of those.

Laura Brandenburg: Yes. It’s interesting, as I was reflecting on this idea of fitness, because the first comparison I made in my head was to mental toughness, but it’s really, I think from a metaphorical perspective, toughness is that I can handle anything. And fitness feels more like I’m agile and I have strength. I have these multiplicity of abilities to handle, maybe, life’s challenges, as opposed to just, I can tough it out. Is that a good metaphor to be thinking about what this is like in the real world?

Michael Glazer: In ways, yes.  I’d say to add some contrast to what you’re talking about. When we say, “Meeting life’s challenges with a positive instead of a negative mindset,” negative mindset means that we’re operating from negative emotions or negative self-talk that are governed by things like fear, anxiety, shame, stress, and anger.

And so instead of that, mental fitness helps us tap into powers like empathy, compassion, creativity, curiosity, big picture thinking, purpose and clear-headed laser-focused action. That’s really the difference that we’re talking about.

Laura Brandenburg: I could just feel myself calming down as you’re talking about that. Body response.

Michael Glazer: Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Brandenburg: So our community, which you know a little bit about, because I was on your podcast too, but we’re business analysts. And so we tend to be very analytical people. We also have a strong business acumen. So we have, really, a dual perspective on a software business change project. I think on the positive side, this can look like really understanding the problem that needs to be solved. Getting everyone on the same page, really understanding the needs at a very detailed level and getting to the requirements. But like everything, there’s that shadow side too, which is maybe where that negative side can come out. We can be perceived as overly critical or hypervigilant about an outcome and care more about things than sometimes anybody else does. Or we can feel that way.

We might want to feel like we need to make everyone happy on a project or also just being a stickler for the details. That can be a little bit, maybe we can get worried about being overly detailed, but also, then, worried about if we miss a detail.

So what, from an emotional or, sorry, a mental fitness perspective, what would be some of the challenges somebody like that might deal with?

Michael Glazer: It’s interesting that you mentioned things like being a stickler for details or being hyper-vigilant or being, or keeping everybody happy, being a people pleaser. These are three ways that we actually self-sabotage ourselves when we get into these modes. And each one of these three areas has its own mental fitness challenge.

For example, I’ll start with a stickler. When we find ourselves in stickler mode, one of the mental fitness challenges around this is being able to have a level of discernment and awareness so that we make sure that when we’re managing to what stakeholders, I think in a business analyst context, what stakeholders are actually expecting us to deliver as opposed to some kind of internal high standards that we have.

I think this is part of the reasons why this can be a challenge is because when that stickler is when we’re in stickler mode, again, a form of self-sabotage, what we’re hearing in our heads is something that says, “I have to aim for perfection. Perfection is good. Perfection is required. Other people, they’re lazy, they’re sloppy. They’re just not up to the task.” And so, when you’re in stickler mode and you’re looking around and you’re observing, people tend to get frustrated, tend to get angry that they’re not doing things up to our standards, and we’re not doing them right.

What people may not realize is that other people may actually be angry at us when we get ourselves into stickler mode, because they’re thinking, why am I always being criticized? Or if they think, “I’m actually doing what the stakeholders or the sponsors requesting, but still I’m being held to a higher standard. Nothing’s ever good enough.” This can create a sense of resentment. So being able to discern and have that awareness is one of the challenges for the stickler.

The  Mental Fitness Challenges Business Analysts Are Most Likely to Face

Laura Brandenburg: So, that’s a perfect example. In that case, how might somebody who has that stickler mindset or that stickler challenge, how might they deal with that? How might they try to overcome it?

Michael Glazer: One thing that a stickler can do is, and this may sound like common sense for people coming from a business analyst background, is just pause for a second and do an evidence check. Whether it’s going back to the project charter, whether it’s going to a requirements document or something like that, what’s the evidence of what I’m supposed to deliver here? And is there any difference between what I’m seeing in these documents and what I’m actually trying to work towards? One is just having, again, the discernment and the awareness to be able to take the time to do that.

Another thing that somebody in stickler mode might do would be actually share this tendency with teammates and stakeholders. Sometimes I know I get myself into stickler for detail mode. My guess is that if someone made the choice to do that, they’d probably earn trust as a result of making themselves vulnerable around this. They could even take that a step further, I think. They can, for example, invite people to have conversations or give them explicit permission to do, say, a stickler check. If team members get the feeling like, “Uh-oh, the stickler’s in action,” having permission to actually talk about it as opposed to something that they fear may actually create relationship or conflict could be a way to help team and also help performance.

Laura Brandenburg: I love that. And I also feel like a lot of times where this comes up for business analysts, and we talked about this in your podcast. I’ll leave the link to that too, but because the role is ill-defined. So the stickler Is really an expectation that we have about our role that is in conflict with what the stakeholder might have about our role. So just getting that all out on the table can have a lot of positive impact.

Michael Glazer: Yes, exactly.

Laura Brandenburg: How about the people pleaser? I feel like that affects a lot of people, myself included.

Michael Glazer: Yeah. I know. I get myself into people pleaser mode sometimes as well. I think this is common amongst consultants and coaches, actually.

For the people pleaser. I think one of the mental fitness challenges is about developing a really strong sense of self-worth, practicing self-compassion, self-empathy, because for a lot of people, when they get themselves into pleaser mode, again, a form of self-sabotage, they have difficulty saying no, or they say yes, without realizing that they can put reasonable conditions to the support that they’re offering people.

I think for people pleasers what’s going on is they’re being governed, primarily, by feelings or emotions, like fear or anxiety. They want to earn people’s acceptance. And they’re worried that by saying no, it could damage the relationship. They could lose a relationship with somebody who’s important to them.

And so here, one thing that the pleaser can do to practice self-compassion would be something like, imagine yourself talking to a five-year old. If you had a five-year-old who said to you, “I want to advocate for myself.” You wouldn’t crouch down to the five-year-old and point your finger at him or her and say, “How dare you? That’s so selfish.” You’d be out of your mind. You would say, “You’re valuable, of course you matter, your needs matter,” and you would praise them and encourage them to directly express what they need to other people so that their needs can be fulfilled.

And so this is the kind of thing that if we learn to practice on our own, could help us set and protect boundaries that not only help our sense of wellbeing and performance, but also help relationships.

I think one of the counterintuitive things here is that oftentimes by saying “no” inappropriate ways, we actually earn more acceptance and respect than by saying “yes,” all the time.

Laura Brandenburg: Oh, my goodness. I think that’s so true. Especially in a role, like the business analyst is where you can very easily start to take on so many responsibilities and then it weighs you down. Saying “no” to the things that are outside of your scope or to requirements or needs that are really outside the scope of the project, it does position you at a higher level, and that earns credibility, for sure. I’m imagining in your consulting, you’ve done things like this where you’ve had the “no” actually elevate your reputation or credibility.

Michael Glazer: Yeah. Yeah, of course. And actually, even before my consulting work started a decade ago, I was a global functional head at the IT division of Morgan Stanley. And I worked closely with business analysts on a regular basis. One of the things that came up frequently was a sponsor or a stakeholder would ask to add a feature.

That’s pretty common. If you say “yes” to that without having a conversation of, “Well, that’s going to cost a week on the timeline,” that can create problems for the team. Being able to say what our team does is valuable. “We need an extra week to do this right,” is the kind of conversation if it’s done well, I think most reasonable stakeholders, if not all of them, are going to respect.

Another one that comes up in my consulting is the pleaser is afraid to demand what their services are worth. The client’s asking for a discount, the client’s asking to over-service and you want to say “yes” to make them happy. And then you wind up making yourself angry because you didn’t really support yourself or advocate for yourself. I think this is another pattern that’s pretty common.

Laura Brandenburg: I can identify with all of those things at certain points in my career as well. We’ve talked about some of the challenges and how to overcome them. I still feel as if there would be a significant investment to say, “Okay, this is the year I’m going to work on my emotional fitness.” So how would someone know, with everything that might be on their plate or the potential opportunities that they have, that this is an area that’s really going to make a difference in their life or their career? This is their next step to work on this particular area.

Michael Glazer: Sure. Yeah. I think there are two parts to that question, right? There’s the, “What kind of results can I expect,” part of the question and then there’s what’s the time investment? How much time do I have to invest to actually see these results?

Talking about the results first, I’m aware of a body of academic research. It’s about 200 studie that collectively has studied more than 275,000 people. What the results say are that people who have higher levels of mental fitness, not only do they earn more, but they’re more successful in business, in marriage, in health, friendships, creativity as a whole bunch of different aspects of life.

Just to give you a couple of data points that may be relevant for a business analyst, project teams are managed by leaders who have high levels of mental fitness, performed 31% better, on average, than other like teams.

Another relevant data point is that a project manager who has high levels of mental fitness make more accurate and higher quality decisions with less effort than their peers do.

Because I like threes, I’ll add a third one in there, not so related, but for salespeople; salespeople who have high levels of mental fitness, sell 37% more than their counterparts who have low mental fitness. So there’s tons of data to support this.

In terms of time, how much time do you need? The initial, the thing that’s most important here is that people make a commitment to invest some substantial time upfront to build the habits that make this possible. And specifically, they need 15 minutes of practice on a daily basis for six to eight weeks. When I work with clients on this, it’s that 15 minutes a day for six weeks plus between one and two hours a week to learn and discuss the different skills needed for developing mental fitness.

Laura Brandenburg: You said “significant,” and then you said such a small number. That’s nothing.

Michael Glazer: I’m glad to hear you say that. That’s like less than, what, 3% of people’s waking time, but it can sound like a lot to busy professionals.

Laura Brandenburg: For sure. And I just want to emphasize as well, I feel like mental fitness has been a thread in all the coaching that I’ve received throughout the years. And I’ve shared before how much I invest in my own personal professional development. And these days it’s more on the personal development in that’s where the external results come from. The things like the salary that you might not want, or the title or the salary you do want that you’re not getting or the title that you do want, but are not getting, often, it feels like this external thing, but it’s like the results or the work starts in here. And it has a multiplier effect too. So you start it and then it just, it gets easier as you go. And the momentum tends to build upon itself. At least…

Michael Glazer: No, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. So when we feel like we have to push through and we’re using words like I have to, I should, I must. Typically, we’re being driven by the forces that are responsible for our self-sabotage. When we’re in a mode where it’s generative, where we feel like we’re in a state of ease and flow, things are coming naturally because we’re using the parts of our brain responsible for the kinds of skills I mentioned before, empathy, creativity, curiosity, and so on.

This is where we’re an ease and flow. And it’s much easier to not only achieve success, but to achieve happiness in the process of being successful.

Laura Brandenburg: Yes. Oh, there’s so many more things I could ask you around this, but I know that we’ve got a little bit. So tell me for somebody who does want to dig deeper, because you’ve really, you’ve piqued our interest about what this looks like.

What are some resources that they might explore?

Michael Glazer: Yeah. If you’re going to pick up one, and I’ll just kind of go back to this, this people don’t have a lot of time. If you’re going to pick one source, what I would recommend is a book called Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine. It’s a New York Times bestseller. It’s been translated into 20 languages. I think there’s a good chance, no matter where in the world people are tuning in from and what their native language is, they have a pretty good shot of reading it in a familiar enough language.

The other thing that they might also check out is the website also called positiveintelligence.com. If you’re interested in knowing where you self-sabotage and what those patterns are, there’s a free five minute assessment you can take and get the results there.

Laura Brandenburg: You also coach personally on this. If somebody wanted to learn more about what you offer, how would they do that?

Michael Glazer: Three ways you can contact me. One is on LinkedIn. It’s linkedin.com/n/learningpro. You can also find my website, glazercoaching.com or my company website, which is peoplefocusconsulting.com.

Laura Brandenburg: All of those, we’ll hook them up with you around the coast.

Michael Glazer: Yes.

Laura Brandenburg: I know there’s so much more that you could offer around this, but any last takeaways or tips, something that you hope that somebody will take with them from this conversation today?

Michael Glazer: Just to give it a try and to invest in yourself. This has been a game changer for so many people. More than 500,000 people worldwide have gone through this type of mental fitness program. And what I hear most often is people saying. “Wow. This has really worked for me. Now, can you do this with my partner? Now can you do this with my team?” So give it a try.

If you have any questions at all, I promise I will respond to each and every message that I receive. So don’t hesitate. Don’t let your saboteurs get in the way of reaching out and contacting me. Let’s start a conversation and see where it goes.

Laura Brandenburg: All right. Well, thank you so much. I would really encourage anybody who’s interested in learning more, reach out to Michael and find out more. These kinds of investments definitely pay dividends when you’re thinking about your career.

Thank you so much, Michael.

Michael Glazer: Thanks Laura. It’s been great.

About Michael Glazer

Michael Glazer is a Certified Leadership Coach, Organizational Development Consultant, and Facilitator. His client work spans 15 countries across four continents and focuses on helping leaders take care of people while taking care of business.

He is based in Tokyo, speaks English and Japanese, and has worked with leaders at major corporations, including Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Mitsubishi. Michael has also guest-lectured at Kyoto University and at the United States Air Force Academy.

Michael is a Japan business specialist. His coaching focuses on helping Western leaders in Japan overcome the workplace challenges they face as foreigners so they can create long-term value in performance and wellbeing for themselves. He has facilitated leadership- and coaching-skills workshops for thousands of Fortune 500 professionals over the past 20 years.

Before becoming a leadership coach and consultant, Michael served as a global functional head in the technology division of Morgan Stanley and was a commercial leader at Dell where he grew a multimillion-dollar business 4X in three years.

Michael earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA from the University of Colorado, and an external coaching certificate from Teachers College Columbia University (C3P). He is also a Certified Coach by WBECS, a Certified Trainer by The Ken Blanchard Companies, and an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

Connect with Michael Glazer on LinkedIn

Discover more about People Focus Consulting (Michael’s consulting company)

Here’s a scenario you may have run into: You receive a short request from a stakeholder about a new project. It’s been given top priority by your manager and so it’s the next project you’ll begin looking into.

Before you can even schedule the first meeting with the business sponsor to get some more information so you can start requirements estimation, and building a business analyst timeline, your project manager swings by your desk and asks you how long you think this will take. Not sure? He thinks that 40 hours sounds like about enough time, so shall we move forward with that estimate?

Your blood pressure rises slightly. You take a deep breath. You re-read the stakeholder request.

You have no idea what it even means let alone how long it might take you to define the detailed requirements documentation for this project. In fact, this is a new stakeholder group and a new system you aren’t familiar with, and the last time you heard, the developers on that team expected the business analysts to get pretty technical with their requirements.

A headache begins to emerge.

What do you do? What can you do?  In 40 hours?!?!

You can’t provide a requirements estimate and timeline until…

What I would do in this situation is first be clear with the project manager that I can’t provide a reasonable estimate and timeline until I understand a few more things about the project – most notably the scope of the stakeholder request and some expectations about what my role will be for this new team. Then I’d give a set of steps and a target date for obtaining this information and providing a plan.

This isn’t an answer, but it’s a reasonable deferral. There is still a lot of work to do.

Following the business analysis process framework that we teach at Bridging the Gap, I’d schedule a meeting with the primary business stakeholder to ask a few questions about the request, identify who the stakeholders are, and gauge how he’s worked with business analysts before. I’d also ask the lead developer on the system to lunch and discuss his relationships with previous BAs and share some of my concerns about getting technical with the requirements.

I’d confirm my stakeholder list with the project manager, taking time to also update him on my progress and if my target date for a real estimate was still reasonable, and then schedule a meeting to discuss the primary business objectives. I’d confirm what I heard from the stakeholder about the project with the PM to make sure I wasn’t getting off track.

But I still wouldn’t have my estimate. That 40 hours might be hanging over my head still and in fact, it might be a quarter of the way used up at this point.

But I am getting closer.

Starting to get closer to a reasonable requirements estimate

After the business objectives discussion, it’s clear there is a pressing and narrow need. I’m feeling better about the project. Everyone seems to be on the same page. I meet with the lead developer to discuss the problem and he comes up with a few possible solution approaches. I also confirm what requirements package will work best for the developer and how he’d like to be involved going forward. It turns out he’s fine taking on the technical specification as long as I get the functional requirements down clearly.

We’re cranking.

The next meeting is to discuss the pros and cons of each solution approach with the business stakeholders. They are motivated and choose the least complex option. I have everything I need to draft a scope statement. Since time is of the essence, I start working ahead a little and drafting a BA plan. An estimate and timeline begin to emerge, but I’m not ready to make a commitment until the business stakeholders confirm the scope document. That happens in the next meeting and…

We’re off!

And actually turning the requirements estimate into a business analyst timeline

Of course, the project manager doesn’t like my estimate, which is about 100 hours to define the detailed requirements on top of the 25 hours I’ve invested to get to this point. Given my other project priorities and stakeholder commitments, that will take me about 5-6 weeks to complete.

(Be sure to watch the video above for a walk-through of our business analysis planning template that helps you put together a requirements estimate and business analyst timeline.)

While my project manager might not like my estimate, now we can have an actual conversation about deliverables, expectations, and my availability and make adjustments from a place of information, not assumption.

My headache is gone. My blood pressure is down. I’m still breathing.

>> Get Your Quick Start to Success

If you are looking to define credible timelines for your business analysis work, and do the planning you need to do to push back against unreasonable timelines, you’ll want to learn more about the business analysis process framework.

In our free Quick Start to Success workshop, you’ll learn how to avoid the most common pitfalls faced by new business analysts and the step-by-step business analysis process to create predictable, consistent project success.

>> Click here to register for the free workshop today <<

What we love about John’s story is that as he searched and interviewed for business analyst opportunities, he was confident that despite how the process was going, The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program gave him the confidence he needed to keep applying.

John never wondered whether or not he was qualified for a position, but rather would often find himself in scenarios where he was overqualified because of all that he had learned.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

• How The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program helped John understand how to simplify processes for stakeholders.
• How John was able to decipher what was and was not business analysis work.
• How John’s experience with various instructors provided him with a well-rounded understanding of how to implement what he was learning into his future work.
• John’s journey of applying for and interviewing for business analyst roles.

Introducing John Sim

Paula Bell: Hello. I am Paula Bell, the Program Manager for Bridging the Gap. And I am here with my special guest and friend John Sim of the Bay area in San Francisco. He is currently a finance business analyst and he is going to talk to us about his career success and journey and how he was a participant in The Blueprint program and how The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program helped him along with that success.

So, first off, thank you, John, for being a part of this interview that we’re going to do on your success journey and being willing to share your success journey with others. How are you doing today?

John Sim: Doing great. Thanks for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

Paula Bell: Thank you for accepting. I am really excited to discover more about your story and about you today.

We should just go ahead and dive right in and we can just start opening it up to hearing about this wonderful success journey you’ve been on.

All right. First thing I want you to think about or tell us about, can you take us back to the spring of 2020 before you joined us for The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program? Where were you at in your career and what were you looking to achieve at that time back in the spring of 2020?

John Sim: It was actually someone, I have a counseling session with another advisor and he has a close association with Bridging the Gap. He actually introduced me to sign up for this program and then I get some special bonus on his counseling site. Then I looked up Laura Brandenburg, and then I read she’s an established BA and she’s also a QA Tester, which is very similar to me.

I used to be a QA Engineer but doing some function analyst work. And I thought, oh, those are the main BA tools that I need to learn because nowadays, even though I’m doing business analysis, I don’t have formal business analyst training. So I thought, oh, that’s an established program and well-known so, I was struggling to say the cost is not cheap. But then I think it will be a worthwhile investment down the road, and I think I can afford it through the installment. Then I take a leap of faith and let’s try. What harm can I do? I gained the skills. That’s what lead me into the program to try to learn about business analysis.

Paula Bell: You said you made the investment. You looked at the cost, you made the investment, you took a leap of faith. You went in there and you’ve gained the skill. How would you say those skills helped you or transformed you into where you are today from back when you started in the spring of 2020?

John Sim: Oh yeah. Those are the skills that I wish I have learned, had proper training so I can do a better job in the BA world. And then when I’m actually into the program doing the exercise, I was finding some, I haven’t worked on real projects. The projects that I did, this past project that I’ve been in my software development book that I apply it to the training program. It actually helps me switch my mind because I was doing like three different roles.

I’m a BA, but I was also thinking in terms of developers, how to fix it and then also thinking about end user, how to do it. I tried to put everything in the workshop, but then I was correct to say, no. When you’re doing BA, you should be narrowly focused as a BA. Don’t cross the boundary to how to design the software, which is not BA work.

I really have to switch my mind to be a BA focus and understanding what the requirement is using the process map, the flow diagram, and then which it’s eye-opening and the user story and which is strict guideline. I need to be open-minded to learn about everything because before that I just have a fixed mindset. Okay. Let’s see what the program can do for me.

I did kind of a few times, I was so frustrated I want to give up, but I kept telling, I think even though the instruction there were some correction comments that I need to fix my workbook. And I was like, why? Yeah. I’m just really frustrated. I wanted to give up.

But then I didn’t say no. I think it beats the purpose. That’s learning. Right? People tell you, you need to improve on this area and that area. Just having an open mind to examine and learn it and then correct it, and then grow yourself better. That’s how pursued it myself. Just accept the feedback that people give you, and then I just worked on the feedback. Be patient and be resilient to understand the requirement and meet the requirement and the deadline. And I’m glad I stuck to it. So I learned a lot of things, even though during the instructors session. I might be asking a lot of questions questioning, “Why can’t I do this way? Why can’t I do it this way?”

But I just want to understand the viewpoint of the instructor. So now I understood it, so, oh, okay. There’s a certain set of standards to follow and you shouldn’t go out of it. My comfort zone of doing things is one way, but then the standard is another way. So I say, oh, I need to get out of my comfort zone and then follow instruction or standards that people have established.

So I say, okay, it’s not John. It’s learning time. So just open my mind, open my heart to accept learning and feedback. So that was a great change of mindset and attitude.

Paula Bell: Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Well, let’s go a little bit deeper in that, because you mentioned some aspects of the program and I heard you mentioned use cases. I heard you mentioned process. Let’s take the business process analysis module. What would you say some of your key takeaways were from that particular module?

John Sim: Yeah, it was trying to visualize it so that people can understand. And I thought, oh, I’ve seen people use it this way. Then I try to incorporate and then got a feedback saying no, it’s not a good idea because people will be confused. And then I try another way and another instructor case and different feedback saying, “Hmm. Okay.” And then also read up on more instruction and then see example of how people do it and say, “Oh, okay, let me simplify it and not get too complicated.”

If it’s a document it shows the document icon. If it’s a process, there is a physician. Then if a physician, then it’s different levels of same lane or whatever. Just make sure the process is simplified and not over complicated. Because every time, I think, “Oh, maybe I should get this.” And then it’s like, “No. I don’t know.”

You go through multiple iterations until…and then I think I jump in on almost all the instruction hour to get the feedback of, “Is this better now? Is this not good? I get feedback and to improve on it. And then finally I got the okay. “Oh, okay. Now I’m learning.” It’s actually a thought-provoking process because it was like, “Oh, I want to add this, this, this, this,” but then it’s like the PowerPoint is only that pitch because I can show the whole screen. So I do it.

Small everything, smaller icon, smaller arrows. Then the words inside the diagram, you can’t elaborate. You have to use shorter document flow, physicians like, oh, to explain the things. Let me simplify. But I tend to run on, put too much detail. Does that answer your question?

Paula Bell: It did. That was some great feedback. You visualize. You don’t over-complicate. You make it simple. You are very clear on how the arrows work on how you have to be very concise and using those verbs and the activity shapes and all of that. So, yeah. Those were some great points that you brought out that you learned during the session. So thank you for sharing that and sharing what some of those concepts were. I also liked that you advise that you leveraged all the instructor hours, too.

You got that instructor support and that feedback along the way because you saw people do it a certain way. Then you got some feedback, a different perspective, you incorporated that and you were open to that. That’s great. Great pieces of information and nuggets there for anyone that will be listening to your success story. Can you tell us a little bit of where you are in your career now? How are things progressing for you so far?

John Sim: A skill. I think it’s a good skill to have because everywhere they want the BA skill of gathering requirements and then engage with stakeholders and I have those experiences in a different world, like in the financial ERP world. But in the Salesforce arena, I’m pretty new to it. Even though they might be using agile and a different process, I don’t have actual real-life situation on the Salesforce area, but I think it should be similar with this. They are using agile. They have the same ceremony, right?

Do the spring planning and then you have a stand up meeting and then do a review and retrospective in the spring cycle. I think I can adapt to those, technology pretty easily. And then working with developers, those types of things, I’ve already done it in my financial ERP world where we collaborate with the product manager on the feature discussing document, what needs to be included and then work with the developer. It turned my functional knowledge on the subject and then worked on a test script to test the unit, test that the developer have, and then if it needs rework, then I’ll work with the developer to rework.

Most of the time I’m very familiar with the waterfall method because that’s how I was trained when I was doing all those development work where the agile BA technology is more recent. So I have limited knowledge. But with this that I have, you will be greatly enhance in whatever. I believe I can work on any team that I’m assigned. Whether it’s consulting a big company, a small company, I should be able to handle any kind of challenge.

In one of my career development groups where I was asked to work with a team to customize projects, I took it upon to learn Salesforce on what I know, and then do a lot of Google research on how things are done. Then another time I had an issue, I Google search engine, and then I get the answer and then apply to BA work or Salesforce work to solve my solution. And when I have an issue, I just ask questions around, especially in Salesforce. That’s a huge community to get my answer.

So, I guess a successful career is just to be patient, to be persevering a zillion and keep learning, and then ask questions. Because I am an introvert. I usually like to ask questions privately, like in a smaller group one-on-one. In a larger meeting, I usually listen to people asking question and I say, “Oh, that’s the question I would like to ask,” when someone is already asking on my behalf. In the bigger setting, I tend to listen more. On the smaller setting, one-on-one, then I’m more comfortable sharing and speak up. That’s the area that I’m learning to be more open up to share my ideas of what I think about certain things.

Paula Bell: Okay, perfect. What I want you to share and talk about is I remember when you got the new position you’re in now and it was a journey getting to the position that you’re in now. Can you share a little bit about what happened prior to you getting that position and how you ended up in the position you are currently in? I think that would resonate with a lot of people who might be going through some of the similar scenarios that you went through.

John Sim: Yeah. My situation is I’m not that new person looking for job. I’m more like a mid-career person that have some IT background. So getting the transition to another position, it’s a challenge. It takes longer because I probably have already established some experience and some IT, and some, salary expectations already. Even when I’m new to Salesforce, I tried to apply for the entry-level job and never got any traction.

I don’t know if the employer will look at me and say, “Oh, you have a lot of experience and you want to apply for entry-level position.” I don’t know what to think about. Hire an experienced person to do an entry-level job versus someone who is brand new, also learning Salesforce. I don’t know. It’s harder to crack into the entry-level for my level of experience because I’m competing with new people.

And then the thing that I improved is my LinkedIn profile, which I got help from the talent stack of community group. They helped a lot on my LinkedIn profile, my resume, my mock interview. That helps a lot because once I updated my LinkedIn profile, I got more requests. “Can I interview you for this job Salesforce job, Salesforce consulting and other areas?” I got to talk to more recruiters and hiring managers. That was a start. But then it wasn’t easy too, because when I started talking to recruiters, they have a requirement that they need to hire someone who has Salesforce experience.

I tell them about my transferable skills in Oracle and my business analyst certification and scrum master certification and Salesforce. And then some ask, “How much experience do you have?” When I first started, I’d say less than one. A lot of the recruiters would say, “We have a requirement. We need to get someone that has three or four years of Salesforce experience. That’s the roadblock where I have 10 years of experience in ERP. And then they say, “Oh, you have experience.” And then they just assume I have Salesforce experience. So when they talk to me they say, “Oh, you don’t have Salesforce experience. No, we are not looking at you. I don’t think you will be successful. We want someone to have experience.”

So that’s the roadblock that I faced with a lot of recruiters will strictly just look at the requirement. We need Salesforce expertise, this area, or sometime, specifically, “Oh, we want CPQ.” “I don’t have CPQ, but I can learn because everything I acquire history, learning and through sharing. That’s the journey. The most opportunities I got was through consulting.

Consulting, I went through the interview with the hiring manager and then they say, “Oh, we’re not continuing the next step.” When I asked for feedback, they don’t give feedback. They are afraid of liability. I don’t know. I think it can use to help. What can I improve the next time? Is it my delivery or is it I didn’t give detailed answer or whatever. I’m just guessing what the answer could be.

This year there was a large consulting company where they first advertised it through the Salesforce Terran Alliance Job Fair. I signed up for it and then they invited me and a bunch of people to their three to six week training program on Salesforce, how to prepare an official elevator speech and then how to have a good impression and how they are interviewing people, and then how to do a case study. And then if you complete the Trailhead superset, which are three separate super batches, then you get invited to talk to the management networking. Then after networking, they give you a job posting to apply for it.

I applied for that and then went for a phone interview and two other final interviews with a senior manager and a specialist. Throughout the interview, I learned a lot more about the company. They asked me this question, because on the first position when I applied, there was a consultant and senior consultant. Later when I looked back at my application, I think the first application I actually applied for the senior consultant.

So when I went into the interview, the interviewer was asking all the deep functional knowledge on nonprofit, which I haven’t worked on it. So I stumbled on it. I tried to give him the answer, but he tried to go even deeper. I said, “Oh, that’s I haven’t used it, but we use a third party or whatever.”

The first experience was a learning experience because after the interview, I said, “Thank you for the interview.” And they replied, “Oh yeah, it’s nice talking to you, but we won’t be continuing your journey.” So, I said, “Oh, okay.”

Four months later they had a similar program again. Someone else that I know connected with me, actually, in the company. We had the second row of the same program where you can become a consultant. So I signed up a second time for the program again, and then went to the interview again. This time they used a different video platform for the interview.

I went through the interview and I think I did okay. I think better than the first time because I researched the answer that they asked me the first time, and then more about revise my “Tell me about myself story” and other things that I need to know about the company and the questions that I want to ask.

After the second recruitment, I didn’t get a rejection email. I got a voicemail saying thank you for your pre-hire application. After looking at it, we decided you are not selected for this go-round, but we’ll keep your resume for the next go-round in November. And we’ll call you back for the next round of interviews

So fast forward to round three when they had a similar program. This time they actually said they’re going to contact me in November, again, to talk about the similar position. They called me back and then someone that I know in the company actually referred me for that position. I got an email saying, “We want to talk to you. Let’s set up a time for a phone screening.”

So I went through the phone screening again and they said, “Oh, okay.” It was pretty quick. The phone interview was on a Friday and on Monday I got an email saying the managers said everything went fine. We want to schedule the next final interview with another three consultants. They gave me two dates, Monday and Friday. So I chose two weeks later on the Friday. And then it was all in the same day.

I had to go to three interviews – one for the focus interview and one for the behavior interview, and then the last one was the case study. I went through all three through the video platform. I had a good conversation with the first two. The last one, actually from a case study actually testing my Salesforce knowledge from beginning to end. They asked me about sales cloud. They have this case scenario they are using this system. “What would you recommend?”

So I tell them upfront what is the issue and the problem. And then they have a case, we have the sales cloud. How would you do? And then I’ll tell them what I know, what I recommend. And then they say, “How about service cloud? How do you rock the case? We have a new region, so I tell them you can route it based on the queue or whatever, and then assign someone to accept the queue.” And then they asked me about reporting and then the security structure. In the conclusion, what is your recommendation? I say replace the Legacy system with Salesforce.

When this is over, the following Monday, I got the email saying, “Congratulations, you are being offered the job.”

Paula Bell: Awesome.

John Sim: It was quick. It was quick. They gave me a week to think over. They gave me the offer just before Thanksgiving. You have a week to think over. And then I said, “Oh, okay.” And then they follow up and say, “Oh yeah, we give you an offer, but we have to do audit of you.” I say that sounds scary. You want to do an audit on me on my previous job and current job. And I was like panicking. What can they find on me? But then I said oh, don’t worry about it. I tend to over-worry myself.

Paula Bell: Exactly.

John Sim: Let’s just go through. If they asked me a difficult question, then I’ll figure out how to answer them.

Paula Bell: You got a job on the third try. The first one didn’t go through you did it again. You did your research, you did it again. The second one, that didn’t go through either, but you didn’t give up because they said they were going to contact you in November. You got the offer in November. You’re working in that role as a financial business analyst, you’re doing this work. I have to ask, if you hadn’t invested in The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, where do you think you would be today if you had not invested in it?

John Sim: I think that Applied Certification in Business Analysis (ACBA) certification probably has some weight because I only have one Salesforce certification, but I have BA certification and then the scrum master certification. They even asked me, “How can I verify your ACBA certification?” I showed them the Bridging the Gap link to verify my certification. I think those three certifications probably were taken into consideration because I only have one Salesforce, but I have two of the other ones: the BA and the scrum master.

So I think those put some weight on the decision. I had to wait two months to start. Hopefully, the current background check is okay. They are pretty strict. I have some paperwork and volunteer work and I lump everything together as the same company, but I don’t know whether they would like it or not. And if they don’t like it, then I’ll have to explain, a lot of explaining for them.

Paula Bell: Well, we’re just going to believe everything’s going to be fine. You have the skillset to do it. You’ve demonstrated that. Clearly, they found value in you and you have the ACBA certification.

Really quick last question for you. How have you leveraged what you’ve learned from the ACBA certification? Since you have left the program, how have you leveraged what you’ve learned in that program, in your career up to this.

John Sim: I think the program, the topics that Laura taught it’s useful and it’s actually a reminder course to go through again. And even though I’ve been using it strictly in the actual work environment, I’m always attending other sessions of BA. Then, also, Tony Martin’s BA session, I’m also part of it. If I can learn as much about BA and real-world experience, it’s helpful to keep track and note so the next time when I do it, I can just borrow the experience in my real job. It’s all helpful. Down the line, I might use more and more and more. Even though I get the certification doesn’t mean I know everything. I’m still learning, probably the beginning level of a BA.

Paula Bell: But at least you have the tools and the resources to help you along with that.

Well, thank you for sharing your story with us today, John. I really appreciate it.

Before I wrap up, though, is there anything else that you would like to share before we close out?

John Sim: It’s just for beginners, those mid-career people, just be patient. Don’t give up. Don’t get yourself boxed in a time period to get a job. You can get it sooner or you can get it later as long as you have the resources to keep looking for a job. Just persevere. Be persistent, leverage the community network to let them know that you’re finding a job and what area you need.

And also have faith in God. Trust that God will give you a good path. Who knows. He might give you a favor and He will get you to something better down the line. Although it might take longer, sometimes the longer you wait, the better job you get. Sometimes I was like, should I try everything? Every little page? Should I go there? Should I do this? Could I do this? Don’t spread yourself too thin.

Figure out what area you want to focus on and then stick to it. Sooner or later you will get it. Just don’t give up and don’t be frustrated. I get discouraged and frustrated all the time, but just keep up to faith and something good will come your way.

Paula Bell: Perfect. Thank you for that wonderful words of wisdom. You heard him everyone. Don’t give up. Even if you’re frustrated, push through it, persevere, you can do this.

Thank you once again, John, for joining us today and sharing your story. I truly, truly appreciate it. I’m quite sure your story is going to impact others and inspire others and encourage others as we go forward.

With that, it was an honor speaking with you today. I just want to say once again, thank you. Everyone out there who’s listening, I’m quite sure you got golden nuggets from John today and we will talk to you soon. Have a great one.

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills (And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes.

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So what do you do? In today’s video, I share 5 ways to help difficult stakeholders on the path to change.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

Today, I want to talk about how to handle resistant stakeholders. We received a question from the community about this particular business analyst who was working with users of a potential CRM system who really liked their paper processes. I’m there! I’ve got paper notes right here (but there are a lot of things I do electronically too). But they were resistant to transitioning over to using the new customer relationship management system and he just wondered if he’d done everything he could to help bring them up to speed on the new system and to engage them and make sure it met their needs.

Let’s talk about that. How do we handle resistant stakeholders, those who really don’t like technology?

I’m going to talk about five different strategies to make sure that you’re engaging resistant stakeholders to the best of your ability.

#1 – Build an Individual Relationship

The first is build an individual relationship. We have a whole video that I talk about different ways of cultivating a 1:1 relationship with the stakeholder and helping them understand business analysis. Make sure you’re taking some time to invest in that relationship with that stakeholder. Not just as “a stakeholder,” but as a person.

A work relationship doesn’t have to be like you are best friends and go out for coffee or drinks every day, but that you care about them as a person and that you’re not just there because of a project need, but that you have a relationship with them outside of just the context of that specific project. It’s going to help build trust and smooth the wheels for more conversations, deeper conversations, and a real basis of trust and understanding.

#2 – Understand their Current Business Process

Take time to understand their current process. Their current business process, as paper-bound as it might be, what are they taking notes on, how do they manage information, especially when it’s a resistance to technology, where does the paper come in, and why is the paper easier to them? Why does it feel easier to them? What need is that serving?

Just understanding it. Not trying to change it, improve it, or do anything to it, just let me understand your current process. I want to make sure, no matter what solution we come up with, it meets your need, your process, your way of doing your work. Because, presumably, they’re good at what they do and that’s why they’re in the roles that they’re in, and probably why there’s a little bit of resistance, too (like, “this is working for me”). Take some time and understand that. That’s a great way to also deepen that relationship with that stakeholder.

(Not sure how to document a business process? We’ve got a free Business Process Template download for you.)

#3 – Focus on Their Problems

Focus on their problems. What are they frustrated by? In the scenario that the BA brought up with us, it sounded like there was, maybe, some frustration that they traveled a lot. They had all these paper notes that were in filing cabinets that they couldn’t refer to easily.

• Is that a point of frustration for them, or is it not?
• Do they have a way of working around that? If so, what is it? What’s their frustration?
• If the system could do one thing for them, what would it be? What would change the game for them?

Sometimes, especially if you’re dealing with higher level stakeholders that have a lot of power in the organization but haven’t really been involved in the project so far, this is where you can use a little bit of that influence you have as a BA. You can say,

“You know, this frustrates this important stakeholder. I know we weren’t planning to address that potential issue right away for this project, but do you think we could address some things that would really help get them on board?”

You help bring that frustration into the scope of the project, and that can help wear down some of that resistance. Now you’re solving a problem that they care about, that they want solved, and you’re bringing it into the context of the project and you’re putting it in the light of if we can solve this problem, we’re also going to solve all these other bigger picture problems, which is probably why the project got started in the first place.

I saw a project manager do this in one of the organizations where I worked. I was a contractor and everybody was new to me, and we knew this particular team was going to be resistant and that we might not get any information from them. They were just so resistant. When we got going, then they gave us the wrong information. It was craziness. So she went in and said, “Let’s just talk about your problems. What’s on your plate? What’s slowing you down?” They just gave us this overload of information about what their frustrations were. Some of it wasn’t in scope for their project, originally.

She took that and went back to the executives and said, “We really need to address this in addition to the things that you wanted to address in the first place. We might have to actually eliminate a few of your things to make sure that we get this important group up.” And it did wonders. She had just paved a trail of gold for me as the business analyst to walk behind her and say, “Okay, now, let’s get the detailed requirements for these issues that have been bothering you for a long time.” She broke down that disengagement and turned it into trust and generosity and excitement about the project.

#4 – Share Wins

As you do this, then you also want to share wins. This is a little bit above and beyond. Now that you see other salespeople working and using the CRM, once your project gets going, if you’re still facing resistance, share the wins.

• Who are the people that are using the system effectively?
• What are their processes?
• How did they organize their work differently?

Share those wins and adjustments. How is it affecting their sales or their numbers? For example,

“So and so was able to leave early on Fridays because his sales notes process is so much easier.”

Whatever it is that might be important to that stakeholder, share those wins. When you see somebody having success, share that more broadly so that people start to see people are using the system and having results, and they’re solving these problems.

#5 – Secure Higher-Level Support

Those are 4 strategies, let’s talk about the 5th. That is to secure higher level support. At the end of the day, as business analysts, we have influence; we don’t have authority. We can’t fire people. We can’t remove their paper. We can’t do anything specific to make anybody do anything. Nobody can make you do anything. But as business analysts, we can’t use direct authority.

Sometimes we have to get higher level stakeholders involved. That can be escalating to the director, the VP, or the manager. Whoever is that level up from that person who is resistant. It’s up to them to say if the problem to be solved by this project, if the return on investment of using this new system is so important to the company, we’re going to stake our performance metrics on it.

“I’m going to pull out the rug on the old system, we’re going to make it uncomfortable for you not to use the new system in some way.” After they go through all the influence and authority, and ‘you need to do this’ tactics, it might come down to a much harder line. That’s not for you to do as a business analyst; this is for you to be aware of, of how these things might play out in an organizational context.

Not All Resistant Stakeholders Will Change

Fun story, or kind of a quirky story, is my mother-in-law is a retired nurse and she still talks about the day that they introduced electronic health records at her office and that led to her retirement. She consciously chose not to learn to use the new system and chose to retire instead. To this day, she doesn’t use a computer. She does not see our kids’ pictures on Facebook. We can barely get a hold of her on a cell phone. She has no desire to be any part of that technology. That was a choice. She organized her career around it and her exit from her career around it.

That happens, too, in some organizations and with some people that are truly resistant to change. You can do all these things, but you can’t force people to change. Just kind of be aware of the limits of the scope of what you can do as a business analyst. (We talked about this in more depth on Protecting Your Emotional Investment.)

Do your best. You don’t want a bunch of people retiring because of your project, but sometimes that happens and that’s okay, and it doesn’t mean you did a bad job.

I hope this answers your question. Great question. We could talk about this topic for a long time. It’s a good one; it’s a juicy one. I’m looking forward to seeing your engagement with stakeholders and helping them overcome that resistance to technology. This is the sales process that we do as business analysts in helping people see a brighter future and change the way that they need to change, that creates a positive change for organizations as well.

You’re doing great work. Thank you for what you do.

Figure Out What Your Business Users Really Want [Free Template]

One of the most important boundaries you can set as a business analyst is to be sure your business stakeholders are deeply involved in the requirements process, and have a lot of direct input and feedback. Starting by analyzing their business process helps put them in the position to tell you what they really, really want.

Business process analysis is often the very first technique used by business analysts when we start learning a new domain or analyze the scope of a project. Today, I’m offering my Business Process Template to you (absolutely free of charge!).

Download Your Free Guide – 10 Tips to Improve Stakeholder Engagement

And  if you are looking for even more tips to manage difficult stakeholders, download this free guide. You’ll

• Save time and effort by clarifying the requirements more quickly.
• Build stronger relationships that elevate your reputation and career.
• Improve project outcomes by communicating more effectively.

Simple enough.

Boring enough.

But valuable enough that it just simply has to be done.

All too often I’ve seen this important step in the requirements process skipped, often to the detriment of the project as a whole and especially to the detriment of getting all the stakeholders on the same page about the scope or details of a project.

Common Objections to Doing a Requirements Review

But I email the document out for review, that way everyone can do this when it works for them and I get better input. Let’s get honest here for a minute. In today’s workplace, people have competing priorities and are constantly multi-tasking.  Opening up and reviewing that document is not the most exciting or probably the most pressing the most pressing task on their list. Few stakeholders will provide their best input in this manner.  Those that will are probably conscientious enough to read the document before your meeting and come prepared.

I want an email sign-off because it’s traceable. Nothing about the requirements walk-through precludes an email sign-off.  But if your reason for using email is to get a passive sign-off and cover your you-know-what, not to actually create the alignment that the sign-off actually entails, then you are doing your technology team a disservice.

My stakeholders don’t have time. Then one of two things is wrong–either you’ve identified the wrong stakeholders or you’re working on the wrong project.  Either of these issues might not be your fault.  But if the people benefiting from and contributing to the project can’t spend 2 hours in a room finalizing what exactly that project is supposed to do, there are larger issues at play.

When you sit down to review a requirements specification in a meeting, you know that people are actually reading it. You also will find that one comment leads to another and that can help discover new requirements before it’s too late. Besides, a review meeting cultivates a certain accountability – if you ask your stakeholders to look you in the eye and confirm they are ready to take the next step with the project.

We’re agile. Then reviewing the requirements with your business stakeholders prior to sprint planning is even more important! Instead of reviewing bigger documents for the full project, you’ll often focus on reviewing lists like the list of ranked product backlog items for the next few months, or the details of the user stories for the upcoming sprint.

How to Facilitate a Requirements Review Session

1. Set the stage.  Send out an email/calendar requirements with the document and a description of how the meeting will go.  Let everyone know that their role is to provide any feedback on the requirements and ultimately sign-off on the document.  Re-iterate this message at the beginning of the meeting.
2. Be prepared.  Have a few extra hard copies.  If possible, project the document onto the wall using an LCD unit.
3. Lead the walk-through section by section. Give everyone an appropriate amount of time to read and consider the requirements in that section.  Ask for comments, clarifications, and questions.  Ensure the discussion focuses on the requirements, not how to build them or what tasks need to be done or the marketing plan.  As the review group agrees to updates, note these on your hard-copy or make them electronically where everyone can see them.
4. Ask for sign-off.  Say “I’ll make these edits and distribute an updated copy.  Provided I get all these notes incorporated, is everyone prepared to sign-off?  Are there any lingering issues or concerns?”  Look at everyone in the room for a visual cue.

Some of the More Common Requirements Review Issues

Doing the requirements walk-through too early. As BA, do your homework first or you will be wasting everyone’s time. Vet out the big issues in small teams. Meet individually with the stakeholders to make sure you understand their needs.  Recognize and elevate conflicts in requirements so these are resolved.  By the time you do the walk-though, requirements should be almost ready to sign-off and the purpose is really to make sure everyone is aligned and to trigger any last gotchas.

Reading every requirement aloud. I’ve done this and it worked, but it was inefficient and I wouldn’t suggest it. Instead, review the requirements in meaningful sections that people can read through in the meeting.

Not including the right people. Ideally, your review should include one person from every area of the business impacted by the requirements, good examples include marketing, operations, product management, customer service, and IT.  Often times you’ll need more than one person from a group because of the decision matrix within that group.

No one says a word.  Be prepared with some questions to get discussion going. (And if you need help coming up with questions, download our the Free Requirements Checklist example to get the idea. Often people don’t have something to say but don’t want to appear to be critical of your work. Even throw a few mistakes in to make sure people are paying attention. Then you can point out your own mistakes, a practice that can often trigger similar responses from others.

The business uncovers a fundamental flaw in the project.  No matter how diligent you are in ensuring your stakeholders are ready for this meeting, someone can have a middle-of-the-night insight the day before your meeting and blow it to pieces.  Take a deep breath.  Ask the group if they feel this issue has to be dealt with in order to finalize the requirements for this project.  If they say yes, you have two choices: you can refocus the meeting to deal with the new issue or disband the meeting and work out a plan to deal with it ASAP.

Download a Free Requirements Checklist

Part of preparing for a requirements review is knowing what questions to ask. Learn exactly what a sample requirements checklist looks like, with one sample from our Requirements Discovery Checklist Pack, which includes over 700 questions, categorized and cross-referenced so you can prepare for your next elicitation session with a sense of ease and confidence.

Click here to download a free sample checklist

What we love about Faraz’s story is that by going through The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, he was able to gain a technical skill that allowed him to find his unique place in the business world. Before the program, even though Faraz had a diverse career background, he desired to acquire the technical skills to make himself an expert in a particular field. 

In this interview, you’ll discover: 

• How Faraz was able to gain confidence and assurance of his work through the lessons learned in the program. 
• The key challenges that Faraz faced when it came to his business analyst skill set, and how the program provided the clarity he needed to move forward. 
• How Faraz uses the technical skills he learned in The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program daily as a Salesforce Consultant. 
• The main factor that allows Faraz to approach any work situation with confidence. 
• Why Faraz recommends The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program over any other training for business analysts. 

Introducing Faraz Khan

Michael White: Hi everybody. I’m Michael White with Bridging the Gap. I’m one of the instructors here with our Blueprint program. Today we are here with Faraz Khan. He was a participant who successfully achieved his ACBA certification. Today he’s going to be sharing with us a little bit about his story, his background, and what he feels that he got from the program. With that said, welcome Faraz. Thank you. 

Faraz Khan: Yeah. Happy to be here, Michael.  

Michael White: Absolutely. All right. So I’m pretty excited to get you to share your story and learn a little bit more about you. So we’re just going to dive right on into our questions for today. First of all, just tell us a little bit about several months back before you started the program, tell us about where you were in your career and what you were hoping to get out of The Blueprint program.  

Faraz Khan: Yeah. Sure. Prior to my current role, I had actually taken a bit of a non-traditional path coming out of college a little over 10 years ago. I decided to go the route of joining startups. Back in 2010, that was sort of not really the thing to do, especially in the midwest, but I took a risk. I said I want to be an entrepreneur. Let me go join a startup. That’s kind of what I thought. 

I ended up spending a lot of time after that startup building my own business in real estate investing and internet lead marketing for quite a number of years and ended up back in some startups for a few years.  

With that sort of, as a background, I kind of wanted to get further and further away from the entrepreneur route and the startups that I was working with. I wanted to go to either a more professional company or a bigger company. I needed to find a role where it allowed me to use my skills, but it’s also a role that I could attain, not coming in to become director of something. I was looking for a role and that’s where I found Bridging the Gap to help me figure out what it’s like to be a business analyst, and how do I get there?  

Michael White: That’s pretty cool. And it’s interesting because the thing about business analysis is it’s one of those professions where you can always pull some type of transferable skill from another industry. 

Like you said, you were an entrepreneur; you did in real estate, but there were still probably some skills that you utilized in those endeavors that you were able to utilize as a business analyst as well.  

When you joined the program, tell us a little bit about some of your experiences with the modules as far as trying to transition from an entrepreneur to a business analyst or something of the like. Tell us about how some of those modules in the course helped you out with that. 

Faraz Khan: When I was looking for something to help kind of prepare me for this kind of role. I wanted something hands-on, and I wanted something that I could touch and feel. I can study and get a business analyst certification, pass a test and get a certification. I can do that. But I needed something to point to that gives me confidence, but also something that I can say, I know how to do this thing, and that thing is important to that job. 

Throughout the course, we had specific modules that are very specific to a particular skill that you need to have. For example, process diagramming. How do you map out a business process from start to finish? Oh, and by the way, how do you use the software to actually draw it out? 

Concept okay, but the program actually, the homework assignments actually had me go through creating my own process diagram. Then sitting in on instructor-led sessions, we actually analyze other people’s processes. I never received feedback on my specific diagram. By learning the concept, doing the work myself, and then analyzing other people’s diagrams, I got a real holistic view of that particular skill and now act, that’s actually my favorite skill that I use in my job today…having a conversation and then mapping it out in a Lucid Chart is my favorite thing to do, and it’s so valuable. 

The course really helped me get through…conceptually that’s easy, but the course really helped me get through some of those blockers of how detailed does it need to be? I thought it has to be so technical, but there’s a conceptual level, which is more in line with my business analyst skills and helped me kind of get unstuck and get over those little questions so that I can actually just start using the tool in my job today.  

That’s probably the biggest thing that I benefited from the course, the hands-on exercises with feedback, and then analyzing other people’s work as well.  

Michael White: Excellent. It sounds like in terms of a key takeaway from the course, what would you say that was for you? What was one of the major takeaways in terms of maybe what you learned from the program or maybe a takeaway in terms of what you learned from the program? 

Faraz Khan: I would say the main takeaway, and this was a blocker for me sometimes is how there are different levels to business analysis. This process diagram example, you could have a technical diagram that has 20 different, 40 or 50 different steps in the process and it’s very mapped out to the exact thing that happens in the process or the software code. 

That’s very difficult to do when you’re starting out, but it’s also difficult for your stakeholder and colleagues to use. It’s just overwhelming. Through the program, I started to understand that there are different levels of analysis. You could start with a conceptual level with five or 10 steps just to have conversations. When and how to go through those different levels, through the exercises, that has been really helpful for me. I would say that’s the biggest key takeaway I got out of the program. 

Michael White: That’s absolutely powerful. You always want to consider who your audience is when you’re creating these deliverables. You don’t want to have a deliverable that’s overly technical if you’re speaking to the business. Right. You don’t want to have something that’s too general, so that people from the technical team don’t know what to build. You really need to know your audience, their appropriate level of detail, and how we can bridge the gap when we’re communicating that. Thank you for that.  

Now tell us a little bit about where you are in your career now and how the program has helped you progress to your current state. 

Faraz Khan: I’m currently a Salesforce Consultant. I very much play the business analyst role on our project teams. 

Sometimes I’m leading the client through a project and sometimes I’m in support of a more senior-level consultant on a project. kind of getting here, before I was like, what role do I want? I zeroed in on this business analyst role. I heard a podcast, one of the Bridging the Gap podcasts where Laura interviewed Toni Martin and she said something  that really kind of clicked for me. That she really enjoyed the business analyst role and the skills, but she wanted something that was more niche and focus so she could build a career around. She found the Salesforce path. I had heard of Salesforce and I decided to look into that path further.

Once I opened up that door, I said, hey, I can use, you know, I was a product manager and an entrepreneur in the past. I love the kind of work I do. I have these business analyst skills through this program, but also I can have a niche and a software called Salesforce where I don’t have to be a developer to actually build something. 

And I said, well, this is it. This is what I want to do. And I want to be a consultant for other reasons. Low and behold full circle after going through the program, I ended up getting this Salesforce consulting position. Earlier this year I was able to speak at the Salesforce Business Analyst Summit hosted by Toni Martin. Laura was one of the other speakers at the conference as well. And here I am talking to you. I feel like, very much, I was on the other side. And now I’m speaking with my instructors, and you were one of my instructors as well. I feel really privileged to go through the program, create a vision, and now that I’m in this role, being able to live that vision on the other side. It’s hard to picture when you’re on the other side, but kind of cross that bridge.  

Michael White: Yeah, there we go. There we go. It’s amazing how it all came together for you. You were involved with Bridging the Gap and then you get connected with Salesforce with Toni.  

Toni was one of our instructors as well. I instructed you. I was also a speaker at the summit. Now you were a speaker at the summit. So it’s like this wonderful support system in this wonderful ecosystem within the business analysis space. I think that’s a very good testament of how omnipresent Bridging the Gap as well. I think that’s a wonderful story for sure.  

Now, in terms of the outcomes of this, what does this mean for you? How would you say this has impacted you personally in terms of maybe your confidence or maybe just how you view your role or what you’re doing at Salesforce?  

FARAZ KHAN: Before this course, it was like, I’m confident I’m smart, but I didn’t know my place in the job world. I’m not an engineer. I’m not a doctor. I don’t have a technical skill. I was just a business guy.  

Although I’m not a programmer, I very much have systems thinking and I also have the personal side of it where I can speak to the business and understand the business as well. 

What the course gave me is actually something I could consider a technical skill, which is called business analysis. Now I know that what I’m bringing to the table on a project team. That makes me feel very confident. I’ve worked in startups too, so I don’t have to talk over people to get my way. 

I don’t have to hide behind my lack of self-confidence and let my ego take over. I’m actually confident in my skills and I feel like my ego has taken a step back. I feel more confident in my ability to have a long-term successful career no matter what job I’m in, because I know these base-level skills. I know I’m a business analyst. I know I can produce these kinds of assets and I know how to accomplish very specific things on these kinds of projects. That’s what it’s really kind of given to me, this course, and that’s what long-term business analysis; great. Salesforce, great. Consulting, great. I have a career path whereas before it was a very windy, windy path.  

Michael White: That’s awesome. That’s great. I think that’s what we are here to do. We’re here to help give you a little bit of direction and clarity around what you want to do and understanding what the role is and how you can contribute to that role. 

You definitely are a good fit for use case. I’m very happy to hear that.  

I wish we were on the summit together. That would’ve been cool if we were speaking in the same line-up. You and Laura got to speak together, but if all of us were there together I think that would have been pretty cool.  

Faraz Khan: Laura was in a separate talk. We were all in our own talks. That would’ve been really cool to be on a panel.  

Michael White: For sure.  

Well, in terms of closing, do you have any thoughts or recommendations for anyone who might be interested in going down a similar path, who might be interested in joining The Blueprint, or who might be interested in transitioning from an entrepreneur in sales and real estate to the business analyst career?  

Faraz Khan: I’ve had this conversation with quite a few people. I’ve recommended this course very specifically, because I couldn’t find anything else that walks you through, start to finish, actual skills, and job training. These are actual things you’ll do in an actual job, plus you get a credential, which you can showcase it.  

In terms of getting training and being confident in doing the skills to get a new job or to be better at your current job, I absolutely got that out of this course. That’s what I would recommend.  

If you’re looking for actual training on best practices, not just hacking away at it in your day job and you don’t know if you’re doing it right or wrong, this is a good course for that.  

And then business analysis, everything is touching technology now. Everything. Every process is being affected or supported by software. Whether you’re a business user or a business analyst product manager type person, even if you’re on the technical side or on the business side, being able to articulate what you want or what the customer wants or what the business wants through these tools that the course gives you will help you as a business person or someone more on the technical side as well. 

I think you need this skill to move forward. How technology is impacting every, every sort of business.  

Michael White: Thank you so much, Faraz. I’m sure your story is going to inspire a lot of people and it was such an honor speaking with you today. And again, I want to thank you so much for your time. On behalf of myself and the entire Bridging the Gap team. 

To everyone out there, thanks for watching. We will catch you on the next round. Have a good one. 

>>How to Learn the Foundational Business Analyst Skills (And Build Your Body of Formal Work Samples)

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll gain real-world experience in the industry-standard techniques and business analysis processes.

>> Click here for more information about The Business Analyst Blueprint® <<

Nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s exactly why agile teams need business analysts.

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

Many business analysts feel like their role is not needed in agile. We hear that agile teams, they don’t want requirements. Then we assume that they don’t want us as business analysts. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m Laura Brandenburg. I’m the creator of Bridging the Gap. Today, we’re going to talk about why business analysts are absolutely essential to agile teams.

Recently, one of our community members commented that in his early meetings with agile practitioners, he felt like something was off, something was missing. He wasn’t quite sure what it was. After going through our free training, he discovered it was the business analysis part of the process.

Where did those requirements come from for those users come from for those user stories?  What was that working software supposed to do?  That information comes from us, the business analysts.

One of my mantras is that on every successful project, you’ll find a business analyst. That’s true, even if they don’t have the title of Business Analyst.

Agile, as wonderful as it is, it’s not a business analysis process. It’s a way of developing and delivering valuable working software to the business. Agile teams, they need business analysts.

• They need us to discover what the business users need and want and determine what changes will have the most value to the business, so we can effectively use agile software development practices to deliver it with maximum efficiency.
• They need us to collaborate with business users and sponsors across the organization, and to gain alignment on what is wanted and needed and ensure that those items in the product backlog and those details in the user stories represent true value to the business.
• They need us to take a holistic view of the product backlog and find all those inner related requirements and inter-dependencies and make sure that the pieces of working software delivered are, again, going to deliver value in the context of that end-to-end business process.
• On that note, they need us to discover and analyze what those business processes are and help the business users implement the changes necessary to fully leverage that new software. That is supposed to make their jobs easier.
• Last, but not least, they need us to keep the backlog well organized. To keep it groomed and prioritized, and add those estimates and filter through it, remove things, and add things so that the team can easily see what needs to be done in the next sprint, and the sprint after that.

Agile practices and business analysis actually deliver tremendous value to organizations when they are leveraged effectively together. Let’s stop questioning why we need business analysts in agile, and let’s start looking at how we can all work together to achieve the most possible value for our organizations. Things will be so much easier when we’re all working together as a team.

I do have some more resources for you on how to be an agile business analyst. There should be a link to this video or go to bridgingthegap.com/agile-business-analyst. I’ve laid out exactly how to apply the business analysis process we teach at Bridging the Gap, and in agile software development environments. Be sure to check that out.

I challenge you. What will do to be a better partner to your agile team today?  How will you help your organization be more effective?  How can you leverage the combination of agile practices and business analysis to deliver even more value more quickly to your business community?

Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear about your success.

Again, I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap. Thanks for listening.

The Agile Business Analyst: 4 Crucial Strategies for Success

To follow-up from this video, let’s look at 4 crucial strategies for applying the business analysis process in an agile environment.

Agile Business Analyst Strategy #1 – Resist the Temptation to Skip Steps 1-3

Most agile practices make certain assumptions about what information the business stakeholders can provide and how quickly they can make decisions. These assumptions are valid inside steps 5-7 of the business analysis process. But steps 1-3 (Getting Oriented, Discovering the Primary Business Objectives, and Defining Scope) are still important.

As an agile business analyst, these decisions you help stakeholders make in these steps provide the foundation you need to effectively and iteratively deliver the requirements in step 5.

• The current capabilities assessment completed in step 1 will help you and your team discover simple, quick wins that can add value quickly.
• The business objectives discovered in step 2 will help your team prioritize the product backlog to put the highest value items first.
• The scope decisions made in step 3 will help your team stay on track and make meaningful adjustments to expectations.

Most often, these steps will start before the “agile” part of the project and it’s prudent to make time for them even as an agile business analyst.

(By the way, we cover each of the 8 steps of the business analysis process in our BA Essentials Master Class.)

Agile Business Strategy #2 – Create an Agile Business Analysis Plan (Step 4)

When it comes to step 4 – creating your business analysis plan – this is where it’s important for the agile business analyst to integrate the business analysis process into your organization’s version of agile.

Here are some specific questions you’ll want to answer as you work through your planning:

• How long are sprints scheduled for?
• What happens inside a sprint? Is there time for elicitation and requirements work or is the sprint all about developing and testing?
• What is the desired outcome of a sprint? Production-ready code is the typical standard but ready-to-test code is also a common deliverable in partially agile teams.
• How does the project team decide what to work on inside a sprint?
• What state does a product backlog need to be in before a sprint?
• What state do the user stories need to be in before a sprint?
• Who is responsible for the product backlog and user stories? While these are natural responsibilities for an agile business analyst to take on, your project team may have a different way of doing things.
• What requirements work will happen inside the sprint?

Essentially, you want to figure out exactly how to fit your detailed functional requirements work into the agile process of your software development team.

Agile Business Strategy #3 – Plan for Multiple Iterations of the Detailed Requirements and Team Support (Steps 5-7)

Fundamentally, agile is an iterative development process. On the best agile teams I’ve been a part of, we developed a pattern of requirements, design, development, and testing that flows continuously so that everyone is always working on something meaningful. And this means the agile business analyst might be working on requirements that are developed and tested next week, or even tomorrow.

In the BA Essentials Master Class, we discuss specific ways to develop the detailed requirements iteratively in step 5. And it is important here to be sure you are eliciting, analyzing, and finalizing the requirements in an iterative, continuous fashion, so your product team has a steady stream of work for each sprint.

What’s more, while you are finishing requirements for the next sprint, you are also supporting the technology team during the current sprint (step 6). And you might also be supporting the business in implementing the changes from the previous sprint (step 7).

So steps 5-7 all happen, but they happen at the sprint level instead of at the project level, which means that in reality, you are working on all 3 steps at once.

In my experience, this is the biggest shift for us to get used to as agile business analysts, because this pattern of work requires us to manage our time extremely well and make sure we are working on only the most important tasks with each step. There is no time here for endlessly tweaking models or finessing the phrasing of requirements. Instead, we should be collaborating, reviewing, and getting all of our work “good enough” to take the next step.

Agile Business Analyst Strategy #4 – Regularly Assess Value in Step 8

Step 8 in the business analysis process involves assessing the value created by the solution. And here is where we as business analysts can start to fall in love with agile methodologies. In a more traditional, waterfall environment we might wait months or years to see our requirements implemented and the value intended by those requirements realized.

In an agile environment where production-ready code is delivered regularly, we might see slices of value realized within weeks. And that means we can also be assessing the value of those changes earlier, and communicating about the value already delivered by the project team before the team is even done with the project.

This kind of celebration and communication can create a lot of positive momentum inside our project teams and across our organizations. What’s more, as we see the initial changes deployed, we’ll often learn even more about what the next set of valuable functionality is, generating new ideas for new projects and backlog items, which will require regularly grooming the product backlog. Instead of staying stuck on what was originally in scope, it is important to leverage this learning and make adjustments.

An Agile Business Analyst is Still a Business Analyst

Although we might apply the business analysis process differently in agile, it’s just as important as ever to be a tried-and-true business analyst in an agile environment. In fact, if we try to skip over steps just because we are doing agile, we are likely to face more challenges inside our projects.

If you are a business analyst on an agile team, consider how you demonstrate leadership within your own domain of business analysis by applying these crucial strategies to increase your effectiveness.

Learn More About the Business Analysis Process

To learn more about the 8 steps business analysis process, sign up to receive this recorded webinar training – 8 Steps to Being an Effective Business Analyst. (It’s complimentary.)

You’ll learn about the 8-step business analysis process that you can apply whether you are in an agile environment or a traditional one, whether you are purchasing off-the-shelf software or building custom code, whether you are responsible for a multi-million dollar project or a one-week project.

Click here to register for the complimentary training

Natalie has helped hundreds of people get unreasonable job offers that they originally didn’t believe they could get.  

In this short discussion, you’ll discover how to: 

• Give yourself proper credit for the work that you have done. 
• Share about your experience leading with the results rather than the actions. 
• Maintain mental and emotional resilience when interviewing doesn’t go as planned. 

Introducing Natalie Fisher 

Laura Brandenburg: Hello everyone. I’m Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap here today with Natalie who’s here to talk about why you are getting interviews, but not an offer, for a business analyst job. This is a challenge that I know a lot of you face.  

Natalie is a career mindset coach that’s helped hundreds of people get unreasonable offers that they didn’t originally believe that they could get. She works on mindset, which those of you who have followed me for a while know I’m a big geek when it comes to mindset and success strategy. She helps you with both and is obsessed with figuring out the specific mindset tools and blocks that will get in the way of really smart people succeeding in getting into the position they want with a salary they want. 

Great to have you here, Natalie. Thanks for being here.  

Natalie Fisher: Thank you for having me.  

Laura Brandenburg: Before we get started, you have this guide, which you shared with me called, “Eight reasons that you get interviews, but no offers”. I’ve downloaded it and read through it. I think it is absolutely brilliant. Anyone who wants to download it can get it in the notes below. We’re not going to cover all eight reasons today because this is a bit of a short interview, but I do want to just dig deeper into a few of the reasons that really stood out to me and I think are relevant to our community.  

Employers Can Sense an Energetic Doubt in Your Abilities and Decide Not to Make a Job Offer 

The first one was number two, and this is where you said, “They sense an energetic doubt in your abilities.” This one certainly, I think, affects business analysts because as analytical thinkers, we often doubt ourselves in the first place. And then we can get thrown off because the terminology is a little different than we’ve seen before and we want to make sure we’re answering the question perfectly. That can make us come off as less than confident.  

My question for you is how do you advise people to overcome this one?  

Natalie Fisher: Yeah, for sure. There are many different tools that I use. I think the one here that’s most applicable for maybe a new business analyst or somebody who is unsure of their own abilities right now is to, first of all, take stock of what you have done and make that forefront of your mind. Even if it seems like it’s small things, there’s always a big list of things that you have already done that you’re probably not giving yourself enough credit for. Then the, “I can figure things out” thing because you have figured out a whole bunch of things that you didn’t know how to do in the beginning. 

You’ve been doing that since you were born. Walking, talking. It’s just stuff you’ve figured out along the way. All of a sudden we grew up and got really doubtful that we would be able to figure things out and that’s where we get tripped up. I would offer that thought. It’s really helped a lot of my clients to just repeat that. “I know I can figure things out.” And then pointing to all that evidence of the times when you have figured things out when you started and you had no idea of how that was going to go.  

Laura Brandenburg: Just like as a business analyst, your job is to figure things out, right?  

Natalie Fisher: Yeah, exactly. 

Laura Brandenburg: You probably have done this before. If it’s a good role for you, you probably have a lot of evidence in your favor.  

Natalie Fisher: Yeah. There’s so much evidence anyway. It’s so easy for me to go into a conversation with the clients and start to dig out all the things that they’ve done. But the problem is nobody is going to sit there and question you on the details of the things you’ve done. So you have to do that yourself, for yourself so that you can be like, okay, I understand. I do bring more to the table than I thought, and I have figured out more things than I thought.  

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah. That prep work seems really key.  

Natalie Fisher: Yeah.  

You Might Not Get an Offer Because the Information You Provide is Not Concrete or Specific Enough 

Laura Brandenburg: The next one I wanted to ask you about is when people say they didn’t get specific enough or concrete enough information. Can you just share a little bit more about that? And how much do you advise people to share? Because you also don’t want to go so deep into the details that you’re lost in the weeds.  

Natalie Fisher: Yeah, for sure. That’s a great question too. It’s kind of like I was thinking about this and how I could use an analogy to kind of illustrate how this is. 

It’s like if you’re serving a meal, you don’t want the meal to be overwhelmed with so many spices and so many things that you can’t taste any of it. But you also don’t want it to be so bland that it just tastes like nothing. So what I think is people normally will go on the bland, vague side and they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, I can do that,” or they won’t give specific examples.  

What we want, I think, is like the main part of the meal is your results. What are the results that you attained or achieved from the story that you’re telling? Was it that you got people to collaborate on something and that meant that the business was now able to move forward with a project that got done on time? Why did that matter? So the main part of the meal is the result.  

The side dishes are kind of like the situation explaining the context of the situation, how you got into it, what your task was, and what the assignment was. Just giving some context. Then talking a little bit about the actions that you took and how you did them. But your main part of the meal is the one that they care about the most, the end result, what you’re talking about actually achieved. That’s kind of how I describe it. Just think it’s one extreme, you’re really vague and you’re like, yeah, I did it. I can do it. No problem. The other you’re like telling them all these things and they’re just kind of, their eyes are glazing over with, okay, when are you going to be done talking? You want to kind of be in the middle, focusing on don’t forget the results. I find a lot of people forget the results. I’ll be having a conversation and they’ll be like, “Well, I did this, this, this, and this.” And I will say, as the coach, “Okay, but why did that matter? What were the results from that?” And then they will give me the best answer they’ve given. 

Laura Brandenburg: But you have to dig for it? 

Natalie Fisher: Exactly.  

Laura Brandenburg: We didn’t quite prep for this, but I’m interested at what level you coach people to give results. Because as we were talking about before, there’s the project results, but then there’s also the individual results, what they contributed to the project. And I think BAS can kind of get stuck in the middle of that. What results do you advise people to focus on in the interview? 

And It May Not Be About You At All! 

Natalie Fisher: The question I ask to kind of weed that out and clarify that for people is, “What would have happened if you were not there? What do you think would have happened if you were not part of that project at all?” It kind of becomes clear as to what unique, specific contribution that they had. And we can kind of put together what was it in their unique thought processes that contributed to that final result. That’s kind of a good weeding question to make it clear because they have a pretty good idea at that point. If you remove that person from the situation, the project would have turned out differently.  

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah. As a business analyst, if you weren’t there to write the dozen use cases for how the software was going to work, the business and the software people would have been talking back and forth and trying to shortcut this process and probably built the wrong thing. 

Natalie Fisher: Exactly. 

Laura Brandenburg: Instead of a really clear process. That example, too, in terms of your don’t go into the deep, like you wouldn’t go to the details of, “Well, first I did this use case and then I did this use case, and then I did this,” but you might say, “I created a dozen use cases and this is how I worked with the team,” to kind of give a flavor of the project without like the step by step.  

Natalie Fisher: Yeah, totally. And I like to say, when I was interviewing myself, I would always kind of give them that overall thing. And then I would say, “If you want to see more examples, if you want to see more results, I’m happy to share them.” Most of the time they didn’t need to, but it made me feel better to just give that option. 

Laura Brandenburg: Yeah. All right. There are so many, again, good reasons in the guides and there’s a lot of practical guidance, too. But the last one I want to talk about in the time that we have today is #8. This was, “It has nothing to do with you.” I think job seekers want to make every interview about them, and it’s not always the case.  

Often, I think when people are interviewing business analysts, it’s like the hiring manager sometimes doesn’t have a clear view even of the role that they’re hiring for. And so they might put a list of qualifications down, but then as they start to interview people, you might be qualified on paper, but they’re like, oh my goodness, this is not what I actually need. I didn’t get the requirements right. Which is a total, “It’s not about you” situation. How would you help advise people to maintain their mental and emotional resilience in the face of that kind of an interview process where that might be happening?  

Natalie Fisher: Totally. In that kind of an interview process, or in the kind of a process where you went in and you just kind of knew it wasn’t the right fit and you didn’t really like it either. There are going to be situations like that where it just wasn’t going to work out no matter what you did. In those situations, your first step is to identify that. But I think deeper is just being confident with how you showed up and focusing on evaluating yourself from your own perspective. Not making the result mean something about you if you got rejected for something.  

I had a client, he got rejected for something that he told me he didn’t even want, but he was still disappointed about it. And it’s like, you get to make the decision. I don’t want to work for a company who doesn’t know what they want yet. I don’t want to work for a company who isn’t going to be flexible with time off or whatever it is that you discovered in the interview that maybe you didn’t feel right about. 

I would say, like in my program, I talk about evaluating based on things you can control. There’s a list of things you can control. You can feel really good about. You can walk out of that interview saying, “You know what? I did everything I could, I’m happy with how I showed up.” If it’s not a match, it’s not a match. Sometimes you know it’s not. Identifying that you have a decision to make as well. It’s not just them. It’s equal. I think we often get that confused. We think they’re the ones with the power and stuff, but they need you too. 

Laura Brandenburg: Yes. I mean, you have an immense amount of power as a business analyst. If people need the skillset, they just need to understand what you can do and the value you can create for them. That’s awesome. 

Natalie, do you want to share a little bit more about this download I’ve been talking about and where people can find? I’ll definitely leave a link below. 

Natalie Fisher: Yeah, absolutely. So the link for it is below and we go into the eight specific reasons how to fix them all. And yeah, just kind of going into the mindset, because that was the number one question that I kept getting is, “I’m going on all these interviews, but what am I doing wrong?” 

Like we talked about, sometimes it really doesn’t have anything to do with you, but most of the time there are some things that you can do to definitely increase your chances and guarantee that job offer coming through.  

Laura Brandenburg: That’s awesome. And if you want to learn more about the business analyst role, specifically, at Bridging the Gap, we also have a free workshop called the Quick Start to Success, and I will leave that link below as well. 

Thank you so much, Natalie, for being here today and thank you for being here today.  

Natalie Fisher: Awesome. Thank you for having me. It was great. 

Get Hired! With These 2 Free Resources 

Download Natalie’s 8 Reasons You Get Interviews But No Offer 

In her free guide, 8 Reasons You Get Interviews, But No Offers, she shares the most common hindrances that may be keeping you from attaining your dream job that have nothing to do with your experience or skill set. 

Join our Free Workshop:

Quick Start to Success as a Business Analyst 

Discover the opportunities you have as a business analyst – straight from Laura Brandenburg. 

• If you are learning the role from scratch, how do you make sure that you are the best BA you can be and build up your confidence?
• How do you hone your skills to the maximum, to make sure you keep the job or turn what might be a temporary role into a permanent position?
• Or, simply put, how do you establish a solid foundation from the get-go?

Getting a solid start as a business analyst is what we’re talking about in this video.

(By the way, if you are looking to fill your BA toolbox with the key skills to launch your business analyst career, be sure to check out The Business Analyst Blueprint®.)

Without further ado…

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

We’re in an exciting space right now in business analysis and we’ve been getting lots and lots of emails from people who have just started their first or next business analyst job. We wanted to record a video to talk about what do you do first when you’re starting a new role as a business analyst.

So, let’s jump right in. There are five things that I think you want to be thinking about when you’re starting a new role. Some of these might not actually be what you would maybe expect.

#1 – New Business Analyst Job: Understand the Role

The first thing is you want to understand the business analyst role that your employer wants filled. It’s easy for us as business analysts to have some sort of expectations or assumptions about what our roles should be, and for that to really conflict with what is really important to your hiring manager, or project manager, or the person that you’re reporting to.

You want to make sure that, first and foremost, you understand what they most need you to be successful at. What’s the biggest problem that they hired you to solve, and how can you make an impact quickly? So, make sure that you understand that and allow yourself to be flexible at first if you need to be, even if it doesn’t meet quite the expectation you had as a business analyst.

#2 – New Business Analyst Job: Understand the Processes and Templates

The second thing is to understand the core processes and templates in place in your organization. You want to know if there’s a specific kind of document that is being created.

• Do you create business process flows and use cases, or do you create more traditional business requirements documents, or do you, maybe, even create agile user stories and a product backlog?
• What are the templates and processes in place in the organization, and how does business analysis, or whatever that flavor of business analysis you’re doing, how does that typically work?

That’s going to, again, help you get started off on the right track.

In a few cases, you might be the first business analyst. It’s up to you to figure that out. In which case, start with some industry standard practices and bring those to your organization. And our Business Analyst Template Toolkit is a great starting resource if your organization doesn’t have any existing templates to use.

#3 – New Business Analyst Job – Step 3: Get To Know Your Stakeholders

The next thing, we’ve talked about understanding your role, and those core processes and templates in place. The third thing to do is get to know your stakeholders.

You want to be looking for stakeholders both on the business side and the technology side. You want to get to know the business domain, the business process, how the business looks at technology, and what is important to all levels of the business. From end users all the way up to hiring managers, managers, directors, some cases even VPs who are the sponsor of a project. In a small organization, you might be working directly with the CEO, who’s the sponsor of a project. Stakeholders, meaning all levels of stakeholders.

And, those on the technology side. Who are your lead contacts that can help you understand the technology stack that’s in place, what’s already implemented, what’s the potential opportunities provided by those tools so that you can make sure you’re helping the business leverage the technology in the best possible way.

New Business Analyst Job: Make an Immediate Positive Impact

With those three things in place, or even as you’re getting those three things in place, you want to be focused on the fourth thing, which is making an immediate positive impact. Whatever that role is, whatever that first project is, how can you, essentially, hit the ground running and make a big important impact?

This can be frustrating because sometimes you might be hired in the middle of a project and you’ll be picking up somebody else’s requirements documentation and trying to answer questions around it. You might even come in a lot later in the project and be asked to start with the testing, the user acceptance testing with the business, or even just testing yourself against things that you didn’t write the requirements for.

Sometimes you really do just have to jump into where the organization is with that project and make an impact. That’s how you’re going to prove your value. You’re going to prove your skill set, you’re going to earn your reputation in that organization. That’s going to pave the way for all kinds of career opportunities to come forward.

If you don’t make the impact first, it can be hard to create the exact role that you want to have created. Make sure that whatever that first project is, that you’re making that investment in making it a positive impact and being successful in the context of how your organization defines success.

New Business Analyst Job: Start Bringing In “Best Practices”

Then, that’s step 5, with that clear win under your belt, with that sense of reputation, and trust that you’ve built with those stakeholders and that you do what you say you’re going to do in that you can really have an impact on their team. Then you can start bringing in “best practices.” If you see a gap in the business analysis process, maybe your team jumps right in and focuses on the functional requirements and you know that you can do a much better job if you started and focused on some of the business process and workflow diagrams, and things like that.

Maybe there are certain stakeholder groups that aren’t involved at all and you can get involved in bringing them in and expanding who’s communicated with around a technology project or a business process improvement effort.

Whatever that best practice is that you see having an impact in your organization, after your first win is the time to take that first step forward and say, “Okay, I see how things went this time. One of the biggest challenges we had with this project was…(whatever it was). This is what I’m going to do next time to help improve that.” So, you’re continually bringing those best practices. You can rinse and repeat that again, and again, as you form a business analyst role in a specific organization.

But it all starts with those first four steps – understanding the role, understanding the templates and processes in place, earning the trust and respect of those stakeholders, and creating that first win. Then you can continue to evolve and bring in more best practices and evolve the role of the organization.

I would love to hear from you if you have started a role recently, or if you’re one of our veterans that has a ton of experience as well. What have you found to be the best things to do when you get started in any organization? Any tips or crazy stories that maybe would help somebody else, please go ahead and leave those below.

Learn More About Starting a New Business Analyst Job

Also, be sure to check out our 4-part series on getting started in a new business analyst job and making the most of your opportunity.

Click the links below to read each article in the series.

#1 – What To Expect On Your First Day

#2 – How to Prepare For Your First Day

#3 – How to Make the Most of Your First Week

#4 – Your First 60 Days

I’d recommend checking out all of the articles as there is something different covered in each one.

Good luck to you. We’re rooting for you and we’ll be here when you need us!

About The Business Analyst Blueprint®

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, you’ll learn all 12 of the industry-standard techniques and the business analysis process framework – to build your confidence in the best practices of business analysis.

You’ll create validated work samples and be a credentialed business analyst as a recipient of the Applied Certification in Business Analysis (ACBA).

>> Click here for more information about The Blueprint <<

You may also want to check out this video on how to really sell your business analyst skills in a job interview.

(Before I forget, I want to be sure you know that you can download my free BA Job Interview Prep Guide and receive more detailed information on preparing for your business analyst job interview.)

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #1 – Tell me about yourself.

Nearly every interview starts out with this question, but it’s frustratingly vague. Does the interviewer want a complete rundown of your career history? Or a synopsis of your key skills? Or a more personal account of how you got where you are today?

Instead of stumbling through a long-winded introduction that may or may not be relevant to the position or interesting to your interviewer, a good approach is to provide a brief summary and turn this opening question into an opportunity to shape the direction of the job interview and focus the discussion on your most compelling business analysis qualifications.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #2 – Tell me about a time you ____.

Fill in the blank with any key term from the job description. These are called behavioral interview questions and your interviewer wants to hear about how you used a skill or technique required to be successful in this job. Select one of the more positive and complex experiences from your career background and tell this story with as much detail as possible.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #3 – What is a _____?

Again, fill in the blank with any key term from the job description. (Common examples would include business process, use case, or data dictionary. These questions seem different from behavioral interview questions, but I would suggest providing a brief answer and then sharing a specific experience you have related to the skill. That’s what is going to help your interviewer believe you really know what you are doing anyway, even if they don’t directly ask about your experience.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #4 – How do you deal with difficult stakeholders?

This one can crop up in a variety of forms, depending on the difficulties perceived by your interviewer. This question is nice because it gives you a bit of insight into the challenges you might face at this organization, which you’ll want to understand before you accept an offer.

Like many interview questions, you’ll gain the most confidence from your reviewer if you provide a direct answer and then speak to a similar challenge you had in a previous stakeholder environment. Working with difficult stakeholders is one of those areas where your transferable soft skills are extremely important, so even if you don’t have a relevant BA experience, be ready to speak to a relevant experience from a different profession.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #5 – What will you miss most about your current job?

Typically someone asking this question is looking to get a feel for your orientation and what you perceive as most important about a job opportunity. They may want to be sure they can position their organization in a positive light against your past experience or they may be looking to make sure that you would be a good fit for the work environment they have to offer.

Avoid answers like “being the expert” as that can make you seem tied to your current position and lacking confidence in your ability to perform in a new role. Saying you’ll miss the people is always a safe choice – just be sure you can say it honestly and back the sentiment up with detail.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #6 – What was a typical day like at your most recent job?

I used to like to start with this question to get a good feel for the candidate’s actual work experience and their ability to summarize it briefly and relevantly. It’s a bit of a false question because everyone knows that there is no “typical” day. As a business analyst, your work varies greatly day to day.

The best candidates I’ve interviewed were quick to point out that there is no typical day and then speak to the types of days they had or activities they engaged in. (As a side note, having a candidate nicely but clearly point out that your question is a bit off shows that they have the confidence to correct a potential manager. This type of leadership is a quality that managers are often looking for in BAs.)

To answer this kind of question, be ready to speak more to the types of meetings you attended and client engagements you had than the deliverables you created. This is also a good question to speak to how you organize your time, handle conflicting priorities, and stay focused on moving your projects forward.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #7 – Tell me about your typical approach to a project.

This question is looking both to understand your business analysis process and see how flexible you might be. If you start spouting lists of deliverables and processes, you’ll probably turn most hiring managers off. Instead, speak to the general phases or types of deliverables you tend to create and let them know how you’ve customized specific approaches to the project needs. Then ask about their project and business analysis processes.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #8 – When are you done with requirements?

When I was interviewing BAs, this was my favorite question as part of the screening process. I can’t tell you how many candidates couldn’t answer it or provide clear criteria for finishing a set of requirements. Don’t be those candidates!

Be prepared to speak to how you see the business analysis effort through from start to finish – and that you know how to finish. Finishing typically meets a set of clear and approved requirements that represent the business need and have been vetted by the solution team.

(For more information about what you can do to cultivate a manager’s confidence in you as a BA job candidate, you might also read about our BA job search process.)

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #9 – What do you see as the key strengths of a business analyst?

Business analysis is a growing and emerging profession. Employers want to know that you are aware of the skills needed to succeed as a business analyst, and that this is not just technology skills.

Be prepared to speak to the variety of business analyst roles within the profession and the key business analyst skills that are important for success in the role.

Business Analyst Job Interview Question #10 – What questions do you have for me?

As a business analyst, you will ask questions – lots of them. There is no better place to demonstrate your ability to ask thoughtful, intelligent questions than in the interview. Your interviewer should ask you if you have questions and you should have at least a few.

Turn this part of the interview into a conversation by sharing more about your experience or offering a suggestion. Use active listening techniques so your interviewer feels heard and understood. This is a time to demonstrate your elicitation skills, not just simply get a few questions answered.

>>Go Into Your Next Interview with Confidence

Pick up the BA Job Interview Prep Guide that walks you through the essential steps you need to take to prepare for your first or next business analyst job interview.

Click here to get your copy of the BA Job Interview Prep Guide