It’s easy to get overwhelmed. And it’s easy to allow the overwhelm to keep you from contributing value to your organization.

To be effective, it’s absolutely necessary that you have a process to manage this information and be productive at defining the requirements sooner rather than later.

Specifically, Sheryl asked:

I am looking for work in the Salesforce BA/Admin area/domain.  I have been accepted by 3 non-profit groups that need Salesforce assistance.  My questions to you would be:

Help!  I have been assigned to a number of juicy projects and I have a lot of information coming in.  How would you organize or set up the process to manage all of this info?

In today’s video, I share 4 strategies to manage information overload as a business analyst – we cover getting your files set up, the key documents to create, how to manage your time between projects, and finally, moving from reactive to proactive mode by creating models and specifications for review.

(As an aside, you can get templates for many of the documents I mention in this video when you download our Business Analyst Template Toolkit.)

For those who like to read instead of watch, here’s the full text of the video:

Today we’re going to talk about a common problem for BAs: what to do when you are overloaded with information and are a bit overwhelmed.

Specifically, Sheryl emailed us a question and she said,

“I just got assigned to three different non-profit groups as a Salesforce.com BA.”

First, congratulations, Sheryl, that’s awesome! A great way to be building some new business analysis experience.

“But, what do I do?” “How do I manage all this information that’s coming as part of these juicy projects.”

We’re going to talk, in this video about specific strategies for handling information overwhelm. Let’s dive right in.

Information Overload Strategy #1 – Create Folders

The first thing is simple. Just go out and create yourself some folders for each client and each project. Whatever the main categories of work you do right now, create folders. Do this both in your document management system, most likely just the file system on your computer, and in your email software so that as you get emails from people about a project or with information about a project, you can file them into those folders.

As you do that, you’ll probably create some subfolders for different areas so you can find them again more easily if you need to. But just make sure you’re filing those away into the appropriate folders. It also helps to take that overwhelm out of your email box. When I stop doing my filing, I look at my email and it’s crazy instead of just having to deal with the new emails that have come in. As you get important attachments in your email, also be sure to save them over to that appropriate folder. It’s a lot easier to find that way instead of having to sift through your email every time you’re looking for a document. Basic organization strategy.

Information Overload Strategy #2 – Key Documents

The next thing is looking at a couple of key documents that are going to help you manage the information. These are documents you can create.

You want a stakeholder list for each project. Who’s who, what do they know about, what department are they in, what’s their email address? That’s probably going to be in your email software, but it’s their contact information, how to get in touch with them, their communication preferences (if you know), and what kind of areas they’re responsible for on the project.

Meeting notes. As you go into meetings, don’t just scribble down your notes. Type up your notes and store them away. That will help you solidify what you learned in any given meeting. It will also help keep a record of what you learned, what you found out, what issues you have to manage, or what is going on with that project.

Another document you might want to start creating right away is called a glossary. A glossary is just a key list of terms, especially, if you’re dealing with three different clients. They might all have a different definition of customer. You’re going to need to keep that straight in your head. So, go ahead and create a glossary for each organization so that you can stay clear on what the different terms mean for each organization.

Finally, you’re going to want to start some sort of a features list or request list. Why are they having a Salesforce.com BA? That’s exciting. They probably have some changes they want. Start keeping a list of those changes as they come up in those early meetings and that will help you get proactive, into proactive mode, which we’re going to talk about in a bit.

Information Overload Strategy #3 – Time and Priority Management

The next piece, before we talk about getting in proactive mode, and the way that you turn information overwhelm into structure, clarity, and organized information as a business analysis, is your time management system. Your need to be thinking about three projects is a lot to juggle at a time. Some BAs juggle more than that. They have a bunch of little projects, which is challenging to manage as well. But even three big projects, that’s a lot to manage and it’s going to be natural to be pulled from one to the other and feel like, “Oh, I dropped the ball on this one while I was working on this juicy thing on this other one.”

You want to get a system down where you’re looking at what are the key milestones for each of your projects.

• What are things that you need to be working on to set those projects up for success?
• What are the key meetings?
• Get your calendar organized, your schedule organized. What are your next steps?

You want to be revisiting your to-do list weekly and looking at each of those projects, probably, having a part of your to-do list, making sure you’re making consistent progress on each of those projects, whether it’s scheduling the next week’s meeting, preparing a requirements document, or typing of notes from the last meeting.

Just make sure you consistently have those action items captured and you’re looking week to week about how to keep each of those moving forward.

Information Overload Strategy #4 – Create Models and Specs for Review

Now, let’s talk about taking ownership of all this information. The thing is information overload isn’t productive. You individually learning stuff as a business analyst is super fun. It’s energizing to be like, “I get now how all this fit together.” It’s not delivering value.

You don’t deliver value until you create something that helps that project take the next step. You, as quickly as possible, want to get into a proactive mode and a creative mode. Taking all this information that’s coming in to you and saying, “Okay, here is a nice neat and organized requirements document.” Or … “Here is a nice, neat and organized model that is going to help describe it and help us take the next step on that project.”

Some of the examples might be:

• A systems context diagram – a very simple visual model showing how Salesforce.com integrates or will integrate with the other systems in place in that organization.
• A business process flow. What are the steps that they go through to manage an account today, or convert a lead to a customer? What are their key sales processes and how do those flow? That would be a process document that you could now review and say, “Have I understood this correctly?” or “How do we fill in these gaps?” (You can actually download this template for free.)
• Another one would be a scope statement. If there’s a specific change that they want to make or a specific initiative, an enhancement they want to make, getting some scope of what that looks like.

Those are the three documents that you want to be thinking of first in a project. It’s going to depend on what problem are you there to solve as the BA, what’s the first step that you will take, and what are your responsibilities? You can drill into more detail if needed but usually, those three documents are three of the very first ones that you would create.

Again, that’s system context diagram, scope statement, and business process model to show that you understand their current state business process and set them up for changes, adjustments, and improvements to that business process, which is probably why you’re there.

I hope that helps you get out of overwhelm, Sheryl. I’m excited to hear about your projects and how these all go. I’m sure you’re going to do a fantastic job at helping those organizations create positive change.

>> Why Start From Scratch? Save Time…

Download our annotated templates handling common BA scenarios. Check out the Business Analyst Template Toolkit – all of the requirements templates 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

Because looking back can help us look forward with more clarity and confidence, in this article we’ll look at 5 ways the profession has changed since 2009 or in the 5 years since the first edition of How to Start a Business Analyst Career was published.

Change 1: New Business Analysis Certifications

While the IIBA® Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) certification has been available since 2004, two new certifications have been created in the last 5 years.

• First, IIBA® introduced the Certification of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA®) in 2011, providing a certification option for business analysis without the extensive work history required by the CBAP®.
• Second, Project Management Institute (PMI)® released the Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)℠ certification in 2014, providing a certification option for business analysts who work primarily inside projects and programs.

New certifications mean a growing awareness of the business analysis profession, along with professionals having options when it comes to adding to their individual credibility. What’s more, the new options have lesser work experience requirements, making certification a more viable option for more professionals relatively new to business analysis. As we look forward, the number of business analysis professionals will continue to grow.

Accordingly, the second edition of How to Start a Business Analyst Career contains a new section on certifications and how they can fit into your career planning.

Change 2: Expanded Set of Business Analyst Job Roles

Despite what we might like to see as business analysis professionals, business analyst job roles are still specialized. In the last 5 years, we’ve seen this pattern become entrenched within the profession, and experienced an increased number of flavors of business analyst job roles.

In the second edition of How to Start a Business Analyst Career, the discussion of specializations was expanded and several examples of how to leverage and highlight your industry and domain experience were included.

The new job roles added include:

• Business Intelligence Analyst
• Business Process Analyst
• Systems Analyst
• Product Owner

The book further explores specializations by splitting apart Industry-Focused, Tool-Specific, and Functional Domain-Focused Business Analyst Roles, which were all covered in the first edition, but not with as much depth.

As more organizations recognize the value of business analysts and look to increase the value provided by their business analysts, I think we’ll continue to see specializations expand, at least at the mid-level and senior-level roles.

Change 3: Increased Focus on Business Process

Although the vast majority of business analyst jobs fit within the IT Business Analyst job description, the business analyst role itself has seen an increased focus on business process. I know in my early days as a business analyst, a lot of product decisions were necessarily driven by technical constraints.

While we haven’t obliterated technical constraints, they tend to have a much less significant role in our early requirements discussions and we are free to explore more in the way of business needs and opportunities. This means business analysts are involved not just in analyzing and specifying software requirements, but also with understanding current state business processes, helping plan business process improvements and changes, and driving the implementation inside the business user community.

For many business analysts, these changes have resulted in a subtle expansion of their role. For others, they’ve found themselves drawn to one side or the other in yet another specialization force within the profession.

Rest assured, we’ve got you covered in the second edition, with additional skills for process analysts, a deeper focus on collaboration techniques, and an entirely new Underlying Core Competencies section. I also updated the discussion of the Business-IT balance specifically to address some of the shifts we are seeing in business analysis work.

Change 4: Increased Adoption of Agile Practices

Five years ago, agile practices were beginning to transition from the latest fad to a respectable trend. The business analysis community was just starting to get engaged in the discussion. As of 2014, the majority of business analysts I talk to have experienced or are working in agile teams. That’s because agile is much more widely accepted and adopted now as a discipline.

Strangely enough, despite historical claims that agile does away with business analysts, we only see positive signs for the business analysis profession so these two disciplines must be co-mingling.

In the first edition of the book, I was unable to cite any resources specifically looking at the intersection of business analysis and agile. Thankfully, this gap has been filled in many ways, and there are several relevant resources suggested in the updated text. The most prominent resource is Discover to Deliver: Agile Product Planning and Analysis, co-authored by Mary Gorman and Ellen Gottesdiener, who also contributed a foreword to the second edition of How to Start a Business Analyst Career.

And while agile is clearly the way of the future, the book still contains a discussion of waterfall and iterative approaches because we still see many business analysts working in environments that approach projects in this way.

Change 5: Increased Awareness of the Business Analysis Profession

Obviously we are still fighting many battles to have our value, skills, and experience appropriately recognized. However, there are many signs that awareness of business analysis is growing.

Let’s look at a few key indicators:

• In 2010 the average business analyst salary as reported by the IIBA® salary survey, was $82,493 in the United States. In 2013, the average US salary for a business analyst rose nearly $10,000 to $91,514.
• Membership in the primary organization for business analysts – IIBA® – rose from 5,000 in 2008 to over 28,000 in 2014.
• There were numerous mentions of roles related to business analysis on top job lists, albeit often under titles such as Computer Systems Analyst, Management Consultant, and Business Technology Analyst.

Everywhere you turn, business analysis is being recognized where it was previously ignored or rising where it was previously under-valued. This doesn’t mean that we don’t individually experience frustration, but overall the tides have turned and are building in a very positive way.

And What Hasn’t Changed (Much)

Despite all the steps forward in the last 5 years, there are still some aspects of business analysis that haven’t changed all that much.

There is still a dizzying array of job titles referring to business analyst jobs and myriad job responsibilities included inside business analyst jobs. The section on hybrid roles was actually expanded to more fully address the challenges an aspiring business analyst faces when exploring job options.

Another aspect of business analysis that hasn’t changed much – and I see this as a positive – are the fundamentals. Here are two sentences that are exactly the same in both the first and second edition of the book.

“What is not going to change all that much are the fundamentals of business analysis. If you focus on learning the fundamentals and work your way through a few projects, you will reach a point where you have mastered the basic techniques but can keep on refining the art. “

And while refined and re-organized, the core business analyst skills and related business analysts skills lists remain essentially the same between the two editions.

It’s Our Time

After taking this look back through the profession, I’m energized because there seems to be so much momentum behind what we are doing in business analysis. I’m happy to see some of the positive changes – the growth in awareness and salary – along with the wider range of opportunities that are available to me with my business analysis background.

To me, this means that the work I love to do and love to help others do will continue to be valued and rewarded for a long time to come. It means that we will all have more opportunities to make a positive impact in our teams, organizations, and last, but certainly not least, our careers.

I can’t think of a more apt way to close this article than with a quote from the conclusion of How to Start a Business Analyst Career:

As business analysts get better, the world gets better.

I’m proud to be part of the business analyst community and to offer this new resource to help more talented professionals expand their opportunities in business analysis.

Click here to learn more about the book

Some BA jobs require SAP experience, but how do you get it if you don’t have it?

Eric’s Response:

Many BA job posts require applicants to have some kind of experience about specific business software, such as ERPs, CRMs or other specialized software.  Although it can be a questionable requirement for a job post (See Laura’s post on “Why do we see technical skills in business analyst jobs?” and Jonathan Babcock’s post on “Four Key Knowledge Areas for Business Analysts“), it is something that we have to deal with as not everyone really understands the BA role and responsibilities.  In this context, how can a BA get experience in the software when you don’t have it?  Based on my experience, there are 3 ways to get it (other than actually working with the software, of course).

1. Self-Training

Take some time to read on the specific software (of the specific module of the software you’re interested in).  Do some research on the web, look for software editor documentation, check for software users and developers communities, register for webinars on the software.  It will not be something that you will be able to put on your resume, but it will at least provide you some general knowledge and vocabulary that you will be able to use while reviewing your resume or during an interview.

2. Experience with Similar Software and Business Processes

Although you might not have experience with that specific software, you might have relevant experience with other related software, which makes your introduction to the new software much easier.  You might also have knowledge of specific business processes supported by the software without having software-specific knowledge.  Since most similar specialized business software use similar patterns (known as best practices), the knowledge curve to switch from one to the other is quite small when you’re already familiar with the concepts.

3. Emphasize Required Competencies Behind the Software Knowledge

You might not have related experience on similar software or business processes, but you probably have competencies that could be used within a SAP-like context.  Have you worked in projects involving close interactions between systems?  Company-wide processes, crossing multiple departments?  Do you have related experience in the company’s industry?  Answers to these questions should help you to demonstrate that even though you don’t know the software, you know how to handle the specific characteristics of working with a software such as SAP.

Making My Case for “CRM Experience”

As an example, the job post for my current job was asking for experience with a specific CRM software, which I didn’t have at this time.  I managed to get to the interview phase with the hiring manager, where I was able to point out that although I had no experience with the specific software, I have worked on several projects involving customer-related processes and systems in the past, and have also dealt with off-the-shelf integrated software in the past.  This experience makes it easier for me to quickly understand the business context, as well as the users’ and the development team’s needs and how they interact with the software to support their activities.  These competencies are much harder to get than actually knowing how the software works.  Moreover, I have worked in the same industry (telecommunications) for some years, so I already had a good idea about the specifics of the customers, products and processes.

I put the emphasis on these points during the interview, and I finally got the job.  After a quick introduction to the software and some exploration on my own for a week or two, I was up and running, and started working as the lead BA on major projects.

Make Your Case

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Reader Question 2: Does the domain knowledge plays a vital roles for BA before getting into any projects? Also how do BA’s overcome the challenges when moving from one domain to another domain (from manufacturing to aviation etc)?

Kent’s Reply:

A good understanding of the business domain in which you are working is critical to your success as a business analyst, primarily because one of your main roles is to understand what problem(s) the organization is trying to solve and how the project(s) on which you are working can solve those problems.  In order to understand the problem space, you have to understand the domain.

That is not to say that you have to have in depth domain knowledge going into the project.  If you have a general understanding of how business works, and you have the necessary inquisitiveness to seek out understanding of the specific domain, you can be successful as a Business Analyst.

(That being said, you will run into job postings that require prior business / industry domain expertise, and this can impact your job search.)

Many of the challenges involved in changing domains have to do with developing a thorough understanding of the new domain so that you can gauge the criticality of the problem and identify characteristics of a desirable solution.  The best way to deal with those challenges is to invest some time getting familiar with the new domain on your own.  In addition, understanding your organization’s particular view of the industry is always helpful.

Look for industry association websites and glean as much information as you can for free. If you believe you will be in that domain for the long haul, it may be worth it to join, but don’t feel compelled to do so.  I have shared some examples below for the domains mentioned in the questions.  Keep in mind that the domains suggested are quite broad, so you will want to see if there are more specific industry associations relevant to the organization at which you are working.

• Healthcare: Healthcare Information Management Systems Society
• Finance: American Bankers Association
• Manufacturing: National Association of Manufacturers
• Aviation: General Aviation Manufacturers Association

Determine if you have anyone in your network that works, and is knowledgeable, in that industry.  Meet them for lunch or coffee to get more of an informal understanding of how things work in the industry.  If they have a lot to offer, establish an ongoing mentoring relationship with them.

Search the business press (Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune) for news stories about the industry in general or the company with which you will be working in particular.  These sources of information will be more objective views of what is currently going on in the domain when compared to the professional associations.

If the organization for which you are working is publicly traded, read through their SEC filings for an understanding of their financial position and hints at their strategy, at least what they are willing to share with their share holders, the government and the general public.  These are usually found on the investor relations section of the organization’s website.

In my 15 years as a consultant, I have worked at ten organizations in seven different industries and found the above steps very helpful in becoming quickly acclimated to the new domain.  I also found that my fresh perspective to the domain allowed me to ask “why” questions quite often while staying under the cover of seeking to understand rather than asking because I think the current activity is just plain silly.

Take advantage of your fresh perspective to drill down to the root cause of the particular problem you are attacking and understand what the real cause.  People who have been involved with a particular domain or organization will tend to make a lot of assumptions and not fully delve into whether they are solving the right problem.

>> Learn to Ask the Right Questions

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1. Do all BA jobs require industry experience?
2. Is industry knowledge mandatory to find my first business analyst job?
3. If I see a  qualification for industry expertise in a job posting, but I know I could be successful in the job, should I apply anyway?

Let’s tackle these inter-related questions one at a time.

Do All BA Jobs Require Industry Experience?

Not all BA jobs require industry experience, but many do. And when it’s included as a required qualification, industry experience is typically a show-stopper qualification for the hiring manager, meaning that they won’t consider candidates without the right expertise.

(This means you won’t ever hear back if you submit your resume, for no other reason than your lack of relevant industry experience. I am making a point to spell this out because I see people get very frustrated about their opportunities in business analysis when this happens. The reality is that this has nothing to do with you as a person or a BA. It simply means there is not a fit between your qualifications and this particular job. Focus instead on leveraging your other transferable skills.)

In a small handful of other cases, the manager will consider BAs without the appropriate industry experience but they are very likely to hire a BA with industry experience before just about any other BA they interview – unless the BA significantly outranks the BA with industry experience in every other important qualification.

You can argue about whether this is right or wrong, and I’ll go into that a bit later on. But for now, let’s take a practical look at how this situation came to be by considering the hiring manager’s perspective.

That job posting represents a pain point of some sort. They need to solve a problem in that organization. And, if they are requiring part of the solution to that problem (i.e. the BA) to have industry experience, it’s probably for one of the following two reasons:

1. They believe that it will take a BA without expertise too long to get up to speed to be successful in the position.
2. There is no one for the BA to work with who has the industry experience required to make the project successful.

Often #2 is the case. That those BA jobs requiring industry experience need the BA to fulfill a form of product ownership. The BA is required to have the domain knowledge because there is no one for them to “elicit” the domain knowledge from.

Is Industry Knowledge Mandatory to Find My First Business Analyst Job?

No. But it’s extremely useful. It’s a success path I see many new business analysts following — leveraging their industry experience to find their first BA job. By bringing this essential qualification to an employer they are able to position themselves as a strong contributor and then learn the BA skills on the job.It also provides a bit of comfort as a new BA to have some system or industry competencies to rely on.

If you don’t have deep knowledge in an industry, you’ll want to consider what other position of strength you can offer to an employer. This might be technical knowledge, strong facilitation, specialized tool or system knowledge, organizational expertise, etc. We all have something unique to offer. What’s your point of differentiation?

Should I Apply for a Job Posting that Requires Industry Expertise That I Don’t Have?

I really sympathize with the underlying desire behind this question. It can often feel like industry experience is just slapped on a role and that we could be successful in “everything but” the industry experience. And it is tough to look at all the BA job openings and find yourself unqualified for the vast majority of them.

But this is reality. And it doesn’t just apply to you.

Most BAs do not qualify for the vast majority of BA jobs.

Even those that are CBAPs and have years of professional experience. The market is just too fragmented for even a senior BA to apply to every BA job out there.

Now, if industry experience is a preferred qualification or just listed in the bullet points as an after thought, it can be worth applying if you are otherwise qualified. But again, it’s likely that if the hiring manager bothered to list industry experience as a qualification, they are going to prefer candidates that have it, when reviewing resumes and conducting job interviews.

It could make sense to apply – it could very well be that no one with the appropriate experience applies and the manager widens their net – but please don’t allow your ego to get caught up in the position at any stage of the process. Because if your ego gets too damaged, your progress towards your BA career goals suffers, and I don’t want to see that happen to you.

What Should We Do About This?

You might read all this and think that someone should “do something” about this “problem.”

I have two things to say about this.

First, while this might seem like a good idea to address this head on, it’s important to remember that organizations don’t exist to support business analysts. Business analysts exist to support organizations.

We need to solve a problem for the organization and if that organization needs someone with industry experience to solve their problem, then who are we, the individual professional, to tell them differently?

Now, of course, we can take this problem up a level and help the organization see how the use of professionals in more general business analysis roles could help them solve their problems more effectively. We can help them restructure their organization so that that industry experience requirements fall to a different, possibly more appropriate, role. This is possible and potentially desirable for our profession. But it’s not something for you to worry about right now, which leads me to my second point.

Second, you as the BA job seeker have no business trying to solve this problem. As an individual job seeker applying for an individual job opening, it’s very unlikely that you will wield the influence necessary to achieve this sort of organizational change.

I’d rather you see you focus on getting employed first, then making a solid contribution so you stay employed, and then (and only then) begin the even more difficult work of maturing your organization’s BA practice and perceptions of business analysts.

What Can I Do About This?

Glad you asked. The way you position yourself as a BA is very important. And it may even be that you have more relevant industry experience than you expect or more relevant and transferable skills that will help you make this career transition.

Get the Book

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

Reader question:

I am a business analyst, currently working on projects in public sector. However, I really want to move to financial industry where my passion is. I read a lot of industry-relevant materials, covering front/middle/back office operations, but when starting my job hunting, I feel no way to leverage any of them, as everywhere is requesting working experience, which I don’t have.

Is there anything you could recommend, helping me getting what I want? Thanks and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Laura’s answer:

It does seem that in the financial industry many positions require industry expertise and this can have a direct impact on your business analyst job search process. Is your passion for the financial industry strong enough that you would consider accepting a different, possibly entry-level role, to gain the experience and qualify yourself for the BA jobs? It might also be worth setting up some informational interviews with people in your area that have the type of position you’d like to have and learn specifically from them how they were able to break into the industry.

In your situation, I think the most important thing you can do is network and meet professionals within your target industry. You will learn a lot from their first hand experience and this might eventually open a door for you if you can earn the trust of a hiring manager who might be in a position to overlook the industry experience requirements you are finding.

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