This is a bit of a potpourri post. Found some good stuff out there today, check it out.
The first IIBA Exam just finished in Orlando Florida. Barbara was one of the 16 business analysts who took it. Read about her experience!
Her post has inspired me to crack open my copy of the BABoK again, so here’s some great stuff that other people have written recently:
Understanding The Goal by Marcus Ting A Kee
Marcus presents what reads like a fantastic real-world example, even though he starts with “Suppose a client…” Real or imagined, it is a great example, well written. A single idea, presented crisply. Great quick read.
A couple presentations by Kevin Brennan hinting at changes for the next version of the BABoK. In the BA Fundamentals presentation, Kevin presents the definition of a business analyst in a really interesting way. He starts on p9 with the complete definition:
A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.
This definition feels pretty heavyweight (although rigorous), and it reads like an eyechart but check out what Kevin did on slides 12 through 19. Great way to present the fact that BAs do a bunch of things, and the quote above is already a shortened description of everything we do. Criticism retracted. I would like to figure out a more concise way to describe the BA role, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.
