Laura Brandenburg, CBAP, has more than ten years of experience as a business analyst. She is the author of How to Start a Business Analyst Career and Professional Development for Business Analysts. Laura’s current work is dedicated to helping aspiring and new business analysts solidify their careers. Interested in learning more? Join us at Bridging the Gap.
We know listening is important. Typically, it’s what our stakeholders have to share that we most need to hear when eliciting and validating scope or requirements. At the same time, as business analysts, we cannot be passive flies on the wall.
While we can debate about best and better practices for eliciting, analyzing, and documenting requirements, many organizations have yet to adopt a requirements practice at all. When they do so, they will have the opportunity to realize significant benefits.
No question is more ripe for debate than “What is a business analyst?” While I contend we’ve been doing business analysis since the very first human organizations were consciously formed, business analysis as a formal profession has emerged much more recently and has three essential elements.
We are warriors of ideas and warriors of improvement. If we demand greatness of ourselves, our teammates, and our organizations, we are warriors in the best sense—warriors who bring ideas to life and positive change to our organizations. Being a warrior takes courage to act and push through.
Business process improvement and the resulting change management are not for the faint of heart. Laura Brandenburg makes the case that BAs not only need to support organizations in changing more complex, decision-rich processes, but also in doing so faster—in days or weeks, not month or years.
Business analysts don’t gather requirements, but they don’t elicit requirements either. Business analysts have conversations with stakeholders to understand their needs and wants, and that information leads them in the direction of identifying the requirements.
While mature business analysis professionals and organizations have adopted “elicitation” as a preferred term, the business analyst job market has not gotten the memo. Laura Brandenburg explores the latest and greatest term "requirements gathering" and discusses if either of these terms is accurate.
