Who is a Business Analyst?

In my last blog I discussed business analysis and according to the BABOK®, “Business analysis is the set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.”

So who is a business analyst? Once more, according to the BABOK®, “A business analyst is any person who performs business analysis activities, no matter what their job title or organizational role may be.”

I would argue that liaising “among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization,” are key abilities of any manager, consultant, analyst (e.g., financial, management, business) or person involved in the SDLC (Systems Development Life Cycle). And that recommending “solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals” is what we are engaged to do on most of our assignments (internal or external).

Therefore, in order to be able to service our customers and add real value to our assignments we all need to learn at least a sub set of business analysis tasks and techniques! This is not only confined to the non technical personnel (e.g., project managers, change managers); it applies equally to the technical personnel. The benefit our customers gain is that all our personnel, technical or non-technical, are able to draw on not only their own experience but also that of their colleagues to add that extra value by “understanding the structure, …”

As such all consultants, managers (from junior to “C” set), and anyone involved in the SDLC, at one time or another, would fulfil the role of business analyst and therefore need to be familiar with the tools and techniques. Not every one needs to have an in depth and detailed knowledge of all the tools and techniques. However, everyone should be at least familiar with what they are and then study, in detail, and develop those that pertain to them. Of course what pertains to you will change over time as you move through your career. I have found that the BABOK® provides a very good overview of these tools and techniques. I will discuss the BABOK® in my next blog.