Statistics: (3041 Views) (0 Comments) Print Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 Categories: Leadership & Management, Career as a Business Systems Analyst, Getting Started as a Business Systems Analyst

Most line-of-business execs, project managers and software developers who have worked on application development teams can attest to the importance of good business analysts.

In many instances, in fact, today's business analyst can affect the outcome (good or bad) of a software project. "When business analysts aren't able to carry their weight, it's evident to everybody on the project. They usually know something is going on," says Carey Schwaber, a senior analyst of application development at Forrester Research. "I've seen projects where a bad business analyst was the critical failure factor."

Sure, executive boardroom support is key at the kickoff, but the CEO or CIO isn't down in the trenches every day, hammering out compromises, grinding out specs and pushing all involved toward the finish line. "It's funny," Schwaber adds, "we have a lot of prerequisites for success with software projects, and it's not just executive support. It's also good business analysts."

While most employees might have a sense of what a traditional business analyst does, not everyone knows how BAs do their jobs' effectively. "It's easy to understand what their role is," Schwaber says, "but it's hard to understand what makes them good at it or bad at it."

So what do the best business analysts do so well? Here are six critical skillsets and professional characteristics that make business analysts invaluable. 

Author: Thomas Wailgum