Entries for the 'Soft Skills' Category

» Simplicity and Elegance: Expressing Your Core Competencies

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Do you know what your business's core competencies are? Is there just one or are there many organizational attributes? If you answered that there are many, how would you describe them succinctly? Core competencies are one or a combination of a few unique or rare abilities; however, a description of core competencies is not simply a laundry list of ...

Posted by: James D. Murphy

» Executive Coaching and Debriefing for Corporate Leadership Development Programs

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In today's management environment, new forms of and tools for corporate leadership development programs have emerged. One of the most popular development tools is executive coaching. The number of executive coaches has more than doubled in the past decade and corporate leadership development programs are utilizing their services more frequently. Ho...

Posted by: James D. Murphy

» A dressing down for business analysts

(1113 Views) (1 Comments)

BA: “They didn’t pitch for my workshop. Again.” Mentor: “You must be mortified.” BA: “Seriously, they come up with these lame excuses: they don’t understand that computer stuff, they’re too busy, they think it’s a waste of time. One even told me to get it done and let him have a look when I’m finished. How the hell must I fathom the requirements ...

Posted by: Robin Grace

» Complexity: The Execution Challenge You Don't See

(1168 Views) (0 Comments)

When you think of the word 'complex', do you ever think about what it has to do with project execution? Ask a management consulting firm to define 'complex' and you'll get a response like "well, it's a concept that can affect your life, your family, your team and your organization." That's because consultants understand that complexity lies in ever...

Posted by: James D. Murphy

» BA Careers - Is industry experience more important than Analytical skill?

(2164 Views) (5 Comments)

Business Analysts often delve into business requirements, gathering, understanding and documenting business processes and functions. An analytical mind and detailed information gathering are considered to be essential; one wonders though, if industry experience is a must for good business analysis skills. After all, if you knew well the ins...

Posted by: HSantanam

» Career Possibilities for Business Analysts-expanding your horizons

(1494 Views) (2 Comments)

You have achieved your short term BA goals. You want to expand your horizons and see what else is out there and how you can progress in your career and gain knowledge and keep your career up-to-date as well. What are some of the possibilities out there that won't force you to re-learn something new from scratch? Some possibilities for career and kn...

Posted by: HSantanam

» Enter the Business Engineer

(1597 Views) (4 Comments)

At Mendix, we find that our customers appoint a particular kind of person to work with our products. Sometimes they’re from IT, sometimes they’re a business analyst or project manager – in any case, they practice the skills of both fields. Times are changing, departmental lines are blurring, and a new breed of business superhero has risen: the BE. ...

Posted by: Mendix.com

» Being New 101

(1295 Views) (1 Comments)

Being a relatively new Requirements Analyst/ Business Analyst ( BA) and being new to the industry, I have been blessed with the opportunity to have mentors. Receiving direction from more experienced BA’s has definitely helped me find areas that I can improve on, while at the same time, finding my strengths and improving those too. Yet there stil...

Posted by: Seilevel

» IT Black Ops

(1365 Views) (0 Comments)

I’ve worked on at least one project now and heard of several others where a super-secret development team works in parallel to solve the same business problem as the “official” IT project team. A coworker of mine coined the term “IT Black Ops” to refer to these sorts of projects where the business, either out of frustration, arrogance, or ignorance...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Building Credibility With Your Team

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As consultants and product managers, it is important that we quickly build and maintain credibility with our team so that we can work productively and effectively. If you are unable to join the team dynamics, the work that we provide will be met with apathy or even outright hostility. I’ve learned a few tips to help...

Posted by: Seilevel

» BA World Sydney - A review

(2439 Views) (0 Comments)

I went to the Business Analyst World Conference in Melbourne on the 19th and 20th of July. Like last year it was a great event. On day 1 I spent the whole day in one room (introducing speakers.) and got to listen to three very different stories. Matthew Coppola from Perth training outfit Paramount Training gave a talk on Und...

Posted by: Craig Brown

» “So, what do you do for a living?”: A BA/Product Manager’s guide to surviving cocktail parties

(3338 Views) (5 Comments)

By Jhulgan I used to dread hearing the question, “So what do you do for a living?” This was often usually asked by a family member or other acquaintances not familiar with the software development lifecycle, IT, or business processes in general. For business analysts, product managers, and other software requirements types, it’s diffic...

Posted by: Seilevel

» Tips for managing business meetings

(2406 Views) (2 Comments)

The tips below are things I've learned the hard way and I think they're going to help you, especially if you're new in the BA field. You don't have to take things too seriously, don't be too harsh on yourself and others. There will always be people who criticize you but also those who understand you. Learning how to talk to users, how to manage ...

Posted by: georgiamotoc

» Video: Get things done with Autofocus

(1635 Views) (0 Comments)

This video offers a great way to manage your task list. Check it out and consider how it can help you stay on top of your work.

Posted by: Craig Brown

» When a business case is not a business case

(2260 Views) (0 Comments)

When it establishes that there is no case for the proposed initiative. When it fails to identify and present the benefits of the propsal sufficiently well to win support. Both of these situations have the same result only the second one is a lost opportunity for the business. You can talk to five different people who ...

Posted by: Ed Taaffe

» Adaptability - a key skill for a business analyst

(7383 Views) (0 Comments)

I have been pondering recently on the importance of adaptability for a business analyst. Definition of adaptability It seems to me that adaptability is a key skill of a business analyst because no two projects are alike. It’s not possible to apply a template approach to every project situation with which you are confronted. Howev...

Posted by: Alex P

» 3 Guaranteed ways to become a better BA

(4461 Views) (5 Comments)

In recent years I have done three things which have really ‘ramped up’ my performance at work. In my readings online, in books and journals I have learned that there is serious researchedevidence that these three things are possible some of the best ways to improve your skills and ability at work (particularly in a thinking job like ...

Posted by: Craig Brown

» IBMs study on effective change management

(1597 Views) (1 Comments)

IBM have released a study on change management, highlighting several areas that are critical to successful change programmes. And that includes IT projects. Have a look at this 2 minute youtube clip on the presentation (professionally presented by IBM.) Then go read the paper.

Posted by: Craig Brown

» 26 reasons why projects succeed or fail

(3803 Views) (0 Comments)

There are several studies out there that identify why projects go wrong and what you have to have in place to make sure they have a chance. Naturally the readers of Modern Analyst (and BetterProjects.net) are aware of the importance of good requirements management, a theme which permeates the list below, culled from a range of PM literature[1]....

Posted by: Craig Brown

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Entries for the 'Soft Skills' Category

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The Community Blog for Business Analysts

Entries for the 'Soft Skills' Category

Join the Premier Community for
Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals,
Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…