In my previous posts I outlined how I was able to succeed being the first and only BA at a company and the importance of establishing trust between you and the stakeholders.   So you're the first BA at a company.   All are looking at you and thinking what can this person do for me? Good question.   What can you do f...

"Garbage in, Garbage Out" - To elicit accurate requirements, the business analyst must learn to ask the “right” questions “the right way”. The manner in which questions are delivered and the composition of these questions have a direct impact on the usefulness of the responses we receive.   If your questions are properly and thoughtfully fra...

“Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images – Paul Martin Lester,
“Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication Research has shown that communication with a visual dimension is more effective than communication without. Hero...

For those of you who do define requirements for their software development projects, but are new to buying packages, a cautionary warning; they are not the same thing. Consider the following “the system shall” requirement  statements.   1) The system shall determine if a person ordering pizza is a current customer. 2) The system shal...

I started my career as the administrator in a project management department.  The first fact drilled into my head was that “the job ain’t finished until the paperwork is done’.  To emphasize this fact, this rule was printed and put up on the wall with a picture of a toilet paper roll.  It worked.  I know you can see the picture ...

Information Systems Users don't know what they want... So, don't ask them what they want: and definitely don't write some software and then say "how's this look?". On the other hand, don't have someone spend weeks talking to various people about what they want ( and not get to talk to other people ), write it all down and deliver a document, sayin...

Requirements gathering is an essential part of any project and project management. Understanding fully what a project will deliver is critical to its success. This may sound like common sense, but surprisingly it's an area that is often given far too little attention. Many projects start with the barest headline list of requirements, only to find ...

What do you need the most when eliciting Requirements? Face-time with Subject Matter Experts and their Managers.  As a Business Analyst employed in a typical organization, what is the thing you get the least of? Face-time with Subject Matter Experts and their Managers. Who will Subject Matter Experts and Managers make time to see? Outside Cons...

When creating a data dictionary, it is critical not to design with it.  You should not be attempting to create a database nor should you be showing the relationships of data.  This will be a detailed description of the data involved in your project.  It will also be one of the largest morale draining approval processes you can have f...