What is a Business Analyst?
by Al Santucci, Holly James and Debbie Gencarelli
The Search for a Business Analyst
Thoughts from a Recruiting Manager
The Casey Group is a professional services firm specializing in custom software development and outsourcing. Our search for Business Analysts led us to the International Institute of Business Analysis and, subsequently, to the Requirements Networking Group. What we discovered was that, while the Business Analyst function has matured over the years into a specialty discipline, it still means different things to different people, employers and practitioners alike. From the standpoint of a staffing manager for a professional services firm, this is how we see it.
What is a Business Analyst?
This proved to be a more difficult question than we thought it would be. And the answer, as for so many things, is “…it depends.” In our attempt to fully define the requirements of the position in order to locate the most qualified individuals, we spoke to hiring managers, Project Managers and Technical Architects. The problem we ran into was that there is not just one concept of a Business Analyst. And even within the Business Analyst function, there are different sub-functions that can evolve as specialties in and of themselves. There is a continuum from a Lead Analyst to an analysis tool expert technician. Sometimes we look for one person who can perform all the functions, oftentimes we need a team.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| What is a Business Analyst.pdf | 124.21 KB |
+ Analysis is only one skill of the... Analysis skillset!
A paradox? Analysis part of... Analysis?
The multiple usage (and, to a certain degree, the ambiguity) of the terms Analysis and Analytical seems to be the reason for this confussing matter.
We probably need to take a wider view of what it means to be a Business Analyst and to perform Business Analysis. The name itself might be its own curse. Being a Business Analsyst is much more than just being an Analytical (Business) person; hence, analytical skills are only part of the whole Business Analysis skilset. For example, think of Requirements Planning or Requirements Management, both essential skills of a good Business Analyst; yet, neither one is, in their essence, analytical (though they both require analytical thinking).
So, talking about over-specialization in this context, probably, takes a too narrow perspective on the Business Analysis role. On the contrary, one could argue that a good Business Analyst "specializes" in seeing and managing the requirements picture and the intricate relationships within that picture, at all levels of abstraction. No easy task and not one that can be eliminated because a project is small or simple, or because it's offshored.
Just my (convoluted) opinion.
Razvan Radulian, MBA, PMP, BA Certified... :o)
VP of Education, Research Triangle Park IIBA Chapter
Descartes: "I think, therefore I am"
Razvan: "I dream, therefore I am... alive"