Let your critics motivate you

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Life can be quite ironic at times. When it seems that people are not helping you or even working against you, it can be a blessing in disguise. When you are receiving help and support, it could even be to your detriment in the long term.

Let me give you some context. I was once told that I wouldn’t be able to achieve one of my career goals for some time. That I was years off achieving this goal. Instead of discourage me, this comment served as a challenge. As vain as it sounds, I wanted to prove this person wrong as a silent personal victory. At the time, I had a lot of friends and peers who were encouraging me yet their support did not motivate me as much as this person’s doubt.

This is why it is sometimes useful to use criticisms and judgement to help motivate you. A challenge – a task or situation that tests someone’s abilities – is healthy as it gives you an opportunity to prove yourself.

On the topic of proving oneself, I think that deeds are greater than words. I came across a quote that read “words betray, actions don’t”.

This is why my philosophy is to use criticism to make you better. I also think that praise or criticism should be welcome as external opinions can be more objective than our own perspective.

Challenges of Business Analysis

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Working in the business analysis field requires certain skills and adherence to some methods or frameworks to organise the work. What isn’t apparent until you’ve worked on several projects are the challenges involved in the BA field. This article will describe just some of those challenges that BAs should be weary of when delivering BA services.

Education of stakeholders and superiors of planning work required

Whilst not realistic, some stakeholders sometimes think that because you are hired as a business analyst, that they can expect to see some BA artefacts as soon as one week after the commencement of your assignment. Whilst BA artefacts can be done inside one week, such as a communications plan, a stakeholder chart and a BA activities plan, we shouldn’t be ready to deliver parts of a business requirements specification this early. One way to manage expectations that may not be realistic is to inform your stakeholders of the process that you will follow. If you can show a high level view of how your analysis is done then this will help others readjust any unrealistic expectations that may have been made. Even a simple process of: elicitation; analysis; management; will help inform others of your method and expected time frames.

Creating productive workplace relations

To be an effective business analyst, you need to work well with other people regardless of their personality or profession. In the workplace, it is easy to start stereotyping other functional teams, however the BA doesn’t have the luxury of sitting back and making anthropological assessments. The business analyst must be willing to work productively with all groups that are involved. This doesn’t mean that you must befriend all your work colleagues. It’s important to establish relationships built on trust and respect. Eliciting information is a two way street. One can ask all the questions but the other party must be willing to cooperate and provide the information. Trust is an issue because in order to analyse a business, the stakeholders must trust you enough to give you accurate information. 

Delivering bad news

No one wants to deliver bad news so it’s understandable that the first few times, you might hesitate to pass on the news immediately. If the issue is something that you can’t solve on your own then you should notify project stakeholders as early as possible. In fact, even if you have resolved the issue on your own, you should still notify the relevant stakeholders of the interruption. At the very least, you can show your superiors and peers that you can be depended on to proactively address issues.

Keeping everyone informed (as appropriate)

Similar to the point above about communicating bad news, it’s also crucial to keep all relevant stakeholders informed about any news or progress. As a business analyst, you are the central point of information. It’s very easy to forget that there will be stakeholder groups that will be kept in the dark unless you keep all teams informed. This also serves to uncover any risks that haven’t yet been identified. In my experience, there is often a vital piece of information that is held with one or more stakeholders that would not have come to light if it weren’t for the dissemination of information.

 

The issues mentioned here are not the only challenges that can be encountered in business analysis. Depending on the complexity of the work, there may be several other considerations to address and balance. Being mindful of these challenges will help to deliver good business analysis outputs.

Value your contacts, not your experience

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So as we develop our careers, we tend to do two things, acquire vast experience, and make acquaintances. When we write our resumes, we put a lot of emphasis on the years spent on a project or in a role. We demonstrate the amount of experiences we’ve had but what about the relationships?

We don’t tend to disclose how many people we are friends with. How many industry peers we network with or how many mentors we’ve had along the way.

When I look back on all the jobs I’ve had, I cherish the people I met and worked with more so than the experiences they gave me. Sure, I value the maturity and confidence that experience has afforded me but I tend to value the relationships even more.

On LinkedIn, it’s possible to get a glimpse of how well connected and regarded someone is. This is the benefit of having social media enhance your CV rather than just publish it. Firstly you can observe how many contacts a person has. You could also note the number of recommendations the person has received. Lastly, whilst it has received a lot of criticisms for not being validated, the endorsements someone has received can also be an indication. I understand that endorsements are easy to achieve and most of them are “thank you” gestures for having endorsed someone else but quantity can still be still indicate confidence in someone. I have been endorsed for one skill by 45 other connections. Whilst other more connected people might be endorsed by hundreds, it’s worth noting that 45 people who know me, acknowledge the skill I declare to have.

Returning back to my original topic; human relations are unique. You could be working alongside the same people however, each team member will develop relationships differently to everyone else. Whilst I am grateful for all the jobs I’ve had in the past, the most rewarding aspect has been to know the many people I’ve met along the way.

I look forward to meeting so many more people whom I can build relationships with far more than the great experiences that await me.

Four years on and counting

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I’ve now had this blog for a little over four years. I first bought this domain in 2007 but left it with just a humble ‘under construction’ front page for almost two years. Then back in 2009, my partner suggested that I use the site to record my opinions. I’m so grateful for that advice.

So I learned how to install WordPress on my domain and within a few weeks, I was blogging with ease.

Four years on and I am pleased with how much I’ve accomplished. I have no programming knowledge or developer skills. I think it’s great that you don’t need any to run a blog these days.

It’s fantastic to read old posts and remember what things were happening in my life at the time. Back then, I hadn’t graduated from university and I was trying to  establish a business analyst career even though I was living overseas.

The purpose of this blog was to record all the things that seemed important to me and to track my career journey. It has been great to achieve all the goals I’ve set for myself since then.

My posts have become less frequent but the content I have to share nowadays is what I wanted all along. It’s good to know I have this blog next to me all the time to share snippets of time throughout my life.

I hope you enjoy reading this content. I recommend blogging to anyone. It’s a great pastime.

Business Analysis certification

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To become certified as a Business Analyst, the most relevant qualifications are given by the IIBA. After roughly two and a half years of experience, you can be recognized as a BA practitioner by having a Certificate of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA). After roughly five years, you are considered a professional and duly receive Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) status.

While waiting, what can you do before achieving these certifications, or in between them? Continue reading →