One of the most persistent myths in the business analysis job market is that you need a BA job title to be a credible BA candidate. You do not. What you need is evidence that you can think and operate like a business analyst. And if you have spent ...

If you've spent any time researching how to become a Business Analyst, you've probably seen the same advice repeated over and over:Get certified.Learn Agile.Take a BA course.Update your CV. None of these is a bad suggestion. The problem is that man...

It is one of the most frustrating catch-22s in any career transition, and business analysis is no exception to it. You need experience to get a job. You need a job to get experience. And in the meantime, you sit with a growing body of theoretical kn...

If you had to choose a single BA skill to develop first, before requirements writing, before stakeholder analysis, before use cases or user stories or any of the other techniques that tend to dominate introductory BA content, the argument for proces...

There is a version of your first BA project that exists in training materials and course outlines. It has clearly defined phases, cooperative stakeholders, well-scoped requirements, and enough time to do the analysis work properly. The project moves...

There is a particular kind of confidence that comes from having a well-organised folder of BA artefacts. Process maps, use cases, requirements documents, RACI matrices, stakeholder registers, business rules catalogues. Neatly named, consistently for...

Getting into business analysis as a new entrant is not purely a knowledge problem. Most people who struggle to land their first BA role are not short on knowledge. They have studied the techniques, completed a certification, read the job descriptio...

If you spend any time in BA communities online, you will encounter a particular kind of post. It usually goes something like this: "I completed my BA certification last month, updated my CV, and have been applying for three weeks. No responses yet. ...

At some point in nearly every project, a BA will have a version of this thought: "Why is this stakeholder making this so hard?" Maybe they keep changing their mind about what they want. Maybe they describe requirements in terms of a solution rather ...

If you have spent any time trying to break into business analysis, you have probably read a job description that goes something like this:"The Business Analyst will elicit, document, and manage business requirements, facilitate stakeholder workshop...

There is a mistake that almost every new business analyst makes, and it is completely understandable given how the role is usually described. The mistake is this: treating requirements as the starting point. You get involved in a project, someone ha...

Most BA training starts with requirements. Some start with stakeholders. Very little of it starts where most real projects actually start -- with a business case. That is a gap worth closing, because the business case is not just a document that jus...

Most people enter business analysis thinking the job is about gathering requirements. Write them down, pass them over, job done. It is not. The best Business Analysts do something far more valuable. They uncover the real problem behind the stated re...