My Simple Message To All The Junior Business Analysts
Business Analysis is not a job. It’s a life style. We as BAs have a lot of responsibilities. Be it a new product, feature add-on or a change request, everything starts with us. Not many of our collogues understand how it’s hard to liaise with tough stakeholders, how much effort we put to write self explanatory documents, the patience required to explain requirements etc.
It insists a gigantic amount calories to play the BA role. We deal with in and out of the business. We directly help not only our organizations to maintain their high profiles but also our own teams to ace their immaculate work. If you think it’s easy to play these, just play dumb at your next daily standup meeting and the client requirements discussion.
Nevertheless, it’s an honor to be a Business Analyst. Our contribution not only to the project but also to the industry can’t be measured from the hours spent and the money we got paid for. The risk of defining what needs to be developed is immense.
Because,
- 71% of failed software projects are traced to poor requirements.
- 40% of the effort on average is spend fixing errors in a software project.
- Requirement defects account for 56% of re-work.
- $250 billion of annual waste is traced to poor requirements, globally.
- $194.4 billion is spent on software development and $46 billion is spend on fixing software requirements errors.
As somebody has clearly said, great powers come with great responsibilities. So remember, chant it everyday in front of a mirror, ‘I am powerful.’ Because you are powerful than you think (and feel).
When I started my BA career back in 2020, I had this burning desire to become a business professional who makes business decisions and play the role of a mentor. After 1.5 years of business analysis, I still feel the decision I made was right. The quest to become an endearing business professional is the Business Analyst career. So if you are a junior business analyst, be happy that you are on a prolific track.
We BAs are the gatekeepers. We guard the doorway to the development teams. Do you know what will happen if clients start contacting the developers directly? Yeah, scopes will be so damn creepy and cost a boat load of resources which can’t be backed up. Being the intermediary node between a chain, you have to tightly hold the nodes encircled you. Otherwise the chain will collapse. Likewise, it’s simply your responsibility to upkeep the clear communication. What needs to be amplified and what needs to be made less intense is on your hand. Pick the side wisely.
IQ hints someone can think better. No matter how smart one person can be, everyone of us are humans. What made us humans humans is our feelings. The everlasting mood swings, motivation spikes & drops and the feeling of lost are common to all of us. No matter you are gifted with a high IQ, you may still drown in an ocean of mental upheavals. The key to this calamity is the underrated emotional intelligence. Ever acquainted Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation, Empathy and Social skills? Yeah a BA needs to have each and every one of these at least a bit to be a Business Analyst. Hence, pay more attention becoming emotionally intelligent. It’ll for sure ensure that you become a beloved BA with a dazzling honor.
You, being a Business Analyst, deal with stormy business natures. You are a part of a business endeavor. What an endeavor makes an great endeavor is the the learnings you grasped throughout the journey. This experience will medal you and will help you to step up in the career. So make sure you voluntarily get more and more experience under your belt.
The era we are living is flooded with knowledge. A few organizations have created certifications to validate this knowledge, for an example, IIBA, PMI, Scrum Alliance, Scrum.org etc. Earning a credentials from these organizations will help you to exude your conformity, compliance and confidence. Therefore take trainings, certifications and credentials to stay ahead of the presence and leverage them to make this evolving world and innovating globe.
No matter you are a Business Analyst or any other professional, you are wonderful and gifted. Always count your blessings. You’ll find yourself somehow somewhere in near future.
Cheers !!!
