Portrait of Agility

The role of a Business Analyst is often the most underestimated in the IT industry. If not that, it is not uncommon to come across so many different definitions of the role that the BA's often find themselves in a quagmire of responsibilities. What makes the problem a little serious is that, in an typical IT shop, almost everyone else thinks that they can do what a BA does. At the face value, it is not untrue. But then there's a counter to that, who can not do anything that others do. But the questions remain; do they have the time and the passion to do it, and the most important of all, are they good at it? So what does a BA do anyway? Kathleen B. Hass of Management Concepts, Inc. in her paper titled The Business Analyst: The Pivotal IT Role of the Future wrote that the role of the business analyst is emerging as the central IT competency of the future. And she also writes that the business analyst also serves as a liaison between the business community and the technical solutions provider. Doesn't seem too difficult to do and is thought of as the only job of a business analyst. There's so much ignorance around the importance of the role in the business solutions lifecycle that they are often referred to as glorified secretaries. There's much to a BA than just being a notes taker and a meeting organizer. A BA ensures that the team understands what the business wants to achieve and how the value will be delivered. Documenting the requirements just happens to be a process to capture this piece of information for the team to understand and refer to. It just so happens that the prevalent form of documentation in the industry is outdated, one which lays stress on producing tons of paper with fancy names like the Business Requirements Specifications, and the Functional Requirements Specifications. A typical BA spends so much time in writing these documents that no wonder they seem like secretaries. In my opinion the the primary responsibility of a Business Analyst is to understand the business needs of their clients and how the client delivers value to their customers. It is usually an activity that requires high energy, excellent time management and organization skills, and an ability to learn new business and domains quickly, especially if the BA is also happens to be a consultant. As the business environment around us is changing and the competition is becoming cut throat, a typical business solution lifecycle has become very short than what it was a decade ago. Today, companies need to provide added value to its customers more than just once a year. Typically, a BA is also the person who makes an objective evaluation along with the customer about what is a priority and why. This person has to be able to understand the risks and rewards of the business and what determines their play. And this is also the person who understands the power and limitation of the tools and technology available to help the customer achieve their goals with the associated costs. It is just not the project manager who should worry about these. It is the responsiblity of a BA to provide the data required to assess those costs to the Project Manager. These tasks take more than just writing the requirements and being a channel of communication. It takes an attitude of problem solving and being an agent of change, it takes a sense of ownership of the problem, and a desire to make the processes and people around you more productive. Kathleen Hass's paper is a good read that answers a lot of questions about the role and responsiblities of a BA and it can be found here. Update I found a job posting for a BA on Southwest Airlines' website, which by far is the best description of responsibilities of a BA that I have seen. This job posting can be accessed at: http://www.southwest.com/careers/6655sy.html In case this link is not working please click on the image on the right to see a screenshot.