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BABOK Techniques – RACI Matrix

Posted: April 27th, 2010 by RichLarson. Comments »

I mentioned in a previous blog post that certain techniques in the BABOK® (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) only apply to one BABOK task. That may seem like they are not as important or not as likely to be tested on the CBAP® (Certified Business Analysis Professional) exam. My guess, though, is that you’ll get questions on some of the 15 task-specific techniques in the BABOK.

You’ll probably also get tested on some of the 34 general techniques, too. That means there are 49 various techniques in the BABOK you could be tested on during your CBAP exam. That’s a lot to study!

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BA Centers of Excellence Blogisode 1: Why do you need Business Analysis Maturity? OR… Welcome to my Planetoid!

Posted: April 22nd, 2010 by Bob Prentiss. 2 Comments »

Hello to all you crazy passionate practitioners and supporters of business analysis! Welcome to Bob The BA’s slightly askew, often strange but BACOE Planet Graphictrue and informative business analysis planetoid (a bit cramped but I can’t afford a large planet). No matter what I write, perspicacious or preposterous (two words one should never use in a requirements specification) I want to hear from you; your opinions, your experience, your insights. Why? Because we all learn from the collective whole – the different knowledge, behaviors and experience each of us brings to the table makes us stronger.

Continue Reading: BA Centers of Excellence Blogisode 1: Why do you need Business Analysis Maturity? OR… Welcome to my Planetoid!

What to do with Meeting Saboteurs?

Posted: April 14th, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

FistIn a recent project management class, we were discussing meeting effectiveness, and a student asked if it was ever appropriate to flat out excuse someone from a meeting for being rude or obnoxious?

Fortunately, I have not been in a situation in which I wondered if I should do that. Unfortunately, I think this student had a specific situation in mind. It’s a tough question, especially if the person who is being difficult is a peer or more senior than you.

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Should Business Analysts Model Requirements?

Posted: April 8th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »

During a recent client visit I encouraged the use of modeling as a way to uncover hidden requirements and expectations. One of my clients expressed her rather strong opinion that modeling requirements was not and should not be a part of business analysis work. Oh, she could accept the fact that uncovering gaps between the “as-is” and “to-be” using process models made some sense, but she was adamant that this gap analysis should be done by a business Subject Matter Expert (SME), not by a business analyst (BA). As to data modeling, well that was technical in nature and if done at all, she said, it should be done by the technical IT staff. Use cases were helpful to the testing staff, but were clearly technical and were not to be done by BAs. Prototyping? This should be done by developers—no question about that one!

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Culture and Communications

Posted: March 22nd, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Keyboard Globe XSmallProjects cross cultural boundaries probably as often as not anymore.  How many people either go to other countries to work on projects, find themselves working with team member from other countries here in the US, or work with virtual teams that include people from other places? 

Of course, you don’t have to cross an ocean to experience cultural differences.  Cultural differences here in the US can even breed culture clash.

I was reading about someone from the Deep South who was communicating with a team member in the northeast part of the country.  The northern team member was offended that the southerner had called her “Ma’am.”  The southerner was completely flabbergasted that this could be considered an offense. 

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Four Tips for Avoiding Conflict Between the PM and BA

Posted: March 10th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »

 Business confrontation.At a recent conference I sat next to a project manager who observed, “My organization hired a new consulting company to do business analysis work.  They’ve completely taken over. Now they do a lot of the project management work that I used to do, such as meeting with the sponsor to uncover the business problems, determining what we’re going to do on the project…I can’t believe it! I feel like I’m being treated like a second-class citizen!”

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Task-Specific Techniques for the CBAP® Exam

Posted: March 1st, 2010 by RichLarson. 2 Comments »

Lately I’ve been immersed in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®). Why, you might ask? No, it’s not because of insomnia. I’ve been finishing up our CBAP® sample exam question bank for our just-launched online study exam.

ExamTaking.20091218The actual CBAP exam is based primarily on the BABOK. I recall studying this guide a lot when preparing for my exam. Now that we are helping others prepare to pass the exam, I realize just how hard it is to write good questions. My hat is off to the test designers and exam writers!

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2 Ingredients To Spice Up Meeting Effectiveness

Posted: February 22nd, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

As project managers and business analysts, you are undoubtedly familiar with the misery of poorly planned and poorly run meetings.  It’s a long list of things that drive meeting madness: unclear purpose, wrong people in attendance, lack of ground rules, inadequate preparation, poor time management, etc.

people2Thought given to key elements of the meeting ahead of time can make for a more effective meeting.  Communication of those things insures that everyone arrives at the meeting with a shared understanding of why they are there and what they need to accomplish.

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Five Tips for Estimating Requirements

Posted: February 10th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. 2 Comments »

Years ago I worked on a large effort to reengineer a distributionEstimating 2010.04 center for a large retailer. We provided an estimate for both the business analysis work and for the entire project, which would involve the organization’s first use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), new business processes, many software changes, and the purchase of new barcode scanners. The business analysis effort took far longer than we anticipated, and at the end of it we refined our estimate for the total project. When we reported the new estimate to the president of the company, he literally pounded his fist on the table and asked, “How did we get to this point? Why didn’t we know sooner? You’ve already spent all this time on the project and what do we have to show for it? Nothing!. Absolutely nothing!”

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Top Fundamentals for Successful Virtual Meetings

Posted: January 29th, 2010 by RichLarson. 4 Comments »

If you’re a project manager or business analyst and have ever facilitated or participated in a virtual meeting, you know they can be highly productive. And, highly frustrating if not run well. Here is a list of 5 things I think all virtual meetings should have to be successful:Picture1

1)      Test your technology. If you have never used the software or hardware for your virtual meetings, make sure you practice with a small group first. If you are doing a formal presentation, I suggest you reboot your PC right before you make it. We recently did a product demo where the presenter’s PC froze up right at the start. It took some fancy “tap dancing” to recover and keep the meeting going. Better to reboot first than to recover later.

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