All Entries in the "Communication" Category
Be an Unselfish Business Analyst!
You may be a great facilitator, an excellent “elicitor” of requirements; your analytical skills may be second to none, but if you can’t package and present information in an easily usable form, then you’re not completing the job as a business analyst.
Business Analysts: What Do We Want to Create?
We help our organizations arrive at an agreement as to “what we want to create” within the parameters of the elicited needs and constraints.
Communication: Are you the king, or a guard?
In this scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the king is giving the guards orders to keep an eye on his son, and not to let him leave the room. Sounds simple enough, right?
Congratulations, You’re Ignorant!
The more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know.
Your Name is Safe in My House
A friend of mine once told me of an uncle whose “byline” – for lack of a better term – was, “your name is safe in my house.” What he meant is that you wouldn’t have to worry about him or others in his company speaking ill of you. People took the uncle at his word, too, because he was never heard speaking poorly of others.
Google Wave for Business Analysis
The social web is abuzz with news on the upcoming Google offering, Google Wave.
It’s All About the Teams
As an industry have we been missing the mark by focusing so much on process and methodology at the expense of developing and empowering cross-functional teams?
IT’s Interest in Business/IT Alignment
Bob Lambert says IT should take the initiative in solving problems of business/IT misalignment, and thinks the requirements process can be an effective vehicle for reaching out. I agree.
I could come up with a number of reasons why IT has an interest in being the one to reach out, but one reason in particular occurred to me as I was reading through Lambert’s post….
Accounting for Technical Debt
Hidden costs of the “quick and dirty” solution.
Preparing Questions for a Great Customer Interview
Good questions lead to good requirements.
Documentation is No Substitute for Interaction
I’ve long been of the opinion that involving as many stakeholders in the project as early as possible is a key to successful business analysis, and, more importantly, to successful projects, and have said as much in a few of my posts on this site.
Jim Highsmith, in the book Agile project management : creating innovative products, thinks that the reason projects tend to have so much documentation and so few results is that:
Business Analysts and the Abilene Paradox
You don’t agree at all with a decision, but you fear that you may be the only one – in disagreement. So…
You Know It’s Getting Deep When..
I really enjoyed Chris Woodill’s collection of “weasel words” that IT delivery folks will use to buy time, deflect responsibility, or describe a situation as much rosier than reality. Now, I’ve never met Chris, but having read through this list, I’d almost swear we must have worked on the same projects with some of the same people!
Weaknesses of E-mail Communication
E-mail is a great communication medium, but it is not without its weaknesses.
Advantages of E-mail Communication
Here are just a few benefits of communicating via the most popular application on the Internet.