Waste Paper

The week before last, I was asked to provide some sample documents from past projects to a gentleman that is transitioning to a business analyst role in from a different position in another area of the company.

As I scanned through some of my old documents for some good examples, I was a bit surprised to find that I wasn’t all that happy with a lot of my older work. It’s not that the documents were that bad. They weren’t. I just kept finding things that I wish I had done differently; that I certainly would have done differently had I known then what I know now – both from a business perspective, and from a principles of business analysis perspective.

So, what’s my point in calling myself out like this on my own blog?

Over the next few days I’ll be wrapping up a use case document that I think is quite possibly the best one I’ve done so far. I think the design team is going to be able to put it to good use and deliver a good software solution.

That said, in another couple years, I suspect I’ll be just as critical of that document as I am now of the ones from a couple years back. I’m working on a longer post to explain why I think this way, but in the interim I’d be interested in hearing whether others among you have had similar reactions while looking through some of your past work? If so, why do you think that is?

I look forward to your thoughts on the matter.