I have a few basic themes or “words to live by” that shape my everyday walk and talk as a business analyst and a manager of business analysts. I’ve tweaked a few words here and there over the years and will continue to do so, but the underlying concepts have remained fairly consistent.
I’m sharing them here in case there may be others who would benefit from reading them, or may see the value in putting together a similar list for themselves. So, here goes:
- I will do my best to understand the needs of my customers and communicate them in a way that makes it as easy as possible for:
- Delivery team members to understand what is required to design, build and test successful solutions.
- User and business stakeholders to engage in the requirements process so they can understand and provide feedback on what is being planned, designed and built.
- I will strive reduce confusion and wasted effort resulting from lack of understanding of business processes, rules and data.
- I will welcome and carefully consider constructive feedback.
- I will give positive reinforcement liberally and constructive feedback carefully and only with the recipient’s best interests in mind.
- I will conduct my business with integrity and in a way that clearly demonstrates the value of business analysis and earns the trust and respect of the user community, business stakeholders, and IT counterparts.
- Each day I will strive to do each of the above better than I did yesterday, and plan to do better yet tomorrow.
What items might you include in your personal objectives, or “code of conduct” as a business analyst?
I must say you have a pretty impressive code of conduct there! 🙂
I would second all the points that you have mentioned, here are a few of mine:
1. I will think through scenarios and situations and suggest the best possible approach to my business partners (LOB) and my team. (Thinking is so important)
2. I will take an active interest in my own career development, and learning.
3. I will actively develop relationships at work with my peers, and other stakeholders.
4. I will continue to create podcasts to use this as a tool for me to learn and share the BA knowledge, and increase the overall awareness and importance of the role. 🙂
(Btw your interview will be launching within the next few weeks)
Hi Jon,
A very nice BA Code of Conduct. I would say that if each and every BA stands by this then he/she will really create a need for ;Quality BA’s’. Also I would like add few more things to the Code of Conduct.
1. I would gain and share knowledge of either domain or BA knowledge with the company & IIBA local Chapter.
2. I shall attend at least attend one local chapter meeting in a quarter.
3. I shall strive to have a effective collaborative style of working that may lead to have a common level of understanding in a project with its stakeholders.
I really dig this. I’d like to think that my work/time on a project embodies a lot of these concepts, but I’ve yet to actually write them down. Thanks for the idea and I really love your personal code.