I started the Practical Analyst blog in 2007.
Back then, “data-driven decision making” was still a novel phrase. Business analysts were fighting for a seat at the table. “Agile” was mostly a new buzzword. The iPhone had just been announced. And I had a simple belief: that the people doing the actual analytical work inside organizations deserved better thinking tools, honest advice, and a peer who’d been in the room.
I also knew that to sharpen my own understanding, it would help to put my ideas out for consumption and feedback – comparing my experiences and insights with those of other practitioners.
So I wrote. For about eleven years, I wrote. And it turned out to be a great opportunity to learn, make meaningful contacts, and drive opportunity.
And then, somewhere around 2018, I got quiet.
What happened
There was no single reason for stopping. There was no crisis. It was a mix of things, none of them dramatic.
Life got busier. My work at Jabian Consulting deepened. The projects got larger, the client demands more complex, family life with four kids got busier. Writing took time I didn’t have, and it kept sliding to the bottom of the list.
I also lost clarity on what I was writing for. When I started Practical Analyst, my audience was clear to me: business analysts and product professionals trying to do their jobs better. But my own work had evolved. I was spending more time on transformation strategy, leadership, organizational change. I wasn’t sure how that fit with what I’d built here. So instead of figuring it out, I just… stopped.
And honestly? Once I stopped, the habit broke. The longer I waited, the harder it became to start again. I think most writers know this feeling. The blank page gets heavier the longer it sits.
Eight years is a long time to be quiet.
What changed
A few things converged this year that made me want to start again.
One is that I’m closer to the end of my corporate career than the beginning — probably eight or nine years out from retirement — and I find myself thinking differently about what I want the next chapter to look like. Not passive. Not just gone. Something where the thinking I’ve done over 25+ years in this business continues to be useful to people, just on different terms.
The second is AI. I’ve watched enough technology waves crest and break to be genuinely skeptical of hype. But this one is different in ways I find worth writing about honestly — not as a cheerleader, and not as a fearmonger, but as a practitioner who’s been using these tools daily and has opinions about what’s real and what isn’t.
The third is simpler: I’ve been talking to people — peers, former colleagues, clients — and the conversations keep going somewhere interesting. There’s something worth putting down.
What’s coming
I’m relaunching the Practical Analyst site with a sharper focus and a real commitment to showing up consistently.
The audience has always been business professionals trying to think more clearly and work more effectively. That hasn’t changed. But the lens has expanded from where it started. I’ll be writing for mid-career analysts, consultants, product managers, and executives who are navigating a business environment that’s changing faster than most conventional wisdom can keep up with – with occasional foundational topics for junior practitioners.
The content will center on four areas:
- Business transformation and strategy — what change actually looks like from inside organizations, why most transformations stall, and what separates the ones that don’t.
- AI and the future of work — honest, practitioner-level takes on what’s actually changing, what the hype machine is getting wrong, and what you should be paying attention to if you work in a professional services or knowledge-work environment.
- The craft of analysis and problem-solving — the thing this blog was always really about. How to think through hard problems, structure ambiguous situations, and communicate clearly when the stakes are high.
- Career and leadership — what I’ve learned about building a meaningful career over a long run, navigating the transition from practitioner to leader, and designing the back half of a career on your own terms.
Two posts a month is my initial goal, and we’ll see where things go from there.
A note to people who’ve been here before
If you subscribed years ago and forgot this place existed — welcome back. If you’re finding it for the first time — the archives go back to 2007, and some of that older work still holds up.
Either way, I’m glad you’re here.
Practical Analyst begun as a place to provide helpful insights to the people doing the work. Let’s get back to it!
– Jonathan Babcock
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