Five Tips for Becoming a Business Analyst.

Teamwork; There's nothing like it when running a business.

Strong analytic characteristics and knowledge are crucial to running any business professionally and efficiently.

What separates a mediocre business analyst from a good one?

Tappable's BA Katie Steed has put together five tips for becoming a business analyst, essential for any successful company:

1. Ask questions!

There is no such thing as a stupid question. You need to understand as much as possible before starting any analysis. After all, you will be the person everyone goes to at some point in the project!

2. Research/Competitor analysis

If you're working on something new with similar products on the market, research them and find the pros/cons, the good and the not-so-good. It's imperative that you get to know the product/project you're working on so this can give a good comparative overview.

3. Understand & manage your stakeholders

Not every client/project stakeholder is the same. Being able to understand how that person works is super important. From how they like to communicate, how often they need an update, how involved they want/need to be, to how you speak to them face to face/over the phone.

No one wants their client/stakeholder frustrated, so communicating with them in a way that suits them is vital! This also includes managing their expectations and not over-promising anything.

4. Challenge!

As a BA, is it our job to do this?

If someone has an idea or a requirement that you don't feel holds a tremendous benefit, or you're just not sure it's needed, ask them why they need this. Ask them what the use is and whether the product/project can do without this.

You don't need to do this for every single requirement as some are obvious needs, but it is good to get your client/stakeholder questioning the market, which can help define a list of Must haves/nice to haves etc. (MoSCoW)

5. Be organised & plan

Completing and delivering your tasks is essential - otherwise, how do your team members start their work?

Setting reasonable deadlines and having a structure of what tasks you need to do to write/define requirements will help keep you on track of what you need to do and will help manage client/stakeholder expectations.

Getting the requirements right is one of the most important things for a BA, so spending a reasonable amount of time understanding these is vital. Of course, every project has deadlines but getting the requirements right and agreed/signed off first is a must.