What do we really mean by best practices?

I need to come clean about something. I used to get really triggered by the term “best practices”. I was so caught up with the idea that I was a practical, results-focused business analyst that I didn’t actually think I could be using so-called best practices.

The way I saw it, best practices were really for those other business analysts working in some sort of ideal world where they had unlimited time and resources to complete perfect models using best-in-class industry-standard techniques that you had to attend fancy conferences and academic training programs to learn about.

Then one day an outside consultant helped me see that the way I worked as a business analyst was actually successful in the real-world, which meant my practices were truly “best practices”.

Best practices that:

• Help you choose the most appropriate techniques to use and questions to ask, even when you are under a time crunch.
• Help your stakeholders make better decisions, one bit at a time, using models and documents they can actually understand and provide meaningful feedback on.
• Help your projects go more smoothly, and improve your credibility.

Perhaps you are feeling the same about your own practices? That there is a reason they can’t really be “best” even though they most certainly work for you?

Rest assured, when I say “best practices”, I don’t mean pie-in-the-sky “best” practices. I mean real, actual, real-world, get projects done with less headaches, type of best practices.

And that's what we cover in The Business Analyst Blueprint.

I’ll be talking about this kind of best practice, as well as other tips and techniques in my LinkedIn Live - How to Be a High-Performing Business Analyst - that's happening on November 14.

>>Click here to RSVP