Prior to my first job as a business analyst, I always considered myself smart. In school, at home, and even with friends, I was known as a smart kid. I always got top grades and my friends often ask me for my thoughts and advice because they knew I would be thorough and thoughtful. My nickname in middle school, high school, and to a few in college was “Yoda”. For me, being smart was something I identified myself as, so it was difficult to allow myself to be anything else. Unfortunately, this seriously hindered my ability to be a great business analyst.

Being the dumbest is a good thing.

I have had the very fortunate opportunity to work alongside some great business analysts in my career and one very important thing I’ve learned from them is…

Its not about what you know, its about what you learn

My biggest weakness was that I didn’t want to appear dumb. In the beginning of my career as you would expect I was often the youngest person in the room, so I always feel like I needed to prove myself with what I thought should be my intelligence. However, in reality, my worth as a business analyst is to be able to learn and understand. That comes from questioning EVERYTHING!

Essentially, I didn’t start really learning to be a good business analyst until I let go of my ego a little bit. One of my early managers, who also managed all the business analysts in my organization at the time and was very well respected in the company for being impeccably effective was really the first to display this lesson for me in real-time. I had the opportunity to shadow and work with him while he lead one of the first large projects I got to be a part of. The biggest takeaway I’ve got from him is probably the most important phrase every business analyst should use…

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that… Can you explain it a little more”

At first, you may feel like you are telling your stakeholders “I’m sorry I’m too dumb to understand what you’re saying and I’ll probably fail in capturing it correctly”. However, your stakeholders don’t expect you to understand everything about everything they do. If you did, you would already be doing their job. By asking, you are actually saying “I’m sorry, I don’t understand, but I’m committed to meeting your needs, so please explain again so I can do that for you”. In the same way that asking questions in a classroom lets your teacher know that you are really trying to learn.

You should approach every interview, workshop, meeting, etc as though every point made is going to be a question on a test you will be taking or a subject matter you will have to present on, because you will! Whether it’s clarifying a user story in a refinement meeting, documenting a requirement, or creating a process model, you are documenting with the intention of ensuring the consumer learns it correctly

Key Takeaway?

Instead of trying to be the smartest person in the room that knows everything, try being the best student in the room who makes sure they learn the material from every stakeholder as clearly as possible to pass any test that might be given.

Be proud of your lack of knowledge, because it is the basis for good analysis!

A few tools to boost your business analysis potential

As many of you already know, tools and software for business analysis are NOT always a top priority for most companies. In most cases, MS Word, MS Excel, and MS Powerpoint are the only business analyst tools your company provides you along with an outdated requirements template, that is most likely in MS Word. Unfortunately, our jobs as business analysts can become complex and when certain valuable aspects of our deliverables become “difficult”… in most cases we elect not to do them, and I can’t blame you. So, until Microsoft Comes Up With MS Business Analysis (PM’s Already Got MS Project!), here are some requirements management tools to bring some sanity to your everyday life.

Tools Your Company Might Already Have (Civilian Gear)

SharePoint is not a requirements management tool;  however,  It does have a lot of powerful features that can bring some ease to traceability, approvals, collaboration, and the organization of your requirements. Of course, it will take some knowledge of Sharepoint, but you are a smart BA, and you can do it. For tips, check out Sharepoint Requirements management. I personally have used it to make my job and life a whole lot easier.

Requirements Management Software for the Business Analyst Mercenaries Out There

If you are a consultant or contractor, then sometimes it’s appropriate to bring your own tools to the fight and Gatherspace might be the right pick for you. The quality of requirements plays an enormous role in the success of a project, and yet many companies still leave you hanging when it comes to providing tools specific to the requirements analysis activities. You, however,  should not wait for someone to else to get you what you need, sometimes you have to go out there and get it yourself! Gatherspace is the most affordable for a single business analyst and can be scaled to a larger group.

Enterprise Requirements Management Tools for Business Analyst Armies

If you have the backing and the budget for an enterprise-level initiative, then I would check out, Jama and Blueprint. There are plenty more than these two, but these are my top picks. Mostly for the user experience factor. They just look and work great. I even had a chance to play in the environments and get live demos. I was pretty impressed. The tracing capability alone sold me for each of these (one of the hardest things to keep track of). These tools really simplify impact analysis and change management. These tools not only ease the creation and documentation of deliverables but also make the collaboration and approval process a breeze.