As a BA community we need to come together and start promoting our frameworks, our methodologies, our approaches in order to shape the future of the profession rather than worrying about defining our role. We should define the scope of what is business analysis as a discipline. Once we achieve this end, this will empower us to look at what the discipline offers in the way of frameworks and tools to interested practitioners, as the specialists in this field.
Organizations representing Business Analysts are looking to certification or accreditation as a way of defining the role and bringing in some level of standardization in order to decrease ambiguity in the marketplace. There has also been a lot of debate about the role vs the discipline of business analysis. Garrett cautions that if we go down the track of defining the role we inevitably threaten someone’s sense of identity. If the Business Analyst’s role differs from the organization’s job description, then does it follow that they are not Business Analysts?
Alternatively, we could argue that whatever the discipline of business analysis is, it follows that those who are specialists in this field are Business Analysts. Although this has the potential for the BA to be “boxed in” may result in Business Analysts having little influence or control over important aspects of projects, where Business Analyst competencies and capabilities are of great value and adding strategic value to organization goals and objectives for process improvement.
As a Business Analyst I’m more often involved at a strategic level. Rather than my involvement with projects ending with the delivery of requirements, I’m utilized throughout the project: I bridge the gap between the business and the technology team; review processes and operations; as well as investigating and advising on the project’s impact and dependencies on other systems and programs initiatives across the enterprise.
All this activity means my role is not easily defined. This is not because I’m trying to be all things to all people (the Project Manager, the Business Analyst and the Systems Architect) or take over another project team member’s role, its more a reflection of the discipline of analysis being increasingly seen as a core capability and that the frameworks and tools used for analysis can be drawn upon for expertise throughout the life of the project and through all the programs across the enterprise.
In short, as a Business Analyst I do lots of things. Don’t put me in a box or label me and don’t predefine what I do … it limits the possibilities for my involvement to add value within projects, between projects, across programs and across the enterprise.
Ultimately, the definition, role, responsibility, and the future of Business Analysis will be determined not by us but by organizations that will base their decisions on their resourcing needs. It is therefore up to us as a Business Analysis Community to continue to promote what we do and how we do it and share our knowledge, understanding and expertise within the community. By doing this as a community we can go out to organizations and showcase the capabilities and competencies of business analysis. This will show the value of the discipline regardless of the role within the organization. Instead of prescribing what a Business Analyst is or isn’t, let’s talk about our frameworks, our theories and what tools are out there to get the job done.
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