Discover Business Analysts Competencies by Connecting the Dots

Being a Business analyst, an individual need to sort through information rather would say—lots and lots of information—in order to identify problems and uncover requirements of the solution. This process requires the ability to connect the competencies similar to connecting the dots.

Although the phrase “connecting the dots” has been around for a long time. However, the theory of connecting the dots has better demonstrated by Steve Jobs. He has some different ideology when he described what connecting the dots. He said, “You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. Eventually you must trust that somehow the dots will connect in your future.

Well, that sounds good. But what does it actually mean? How do we go about connecting the dots?

There are some competencies identified which when considered as Dots and connected in an appropriate way will demonstrate how business analysis can be performed smoothly.

Experience – A Deep Dive From Past

We cannot look backward if we do not have the background or experience to make sense of the new information we are taking in. That does not mean we need to have specific industry or project experience. But it does mean that we need to have learned from similar situations. We need to apply appropriate business analysis skills to new situations, guided by what worked and what did not work in the past.

Understanding of Context – Grasping Essence

We need to understand the context of the current situation. “Context” is one of the core business analysis concepts. Understanding the context provides important information about such things as the culture of the organization and the stakeholders, values and beliefs of the organization and the stakeholders, processes followed, conditions that affect the situation like weather, terminology, and technology.

“Experience” gives us something that can affect identifying the problem and the creation of the solution

Recognize patterns - “Know the core and act with confidence” 

Recognizing patterns requires an ability to take in information from a variety of different sources, to synthesize lots of disparate information and make sense of it, to rearrange it, to understand what is important, to stay focused, and not get distracted by the irrelevant. The ability to recognize patterns is what allows us to understand which “clues” are relevant, because we have seen them, just in different situations. 

It’s about the ability to see a problem and say with confidence “Particular solution will work and this one won’t”.

Think? Rational but with an intuition

BAs need to use both their rational minds and their intuition. Several years ago, there was a heated discussion on a social media group about which would serve the BA better—being “analytical” or being “intuitive.” 

Most discussion participants saw it as an either/or. Effective BAs were either more logical or more intuitive. Not only be analytical but also, we need to break down information into smaller pieces and determine which pieces are needed. We need to use our analysis to uncover the root causes of a problem, which helps separate facts from hearsay, gossip, and opinion. 

Parallel to this, we also need to use our intuition if we have any hope of being able to think critically and conceptually, as well as to be able to synthesize a lot of information quickly and be able to make sense of it.

Thrive in ambiguous situations

We often hear about the need for BAs to tolerate ambiguity. I think that effective detectives and business analysts are those who not only tolerate but actually thrive in ambiguous situations. The ability to thrive in uncertain situations allows business analysts to create structure from chaos. When business analysts can synthesize all the information they have accumulated during elicitation activities, put it together in meaningful ways, and are able to create understanding and gain consensus—that’s a true thing of beauty and brain.

Conclusion:

Having these competencies does not necessarily mean a BA will be successful. But these skills are necessary to connect the dots. Connecting the dots is necessary if we BA’s are going to do our jobs of finding problems and recommending solutions that provide value to stakeholders.

About Author:

Himanshu Suryawanshi is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: himanshu.suryawanshi@spluspl.com