Business Analyst is one of the pivotal roles in the business world. Meeting the business expectations gathering the requirements by streamlined communication with fellow stakeholders as well as by measuring all the business parameters, is the major responsibility they carry.
Often the small mistakes are overlooked by the business analysts due to lack of maturity, the desperation to complete the work within timelines. And ultimately it lands them in trouble as other team members are depending on their documentation.
Take a look at the list of mistakes that are committed by the Business analyst.
Common Mistakes Business Analysts must Avoid:
- Requirement review without stakeholder’s participation.
- Improper Language in requirements.
- Start designing without complete requirement gathering
- Not selecting proper templates
- Poor Communication
Let us start by discussing the mistakes one by one.
- Requirement review without stakeholder’s participation.
Usually, aspiring business analysts do this mistake in desperation. Often they are in a hurry to convey their thoughts to team members. But, the business demands to follow few processes constantly. In the process of requirement analysis, stakeholders play a major role as they have their own perception of the product. Building trust and rapport with the stakeholders can minimize future ambiguities and defects.
- Improper Language in requirements.
Often business analysts fail to use the technical terms in the requirement document. Using industry-specific jargon while defining the functional requirements is a must. While documenting the requirements business analysts follow the SMART approach i.e. Specific-Measurable- Attainable-Realizable-Time-Bound. The requirement document is the mirror of the functional understanding of the business analyst so it should be precise and well structured so that there will be no further confusion.
- Start designing without complete requirement gathering
It is too early to discuss designing the application and implementation process without understanding and analyzing the requirements and business process thoroughly. The best practice is to mandate all team members to review the requirement document and raise questions if any. This is how BA also understands if he/she missed out on something important. Jumping into designing without complete analysis will again lead to the rework for everyone.
- Not selecting proper templates
Every organization follows some set of standards. And every project has a different requirement and set of parameters to measure its success. According to these parameters, the requirement document template varies. Usually, BAs tempt to use the same business requirement document(BRD) to make the task easier but unfortunately, it leads to more confusion as all the columns in the document may not be the same for all projects.
- Poor Communication
An ideal BA should possess strong communication skills. Half of the work of a business analyst depends on how he/she communicates and gets the work done easily and effectively. If he lacks proper communication skills, it not only affects his style of work but also the relationships among the team member.
Finally, business analysts need to understand that the success of the project depends on the collaborative efforts of all the team and he should ensure that all the team members are sharing the same vision.