Did you know that, according to a recent study, Atlassian Jira is a leading tool for enterprise Agile Planning? There are many contenders out there, but Jira is the de facto number one tool for backlog and scope management that business analysts use. Even if you are not using Jira at the moment, your knowledge of this tool will highly benefit you as a BA. In this article I’ll share 5 main use cases that will help you get started with Jira as a business analyst Before we go further, don't forget to download the Scrum Cheat Sheet for IT Business Analysts that comes along with a free vide ..read more

What can be more rewarding, and yet thrilling, than being dedicated by your own Scrum team to run the Sprint review? Well, this, in turn, raises a lot of questions on what exactly you show during the review. What is the sequence of steps? Whom do you invite? How deep and technical do you want to go? And many other questions. Business Analysts do many things and possess many skills. And one of the most important skills is the ability to present! Present the results of your own research and analysis, or the results of your teamwork. In this article, I'll share my main recommendations for condu ..read more

A picture is worth a thousand words! There's no better way to describe your business process or a domain than using visual notation, and in this article, I'll share my top three modeling notations and explain how and when I use them. #1 - BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) BPMN (or Business Process Model and Notation) has been around for more than a decade and has gained tremendous popularity not only with BAs but also with software architects, process analysts, and management consultants. It is a powerful and simple-to-follow notation that allows you to describe almost any process ..read more

I received my CBAP certification from IIBA back in 2019, and since then, I've been wondering - does it really benefit you in any way? Will you be able to land a new job, get a promotion, or a higher salary? Like... really, what does it give you? In this video, I share 5 pros and 5 cons of getting the CBAP, and of course, I also share my story of preparing and passing the exam. I also share some thoughts and reflections on what I think of this certification in general (and the BABOK)… and this is probably not what you want to hear . I’ll see you in the video. Sergey ..read more

https://youtu.be/GTHvXQ8hQnY?si=BfsBIJYYc2dxMq6T What is the difference between a Senior and a Lead Business Analyst? And between a Senior and Mid-level? What should a Junior Business Analyst do and not do? Here’s a thing. If you truly care about your career and the path you're building for yourself, you just have to know: what’s your current career level and where you’re going. A few months back, I already made an article and a post about the career model that many BA leaders use to assess and determine the Business Analyst's career level: Junior, Middle, Senior, Lead. I couldn't help but ..read more

A few weeks ago, I conducted a survey poll in ModernAnalyst.com - Business Analyst Community group on LinkedIn to see what type of documentation the BA community uses for communicating requirements to delivery teams. Well, no surprise that User Stories turned out to be the leader! And to me, the main reason they are so popular is that user stories are very business and end-user-friendly. They make us focus firstly on user needs/wants/desires, which makes total sense when building user-centric products. Going with user stories in your software development process breaks barriers between IT a ..read more

According to a recent study*, 71% of organizations in the U.S. use Agile methods for their software development projects, with Scrum being the leading agile development framework. However, more than 25 years since Scrum was first introduced, there are still tons of questions surrounding it, particularly regarding the role of the business analyst on a Scrum team. Having been involved in Agile and Scrum projects for almost 15 years, I’ve always wondered why various organizations implement the role of the business analyst differently in their Scrum projects. In this article, I will guide you th ..read more

This book is hilarious! And it’s probably the most practical BA reading that I have on my bookshelf. I declare this: every business analyst must learn by heart and practice daily these most useful corporate phrases from this book: ✔️ Can we take a step back here? ✔️ What is the real problem we're trying to solve? ✔️ We need to be building a platform. ✔️ Sorry, but can you go back one slide? ✔️ Will it scale ? And of course, my all-time favorite: Why don't we take it offline? This book is called 100 Tricks to Appear Smart In Meetings by Sarah Cooper. Here's my challenge for you – count ..read more

Do you need to have domain knowledge to be a successful business analyst? That’s one of the most popular questions that I receive. And the answer is hugely dependent on your specific situation and the job you’re in. After being in this industry for nearly two decades, I've discovered some common requirements for domain knowledge among in-house BAs, BA-generalists, and BA-consultants, which I am happy to share in this article. What is Domain Knowledge? So, first of all, what is domain knowledge? Usually, as BAs, we talk about two types of domain knowledge: Business Domain or Industry Kn ..read more

I guess you've experienced that panic when you were in a meeting, then suddenly put in the spotlight and asked to provide your input without any prior heads-up? And for sure, everyone has been pulled into a meeting called simply 'Sync' with 10 other people who talked about a matter you had no remote idea about, right? Photo by fauxels from Pexels I confess: I very much dislike poorly managed meetings. Those who know me know that I'll avoid being in such meetings at all costs. When I teach BAs, I always stress the importance of meeting facilitation. Because more often than not, It's so easy ..read more