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Just A BA
Many BAs feel that their culture of their organisation means the BA role is not valued, and they feel like the bottom of the pile. If well tell ourselves we are bottom of the pile, and tell our colleagues we are “just BAs” we have a long road of dissatisfaction ahead of us.
It is true that many people do not have a clear understanding of what a BA does, but that’s something we need to tackle on every project, with every stakeholder. Understanding of the BA role is not going to happen by osmosis we need to make it happen.
We need to feel proud of the role we have and work we do – but just no so proud that we accidentally become superior!
I Told You So
We can appear to use the project risk register as the “I told you so log”.
This sometimes comes from feeling genuinely frustrated, that if we had been listed to this problem could have been avoided. This is our way of trying to remind people that we had a good idea, or useful insight that was ignored at the time and it could have helped.
But “I told you so” never helps situations and it definitely doesn’t help relationships. We need to work on our influencing skills, and acknowledge that ‘bombard with detail’ is not the only way to influence.
Us And Them
There are lots of divisions that can arise, between BAs and project managers, between project staff and our business colleagues, between our organisation and the supplier.
It is really easy to hide behind these real or perceived boundaries, and generalise everyone on the other side of the divide. As BAs we have a responsibility to avoid silos, encourage collaborative working and be the people who are willing to work across boundaries.
Negative
We can be seen as very negative. Some BAs want to say no to everything, and as it is our JOB to analyse things, we can usually come up with five good reasons something won’t work before the other person has even finished explaining the idea.
A simple swap of “yes, but…” to “yes, and..” attempts to build on an idea and help people think their way out of problems rather than list off all the flaws in the idea.
Stepping Stone
There is a small subset of people who are using analysis as a stepping stone in their career, and they are often not too subtle about it!
Often they aren’t trying to learn all they can about business analysis – mastering the tools and techniques as transferable skills for their next role, and while they are busy setting themselves up for their next move, not much actual business analysis is getting done! It fuels the idea that business analysis isn’t a career and that BAs grow up to become PMs.
Business Analysis may not be a long term career for everyone, and some organisation structures don’t support the idea of progressing your career as a BA; but while you are a member of this profession, be in it, be committed, be the best BA you can be.
Conclusion
These Bad BA behaviours were discussed at the BA Conference Europe 2018. Over 100 BAs from all over the world considered these behaviours. The behaviours were recognised, both in ourselves and our BA colleagues. 78% said they had seen BAs being negative, and this was also identified as the worst of the bad behaviours that BAs regularly display.
If we want others to see value in the BA role, and increase our level of influence, we need to break out of our bad behaviours. We can start by noticing our behaviours and by being positive, being hopeful and (trying) to always look on the bright side.
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