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Business Analysis Isn’t Just for Software
The skills, tools, and techniques of business analysis can help solve many problems.
According to Wikipedia, “business analysis is a professional discipline focused on identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems.” Historically, defining requirements for a software system has constituted a large portion of a business analyst’s work. However, the thought processes, skills, tools, and techniques used in business analysis have valuable applications well beyond software development.
I encountered an initiative in which I was able to effectively apply my BA experience to a problem that had nothing at all to do with software. You can probably think of situations in your own company where your BA skills could be helpful and reinforce the value of having specialized business analysts available.
The Initiative
I worked for many years in the Kodak Research Laboratories, initially as a photographic research scientist and later as a software developer, business analyst, team leader, software quality engineer, and process improvement leader. With my PhD in organic chemistry, I could bridge the communication gap between scientists and the people who created solutions for them.
