Is there any Business Analyst Hacks?
Does any Business Analyst need hacks to do their work?
Hi everyone, I am Fidela, a muggle who works as a Business Analyst in Dipo Web Services. With the number of works, sure does. But the question is, is there a Business Analyst Hacks? Let’s find out together.
Being a Business Analyst in an IT department allows people to develop their analyzing skills, but also management skills. Even with the flexibilities of the tasks, every Business Analyst has several daily main tasks, planning, monitoring, and reporting.
However, during the beginning of the development, there are specific tasks that need to be handled by Business Analyst:
- Creating a detailed business analysis, outlining problems, opportunities, and solutions for a business
- Defining business requirements and reporting them back to stakeholders
- Variance analysis
Quite a handful of a task list, isn’t it? Then how the Business Analyst manages to check all boxes? Here are some hacks that are recommended:
1. Create a List
Whether it’s a to-do list, a memory list, a tasks list, a breaks list, whichever you called it. To be as productive as you can, free up the memory by writing down things. Lists are the best way to externalize the memory since you might be caught in dozens of things on daily basis.
There are several recommendation note apps for project management:
- Notion
- Coda
- Evernote
- Apple Notes
By creating a list, you will also have the chance to prioritize the tasks that need to be done. It will help you plan the day out.
2. Split your work and give yourself a break
Make a regular schedule for a break, it helps you to manage the task splitting. As an example, make sure you to finish in all replying to emails, accepting meetings invitation, and checking your Sprint boards within the first 2 hours of the day, then take a coffee break to continue the tasks.
5 minutes walk to the pantry and brew your coffee won’t hurt the timeline. Moving your body part will freshen up your mood, you might as well try stretching when you’re stuck with the tasks.
3. Note them down
While being in endless meetings, make sure to take a memo so you can review the meeting result later. Not only in a meeting, but Business Analyst also needs to break down requirements into an atom-sized task with clear details, so taking notes will always come in handy.
You don’t have to remember every detail, because you can write them down or even make a helpful presentation of it. It will make understanding easier for each party.
4. Define The Data Requirements
Once you have the analysis laid out in a comprehensive manner mentioned previously, you will have the data requirements you needed.
When you do, you need to:
- Structure the data requirements
Design the analysis tables instead of making a list of variables. - Collect as much data as you can
Even if you are unsure about the variables you need, collect them upfront just to be on the safe side. Including some additional variables now is much better and easier than doing so later in your analysis.
Hope these hacks help and please share some tips from your days as Business Analyst as well!
