3 Key Mistakes To Avoid As A Business Analyst

The role of a Business Analyst is largely pivotal to the measure of success that a business is able to achieve, in relation to its goals. As a business analyst, you are responsible for helping your relevant stakeholders understand the business peculiarities and make decisions that propel change, by proposing the best processes and solutions that drive growth. How successful you are in your role will largely shape how successfully a business is able to transform into its desired future state. However, being successful is not just a function of what you do; it is equally a function of what you DO NOT do.

Oftentimes, Business Analysts get engrossed in the project activities that they need to tick off, and they pay less attention to the silent pitfalls that could mar their projects. In order to be the best business analyst you can be, here are top 3 pitfalls that you should keep an eye out for.

Find out about the common challenges of a Business Analyst 

Being Dismissive of Other People's Ideas

Team spirit and active collaboration make the core of a business analysis role. Your ability to successfully engage with your stakeholders will shape the extent to which you are able to drive the required change.  If you do not spend enough time listening to your stakeholders’ opinions, and acknowledging their needs and recommendations on how to approach underlying issues, it will be difficult for them to bring their best ideas forward and contribute meaningfully to your project.

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The more difficult you make it for them to share their opinions with you, the more difficult you make it for them to trust your judgment and proposed solutions. However, acknowledging their opinion does not mean that you should accept every impractical recommendation they propose. As the Analyst, it is your job to sift the facts and data that are available to you and recommend the most competitive and value-driven solutions. 

Being more project-focused than people focused

As a business analyst, you’re responsible for coordinating actions and facilitating conversations with everyone who has a role to play in the business analysis activities. Your primary focus is on people. Your role is to engage stakeholders to drive actions that lead to the solution that you are trying to create; you're not responsible for practically building the solution. Do not get so caught up in the solution, that you collide with the roles of other team members. If you focus too much on the product and not enough on making sure everything and everyone else is aligned with that goal, it's going to be hard for everyone else to get their work done properly.

Read on, on the Business Analysts Roles

Underestimating your role as a business analyst

Understanding your role and its boundaries is very crucial to achieving success on your BA project. You’re the linking factor across all components and members of the project. If everyone is not in alignment with the significance of your role, you may find yourself encountering push-backs from stakeholders and being less empowered to drive strategic recommendations. The depth of your stakeholder engagement plays a huge role in how excellent or poor you execute your tasks. Do not commence your business analysis activities without conducting a thorough stakeholder engagement to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

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