Why Business Analysts Are Difficult People

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Part of becoming a great BA is getting our stakeholders to do difficult things, love us for it, and want to work with us again.
But getting to this point means that you take the difficult road not the easy one.

• Instead of letting our stakeholders put everything they want into the requirements spec, we lead them through a prioritization process and help them see how prioritization helped them get more of the right stuff done (instead of just less stuff done).
• Instead of allowing conflicting stakeholders to duke it out and asking for their decision to document in the spec, we jump in and help them work through the issue and come to a shared solution. In the process, we help elevate everyone’s understanding of the issue and of each other.
• Instead of allowing a passive sign-off and waiting for the inevitable changes to come later in the process, we force true understanding and surface as many issues as possible as early as possible. We play the bad guy so IT or QA or the technical writer doesn’t have to.

For the right professionals, becoming a BA is a career-changing experience. In fact, for some, it’s a life-changing experience.

It’s difficult to be difficult and do difficult work. But it’s also immensely rewarding. In the words of one of my most trusted mentors, “if it were easy, anyone could do it.”