The title of “Business Analyst” is one of the fastest growing in the IT industry. In fact, the United States Department of Labor projected a 29-percent increase in computer systems analyst employment by 2016. There are many resources available that explain what a business analyst is, often in terms of comparing the responsibilities of an analyst to those of other team members we’re more familiar with, like project managers, software testers and systems architects. It’s now generally understood, via the IIBA, that a business analyst “works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems.”
Just as important to understand, however, is what a business analyst is NOT. As organizations create positions labeled “business analyst” while struggling to keep costs down, it’s tempting to use the role as a catch-all for tasks that an overextended project team just doesn’t have time for. This may save time and money in the short term, but in the long term, it will only hurt your projects.
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