My 20-year Journey as a BA: Successes, Pitfalls, Lessons Learned & Tips/Tricks, Where I'm Going Next on My Journey!

Transcription

1 My 20-year Journey as a BA: Successes, Pitfalls, Lessons Learned & Tips/Tricks, Where I'm Going Next on My Journey! Finny Barker has over 20 years of experience as a Senior Business Analyst and is currently a Business Strategist at Blue Shield of CA. She earned her CBAP in 2016 and is also a Certified Scrum Master and Prosci certified Change Practitioner. 1

2 Just a little humor 2

3 Professional Growth Successes & Pitfalls along my journey 2003 BA Certified B2T Training 2004 Speaker at Project Summit BA World 2005 Joined IIBA Contributed to IIBA BABOK v CBAP 2017 Certified Scrum Master 2018 Prosci Certified Change Practitioner Layoff Avon Products, NY (2/ /2014) TransCentra (10/2014 5/2016) Blue Shield of CA (6/2016 Present) 3

4 Lessons Learned Get your IIBA Certification! Keep a rich toolkit Always keep an open mind Network Step outside of your comfort zone 4

5 Tips & Tricks The 8-step business analysis process: Try using a Context Diagram Keep it user centric, resist jumping to a solution 5

6 Tips & Tricks Context Diagram and Use Case Diagram provides the big picture and baseline for the project: Context Diagram Purpose of this diagram is to show the scope and boundaries of the TO BE solution in its environment with the external entities (e.g. people and systems) that provide and receive information to and from the system. LEGEND = Global Functional Group = Functional Group = Cluster Functional Group = External to Avon = System Global Safety& Quality Safety& Quality Global Project Manager Costing Project Manager CM Interest & Estimates Safety & Quality Requirements PERT Product Developer Product Spec Central Master Global & Line Plan CM Interest & Estimates Supplier Proposal Product Menu, Final Supplier(s) Product Performance Reports Preliminary & Final Landed Cost Reference Data Product Master Data Commercial Marketing Product Master Data, Estimates BI Reporting Interest, Estimates, Global Supply Chain Product Spec Recommended Suppliers Final Spec Approval Fashion & Home New Product Development Supplier Master Data esim Region/ Cluster/ Market Interest, Supplier Proposal Design Briefs, Global Product Menu Cost Approval, Product Attributes Finished Stock Code epim Global Marketing (Jewelry & Watches) Product Spec Final Test Results RFP, Product Spec Supplier Proposal Third Party Inspection Agent Supplier Use Case Diagram The purpose of this diagram is to show how the system interacts with its users (called Actors) and shows the scope of the solution being developed. Global Marketing Fashion & Home To Be 1.0 Create Line Plan 2.0 Add Product to Line Plan 3.0 Select Interest 4.0 Update Product Specification 5.0 Submit RFP 6.0 Generate Line Plan Report 7.0 Select Cluster Interest Product Developer Commercial Marketing 8.0 Enter Cluster Estimates 6

7 Where I m going next on my journey 7

8 Where I m going next on my journey BA Career Path Trusted Advisor Business Architect Enterprise Level Defines direction Defines project Move to Agile practitioner BA III (CBAP) BA II (CCBA) Entry-Level BA Move to a PM role Execution Level In project 8

9 Questions? 9

10 Assessment 1. What has your journey (professional growth) looked like so far? Zig Zag pointing up? Zig Zag pointing down? Straight line Upward trend Downward trend 2. Where do you see yourself going next? Business Architecture Project Manager Agile Practitioner Process Analyst Requirements Analyst Business Systems Analyst Functional Analyst Other I don t know (and that s ok) 3. Do you need any repairs or tune-ups? If so, what? 10