Question: When does a business analyst stop analyzing?
Answer: When you shoot him!
Some business analysis projects seem never to end. Given that
business organizations are so very complex, this is hardly surprising.
To avoid "analysis paralysis", it is important that the business analyst not delve into too much
detail too early in a project. It is more important to understand the forest
than worrying
about each and every tree. Of key importance is not to fall into the black
hole of technical detail and exception.
By adopting a top-down, iterative approach, the analyst can focus on the
big picture, the "normal" business process and on priority business areas.
Subsequent analysis iterations can then delve into the exception situations
and details.
The analyst will often discover that although "exceptions" might account
for a small percentage of the workflow, the effort needed to address those
exceptions can be huge. Consequently, it is important to identify exception
situations, but not to focus on them during the initial round of analysis
work.
The ability to identify and isolate areas of complexity or exception is an important skill for
the business analyst to learn. When exceptions are identified, the
analyst should always ask "How frequently does this situation occur?" (i.e.
percentage of cases) and "How much time is expended dealing with the
exception?" (i.e. hours per month).
To help ensure that business analysis is done in an iterative manner, it
is a good idea to time-box each iterative cycle.
