Re: [ia-55] How do you work with Business Analysts?
Messages
| From: | Ha Phan |
| Sent on: | Saturday, May 10 at 10:01 AM |
It's only the last 2 years that I find the BA title floating around in the product design/IA world. That title have been around in the past, but the job responsibilities were quite different. Seems like I've been executing BA tasks since forever. I started out in the UX world as a game designer in a past past life, and in the game design world, we flowchart all functions, multiple paths and dependencies before design. That helps us think through use/play scenarios and how deep the interaction is. We also wrote game specs to outline game play and conditions. Adding that to the research/analysis layer of the User Centered Process and there you have it.
When designing business app, workflow is critical and I think a good BA must must think strategically and critically about existing workflows (online and off-line), assessing the depth and complexities of tasks and propose solutions. This will have significant impact the company's bottom line. When designing a B2C solution, a good BA will think strategically about how the requirements will serve the market niche.
Anyway, it's fun communicating with others who speak your language
:) Ha
On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 12:12 AM, Jonathan Lane <[address removed]> wrote:
Well, aw shucks...
:-)
- Jonathan
Dennis Mink wrote:I just want to share with you all that of all the lists I've been on over the past nearly 15 years, this thread about BAs and IAs has truly been the most informative and interesting discussionI've ever followed. The knowledge you are sharing has been so incredibly helpful to me and my business. Thank you all.Dennis[address removed]
On May 9, 2008, at 10:11 PJonathan Lane <[address removed]> wrote:I agree with Ashley with the exception of designing process flow. BA's should be expected to do those--perhaps along with the IA, but certainly under the BA's direction.
I think many times requirements gathering includes process flows. For example, some of the stakeholders want to make sure a loan application allows the Borrower to specify whether or not they want a Co-Signer before they start filling in any contact information. Additionally, if the Borrower says they do not want a Co-Signer and then gets denied when they request a loan pre-approval, then the system should allow them the option of adding a Co-Signer and trying again. (Yeah, that's a real world example from my last job.)
These kinds of if/then logic paths are, in my opinion, part of the BA's job. The flowcharts might be simple snapshots of requirements or a full maze of boxes and arrows. But they're necessary PRIOR to the functional specs being written so that the entire team can examine the flow and agree, "Yeah, this is when the user tells us such-and-such." Later, the IA's can elaborate in site maps and wireframes, and systems architects can take these process flows and turn them into full use cases for the programmers. But for me as a BA, process flows are totally part of my job responsibilities.
- Jonathan--
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