Business analysts: why are there so many of you?

[cojak]

Same where I am, basically anybody (of the permie staff) with some domain knowledge can become a BA.

Plus "BA" can pretty much mean anything these days.

This is when those boring certificates plus years of experience make a difference

[LondonManc]

This is when those boring certificates plus years of experience make a difference

Yep. A good BA has a mixture of domain knowledge and BA process knowledge, as an absolute minimum. I've seen people who just know about their area but couldn't analyse their way out of a paper bag being badged as business analysts.

[SussexSeagull]

Problem is BAs tend to get squeezed out by Agile.

It is similar to testing in that the powers that be tend to think they can do it through seconding business experts but it is actually a very skilled job.

[northernladuk]

Previous clientco was trying to recruit permie BA's. They just got deluged by chancers with little or no experience. Quite common was for a business person to be seconded onto a project for 6 months, and then try and pass themselves off as a BA to another organisation. I don't think ex clientco managed to recruit a single one, and ended up taking the same 'second a few over from the business teams and see how they do' approach. I reckon that's why you see so many applications being made.

Absolutely this. I find it's a term used as a cover all for anyone working on a project that isn't a PM/SDM/PMO etc. I find the same with PMO/PSO as well. They do a bit of work on a project that isn't covered by any particular title and all of a sudden they are experienced PMO's

[VillageContractor]

Problem is BAs tend to get squeezed out by Agile.

It is similar to testing in that the powers that be tend to think they can do it through seconding business experts but it is actually a very skilled job.

Agile shouldn't squeeze out BA's. In most organisations where I've implemented agile the BA's take on the role of Product Owner (mainly because the company can't afford to hire Product Owners). Otherwise the BA becomes a member of the development team.

When I've interviewed BA's the majority seem to be people who have done the role for a bit in their current company or done a bit of BA/PM. Both fall short for what's required for doing the role properly. We did get a number of very good BAs partly because the company increased their rate.

[tomtomagain]

A while back when I ran a team of around 40 people that was out-sourced to an "Offshore Service Provider" a significant minority of the team we're simply rebadged as either "BA's", "SME's" or "Architects".

I suspect that's where a lot of BA roles where generated.

[SussexSeagull]

Absolutely this. I find it's a term used as a cover all for anyone working on a project that isn't a PM/SDM/PMO etc. I find the same with PMO/PSO as well. They do a bit of work on a project that isn't covered by any particular title and all of a sudden they are experienced PMO's

I think this whole cottage industry that has grown up round Project Management gets out of hand in some places. Decent PMs more than justify themselves but in some places there are more people in the Project Office than doing direct work on projects!

[SussexSeagull]

Agile shouldn't squeeze out BA's. In most organisations where I've implemented agile the BA's take on the role of Product Owner (mainly because the company can't afford to hire Product Owners). Otherwise the BA becomes a member of the development team.

When I've interviewed BA's the majority seem to be people who have done the role for a bit in their current company or done a bit of BA/PM. Both fall short for what's required for doing the role properly. We did get a number of very good BAs partly because the company increased their rate.

I agree it shouldn't. In my experience it varies from BAs having to get requirements from either external sources or internal sources who can't be spared full time (let's not get into that being Agile or not!) to basically being glorified note takers.

[VillageContractor]

I agree it shouldn't. In my experience it varies from BAs having to get requirements from either external sources or internal sources who can't be spared full time (let's not get into that being Agile or not!) to basically being glorified note takers.

I can't emphasis how often this happens and in so many companies. A lot of companies struggle with resourcing/retention which means that the right people can't be in the right role and therefore someone else comes in as a middlemen who has no power or authority. This is horrible for everyone and actually costs the organisation more in the long run

[Antman]

Agile BAs should become Product Owners (a lot of them were just SMEs before they became BAs). However even in the same industry you can't become a product owner over-night with a different company (different architectures, processes, systems)

Also agree about the glorified note-takers, done it once, now steer clear of anything that says Agile BA unless they're talking about yoga.

Before anyone says that Agile's not being done right I also agree it's not being done right, agile's just a buzz word put in ads by clients who think that they may not deliver by not having a BA. If agile's being done right, I wouldn't bother with a BA.

TL: DR - The BA role exists because of client ignorance.