Over 200 people have taken the ReStart Profiler Quiz so far, and the results are interesting:

73 Observers
49 Evaluators
50 Predictors
22 Dreamers
13 Performers

I also saw that 30 people from the same company took the profile quiz! Their results were similar to the larger set:

7 Observers
9 Evaluators
10 Predictors
3 Dreamers
1 Performer

Imagine if you had this information about your co-workers. Wouldn’t you be able to understand each other better and therefore work together better? If I were going to that company to teach a class or mentor that team, this information would really help me to help them do a better job.

Find out your Restart Profile type by going to http://www.writingusecases.com and clicking the green Restart button in the box on the left of the page. (In the rows of buttons, it is the one on the end of the 3rd row.)

Then send your co-workers over to take it and see what they come out to be!

Have fun with it -

Geri

PS – The ReStart Profiling System was developed by Jonathan Chase for Restart Academy. I am one of the founders of Restart Academy. I use the system myself, recommend it to others, coach people in its use, and share in the profits of Restart Academy.

Some like to watch first before trying something, others are great at making plans, someone else is best at mitigating risk, another person is great at visualizing, while someone else just jumps right in to what ever task needs doing.

If you play to your subconscious strengths, then any of those approaches can be successful. If you try to be something you are not, then the approach that works for someone else will fail for you.

What is your subsconscious strength?

Now you can quickly and easily find out.

Jonathan Chase at Restart Academy has developed a quick quiz that will tell you your personal best approach to starting anything. Go to http://www.writingusecases.com and click on the green Restart button in the left side box.

This will take you to the Restart Academy Profiler (don’t worry, it’s free). After you get your result, you can learn how to apply your subconscious strength to Business Analysis. Just click on the link on the result page that says:

Get your BA Specific Results Here!

Go now and take the quiz at http://www.writingusecases.com and let me know how it works out for you!

Best -

Geri

PS – I am one of the founders of Restart Academy. I use the system myself, recommend it to others, coach people in its use, and share in the profits of Restart Academy.

I have set up a video channel for Business Analyst tips on YouTube.
There are 15 videos there at present including:

• 5 steps to better use cases – parts 1 and 2
• Business rules versus Technical Constraints
• Use Stories versus User Cases
• Business Analyst Career Paths
• and 10 videos on how a BA would start to work on a project

There are 10 different project types, so 10 different videos

I’ll be adding more over time, so let me know if there is something you want me to make a video about!

Here is the link again:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Wyyzzk

Pass on the link to other BA’s you know.

• Is Business Analyst a good career?
• Which job is better, XXX or Business Analyst?
• I have been a Business Analyst for XXX years, what can I do now?

I cannot really answer these questions because the answer depends on what you want for yourself. My answers are always suggestions of things to think about, so that you can find the best answer for you.  The suggestions are generally about career planning.

You need to spend some time thinking about what you want from your career. You can change your mind later, but you need to have some kind of career goal, or you have no basis for answering these kinds of questions.

I made a video that goes through quite a bit of information on common career paths. It gives you a lot to think about, so that you can choose what appeals to you in terms of a career goal.  You can find that video here: http://www.wyyzzk.com/BAFundamentals/Careers.mp4

Once you know what you want, the answers about whether or not to pursue a BA role or what you can do next become obvious.

The video does not cover every possibility and individual people have had some very different career paths. I have focused on careers within the corporate environment, because that is generally where you find BA positions. Of course there are exceptions – I know many people (including myself) who work as BA consultants and contractors. But that number is far smaller than the number of people working within corporations.

Security has been and will continue to be a very important topic for many years. Internet security and Information security are particularly important.

I think we will continue to see greater use of the internet for things such as Software As A Service (SAAS) and outsourcing work of all kinds.

I am seeing good growth for all kinds of Virtual Assistants, from very basic services, through specialized services, and up through Executive Assistants.  If you are self-motivated, like people,  and are very organized with good communication skills of all kinds, this could be something of interest. (This is a thought for people who are looking for a career change that uses skills they have already learned.)

Privacy concerns will continue to grow, so working in an area that provides products and services to protect privacy will become more important.

At the same time, people want community, so they will continue to use the internet to create communities. They will want to easily share information within their community, while keeping out “outsiders”, and while not sharing information outside the community. While Facebook has been great, I suspect that a solution more like Ning (with individual communities and more privacy) will have better market reach over time.

Products and services to help companies comply with upcoming FTC and FCC requirements for web sites should do very well. There are more and more regulations being written (and laws in various countries), so this will become very important over the next 12-24 months.

Post your thoughts in comments. What do you think of these ideas? What are your thoughts for hot  markets?

Geri

Fundamentals of Business Analysis earns you 30 PD credits for initial certification or 30 CDU credits for re-certification.

The next public class starts 31 January 2011.  Information about that class is here http://www.wyyzzk.com/bafundysales.html

Employers – if you are interested in a private class for your company, contact me using information at the Wyyzzk home page http://www.wyyzzk.com

I will be adding more classes over time, so keep an eye on this blog or the Wyyzzk home site.

Geri

Many people contact me because they want to be a Business Analyst. They are often in another job currently and want to change roles. They want to know “What do I need to do to be considered for a Business Analyst position?”.

A good starting point is to look over the IIBA BABOK to see how the BA role is defined. What is a BA? What does a BA do? What skills is a BA expected to have?

Then review your own experience, compare it to the skills in the BABOK and make an inventory of the work you have done that is also Business Analyst work. Have you elicited requirements, managed information, facilitated meetings, or used tools such as requirements management, version control, or UML modeling tools? Do you analyze information in your current position?

You will use this information to tune your resume, highlighting your experience that is applicable to a Business Analyst role.

You will also use this information to find gaps in your knowledge. What are some basic skills you need that you may not have gained from experience?

You can study books and online material for the information you lack. A better idea is to take a course for Business Analysts with a teacher experienced in the BA role.  Not only will you gain the knowledge, but the teacher will give you work to do and evaluate that work, so you gain some experience as well.

Finally, look at the IIBA certifications for CCBA and CBAP. You may find that you qualify for one of those certifications. Completing the certification process shows you have a certain level of knowledge and experience as a BA, and shows that you are serious about your career.

Wyyzzk, Inc. (an IIBA Endorsed Education Provider) has a Business Analyst Fundamentals class that covers all the basic skills of the BA role. You earn 30 credits for the class, which can be used when applying for IIBA certification.  We have had a number of BA’s with 2-3 years experience – but no formal training – in the class, and they were delighted to refresh the information they already knew, and to fill in the gaps in their knowledge.  They are now in a good position to apply for IIBA certification and more senior BA roles in their companies.

The next public class starts 31 January 2011. It is offered through teleseminar, so you can take the class from anywhere in the world.  The class is in English and is taught by Geri Schneider Winters, the well-known author of the popular book “Applying Use Cases: A Practical Guide”.

For more information go here: http://www.wyyzzk.com/bafundysales.html

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You are invited to re-publish articles from this blog, in your publication or website, as long as the article is intact and you include the following Byline paragraph (with live links) after each article you use…

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* Article used with permission from Wyyzzk, Inc.’s Writing Use Cases blog at http://www.WritingUseCases.com This website of reports and tips contains information to help you succeed as a Business Analyst in IT.

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Meeting facilitation involves a number of skills, because your job is to guide the participants in addressing the topic of the meeting. If they need to make decisions, you guide them to make the decisions. If they need to brainstorm, you guide them in brainstorming exercises.

1. You have to be a really good listener and pay close attention to everyone.
2. You have to keep the goal of the meeting firmly in mind so you can make decisions such as: This topic needs to be addressed in a separate meeting, so stop the discussion and move on. OR This topic has been decided, so record the decision and move on. OR Some people have not given their input and I need to draw them out on this topic.
3. You need to be firm in managing the people – make sure one person is not doing all the talking. Make sure all people get a chance to express themselves (as appropriate).
4. You need to be disciplined to not get involved in the discussion and to make sure you have someone else working as scribe and taking notes.
5. You need to take care of details such as making sure a room or conference line is scheduled, creating and sending an agenda, sending invitations, making sure the important people can attend, and making sure everyone understands why he or she is at this meeting.
6. It helps a lot to be a calm, even tempered person, and to have confidence in yourself.

I don’t know the company, but I found online a place that offers training in meeting facilitation: http://www.facilitator4hire.com/ Their training prepares you for IAF (International association of facilitators) certification: http://www.iaf-world.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3672. This looks like very useful training to me, since being a good facilitator is a useful in so many situations.

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Now it is your turn.

Have you trained to be a meeting facilitator? Where were you trained?
Have you worked with a trained meeting facilitator? Do you think the meeting worked better with a trained facilitator leading it?
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You are invited to re-publish articles from this blog, in your publication or website, as long as the article is intact and you include the following Byline paragraph (with live links) after each article you use…

START BYLINE

* Article used with permission from Wyyzzk, Inc.’s Resources for Business Analysts site at http://www.ResourcesForBusinessAnalysts.com This website of reports and tips contains information to help you succeed as a Business Analyst in IT.

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EVENT: The Role of a BA on an Agile or SCRUM team
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, January 6th at 5:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK …
http://www.AttendThisEvent.com/?eventid=10516494

Update: We held the teleseminar, along with our guest Mike Vizdos of Implementing Scrum. Mike is a certified ScrumMaster and a trainer of Scrum Masters. It was great to have his input on this topic.

The replay is posted at www.ResourcesForBusinessAnalysts.com on both the Scrum and Agile pages.

You can comment on the teleseminar either here on this blog or on the website.

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Geri