Practical Insights for Business Problem Solvers
One of a leader s most important responsibilities is assembling balanced, successful teams. Resumes and keyword filters get candidates in the door, but by the time someone is sitting across from me, they ve already cleared that bar, and so has everyone else I m interviewing. What separates them is harder to screen for but matters more. After [ ]
I started the Practical Analyst blog in 2007. Back then, data-driven decision making was still a novel phrase. Business analysts were fighting for a seat at the table. Agile was mostly a new buzzword. The iPhone had just been announced. And I had a simple belief: that the people doing the actual analytical work inside [ ]
Requirements don t manage themselves! Management refers to the ongoing coordination, traceability, and adaptation of requirements throughout the solution lifecycle. It’s how we maintain continuity and alignment, even as goals, constraints, and decisions evolve. “You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust the sails.” – Unknown Requirements aren’t static assets. They’re living commitments.…
Validation is where we ask, “Did we get it right?” before we build it wrong. Validation is the practice of confirming that documented requirements accurately reflect stakeholder intent, align with business needs, and are feasible for delivery. “We accomplish what we understand. If we are to accomplish something together, we need to understand it [ ]
Think of specs as the GPS for delivery—useless if incorrect or unclear, essential when right. Specification is the process of representing business or customer needs in a form that is clear, precise, and actionable for diverse audiences, from developers and testers to business stakeholders. An appropriate and complete requirements specification does nothing to ensure a [ ]
Analysis isn’t about taking what you heard and writing it down. It’s about figuring out what was really meant, what’s missing, and what matters most. Analysis is the process of examining inputs: needs, data, conversations, constraints, and transforming them into meaningful, actionable insights. It’s how we uncover patterns, evaluate options, and connect the dots across [ ]
There’s a rhythm to effective solution definition, and it goes something like this: Elicitation. Analysis. Specification. Validation. Management. (EASVM, for short.) It isn t the catchiest acronym or mnemonic, but it is a practical way to think about the full lifecycle of solution discovery and definition. I learned about EASVM in a requirements training I did [ ]
I recently had the opportunity to talk shop with Dave Saboe, who runs the Mastering Business Analysis website and accompanying podcast. The topic of our conversation was the "essence" or underlying "why" of business analysis, and how focusing on that "essence" or "why" can benefit the individual analyst, and the organization as a whole.
The process of collaborative creation; of drawing and deliberating and rationalizing potential paths together until we reach an agreed upon "best way forward" provides the real value in visual modeling.
Apparently, even back in Hippocrates' day (approximately 450 BC), business professionals had a tendency to confuse their stakeholders with acronyms, jargon, and odd colloquialisms, but one stands a far better chance of ensuring understanding with clear, simple, common language. Some things never change!