The Podcast for Project Managers Evolution of the Business Analyst   Table of Contents: 0:47 … Meet Laura 1:49 … Evolution of BA functions 3:00 … Value of BA on a project 6:00 … BA past vs present 8:38 … Types of BA projects today 9:48 … BA and Agile projects 11:50 … Roles of the BA on a project 13:41 … Unique challenges for the BA 16:10 … Customer advocate role 18:21 … New skills required today 19:46 … PM transitioning to BA 21:32 … BA processes 23:48 … New skill topics 25:22 … BA training options   NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  This is our time to meet and talk about the things that matter to you as a professional project manager.  Our guests include some of the masters in the field, professionals who have proven themselves and enjoy helping others reach their goals. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are two guys who are experts in their own right, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  Andy, today we’re going to be talking about the role of the business analyst, and we’ve got the person who literally wrote the book on the subject.   ANDY CROWE:  This is going to be good.  You know, this isn’t the first time we’ve touched on business analysis.  But it intersects so tightly with project management that I don’t know that we can get enough of it.   NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s meet our guest.  She’s a trainer, course developer, and speaker.  Laura Paton has been a business analyst practitioner for over 32 years, with experience across various industries in both project management and BA roles.  As a consultant in the International Institute of Business Analysis and the Project Management Institute, Laura is also the chair and author for PMI’s “Guide to Business Analysis,” the PMI’s “Business Analysis for Practitioners:  A Practice Guide,” and “A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge.”  She’s the founder of BA Academy, a consulting/training company based in Orlando, Florida.  Laura is passionate about helping organizations and individuals mature and improve their BA skills and practices.  She is with us from Orlando via Skype.  Laura, welcome to Manage This.   LAURA PATON:  Thank you for having me.   Evolution of BA functions   NICK WALKER:  Well, as I mentioned before, we want to talk with you today about business analysis, and specifically the changing role of the business analyst.  How have the primary functions of the BA evolved over the last few years?   LAURA PATON:  I think there’s been quite a bit of an evolution.  Where my mind would go first with that question is thinking about Agile.  I know early on our project teams, when Agile started to become more mainstream outside of software companies, as you know from the framework, “business analyst” is not a role that’s specifically defined.  So many, many years ago BAs started to feel a little bit nervous, didn’t know really where they placed value, whether they would be called to work in these teams. That whole mindset has completely shifted.  And what I mean by that is, whether organizations went forth without the BA, or teams ended up failing on their projects for not focusing enough on business analysis, teams are looking to have BAs engaged from the beginning.  So that has been one area we have seen where BAs are now asked to play a role on an Agile team which in the past, like I said, there was that inconsistency about whether there was a position for them.   Value of BA on a project   ANDY CROWE:  Laura, this is Andy.  I’ve got a question for you.  It was years into my career as a project manager before I worked with a dedicated BA on the team.  So I had never worked with a business analyst.  Explain to our listeners what that value is, what a business analyst will do on a project, kind of how that works.   LAURA PATON:  Sure.  And that’s a really great question because that just shows the evolution of the role, as well.