Being a Good Business Analyst

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Career Development   Requirements Management  

Being a project manager can sometimes involve also being a business analyst. Perhaps your organization does not have enough expertise in the subject matter or perhaps the client expects you to understand the intricacies of the system you are implementing for them.

On the other hand, as a project manager you may see the benefit in becoming a business analyst; after all, the project will end but the business will not (at least, hopefully it won’t) and your expertise could be valuable after the project (or extend into a separate project). Being a good business analyst differs in many ways from being a good project manager.

Understanding the Business
You must first have a good understanding of the business. Depending upon your background and how you moved into a project manager role, you may already have this understanding as part of your experience. If you do not, then take some time to talk to the people around you and use the opportunity to learn what they already know.

While this may take some time away from your primary role, it will be time well spent. Down the road, you will use that knowledge when the project gets into the execution phase and you need to be involved in the details and decisions that keep everything moving forward.

Two Hats, One Head
It can be difficult to be the project manager and a business analyst at the same time. As a leader or …

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