Business Analysis

For latest Tech news updates - Just follow these 12 on twitter

2010-05-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

One of the most valuable aspects of social media is that it can allow you to rely on human beings to filter out the noise on the Internet and get to the valuable information in a more efficient way. Twitter can give you a big assist in that department, especially when it comes to following the latest tech news.

The secret to Twitter is that you have to know who to follow. I found this list of a dozen technology journalists who post a regular stream of links to the latest and greatest tech news stories, and rarely post off-topic chatter.

here’s a description of the 12:

1. Lance Ulanoff

Editor in Chief of PC Magazine (now PCMag.com), Lance provides a regular stream of news links on the most important stories on computing and mobile, and a little bit of consumer electronics.

2. Mike Elgan

A prolific freelance journalist for multiple tech publications, Mike tweets stories from around the Web on a wide breadth of tech topics.

3. Kara Swisher

Veteran Wall Street Journal columnist has a discerning eye for the big stories. On Twitter, she also gives quick links to stories when she has a scoop on something.

4. Shibhani Joshi

Journalist for Fox Business Network tweets lots of great tech stories every weekday, especially stories relating to public tech companies. After all, she’s a NASDAQ reporter.

5. Larry Dignan

ZDNet editor in chief has the angle on business tech and enterprise stories. Often quickly analyzes the earnings reports of publicly-traded tech companies. (Disclaimer: ZDNet and TechRepublic are sister sites, both part of CBS Interactive.)

6. John Paczkowski

Editor for All Things Digital (a Wall Street Journal property) blogs and tweets about the latest developments in the hi-tech industry, especially Silicon Valley.

7. Pete Cashmore

The Twitter account of this Scottish entrepreneur, the CEO of Mashable, is mostly a feed of the latest Mashable news stories covering consumer technology and social media.

8. Mary Jo Foley

No one has better sources inside Microsoft than Mary Jo, and she regularly blogs and tweets about her latest scoops on Microsoft plans.

9. Harry McCracken

Editor/Founder of Technologizer (and former editor of PC World), Harry is an excellent filter of the most interesting developments in computing.

10. Robert Scoble

If you want to know what’s next on the Web, social media, and emerging technologies, Scoble usually has an eye on it.

11. Richard McManus

For the latest in news and trends on Web technologies, ReadWriteWeb Editor/Founder Richard McManus has a good Twitter stream, even though it is mostly filled with links to RWW stories.

12. Josh Topolski

Topolski is the editor in chief of Engadget, which has lots of news stories on consumer electronics, smartphones, and other gadgets. His Twitter stream is a great way to catch Engadget’s top stories in real time.

Requirements Elicitation

2010-04-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

Requirements elicitation is the process of obtaining requirements from the end users, customers, stakeholders for a product or process development or improvement.

I recently read an article prefering the process be called requirements elicititation vs requirements gathering and how true!

I feel "gathering" is not really the right word that describes a Business Analyst's job. It is not that requirements are readily available around, that a BA has to just gather and put them together. A BA must do the necessary home work, ask the right questions, ask probing questions, understand the project objective, draw out/bring out(elicit) the information from the stakeholders.

"Elicit" is hence a better word and defines a more active role for an Analyst.

There are many ways in which a BA can elicit requirements from the clients like one-one Interviews, Focus group discussions, brainstorming, surveys, from observation etc. All these methods have four basic parts: Preparation, Conducting, Follow-up and documentation. A BA must be proficient in all the methods.

I shall write more about the methods of requirements eiicitation in next posts. Untill then happy Requirements Elicitation!

What is Web 2.0?

2009-08-09T02:20:00.001-07:00

Of all the web 2.0 definitions I came across, I really liked the way the author represented above and this is the best presentation I have seen so far. The graph best explains the reach of the Web 2.0 Tools like Wikis, Blogs, Social Networking etc. Although organizations today are using a lot of formal Web 2.0 technologies for unified collaboration, we are seeing a lot of informal ways of how people connect to share information. An example of this is Best Buy's approach to streamline information for their Geek Squad.

In the Best Buy example, employees drove the adoption of Web 2.0 tools to improve collaboration and performance, but management also has a role to play. Managers can help to integrate Web 2.0 tools and talent management practices by endorsing their benefits. For some executives, this is a leap of faith. They're hesitant to say, for example, that playing an online game can boost employee performance and retention. Managers can help Web 2.0 initiatives succeed by lending the organization their stamp of approval.

Who is a Business Analyst?

2009-08-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Google Wave - A great product in the making !

2009-08-07T03:30:00.001-07:00

Heard about Google Wave - After watching the developer demo, I was stunned to learn about some of the great features it will be offering.

What is Google Wave?
Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. The guys (Lars and Co.) who came up with Google Maps are the brains behind this awesome product. I believe Wave will bring a huge change in the way we are interacting today. Why don’t you watch it yourself to learn about this great product?

Love it !! - Sign up to be one of the first ppl to use Google Wave !
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

Bookmarking is nice. Syncronization is even better

2009-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I believe it was CNN or something… I came across a nice tool which helps syncronize bookmarks on different computers. This is one of the things that I always thought would be nice. I used to do the old school way of copying the bookmarks from one computer and move to my laptop / desktop.

Now with Xmarks (Previously Fox Marks), you can add all your computers to automatically syncronize the bookmarks. Earlier they used to support only Fox (thats why its called foxmarks) but now the syncronization works with IE, and Safari. Go to the site by clicking the image below and click on Install Now and just follow the instructions….

http://www.xmarks.com/

I love this and I am sure you will like this too…

What is the crisis of the credit?

2009-08-06T23:38:00.001-07:00

By now, we all read over and over whats going on with the credit crisis, economy, jobs… I came across a nice visual presentation by Jonathan Jarvis, who presented it in a nicer way.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – Part I

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – Part II

For people who are really not interested in learning how the whole mortgage business works, this is by far the easiest way I came across.

Kudos to Jonathan.

Asking questions during a Business Analyst interview !

2009-08-06T20:05:00.001-07:00

After going through too many interviews all these years, I believe interviewing is all about sharing your experience (and expertise) in the form of stories. Little varies depending on the position, otherwise its all about asking questions to show your analytical bent.

Most of us do not realize the importance of asking questions. Ideally you should be preparing for the number (along with the kind) of questions you are going to ask during the interview.

It (Interviewing) is like a two way traffic. Not only the interviewer tries to understand your skills, ability blah blah, blah…You (interviewee) should also ask questions to understand more about the organization, you are going to work with. You may

start off the interview to understand the expectations of the interviewer. (Example: Can you help me understand what you expect from this role?
keep asking probing questions during the interview. An example can be asking more about the team and corporate strategy during the next year or so?
Most importantly, an interviewer will always allot time (around 5 - 10 minutes) at the end of interview. Make sure you are prepared to ask questions. How do you prepare? By researching more about the organization, latest news, acquisitions, industry trends, changes in the leadership…etc.

(E.g.: What are some of the things that I will be handling during the first few weeks in the job? )

Here is a nice article I just read about tips-to-having-a-successful-interview (written by Niquenya D. Fulbright, a Professional Life Coach.)

Hope this helps.…

Adios….

‘Scenario Based’ Vs ‘Role Play’ Interviews

2009-08-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

During interviews, Hiring managers tend to ask too many questions. During a lot of my previous interviews, I went through scenario based questions to role based questions. A very simple example of a role based question will be asking you to sell a box of chocolates to the interviewer? I can sense what you are thinking - Yes, you are interviewing for a Business Analyst position not for a marketing role and they do know that too. Handling role play interviews? I will write more on that later but for now read below a nice post I came across.

These are the values which drive my life. On my best days, this is who I am; on my worst, they still mostly apply (I hope …)

Passion

I actively seek challenges that excite me.

I convey my excitement openly, genuinely, and infectuously.

I urge others to identify their values, tap into their passions, and get going!

Respect

I consider the circumstances of others in my dealings with them.

I assume the best and most constructive motivations on the part of others.

I demonstrate my ignorance of others’ circumstances by asking positive, open-ended questions and listening carefully to the answers.

Integrity

I live by consistent values in a transparent manner, without regard of what’s at stake or who’s watching.

I make decisions based on my values and what’s right for the situation and people involved, not what’s most personally beneficial or most expedient.

Candor

I share my values openly and invite discussion of them.

I express compliments and concerns freely and frequently, in ways that will be heard and is not hurtful to others.

I make a point of complimenting the good work of others. I share compliments I’ve heard with the subject of those compliments.

I share concerns in ways which make them actionable for others.

I hold myself and others accountable for mistakes. When appropriate, I fully acknowledge my role in bad choices and work to make things right.

Leadership

I step into unowned problems and help find them a home.

I constantly seek to improve my vision of the best possible future and articulate it to others in a way which allows them to act independently toward that end.

I look for opportunities to mentor others in growing in line with their personal values.

I help others engage in long-term critical thinking and help them recognize that they are fully empowered to act as a force for positive change.

Compassion

I take opportunities to do small kindnesses and good deeds whenever I can.

I relieve pain wherever possible.

I seek first to understand.

Courage

I do not allow concerns about my personal well-being to prevent me from addressing a problem.

I take positive, direct action even when I dread the work or the outcome.

I seek creative solutions to intimidating problems, pursuing the most positive outcome for all involved.

Reliability

I meet my commitments. I do not take on commitments which I know I can’t meet.

I manage expectations openly and clearly.

Humor

I use humor to defuse tension and relieve pain.

I always look for and share the humorous aspects of challenging or grim situations.

AGILE Software Development Methodology - SCRUM

2009-07-28T23:23:00.000-07:00

I was to talking a friend of mine who is a very talented BA. This evening she asked me if I know anything about Agile, Scrum and I immediately thought of a need to summarize what I know about Agile on a post. Please see my thoughts on Agile and as you all contributed a lot with your awesome presentations on Agile, I would appreciate if you could share your 2 cents.
We all saw how writing software changed over a period of time. It actually started off with waterfall methodology to the very famous Rational Unified Process (RUP) and now Agile, which is a group of software development methodologies based out of similar principles. A software methodology is a pattern or a process to be followed while writing and delivering a piece of software.
Do you guys know who Dr. Edward Demings is? Agile’s principles we all see can be found in Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing whose concepts look at improving quality, properly utilizing the resources, creating processes, thus by enhancing customer value. If you want to learn more about lean software development, please go ahead.
Agile simply can be referred as a methodology based on iterative and incremental approaches and delivering software with shorter release cycles.Â One of the things people go wrong most often is forgetting the fact that
AGILE CHOSES TO DO THINGS IN SMALLER INCREMENTS WITH MINIMAL PLANNING THAN LONG TERM PLANNING…..
Which means, when you are following Agile Software Development Methodology, you do not really look into long term planning and longer increments. Its all about shorter time frames of each increment along with shorter planning. From time to time, we saw software getting built and delivered to the stakeholders. Otherwise, we had to wait for longer periods of time and until the software gets delivered, there was no guarantee that it will be successful encountering challenges like
- Changes in the requirements
- Missing requirements
- Urgency in Customer needs
If you remember Rapid Application Development (RAD), Agile has some common aspects of it in terms of rapidly developing the software. Also the traditional waterfall model in which you see each iteration following requirements, analysis, design, development etc. Well, Agile does the same but in smaller increments, usually 2 to 4 weeks. The team size involved in this kind of Software Methodology will be around 5 - 9 members, relatively small compared to Waterfall or RUP.
How about communication? In Agile, focus is not on the documents but on face-to-face communication. Collaborating with the teams on a regular basis, and communicating on the changes are MUST traits, a resource part of Agile development should utilize. Even though there is a huge need for face-to-face communication, utilizing Version Control, Collaboration and Change Management tools is a MUST for a successful Agile Software Development. As most of us are already using Web 2.0 technologies, using Blogs, Wikis, Forums to collaborate is a very common thing you see out there today.
When you look at the disadvantages of Agile - These methodologies, remember Agile is a group of methodologies with common principles, are sometimes characterized as unplanned and undisciplined methods. By the time, a release gets developed, the engineering team might finish coming with a totally different software application that what the Product owner (or we call Product Manager) would have planned. In this particular scenario, you do not blame the engineering team, it is the Product Manager who has to take the responsibility right from the start of the development cycle. As the length of the Agile Software Methodology release cycle is so small, it is so easy to fall in this trap.
Some of the terms you need to understand while working towards Agile Software Development Methodology are SCRUM Master, Sprint Cycle, and Roles. As you know, organizations (and departments within an organization) do customize software development methodology according to the needs. In my previous work life, I see Product Manager being the SCRUM Master running the show with a sprint cycle (duration of the release cycle) of 2 - 4 weeks. Ideally, as we all know the core principles of Agile Software Development methodology is not forgotten irrespective of any customization.

About Me

2009-07-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am a young, energetic professional working as Product Manager with Yahoo. I have over several years of varied experience working for top companies in various analysis and product management roles. With this blog, I hope to share my years of experience as Business Analyst along with providing some interesting articles I came across.

Did I tell you I teach Business Analysis? Yes, from the past couple of years, I have been training students, professionals in the area of Business Analysis. Currently, I am working with couple of Bay Area technology companies to train their employees, prospective employees. Training has been my passion and I love it.

With that said, my journey to get more expertise in Business Analysis & Product Management still continues and strongly believe that this blog will provide me the opportunity.

Best,
Sumesh
Email: Renegade0@gmail.com