BECOMING INVALUABLE
The T-shaped Business Analyst
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE ACROSS SITUATIONS
FUNCTIONAL / DISCIPLINARY SKILL
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
GROWTH OF THE BUSINESS
ANALYST
The Business Analyst position has grown significantly in the last 12 years.
According to CNN Money, the position has grown by 22.1% in the past 10
years and there are now over 554,000 positions classified specifically as a
Business Analyst.
Surprisingly, this growth came during a time when outsourcing and a deep
recession forced cuts in other positions. This demonstrates the crucial role the
Business Analyst plays in bridging the gap between business and IT. Their
ability to build systems that meet specific business needs is where many
organizations are finding value from improved business analysis.
At a higher level, much of the growth in the position is due to our evolution
towards a knowledge worker economy with workers that have a greater skillset
than the deep, one-dimensional experts we used to depend on.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
The T-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
Like many positions today, Business Analysts depend on a collection of other
workers, teams and departments to accomplish their work. The very nature of
their position is to cross the chasm between the typically disjointed business
and IT departments.
To do this successfully, great Business Analysts have to be much more than
requirements or analysis experts. They must possess strong interpersonal
skills, have the ability to overcome conflicts between various parties, and be
skilled at finding compromises.
This mix of skills necessary for business analysis is indicative of the growing
trend to develop “T-shaped Knowledge Workers” across all industries. These
well-rounded professionals possess deep technical knowledge, as well as a
collection of
cross-disciplinary skills that help them succeed.
The following hopes to explain this evolution of workers and how you can
develop T-shaped Business Analysts that are invaluable to your organization.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
The type of work we do and the way we work has evolved. We no longer
crowd around assembly lines perpetually repeating one individual task.
Instead, the evolution of technology has created a global economy of
knowledge workers.
Knowledge workers engage in creativity and problem solving, which require a
new set of skills. We now covet people who think and constantly look to
improve, where as in the past, we wanted doers to complete simple tasks
over-and-over and we managed them on efficiency and errors.
Today, knowledge workers facilitate greater
productivity and stronger decision making skills.
By nature, their work is less tangible and the
measurement of their performance is
more subjective. Managing on simple
efficiency and errors no longer suffices.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
4
THE EVOLUTION OF
BUSINESS
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
5
THE EVOLUTION OF
WORKERS
While the way we do business has evolved, the way we manage and develop
workers has been slower to change.
We expect knowledge workers to embrace this evolution of business, but often
fail to properly equip them with the skills to succeed. We promote task doers
into manager and knowledge worker roles, then wonder why they fail.
The issue is that success in each role requires different skills.
Doers need deep technical knowledge. They must be experts in their one
piece of the puzzle. We call these “I-shaped” people because their expertise
can be aligned in one tall vertical line of related skills.
Knowledge workers, however, usually possess deep technical knowledge but
help solve problems that span multiple disciplines, departments and people.
Because of this breadth of skills outside of their expertise, we call these people
“T-shaped.”
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
I-SHAPED PROFESSIONALS
 Deep knowledge in a narrow area
 Intensive study over many years
 An authority in his or her field
 An engineer, scientist or technician
 Indispensable to the company
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
7
T-SHAPED PROFESSIONALS
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE ACROSS SITUATIONS
FUNCTIONAL / DISCIPLINARY SKILL
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
I-SHAPED vs. T-SHAPED
“I-shaped” people
o Deep, extensive technical knowledge
o Lacking broad, soft skills, often in interpersonal communication
“T-shaped” people
o
o
o
o
Deep, extensive technical knowledge
Possess skills and experiences outside of their specific technical field
Are just as technical
Are more well-rounded in skills and knowledge outside their field
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
I-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
I-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
Professionally, we often associate expertise with certification. The letters after
someone’s name provide credibility and tell us about their level of expertise,
i.e. CPA, M.D., PhD.
The problem is that too many certifications focus on deep technical
knowledge. They encourage “I-shaped” tendencies.
For instance, not all doctors are created equal. Sure they all get relatively the
same education, but bedside manner is a skill that medical degrees don’t
measure. That skill is something that falls outside of the standardized testing
and separates the good doctors from the great ones.
In business analysis, there is a core set of skills and knowledge you must have
to be successful. We’ve chosen here to align those with the knowledge areas
set forth by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA).
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
I-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
12
I-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
BUSINESS ANALYST KNOWLEDGE AREAS:
Planning and Monitoring:
o The analysis of stakeholders, their roles and responsibilities and their
needs, then ensuring that the planned activities are performed well and
the agreed deliverables are produced in line with the agreed schedule.
Needs Assessment:
o A systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps"
between current conditions and desired conditions or "wants.” The
discrepancy between the current condition and wanted condition must be
measured to appropriately identify the need.
Requirements Elicitation:
o The practice of collecting the requirements of a system from users,
customers and other stakeholders. The practice is also sometimes
referred to as "requirements gathering.”
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
I-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
BUSINESS ANALYST KNOWLEDGE AREAS:
Requirements Analysis:
o Also called requirements engineering, it is the process of determining user
expectations for a new or modified product. These features,
called requirements, must be quantifiable, relevant and detailed. In
software engineering, such requirements are often called functional
specifications.
Requirements Management:
o The documentation, analysis, tracing, prioritization and agreement
of requirements and then controlling change and communicating to
relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project.
Requirements Communication:
o Informing the project team, suppliers, sponsors and stakeholders of the
content, meaning, and status of requirements.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
I-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
BUSINESS ANALYST KNOWLEDGE AREAS:
Enterprise Analysis:
o The ability to step back and look at the big picture to make sure that work
and solutions align with higher organizational needs and goals
Solution Validation:
o The evaluation of a solution (or potential solution) against the needs and
requirements originally identified.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
T-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
T-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANALYST
As we alluded to before, there is often a set of skills that help distinguish the
good from the great. These skills usually fall outside of the immediate function
for that individual. They are what helps those unique individuals go above and
beyond.
For Business Analysts, those unique skills cover a broad spectrum of
disciplines. They create the top of the “T” and are divided between
Professional Skills and what we call “The Whole Self.”
Professional Skills are the other outward facing skills that help you better
understand the big picture and do more than just your immediate job.
The Whole Self are inward facing skills that help you manage the stress and
toll associated with knowledge work.
Both of these will be explained in more detail in the following sections.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
T-SHAPED PROFESSIONALS
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE ACROSS SITUATIONS
 Just as technical as I-shaped
 Possesses other skills
 Has other interests
 Works better with people
 A more well-rounded individual
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
18
T-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANLYST
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
19
THE WHOLE SELF
THE WHOLE SELF
The Whole Self looks at how T-shaped professionals take care of and
revitalize themselves to ensure high productivity and control the risk of
burnout.
The evolution of business and technology means knowledge workers are
always on duty and often take their work home with them. Task doers clocked
in and clocked out, but today we receive and respond to emails 24-hours a day
and process through problems even in our sleep.
Combine this with spending our waking hours seated in front of a desk and it is
no surprise that workers today have record high levels of stress and poor
health.
Knowledge workers can not be easily replaced like task doers. They are
crucial to business, so keeping them mentally and physically healthy is crucial
to good business.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
THE WHOLE SELF
Because knowledge workers are always on, physical activity and nutrition
often get neglected. The Whole Self draws attention to the importance of
maintaining mental health and reducing the physiological affects stress has on
our health.
It encourages better understanding of our mental and physical choices and
their affects on ourselves as well as those around us. This helps to get you out
of problematic thinking patterns and negative self-talk and increases the
effectiveness of your problem solving.
The Whole Self perspective drives thinking away from doer-based I-shaped
modes and into T-shaped knowledge worker thinking, taking a more holistic
renaissance perspective to personal development.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
THE WHOLE SELF
Stress Management:
o Meditation
o Brain Chemistry
o Neuroplasticity
Cognitive Understanding:
o Affectively Forecasting Biases
o Cognitive Bias
o The Physiology of Emotional Intelligence
Nutrition / Mental Health:
o Service Mindset
o Exercise
o Health and Wellness
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
A T-shaped professional brings a full stack of professional skills to the table.
That stack starts with a solid understanding of the four levels of emotional
intelligence:
o Self-Awareness
o Self-Management
o Situational Awareness
o Relationship Management
These skills are crucial to all the other Professional Skill areas at the top of the
“T.” With these emotional intelligence skills in place, you can begin to use
these skills to find compromises amongst diverse parties, work through conflict
and leverage influence to solve problems.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Emotional Intelligence:
o Self-Awareness
o Self-Management
o Situational Awareness
o Relationship Management
Facilitation and Negotiation:
o An Idea is Nothing Unless it is Properly Communicated
o Negotiation Moves Everything Forward and Closer to Execution
Sponsor and Executive Influence:
o What Power Base Do You Use
o How Does Knowing Brain Function Help
o A Strategic Person, a Manipulator or an Executor…Which Do You
Want to Be Known As?
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Change Management:
o The Basics of Product Lifecycle and Where Disruptions Fit In
o Creative Destruction: Why, When and How
o Why People Resist Change and How to Manage Through It
Financial Acumen:
o Elements of Product Development and What You Need to Know
o Basic Financial Statement Knowledge
Interpersonal Management:
o Behaviors and Actions
o Keeping it Overt and Upfront
Problem Solving:
o Root Cause Analysis
o Fish Bone Diagrams
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
An I-shaped professional can get the job done when it comes to these
solutions, but at what expense?
For an I-shaped professional to bring teams together and work to a common
goal, the result often comes with a great deal of stress and strain to
relationships.
We like to call this expense, broken glass. We are all willing to pick up some
broken glass, but after a while someone will inevitably get cut.
You may have found a short-term solution, but the long-term affects are going
to have a far greater impact. The strain on relationships will compound and the
I-shaped professional’s effectiveness will continue to erode over time.
It is this ability to find compromises and help motivate others towards solutions
that separate the good BAs from the great.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
CONCLUSION
As the Business Analyst profession continues to grow, it is important to
recognize the skills needed to succeed in this still evolving position.
While the deep technical skills are well defined in the standards put forth by
the IIBA’s BA Body of Knowledge, we must also begin to develop the larger
and more subjective skills needed for a long healthy career.
For Business Analysts, that means developing a diverse set of crossdisciplinary skills that enable you to be a T-shaped knowledge worker.
With outward facing professional skills that help you build better solutions and
internal skills that create the Whole Self, Business Analysts can become
invaluable to their organization.
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
WWW.ASPE-SDLC.COM
T-SHAPED BUSINESS
ANLYST
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST
30
BECOMING INVALUABLE: THE T-SHAPED BUSINESS ANALYST