Thinking  … 

Since giving up the BA title I've been wrestling with what to do next with Jimmy. Shelve the experiment? Or go all in?

Well I've found my answer. This is my statement of intent. This is what's next.

When I sat down to write my year in review, it wasn’t new learnings that stood out —  it was all the things that I thought I knew, but which turned out to be less true than expected.

From career management to goal setting, 2024 has been a year of unlearning comfortable illusions.

Apparently, all tools are perfect and all issues are due to user error. 🙄

But that totally misses the point because tools are only ever used in context! We really need to talk about tools and their effectiveness in better ways.

I’m breaking up with the Business Analyst title. It’s absurd to be this emotional about a job title, but here we are. Enjoy the a front row seat to my existential crisis about it.

Buckle up, she’s a long one.

Getting stuff done can be effective … or incredibly wasteful. We create unintended waste in myriad ways. And it’s difficult to reduce waste if you’re not even aware that you’re creating it.

The good news is that once you know where to look, it’s easy to spot … and to avoid!

Power is very real. It impacts everything. And it especially impacts how things get done. Because getting things done is what we are all trying to do, we need to be aware of the power dynamic.

The truth is that Business Analysts don’t always operate in ways that are helpful to the team, project, or organisation. I figure that if I am promoting Business Analysts, then I have to do that honestly. I have to address also the times when we are not helpful.

This is why we need to talk about BA(D) Modes!

Not all systems work perfectly. Many don’t work well at all. Dysfunction is another axis that can help us to understand context.

This is part two of the context series. Because if context is king, then dysfunction is queen!

Two things are pretty much always true: doing great work is context-dependent, and not all environments are the same. So why does best practice pretend that context doesn’t matter?

This article digs into context and proposes a model for determining your current context!

Your how-to guide for projects on fire! In this article, we cover how we can play a key part in putting the fire out, approaches for finding and tackling the big problems, tips for getting everyone on the same page, and tools for staying sane under pressure.

Plus, some real talk about when it’s just not worth the effort.

This very simple project model that helps explain why some problems are harder to solve.

And it can help you to identify when to pull a U-turn, even if the signs tell you not to!

I’m often reminded of that scene in The Matrix where Neo meets that kid with the spoon. You know the one … the kid picks up a spoon and then bends it with his mind!

Is this vignette relevant? I’m honestly not entirely sure!

Not sure how to get the best from the Business Analysts on your team? The good news is that it’s not hard. As a manager, there are just five things to nail. Do these well, and you’ll get the absolute most out of your BAs.

This primer will show you how!

BA roles can look really different! Each type focuses on different stuff and requires us to act in different ways.

But I reckon there are patterns in all the variation. And maybe these patterns could help us to talk more meaningfully about the different roles we play? Introducing BA Modes!

Everyone knows that you don’t add gasoline to a fire. But when the fire is metaphorical (like a project that is struggling), it is less clear what will make it worse.

Here are five things to avoid if your project is on fire.

Working as a BA in an agile team is nothing like what you read in the textbooks. Some things work exactly as you'd expect, but others … well, let's just say I learned those lessons the hard way!

Here are ten real-world truths about business analysis that nobody talks about.

You know that feeling of dread when things aren’t going as well as you expected? Same! Been there and done that!

The trick is to admit when you’re on fire. And then, sometimes, things we learn in primary school are useful, even when we’re old!

Requirements are the thing we do as Business Analysts — they are really the only constant “output” expected from us. And yet, I’ve been wondering if we’re focusing on the right things when we do them … 

After years of being annoyed that someone wasn't telling me how it all worked, I got serious about clarifying how I saw things.

The result? A mental model. And a Map.

If Jimmy ran a book club, this would be the reading list! The books on this list are those that have influenced, inspired, and/or challenged my work the most. It’s a varied list, which makes sense because my work tends to be varied!

After all, the easiest way to keep learning is to keep reading … 

Applying systems thinking reveals that business analysis has an outsized impact on project success. By mapping out how things can go wrong (and right), we discover that the true value of Business Analysts isn't in their deliverables — it's in their ability to facilitate shared understanding across stakeholders.

Acknowledging this helps us to focus less on how we do analysis and more on why it matters.

Modern teams need information infrastructure to run. And middle people — Business Analysts, service designers, facilitators — deal in information. Applying infrastructure concepts to the roles that we perform on teams is a helpful way to create even more value!

Business Analysts are great and do rather a lot of helpful things!

Yet, for some reason BAs are usually — and increasingly — relegated to lower-tier positions within organisations and on projects.

I’ve been doing some thinking on why that is … 

There are many techniques that can help you to do great work. Here is my guide to some of the best resources online — techniques that I use regularly and rate highly, but which aren’t featured as Jimmy Tools.

I think of them as the Un-Jimmy Tools!