Sam Cordes If you’re building your technical skill set as a business analyst, or trying to work out which gaps are holding you back, this is where to start. The technical skills required for a business analyst span requirements, data, process, and solution evaluation. This article walks through each one with practical guidance you can use today.
Getting the distinction between business and functional requirements wrong early in a project creates rework, scope disputes, and confused developers. This article walks through the BABOK requirement types, shows how they connect, and uses a real worked example to make the differences concrete and actionable.
A requirements traceability matrix is only useful if you can maintain it when requirements change mid-project. This article walks through how to build one, link it to test cases and design artefacts, and manage the friction that comes when stakeholders want to change scope after traceability is already established. Drawn from real BA practice across regulated and enterprise environments.
Picking the wrong requirements management tool costs more than money. It costs you traceability, stakeholder trust, and weeks of rework. This guide walks through the real criteria that matter when choosing between the tools available in 2025, drawn from hands-on BA practice across regulated and Agile environments.
If you are putting together a business requirement document template for the first time, or trying to tighten one up mid-project, this guide walks you through every section you need and why it matters. I draw on real project experience to show you what good looks like and where the common traps are. By the end, you will have a clear structure you can apply immediately.
AI for business analysis is no longer a future-state conversation. The tools are here, they are accessible, and knowing how to apply them in practice is rapidly becoming a core BA skill. This article cuts through the noise and gives you a working view of where AI fits into real BA work, what the friction points look like, and how to get started without a data science background.
If you are weighing up a career move into business analysis, salary is a fair and practical starting point. This guide covers entry level business analyst salary ranges across five major markets, what factors actually shift that number, and what you can realistically expect in your first role. The figures are drawn from recruitment agency data and cross-referenced with current market conditions.
If you are trying to work out whether you need a BA or a PM on your project, or you are navigating a situation where the two roles are stepping on each other’s toes, this article cuts straight to what actually matters. The difference between a business analyst and project manager is not just about job titles. It is about fundamentally different orientations toward a project, and getting that wrong creates real problems.
Getting the most from a subject matter expert in project management is one of the most practical skills a BA can develop. SMEs hold the domain knowledge your requirements depend on, but they are rarely easy to access, always busy, and sometimes resistant. This article gives you concrete strategies for making the relationship work, drawn from real project experience.
Writing a functional requirements document is one of the most consequential things you will do on a technical project. Get it right and the development team builds exactly what the business needs. Get it wrong and you spend months managing the fallout. This article walks through a complete FRD example drawn from real practice, with guidance on structure, language, and the decisions that trip most BAs up.
Choosing the right agile business analyst certification is harder than it looks. The options range from Scrum fundamentals to scaled frameworks and specialist BA credentials, and picking the wrong one wastes time and money. This article cuts through the noise and tells you what each certification actually covers, who it suits, and how to choose based on your current situation.