Sam Cordes Business analysis planning is the activity that shapes everything else on a project. Get it right and your stakeholders trust your process. Get it wrong and you spend the rest of the engagement catching up. This guide walks you through the practical steps, the common traps, and what a good plan actually looks like in the real world.
When you need to get up to speed on a new project fast, waiting for more information is rarely an option. This article gives you a structured set of questions to move from uncertainty to active contribution, even when the domain is completely unfamiliar. Work through them in order and you will know what you need to find out, who to talk to, and what to do with what you learn.
The requirements elicitation questions you ask will make or break your analysis. This article shows you how to plan your questions by stakeholder level, avoid the most common questioning mistakes, and use a real worked example to get better results from every session.
If you are working on a waterfall project right now, you need a clear picture of what you are expected to produce, in what order, and what goes inside each document. This article walks through the five core business analyst deliverables in waterfall: the BA approach plan, business requirements specification, business case, functional specification, and non-functional specification. Each section tells you what belongs in the document and why, drawn from real project experience.
Getting your business analysis documentation right means knowing what to produce, for whom, and why it matters to them. This article walks you through how to make every document count, from early scoping through to detailed specifications. Draw on 25 years of real BA practice to turn your documentation into a genuine project asset.
If you are actively building your BA knowledge and want free resources that are actually worth your time, this list cuts straight to the ones I have found most useful across years of practice. From free business analysis ebooks to archived webinars and structured video courses, there is enough here to keep you learning for months. I have included context on what each resource actually covers so you can pick what fits where you are right now.
When your business case needs to compare multiple implementation options, gut feel is not enough. This article walks you through how to build solution assessment criteria, assign weighted scores, and use a decision matrix to produce a defensible recommendation. Includes a worked example with a real point of friction from project practice.
A business analysis toolkit only works if it matches the project you are actually running. This article walks through how to identify the right tools for your context, build your deliverable list from scratch, and avoid the most common mistake BAs make when assembling their resources. Includes a worked example with a real point of friction and a look at how AI is changing what a toolkit can do.
A requirements discovery checklist is the practical tool that separates a focused elicitation session from one that generates pages of notes and very few usable requirements. This article walks through how to build and use one, drawn from real BA practice across government, health, and enterprise projects. It includes a concrete worked example with a genuine point of friction so you can apply the approach immediately.
Requirements prioritisation is the work that determines whether your project delivers real value or burns time on the wrong things. This guide covers five practical techniques, including MoSCoW, dot voting, and buy a feature, with honest advice on weighting criteria and managing stakeholder conflict. Read it when you have a list of requirements in front of you and need to structure a prioritisation conversation.
When your backlog is overloaded and every stakeholder thinks their requirement is the most important, you need a structured way to make defensible decisions fast. This article walks through the most effective requirements prioritisation techniques I have used across 25 years of BA practice, including a worked example where the process nearly came unstuck. Use it to get your prioritisation done today.