BA BLOCKS

Ever been asked to take a 20% pay cut by a recruiter?

Here's how to handle it 👉 www.linkedin.com/posts/emalbariali_last-week-a-rec…

7 months ago | [YT] | 0

BA BLOCKS

This is the face I make when I hear a business analyst ask "What are your requirements?".

Requirements elicitation is one of the most critical tasks we perform as business analysts, yet I still see many analysts approaching it with the wrong mindset 🧠.

Here’s some guidance to help you shift your approach so you can uncover real requirements:


😳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁: "What are your requirements?"

Why this doesn’t work:

1. It shifts the burden of requirements onto your stakeholders.

2. You’re more likely to gather "wants" instead of true requirements.

3. You will miss actual requirements entirely with potentially devastating impacts later on in the project.

4. It keeps you stuck in a "note-taker" role instead of stepping into the real "analyst" role.


😎 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁: "Here’s how I’ve expressed your requirements based on what I’ve heard from you, your colleagues, and the additional discovery work I've performed --- Is this correct?"

Why this approach works:

1. It pushes you to perform deep analysis and uncover the real requirements.

2. It enables you to confidently say “no” to stakeholder requests that don’t meet the threshold of a requirement.

3. It gives you the ability to defend your decisions with evidence from your analysis and discovery process.

4. It establishes you as the owner of the analysis, so you can carry the requirements downstream into the elaboration & specification stage using analysis elaboration tools & techniques.


Shifting your mindset is one of the biggest benefits of learning with us at @KS -- we teach you the actual step-by-step actions you need to take to become a high-performing business analyst.


If you've been considering getting some real BA education, then you should know that our early bird enrolment ends on Monday, Dec 1: at 8:00 PM ET - make sure you enroll before that deadline to save 25% off the course fee.


Course Description Link: bablocks.com/foba/


Course Enrolment Link: rise.bablocks.com/checkout/foba2025a


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Photo: Lima Peru a few months ago.

11 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 11

BA BLOCKS

Early bird FOBA enrolment is now open! Enroll before December 1, 2024, to save 25% for the next cohort.



FOBAᵀᴹ takes you through a project in a simulated enterprise environment. You will also earn 36 PD/CDUs to help you meet the application and/or renewal requirements for your IIBA certification.




Learn More 👉 bablocks.com/foba/


Enrol Now 👉 rise.bablocks.com/checkout/foba2025a


Important Dates



➔ December 1, 2024: Early Bird Pricing Ends
➔ January 27, 2025: Enrolment Closes at 8:00 PM ET
➔ February 1, 2025: Classes Start at 1:00 PM ET

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 1

BA BLOCKS

I had the pleasure of spending a whole hour speaking to Thando Jacobs on the ‪@InsideBusinessAnalysis‬ podcast.


We talked about BA income, career strategies, and how business analysts should think about their skillsets


Watch the episode here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E04Gy...

1 year ago | [YT] | 6

BA BLOCKS

Business analysis consulting isn't for everyone, but I took the plunge in 2013 and it changed my life for the better.


I was a BA team lead at the time and by the end of 2012 I'd quit my full-time job, incorporated myself, started looking for consulting clients, and landed my first client engagement within a few months.

Here's how my life changed.



𝟭. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲
Permanent employment was limited in income potential. Transitioning to consulting is what gave me the ability to 5x my gross income between 2005 and 2022.


𝟮. 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
There's a reason why permanent employment is so coveted. Stability. Becoming a consultant means you have zero stability in your career. Employers often don't need any reason to terminate your engagement, and you must learn to source new clients and client work every time your engagement ends.


𝟯. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲
Having more income makes your "bench time" (aka time you're not working) easier to weather. This free time can be dedicated to anything you want. For example, I chose to dedicate all my bench time to building and launching BA BLOCKS. Now, I'm turning down consulting engagements (temporarily) to focus on teaching.


𝟰. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
Being a permanent employee shields you from much of the complexity and risks of having to start and operate your own business. Your employer manages all the risks of operating a business, and you as the employee, get to enjoy a relatively simple employment life.

As a consultant, you are a business owner, and you must handle your own:
➔ Bookkeeping, accounting, and legal costs of operating a business.
➔ Retirement investing to make sure you can retire when you want to.
➔ Business development to make sure you have work coming in.
➔ Risk of tax and regulatory compliance with changing laws.


𝟱. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
Your clients hire you for your hard skills. They are paying you big money, and they want results. VPs and Directors understand nothing better than ROI, and expect you to deliver on the "R" using your hard analytical skills to deliver while using your soft skills to magnify the value.



Whether you're consulting or permanent, consider gaining these 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 through the most practical BA training in existence today. FOBA™ enrollment starts on Monday. See the dates and details here 👉 bablocks.com/foba


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Photo: Taking a selfie in the elevator at 18 King St E, Toronto. This was the building where my first-ever BA consulting client had their office.

1 year ago | [YT] | 8

BA BLOCKS

140 business analysts have already RSVP'd for our live workshop on January 16th about building boundaries for BA careers. Will you be joining us?

During the event, I will be taking questions live. Feel free to start putting your questions in the comments starting now and RSVP at the link below.

Set Your Notification on YouTube 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n8d0...

RSVP on Linkedin 👉 lnkd.in/grrrTkWw

Looking forward to seeing you all next week.

#businessanalysis #careerdesign #careerdevelopment #specialization #skillsdevelopment

Photo: In the middle of preparing the materials that I'll be covering in our next live session.

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 7

BA BLOCKS

Tomorrow, we go live to build ourselves a requirements template from scratch using ChatGPT. Don't miss it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDEgH...

2 years ago | [YT] | 15

BA BLOCKS

Don't forget, we have a live session today. I hope you can join us:

On LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:70157…

Here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkWSG...

2 years ago | [YT] | 2

BA BLOCKS

Don't miss our upcoming live session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkWSG...

You can click the "Notify Me" button on the video to have YouTube send you a notification. You can also view the session live on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:70157…

2 years ago | [YT] | 7

BA BLOCKS

Learn how to Use OpenAI ChatGPT to write user stories. https://youtu.be/QRB_cs-Uh54

2 years ago | [YT] | 1