How to Thrive as a Business Analyst in the New Normal - Post Pandem

The Pandemic hit us suddenly and yes it came without any notice to our lives as a transient thing but became the new normal way of life.
Some of us were initially worried thinking about what lies ahead, some were shocked, some found pleasure being relieved from the daily commute, time on the road, and traffic jams.
With the COVID 19 pandemic hitting us globally, organizations have embraced remote working as the new way for 2020, and some have announced it for 2021 also.
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MOVING TO WFH
IT industry has moved to this new model in a relatively easier way, and the transition is relatively smoother.
But for the traditional industries, it's a big shift, and the mode of working and infrastructure needed rethinking, planning, and to be worked out.
In most countries, the pandemic hit so suddenly that it left no time to prepare for the upcoming times. Going remote isn't an easy task for many, as we may think.
However, as it's popularly said, every cloud has a silver lining; similarly, every challenge comes with an opportunity. It's up to us to step up and embrace this change and take benefit of the opportunity.

Though many are happy with the new way of working for the reasons like:

• The extra time gained from the commute

• The better work-life balance

• Increased productivity

• Saving of money and resources

• Lesser distractions

However, many challenges started to unfold as the new normal started sinking in, and this seemed like here to stay for some more time.
For this article, we will take a deeper look into the business analysis profession, what seemed to have worked well, the new challenges thrown, and how we can make the best of it in the new normal.
As a business analyst, one is responsible for:

• Leading change and bringing new technology and products to the organization
  • Gathering existing and new requirements/processes/features as part of the automation/new product
  • Coming up with solutions to business problems/needs

• Developing new systems/solutions to take care of any manual process / better performance / better revenue stream / more efficient process / better user experience
  • Elicitation of requirements
  • Modelling of requirements
  • Signing off on requirements from the stakeholders
  • Managing changes, if any to requirements.
  • Development and implementation of the solution
  • User acceptance testing
  • User training

The business analysis profession is primarily involved in communication (written, verbal, visual), and the absence of face-to-face meetings brought new challenges.
PRACTICAL CHALLENGES FOR BAS IN REMOTE WORKINGAs part of the solutioning, requirements elicitation, user story reviews, prototyping, or any other phase of the project a BA needs to have close interaction and work with stakeholders, the tech team, the QA team, and other BAs.
Some specific challenges are:
Staying Engaged with Stakeholders
Most of these tasks were done traditionally with stakeholders using pre-dominantly following techniques such as Workshops, walk-throughs/Reviews, Brainstorming, and Observations.


Here is a list of challenges and a few things that worked for many business analysts as shared by them when we asked them - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6687061335701778432/
Challenges most of the business analysts faced:

1. Getting stakeholder engagements
2. Getting to know the non-verbal cues
3. Meetings can get off track.
4. Getting clear communications
5. Getting approval and clarity on requirements
6. Staying updated with the status
7. Bonding with the team
8. Figuring out the way everyone’s schedule and style of working
9. Making everyone comfortable and be participative in the meeting
10. Multiple time zones and the work timings followed with the new way.

Here is a set of guidelines for business analysis professionals to work effectively and efficiently in this new way and to make the transition smooth.
Few practices that worked well for most:

1. Breaking the ice – to get better participation from stakeholders and team
2. Give some background and the solution's objective to get everyone talking for the requirements elicitation meetings. Silence kills participation.
3. Having catch-up calls, one in the morning for planning and one at day end for a status update, is good to keep everyone updated.
4. Scheduling meeting with clear agenda well in advance.
5. Starting the meetings by giving a brief background of past discussions and agreements.
6. Spend initial 5 minutes in setting out expectations and responsibilities like who will take notes, who will take responsibility for which part, who is expected to share inputs or information, who will get sign off, etc. A RACI matrix may be of help here. Meetings with clear agenda, expectation, success criteria, ownerships, and tasks assigned to members are more effective.
7. Wrapping up the meetings with the major discussion points and decisions made.
8. Being better prepared for the meetings/requirements elicitation sessions having gone through all the previous documents, changes suggested, and the mockups/processes/documentation.

1. Keeping all the documents needed open in the background for the meetings
2. Schedule 1:1s with colleagues and mentors to get feedback, schedule 1:1s with customers to check on them.
3. Get stakeholders/team take accountability and responsibility to stick on to the commitments and deadlines.
4. Following basic rules like muting when not speaking and using the chatbox to communicate points instead of disturbing the flow
5. Use visuals and demos to gather better inputs or feedback. Start showing similar applications to gather/understand requirements and collect feedback instead of doing it verbally. Some popular visual/diagramming tools are
   1. Visio
   2. BizAgi Process Modeler
   3. Zoom white Board
   4. Teamboarding
      
   5. Figma
      
   6. PowerPoint
      
   7. SharePoint
      
6. Use collaboration tools to be more effective, like:

• Zoom
• Webex
• Go to meeting
• Go to Webinar
• Teams
  
• Conference calls/Telephony
• 8. Being open about being away from work/break timings. Transparency is the key; keep everyone up to date, even if it's good or bad. In this new normal, trust keeps us going -Stay connected with the team through IM or chat options
• 9. Most draw a line between work and family.

Many say they love the new way since they can avoid the commute and have a good cup of tea at home in the morning before starting their day.
They can avoid office distractions and have their best productive time put to work.
Some say they can have a good time with children and pets, and having them close brings their best self out.

STEPS TO FOLLOW IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THESE CHALLENGES

Maintaining Work Discipline
Few things that will help when you start as a practice/discipline:

• Setting up a workspace –
  • Comfortable – A work desk/table with comfortable sitting arrangements. Couch, Bean bag, a bed should be avoided.
  • Clean – Keep your workspace organized and clean to have a better/ productive day.
  • Organized with your daily needs – Notebooks, drawing board (if you are a visual BA), pens, markers, etc.
  • Good to have a green view

• Avoid noise/distraction-free environment –
  • Have a workspace set up in a place that's away from the sounds of a pet, dishes, or cooking.
  • Invest in a good pair of headphones to cut down on noise for conference calls.
  • Make sure you are in proper attire if you are expecting a video call.

• Keep back up for power and network outage.
  • Most of the smartphones can be used as a mobile hot spot as the internet back up.

• Make your availability known.
  • Communicate your break timings (lunch, coffee, etc.) to your team and others
  • Sign out of the instant communications applications like chat, IM, etc, when taking a break.
  • Ensure your availability as per your official working hours