All this week the BA Summit is online – if you’re not aware of it, it’s a week long programme of expert speakers being interviewed about different aspects of business analysis.The theme this year is “Tough Skills for a Changing World.” The ‘tough skills’ are the ‘softer skills’ so I was intrigued to see what was on the agenda for the week. I signed up and listened to the first one yesterday – you can still join up to listen in to the rest of the week – and of course the topic of softer skills in the Business Analyst’s workplace is just the same as a project management professional or PMO. Yesterday session, hosted by Penny Pullan* was with Debra Paul**on The Human Touch – Negotiating Situations. I liked Debra, she’s obviously worked in the industry for a while and the best part for me was the way she shared some of her own day-to-day techniques and approaches to getting the job done with a human touch. The session included questions from delegates posted before the interview and to kick off, two great questions I’m sure everyone can relate to; how do you negotiate scope with the business & how do you negotiate plans with the project manager ? Debra talked about the business analyst’s work as a professional service to the business and to be able to be professional you have to be credible. In order to be credible you have to build your skills and competencies.

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Learning from the Business Analysts