Sharing information so you don't have to reinvent the wheel...
Sometimes holding a meeting is like holding an intervention, where everyone has an agenda - and not necessarily the one you've included in your meeting request! Add to the mix the fact that people are inundated with meeting requests, spending more time in meetings than actually working, and you may wonder how anything gets done at all.
Read MoreToday everyone is mad about the cloud, and for a lot of people, this is just another buzzword that they’ve heard, and so now they are using it too. The cloud gets talked about a lot in meetings; when it’s mentioned people tend to vaguely point or wave a hand over their heads, and on white boards they draw a puffy, white cumulus cloud with arrows in and out to indicate “cloud storage/computing” connections. But what does that really mean?
Read MoreAt The BA Zone we like to stress the importance of user-centered design. Today, I'd like to focus on data - a tiny word - that can have significant impact on all aspects of an organization, such as: architecture, database and software design, reporting, marketing, sales, processing, compliance, and a host of other areas, all of which can lead to success or failure.
Read MoreAt some point in your career, you're going to hear the word “comp” thrown around and during that conversation many people will have this question in their head - what are comps?
You may also hear someone mention "mockups" and in most cases they are referring to comps, but some people call low-to-medium fidelity comps mockups.
But not you, because you're here and you're reading this, so you will actually understand being talked about. Congratulations!
Read MoreIn my previous blog post, Stakeholder Analysis and the Vampires Among Us - Part 1, we focused on Key Stakeholders. In this post we'll hone in on the Primary Stakeholders, keeping in mind that Primary Stakeholders can also be Key Stakeholders.
Read MoreWireframing is the first step in the UI design process - low fidelity visual representations of a web page or application interface. They are generally black and white line drawings, a combination of blocks and squiggles, with maybe some gray shading but no other colors. Stay focused on layout and high-level interactions and concepts like navigation and flow. UI elements and content can be represented as boxes or lines, with or without label descriptions.
Read MoreA stakeholder is, basically, a person or entity that will be impacted in some way by a proposed change. Stakeholders can represent departments, teams, organizations, customers or an individual.
Vampires? Well, given the opportunity, they'll suck the life out of you.
Read MoreCreating and reviewing these flows helps to highlight redundancies, delays, dead ends, error handling, and alternate/indirect paths that would otherwise remain unnoticed or ignored.
These are not "once and done" documents, they are very much "living documents" that you will return to again and again to validate ideas and plans, update as things changes, and pass along to other departments for their planning, documentation, and training.
Read MoreSomewhere, right at this moment, someone is saying "we need to make this quick change to the application - get on it." This Way, There Be Dragons…
Read MoreIn our previous, blog “You Are Here - Mapping an Organization," we discussed mapping an organization from the perspective of the customers and clients. In this blog, we’ll continue to build a catalog of resources by auditing your organization’s existing internal documentation.
Read MoreMicrosoft Word is one of the most-used tools in most offices, and yet there are so many features that go unused. Here are the ones that people ask me "how did you do that?" most often.
Read MorePart of knowing where you’re going, is in knowing where you currently are and how you got there. As a business analyst, whether you’ve been tasked with improving a team, process, product or policy, you need to do a little research to get the lay of the land.
Read MoreAt the BA Zone we have synthesized 20+ years of experience to provide you with a broad set of skills, tools, and the balanced, holistic approach needed to address the evolving needs of customers.
In other words...practical answers to real-world business problems.
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