Putting the "business" in Business Analyst



  • One year in and my current gig is driving me nuts.  Let me just pick one WTF from the pile to share with you guys.  I'm a business analyst.  It's right there in my job title.  So why in freaking heavenly aich eee double-toothpicks do they keep asking an offshore developer who has NO access to the business folks to design screens for them?  He does the best he can, but he doesn't have a clue.  He sends us jpg mockups and the dev lead asks me what I think.  My suggestions are mostly ignored.  Basically, all user interfaces for this system are designed between the off-shore guy, the dev lead who struggles with translating between his native Mandarin and English, and the dept head who is also a former engineer.

    Did I mention that I'm a business analyst?  It makes me want to move somewhere else where they know what to do with their business analysts.



  • Business Analyst sounds like one of the generic job titles they put in The Onion's opinion section, like Management Consultant or Plumber.



  •  What exactly does a Business Analyst do?

    Regular person:  "How's business?"

    You:  "Not bad.  Could be better though.  Here's my bill."



  • Wait, do you know what this site is about? Your kind is not welcome around here!


  • Garbage Person

    Business analyst means UI designer now?

    Where I come from, the business analysts are the ones that... analyze the business and write the requirements and coach the developers on the requirements



  • @Weng said:

    Business analyst means UI designer now?

    Where I come from, the business analysts are the ones that... analyze the business and write the requirements and coach the developers on the requirements

    And where she comes from, everything just sort of "happens".

     



  •  @Weng said:

    Business analyst means UI designer now?

    Where I come from, the business analysts are the ones that... analyze the business and write the requirements and coach the developers on the requirements

    It doesn't mean UI designer, but it does mean that they're responsible for ensuring that the workflow of a given UI is reasonable from a business sense and won't drive users crazy by being completely ass-backwards because the developer made a couple of "trivial assumptions".

     



  •  This, thank you!  Let me also say for those of you who don't know what a business analyst does, my company (like so many others) doesn't see the need to hire UI designers or tech writers.  So anything related to documentation falls on the BA. A BA should take the business requirements, draw some proposed screen mocks and document the workflow, get them accepted by the business and then hand those over to the developers to implement.

    Also like most other companies, we don't hire software developers for their business domain experience, we hire people with ".net", or "webmethods" skills.  Our in-house developer do eventually learn some of the business side of things, but our off-shore developers never really do.  They're offshore, they get paid for code thankyouverymuchgoodnight.

    Since we have our developers doing the UI designs, we have a system with screens that require you to understand the database schema in order to use it properly.  It's chock full of terms (the screen labels, column headers and such) like request ID, txn_id, cust_msg_code, etc.  

    Or, in other words, it's my job to keep people like Blakeyrat happy.  



  • @Ben L. said:

    like Management Consultant or Plumber.
    That's very insulting to plumbers.



  • @ubersoldat said:

    Wait, do you know what this site is about? Your kind is not welcome around here!
     

    Hey, I was an engineer for more than twenty years.  Suck it.  :-p

     

     

    (This is only partly threat.  It's also partly a call for Morbius to come sexually harass me.  It's been so long... where are youuuuuu?)



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @Ben L. said:

    like Management Consultant or Plumber.
    That's very insulting to plumbers.

    So is lumping them in with related but distinct professions like Pipefitters.  My dad was both at different times in his life and could spend hours outlining the differences.

     



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    Or, in other words, it's my job to keep people like Blakeyrat happy.


    You are so screwed, then, because that isn't possible unless you are willing to do things banned in thirteen countries.
    gd&r



  • @havokk said:

    @jetcitywoman said:

    Or, in other words, it's my job to keep people like Blakeyrat happy.

    You are so screwed, then, because that isn't possible unless you are willing to do things banned in thirteen countries. *gd&r*
    Putting the "anal" in analyst.

     



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    Since we have our developers doing the UI designs, we have a system with screens that require you to understand the database schema in order to use it properly.  It's chock full of terms (the screen labels, column headers and such) like request ID, txn_id, cust_msg_code, etc.

    Sounds like your company reaped what it sowed.


  • BINNED

    @jetcitywoman said:

    It makes me want to move somewhere else where they know what to do with their business analysts.

    If you ever find a place like that, let me know and I'll join you.


  • BINNED

    @havokk said:

    @jetcitywoman said:

    Or, in other words, it's my job to keep people like Blakeyrat happy.


    You are so screwed, then, because that isn't possible even if you are willing to do things banned in thirteen countries.
    gd&r
    FTFY



  • @havokk said:

    @jetcitywoman said:

    Or, in other words, it's my job to keep people like Blakeyrat happy.

    You are so screwed, then, because that isn't possible unless you are willing to do things banned in thirteen countries. *gd&r*
     

    Only 13?

     



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    Or, in other words, it's my job to keep people like Blakeyrat happy [i]and that's why i want to shoot myself[/i].  
     

    FTFY



  • @da Doctah said:

    @El_Heffe said:
    @Ben L. said:
    like Management Consultant or Plumber.
    That's very insulting to plumbers.

    So is lumping them in with related but distinct professions like Pipefitters.  My dad was both at different times in his life and could spend hours outlining the differences.
    Also dont forget about the plumbers from Ben 10.

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