I wrote a post in Bulgarian about the role of the business analyst in a software development team and I put a poll to survey how the people in the software development business in Bulgaria evaluate it. Now the poll is closed and I am giving you the results.

Question: How do you evaluate the role of the business analyst in your team?
Total votes: 27 (little but I still have few readers).

Answers:

1. Very important role. The BA investigates the customer’s needs and represent them before the team – 14 votes (52%)
2. All roles are equal. The BA is responsible for the functional (requirements) specification, which the developers implement – 6 votes (22%)
3. We don’t need such a person. The developers do the client’s business analysis themselves – 4 votes (15%)
4. What is a “business analyst”? – 3 votes (11%)
5. He just hangs around here and looks silly. He cannot write a simple JavaScript – 0 votes (0%)

How to interpret the results? Obviously, the first thing that has to be noted is the small number of the votes. For me, the main reason is the fact that still very few people visit my blog and most of them weren’t impressed by the poll. I think I will open it again in the future when there will be more visitors to my blog.

Anyway, the good news is that despite the few voters, the results show that the position of the business analyst exists in the software teams nowadays and it is appreciated positively. No matter if considered as very important (answer #1) or considered equal to all the others (answer #2), the business analyst takes his/her well-deserved place in the software team (totally 20 votes for both answers, which gives around 74%)

Answer #5 is rude and represents the vulgar and arrogant attitude of some developers to the surrounding world that doesn’t write code. I am glad that nobody voted for it. It probably means that this attitude was already buried in the past.

Answer #4 is a little silly. How can you be a self-respecting developer and not know what a business analyst is? I put this answer on purpose with the intention to be chosen for fun and to make the poll more colorful. I believe that this was the intention of the three guys who voted for it. And if they really don’t know what this is – keep on reading here – there will be more posts devoted to the job of the BA.

The most interesting answer for me is answer #3. It has a double meaning. There are companies, on one hand, that work on small projects or such that work on products and don’t use project principles at all. In such companies, every developer, having been working long time on the same product and having been communicating with the field experts from the business area being automated, gradually begins to gain exactly that knowledge and experience, which make him or her a business analyst. And if you add the aspiration of the company for more exploitation of its employees we come to a natural merging of the role of the BA with the role of the software developer in one person.

However, there is another interpretation. The team (or the company) could consist only of “great programmers” – people who think they know, understand, and can do everything. It was the ideal of the past socialist society in Bulgaria – so called “multi-dimensionally developed persons” – people who believe that a developer should be skilled in every aspect of the software business and there is no need of a narrow specialization in particular areas like business analysis, project management, testing, user education, etc. The developer can do everything!

I really would like to know what were the reasons to vote for this answer. I hope some of the voters will post a comment about it. And if you have an opinion about the role of the business analyst in your team – please, share it with me. It will be useful.

You may also find these posts interesting:

• My day-to-day work as a Business Analyst
• How Did You Become a Project Manager – Survey Results
• How Can a PM Become a Real Leader?
• The 20 Qualities of the Inspirational Leader
• The 3 Most Important Qualities of a Project Manager

• Keep your eyes on the big picture. When things get tough, everybody’s temptation is to become acutely focused on the problems. A leader stays focused on the vision of completing the project objectives. When everyone in the team tends to run into details, your leadership keeps everyone focused on the big picture and the value you’re providing.
• Maintain team cohesion. When circumstances get tough, even the most loyal team members can tend to become pessimistic. Team members are tempted to start shooting perceived enemies and, unfortunately, they sometimes shoot each other. They begin to question each other and find fault with one another. The real leader fights this urge and helps the team stick together.
• Be the first to sacrifice. When there’s pain to share, leaders should do just that. If the team needs to work overtime, the project manager should work overtime as well. If the project team needs to come in on Saturday, the project manager needs to be in as well. Don’t just share the pain — take more than your share (but not all) of it.
  
  Well, this is the only point I wouldn’t agree much with. If you take the blame, the sacrifice, and most of the pain you wouldn’t be able to continue leading the team. You would be thrown away. I agree the leader should share the team’s burden but at the same time they should keep their dignity and authority. (Mike)
• Remain calm. Panic is a common human emotion and no one is immune to it. A leader, however, thinks the problems through and remains rational. Being calm will enable the leader to make the right decisions for the entire team. Panic only leads to disaster, while calm leads to victory.
• Motivate. In tough and challenging times, people tend to get emotionally drained. They can’t see how it’s all going to work out. The project manager should focus on motivating the team and show how the result will be good. A leader must remain positive and likewise keep the team positive.
• Create small wins. When things are bad, the team starts to wonder how they can win. The project manager should look for ways to win — even small, interim victories. With each small win, the leader will build esteem and a positive attitude.
• Keep a sense of humor. Hardly anything in life can’t be laughed at. As the project manager you need to look for opportunities to instill fun, and laugh at yourself and the situations that present themselves.

When project managers show leadership, the team will follow – maybe not immediately, but eventually. The project manager is the person to lead the charge and to keep the entire project on track.

You may also find these posts interesting:

• The 20 Qualities of the Inspirational Leader
• The 3 Most Important Qualities of a Project Manager
• Software Project Management Again
• How Did You Become a Project Manager – Survey Results
• The role of the Business Analyst – poll results

1. Strong communication – storytelling and listening
2. Passion for learning and intense curiosity
3. Focus on developing people
4. Having fun and being very energized
   
5. Strong self-belief, coupled with humanity and humility
6. Committed to making a significant difference
7. Clarity of vision and ability to share it with others
8. Dogged determination and often relentlessness
9. Strong focus on priorities
10. Not afraid to show some vulnerability
11. Regular use of reflective periods to think and learn
12. Real passion and pride in what they do
13. Confidence and trust in their teams, giving them real empowerment
14. Respect for all (team members, temps, customers, suppliers and directors alike)
15. Clear standards of ethics and integrity; openness and honesty
16. Ability to drive, inspire and embrace change and continuous improvement
17. Positive attitude at all times and an innate ability to be diplomatic in any circumstances
18. Lateral thinking and ability to find innovative ideas and solutions to problems
19. Ability to inspire and motivate others
20. Willingness to take (calculated) risks

I find this list quite comprehensive. I marked the ones I find most important for me in blue. I find them the most important probably because I still need to improve these qualities in me. How about you? Do you agree with all the points? What are the most important ones for you? Do you have all these qualities?

You may also find these posts interesting:

• How Can a PM Become a Real Leader?
• The 3 Most Important Qualities of a Project Manager
• Software Project Management Again
• The Most Important Rules of Delegation
• How Did You Become a Project Manager – Survey Results

• Finesse. This stands for the ability to talk to people politely and convincingly. Sometimes this is the only “weapon” a project manager has to influence the customers, the managers or the team members.
• Time management. The essence of managing projects, especially software projects, is to complete them on time. I know many people who have problems with managing their times. A tip of advise from me: make notes and use software organizers. It’s human nature to forget. But if you are a project manager – it’s not forgivable.
• Multitasking. I would call it “ability to focus dynamically”. The project manager should be able to focus on a single task at a given time but should be able to switch to the other quickly and should never lose sight of “the big picture”.

Read her entire post here. It is worth it.

You may also find these posts interesting:

• How Can a PM Become a Real Leader?
• The 20 Qualities of the Inspirational Leader
• Software Project Management Again
• How Did You Become a Project Manager – Survey Results
• The role of the Business Analyst – poll results

I had several meetings with former colleagues recently where I heard different comments regarding the role of the project manager and I got the impression that most of the developers consider every task they don’t like or don’t understand as a responsibility of the project manager. Which made me think that although there are a lot of books on the topic of project management and the role of the project manager, still many people don’t know what exactly this is and have their own idea about it.

Many people think that the project manager is like a parent and should take care of them as they were children. Many people think that project management is for project managers only and the project managers are strange species we shouldn’t care about because we are developers and the only think we need to think of is coding.

I think that all the people in the software industry should be taught what project management is and what it has to do with us. The success of a project depends of everybody’s effort so everyone should care about the project management and everyone should perform project management to some extent.

You may also find these posts interesting:

• How Can a PM Become a Real Leader?
• The 20 Qualities of the Inspirational Leader
• The 3 Most Important Qualities of a Project Manager
• Krishna Kumar Did An Interview With Me On Software Development
• Top-down Planning – Good or Bad?