Common Business Analyst Questions: What We Do, Key Skills, Stakeholder Management, User Stories and Strategies for Success
If you're exploring the world of Business Analysts , or you're looking to gain more knowledge on the responsibilities and day to day task, it's essential to understand the role deeply. In this article, I'll be answering some of the most commonly asked questions about what it means to be a Business Analyst.
Whether you're just starting or aiming to advance, these insights will help set you up for success in this role.
Question 1: What does a Business Analyst do?
A Business Analyst bridges the gap between business needs and technical solutions. We work with stakeholders to understand their requirements, document those needs, and collaborate with development teams to turn them into actionable projects. Essentially, we're the link that ensures business goals align with the technical implementation. If you want to learn more specifically on the Business analyst role, please click here to read more.
When being tasked as a BA to build a platform, website, or product process for a client I rely on a structured and methodical approach to ensure I cover areas I’ve learned over time need to be covered. I’ll go through the steps:
By following this structured approach, I can effectively manage projects outside my direct expertise, ensuring they meet both business and technical requirements while growing my own knowledge base along the way.
Question 2: During sprints, how frequently do you find yourself updating, modifying, or creating new tickets? What typically drives these changes? And how do you prioritize requirements?
During sprints, I find that updating, modifying, or creating new tickets is a fairly regular occurrence as you work on new products, but the format in which you create the tickets should stay consistent. Changes can vary depending on the complexity of the project and the level of clarity at the start of the sprint. Typically, as a Business Analyst, we engage with tickets in the following ways:
Updates or Modifications
As a Business Analyst it’s your job to work with your team, and in my case I work with a team of developers, UX designers and QA teams, therefore the structure in which the tickets are written need to be consistent but also provides clarity and consistency.. Here are some questions you can ask yourself when creating tickets:
Are the acceptance criteria clear enough to understand the exact outcomes we expect?
Do you feel the business requirements are detailed enough to understand the purpose behind the ticket?
Is there any additional information or context that would help you better understand the ticket? Such as more information needed from the client, visuals, and so forth that would be helpful for your team
Would visual aids, such as diagrams or wireframes, help you understand the requirements better? Often times when adding new features or fields, providing a picture with the exact location is helpful.
It’s quite common to update or modify tickets throughout the sprint. This often happens as we gain a deeper understanding of the requirements. As you and your team work together, keep consistent but adjust to what the team needs.
2. What makes a ticket require updating?
Unanticipated Technical Issues: Sometimes, while working on a task, developers discover dependencies or issues that weren't initially accounted for, leading to the creation of new tickets.
Feedback from Stakeholders: Mid-sprint feedback from stakeholders or end users may result in creating new tickets, especially if they identify critical adjustments or features that weren’t initially considered.
Bug Fixes: As testing progresses during the sprint, bugs or issues may be found that require immediate attention, leading to new bug tickets being created and addressed within the sprint if they're critical.
3. What Drives Changes?
Clarifications on Requirements: As the development team works on stories, they might request further clarifications on certain features or business logic. This leads to refining or updating tickets to ensure that what’s being built matches the stakeholder's intent.
Changing Priorities: Sometimes business priorities can shift, even within a sprint. This could mean adjusting tickets to reflect these new priorities, such as reassigning tasks or modifying the scope of a feature to deliver value quicker.
Technical Constraints: Developers might discover unforeseen technical constraints during the sprint that necessitate modifications to tickets. For example, a particular implementation may turn out to be more complex than initially thought, and the team may need to break it down into smaller tasks, which means creating additional tickets.
In agile environments, it’s essential to remain adaptable, so updating, modifying, or even creating new tickets during sprints is expected as part of refining the process and delivering the best possible outcome. As the business analyst keep your tickets as similar as possible, but also listen to your teams feedback-it’s important to understand what they understand from your ticket as the architects, client or those on the technical side building the request out. You serve as the middle ground translator between both technical and non technical terms-team collaboration, open discussion and understanding will play a big piece in your journey.
Question 3. Can you describe the technical aspects of your role? How much technical knowledge is required, and how do you stay updated with relevant technologies?
As a Sr. Technical Business Analyst my role requires a blend of technical expertise and strategic insight to ensure business objectives are met through technology solutions. This is because as a lead on my project, it is required to know about the cloud we are implementing or have high experience working with various clouds and implementations. You’ll find that more often you will need to quickly learn about the product you are working with to understand your client’s request and how to best implement it. On the not so technical aspect as a business analyst you’ll need to focus on the project road mapping, persona building, and continuous user story development. That being said, having technical experience is a plus, but being able to learn different products is key.
Here’s a breakdown of the technical aspects in which your role might encounter if working with various teams within your organization (I’m sharing my project experience):
1. Analyzing Technical Requirements
Depth of Knowledge: I work closely with development teams and architects to interpret and analyze complex technical requirements. This includes understanding system architecture, data flows, APIs, and integrations.
Skills Needed: Familiarity with various technologies like databases, cloud platforms (e.g., AWS or Azure), and software development methodologies (Agile, DevOps) is essential.
Process: I translate business needs into technical specifications that developers can act on, ensuring there's no miscommunication between business and tech teams.
2. Solutioning and Architecting
Technical Participation: As a business analyst we actively participate in solutioning sessions to provide input on technical feasibility and constraints. This involves assessing the impact of new features or changes on existing systems and helping guide decisions on technology stacks or tools.
Stakeholder Engagement: I act as a bridge between stakeholders and the technical team, ensuring that the implemented solution not only works but exceeds expectations from both a technical and business perspective.
3. Salesforce and CRM Systems
Salesforce Expertise: A big part of my role is working on the Salesforce platform (cloud). This requires deep knowledge of Salesforce’s ecosystem, including declarative features, process automation, and integrations with external systems.
Hands-On Work: I collaborate with developers to design and review custom solutions within Salesforce, ensuring scalability and maintainability. My background in QA helps ensure quality through rigorous testing.
4. Technical Knowledge Required
Languages and Tools: While I’m not coding daily, understanding SQL, scripting languages, and system integrations helps me communicate better with the dev team. Familiarity with tools like Jira, Confluence, and version control systems is essential for tracking work and documentation.
Agile Practices: My role involves a thorough understanding of Agile processes. This helps me guide the team through sprints, prioritize tasks based on technical complexity, and refine backlogs to balance technical debt and new feature development.
5. Staying Updated
Continuous Learning: I stay updated through industry certifications, attending webinars, and being part of tech-focused communities. I’ve completed courses like Google Analytics & Data and am currently working on a product management course, ensuring my skillset is always aligned with emerging tech trends.
Resources for you to check out: CourseEra, Udemy, Certificate courses offered through colleges, and I highly suggest to check out the variety of Youtubers online
Tech Blogs and Forums: I frequently read blogs, participate in forums like Stack Overflow, and engage with thought leaders to stay aware of new tools, frameworks, and best practices.
Networking: I cannot emphasize this part enough, you’ll find out about events and opportunities you wouldn’t have elsewhere found out about. From job opportunities, other networking events,
Question 4: How do you handle conflicting requirements from stakeholders?
Here’s a recent example: In a recent situation, we had to present an unpopular decision to stakeholders regarding changes in the timing and structure of our customer satisfaction surveys for military members using our healthcare portal. Initially, the client wanted to send surveys 30 days after case closure, fearing that earlier feedback might pressure military members. However, based on my experience, sending surveys shortly after case closure yields more genuine responses and actionable insights.
By leveraging Salesforce’s reporting tools, we were able to show stakeholders valuable data that identified several key areas of concern. We uncovered specific types of cases that were receiving negative feedback, patterns showing agents who were overworked or in need of additional training, and inefficiencies in certain workflows that required process updates. This data was instrumental in demonstrating how early feedback could help us catch and address issues while the customer experience was still fresh. We showed how timely responses could lead to identifying struggling agents earlier, offering better support or training, and streamlining processes to enhance overall performance.
The initial resistance was understandable, but by presenting the data and showing the clear benefits of shifting the survey timing from 30 days to 3 days, we were able to gain their buy-in. This approach not only aligned with our goals for continuous improvement but also reassured stakeholders that the decision was rooted in data-driven insights, ultimately improving the user experience and operational efficiency.
So, how do you as a business analyst work to handle conflict? Use my scenario to help with yours in the future.
5 Tips
By using data-driven insights, clear communication, and aligning with business goals, you can effectively navigate conflicting stakeholder requirements and guide them toward the best decision for the project.
Question 5: What strategies do you use to ensure clear communication between technical and non-technical team members?
It’s important to remember who you’re talking to-just like a doctor can’t drop medical terms to their patient or a mechanic to a client. It’s important to remember who you’re That’s why it’s important as a business Analyst to speak ensure clear communication between technical and non-technical team members. When speaking with non-technical stakeholders, you can translate complex technical concepts into easy-to-understand language, often using analogies or focusing on the outcomes rather than the technical details.
For technical teams, you can dive into the specifics and technical intricacies. I also use visualization tools, like flowcharts, wireframes, and diagrams, to present information in a way that both groups can understand. Visuals are easy to follow for people, technical backgrounds and not. And, as a business analyst it’s an opportunity to be creative, and map out your ideas, the businesses processes, and help people follow along.
With these charts, it’s helpful to create a team folder to have your team or client refer to at anytime which contains a load of growing information from : Users, Roles, Project Scope, Request, diagrams, flow charts, etc this is used at anytime for ticket creation and those on the technical team often use it to reference during their build. Ensure that with both technical and non-technical members, you foster an environment of openness in which they feel comfortable asking questions and clarifying doubts, encouraging mutual understanding. It’s your job to make sure everyone understands-or at least has the needed material to move forward on requirements and expectations. This combination of strategies ensures that all team members stay informed and collaborate effectively.
Question 6: How do you measure the success of a product or feature after its release?
To measure the success of a product or feature after its release, you should focus on a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics. You can start by defining clear success criteria during the planning phase, aligning with business objectives and user needs. After release, it’s good to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as user adoption rates, customer satisfaction, retention, and engagement levels to assess how well the product or feature is performing. You can also monitor technical metrics like system performance, bug reports, and error rates to ensure operational stability. Gathering user feedback through surveys, interviews, and usability testing provides valuable insights into the user experience, helping to identify any areas for improvement. It’s also suggested to use analytics tools to track real-time data and trends, comparing them to the initial goals and benchmarks. Lastly, you can collaborate with stakeholders to review results and determine the overall impact, ensuring that the product or feature meets the intended business goals and delivers value to users. Let’s check out some steps you can take to measure success.
5 Focus Areas
Metrics, Data, Feedback and More
Final Thoughts: Key Takeaways for Business Analyst Success
Being a successful Business Analyst requires a blend of technical knowledge, strong communication skills, and the ability to adapt to new challenges. Whether you're gathering requirements, managing stakeholder expectations, or measuring the success of a product, the key is staying focused on delivering value. I hope this article has provided you with useful insights into the role of a BA, how to navigate common challenges and how to be a great team leader . If you're interested in learning more on the daily responsibilities, or have any questions, feel free to reach out. Thank you for reading!
