Topic:   Hardcore Soft Skills: Tool for the BA Toolbox

 Soft Skills?  What are soft skills? 

My career as a BA is going well, but I don’t seem to be progressing as fast as I thought.  When I run a facilitated session, it does not go as smoothly as I planned or envisioned it would.  My business sponsor identified a couple key requirements I missed during a requirements elicitation session.  The Project Manager is angry because I supposedly didn’t push back enough and now we’re on the hook to deliver additional functionality not originally in the project scope.  Sound Familiar? 

I know the steps to elicit and gather requirements.  I can conduct a business meeting or facilitate a session exactly as prescribed in my company’s training manual.  I know how to use every feature in MS Word, can do a lookup in my sleep, and use PowerPoint for family events.  What am I doing wrong? 

It sounds like you have enough “hard skill” tools in your BA Toolbox, but are missing a few “soft skill” tools.  During this session, we will discuss the soft skills essential for a BA and explore ways to improve existing soft skills.
 

Speaker:   Brian Monson, Consultant at Allegient, LLC 

Brian Monson is a Business Solutions Architect and Managing Consultant at Allegient, LLC in Indianapolis IN.  Mr. Monson's consulting experience includes assisting clients in multiple industries, including Insurance, Health Care, Life Sciences, and Manufacturing, to understand and solve their business problems, through people, process, and technology based solutions.  Currently, Mr. Monson is in the initial phases of an agile transformation effort for a client in the manufacturing industry.  Previous projects include: business process re-engineering, organizational transformation, performance testing, verification of a clinical management system, and creation of an on-line billing and payment site.

Mr. Monson is the past President of the IIBA® Central Indiana Chapter and serves on the PMI-CIC board as the Director of Career Development.  Prior to joining Allegient, Mr. Monson was the IT Director for an Internet startup, a Manager with Ernst & Young, and a Software Engineer in the Aerospace industry.
 

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