Suddenly, the end of 2022 is almost upon us! Another twelve months has flown by already!
As we approach the final days of the year, I’d like to share some of my highlights from the past twelve months.
BA Conference Europe 2022
In September, I was lucky enough to attend BA Conference Europe 2022 in London, manning the IIBA UK stand with my fellow directors.
It was a great experience, both because of the quality of talks and speakers, and because I got to meet so many fellow business analysis professionals. I came away really energised and enthused, and with lots of new connections. It was also a great chance to meet up with some former colleagues, and meet some people face-to-face having only ever seen them online!
If you’d like to hear more detail about my experience at the conference, check out my blog post here where I explore my key takeaways.
Better Business Analysis goes international!
This year I’ve been engaged on a couple of pieces of work with clients in the USA.
While the subject matter has been in my “home” sector of Legal, it’s my first time working with US clients. It’s been great so far, with some lovely feedback both from the clients and those I’m working alongside. Thankfully, with the clients being on “East-coast time”, I’ve not had too many late nights!
One of the good things to come out of the Pandemic is the realisation that business analysis can still work very well remotely, and I’ve been making full use of Zoom and Miro to collaborate with stakeholders across the pond.
The BA Community
As part of my Communities Director role at IIBA UK, I host a lot of BA events (mostly online, but also face-to-face), and consequently meet a huge number of BAs. I get to talk to people starting out on their careers in business analysis, as well as those leading the profession, writing books and setting standards. I’ve made lots of new friends. And I get to connect people together, get conversations happening, and enable the sharing of our collective wisdom!
I’ve found this so rewarding throughout 2022, and have had some really kind feedback about my efforts from some of those I’ve connected with.
For those looking to expand their network within the BA community, I really recommend volunteering. My tiny team of volunteers in the Wales, South West, and Midlands region is now starting to grow, but do get in touch if you think you might like to get involved!
Professional development
I’ve been in business analysis for almost 20 years now, so it might be tempting to think I know all I need in order to be effective in my job.
Of course, I’d be crazy to think that! Learning new skills (and keeping existing ones sharp) is vital at any stage of a BAs career.
I’ve continued mentoring (and started coaching) this year, which is both challenging and hugely rewarding. There’s plenty of crossover with many business analysis skills (active listening, leadership, reflection, abstraction, distillation – the list goes on!), so I think I get as much out of it as the person I’m mentoring or coaching. I’ll definitely be signing up again for IIBA UK’s mentoring scheme in 2023.
I’ve also been stocking my toolbox with techniques I wasn’t that familiar with or hadn’t used in practice – customer journey mapping, impact mapping, value proposition canvas, stakeholder canvas (to name a few). The BA community has some amazing people giving their time, knowledge, and experience. The number of free webinars and interactive events is huge, so there are loads of opportunities out there to find new tools and techniques.
Another benefit of my ever-expanding network of fellow BAs is that it gives me access to an immense repository of expertise! If I want advice on how to do something, I can usually think of someone that knows all about it – or possibly wrote the book!
Looking forward…
Next year, I’ll be continuing to work within the business analysis community through my role within IIBA UK. While I may not have aspirations as a thought leader (no book on the way, I’m afraid!), I’m keen to build on my ability to connect others in the profession and to advocate outside it for the value of the BA skillset.
I’m currently toying with the idea of pursuing another professional qualification – inspired by Roger Burlton’s keynote at BA Conference Europe 2022, I’ve been looking at expanding my skills into business architecture. Watch this space.
Thank you to all those I’ve had the joy of working with in the last year. While 2023 will no doubt present challenges for all of us, I look forward to connecting and collaborating with others as we tackle them together!