Did you know that you had a brand? What is a brand? Many think it is a marketing tool that
companies use to sell their products and services in the marketplace. Companies do; don’t you think that Apple,
Google, B2T Training, The Solarity Group, Bob the BA, and Watermark Learning have
a brands?
However did you know that you, an individual Business
Analyst in your company, have a brand?
What is your brand? The more important question, what do you want your
brand to be?
These are the questions that Bob “the BA”
Prentiss asked us at the recently concluded SOBARC conference during a very
inspirational keynote address. He gave
excellent tips on how to brand yourself and make yourself distinguishable among
the business analysts in your organization.
One thing that impressed me during Bob’s presentation is that he never went up on stage; he delivered his entire presentation walking among the audience. When he asked the audience “What do you think about Bob the BA?” He received the answer “pushy”. He did not get upset, but rather took a negative and turned into a positive; ending with “sometimes pushy, yes I can accept that because sometimes that is what it takes to get the job done”. He continued to discuss how we from time to time have to change the mindset and the way of thinking of some of our business and technical stakeholders to create that “shared vision”.
So, did you know that you create your brand everyday at
work? So what is it, and what do you
want it to be? As ‘Bob the BA’ puts it
“Be consistent, creative, memorable, have a vision of the future that ‘you’
cocktail…” is how you develop a great brand.
So are you
consistent?
Do you consistently deliver your work deliverables on
time? Early? Late? Do
you “own” your work assignments? How do
you want to be remembered? What is the
impact to your projects and service work?
Can your teammates count on you to deliver? Do you communicate to your Project Manager and
other team members to properly set expectations? How is the quality of your work? That will be remembered, possibly most of
all. Do you take extra time to put the
professional touches, add that craftsmanship, on your work before sharing it
with the team? Just a word of caution,
don’t allow the professional touches make your work consistently late.
Are you creative?
Do you just take a template for an artifact and fill it
out? Have you ever added something to a
template? Have you ever questioned why a
particular section is in the template, or challenged that it should not be in
that place or in the template at all?
How creative are you on your business analysis techniques? Do you just do typical individual or group
interviews (discussions with business stakeholders)? When is the last time you facilitated a
brainstorming or wireframing session?
Are you memorable?
Six months after a project ends, will the business
stakeholders remember you as the business analyst that worked on that
project? What will they remember about
you? Will they say “typical BA”,
“nothing special”, “shotty workmanship”; or will they say “excellent BA”, “knows their stuff”, “kept me engaged”, “enjoyed
working with them” or other favorable feedback on your work. How will you be remembered?
Are you passionate?
Do you enjoy your work and does it show in your daily work? Are you passionate about the BA role? Do you look forward to going to work every
day? Will feedback come back that you’re
a passionate BA? Do you go that extra
mile for your business stakeholders and other team members? How will you be remembered?
The Message
I recently attended an IIBA meeting in Dayton, Ohio entitled
“Craftsmanship for Analysts” by Terry Wiegmann.
The message was the same as Bob the BA’s message: “Cocktail your brand”.
Continuously improve, but stay consistent in your message and work. I don’t intend to take anything from, or keep
anyone from seeing, either of these professionals speak. In fact, I encourage anyone that has the
opportunity to go participate in any of Bob or Terry’s presentations, do so;
you will receive a lot from the experience.
Did this post get you thinking about your brand, and your
daily work? How will you change to make
your brand what you want it to be?
