Radus Blog

In a lot of people's minds, the primary role of the business analyst is to translate the requirements of the business application into something a developer can understand and explain to the business what the developer is trying to say.

Naturally, this translation process can lead to a lot of confusion, which is one of the reasons a lot people think being a business analyst is a thankless job. In fact, frustration with business analysts is running so high that companies that make application development tools have been telling developers that they now have modeling tools that essentially eliminate the need for the business analyst. In this scenario, a developer can sit down with business executives directly to model the application and automate a lot of the underlying code development.

The tension between business analysts and developers goes back to the beginning of the computing age. It will be interesting to see as developers become more business savvy, how many of them will want to engage directly with the ultimate user of their applications. At the same time, it will also be interesting to see how far a business analyst can go without the aid of a developer.

All of this got me thinking about the BA reputation with software developers and how they might improve it. Although Business Analysts love to think (or expect) that software developers care about the bottom line of the organization, it’s natural for every person, regardless of how noble and unselfish, to look at things from the perspective of, “What’s in it for me?”Or, to put it another way: What exactly is in it for a software developer working with a BA?

Have you faced similar challenges within your own IT organization?Or someone who agrees with the point that it is really up to the BA’s to show the developers what they bring to the table......

This is an open forum and I would like all of you to share your thoughts and begin a trail of discussion!!