arcadiagt5

Job hunting has commenced - is anyone out there looking for a business analyst? :)

I took a taxi to my first interview in Tuggeranong this morning and wound up doing the navigating. For readers in Perth it was like having to show the taxi driver how to find the Mitchell Freeway. Granted it was the driver's first day on the job but even so...

I caught the bus back.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Canberra
Current Music: Redgum - Killing Floor

I ran across an odd possibility today. Something weird that doesn't make much sense, and that is probably covered by interpretation, but isn't to my reading explicitly prevented from happening.

And people wonder why I take such care with defining or testing boundary conditions?

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Redgum - ASIO

[Error: unknown template qotd]For LJ? Not much. There will be occasional posts (like this one) where I control it but otherwise mostly random.

For work? I do some of my best analysis to instrumentals, SUR, and J-pop. I find not understanding the lyrics (or not having any to begin with) can be soothing and helps me both to concentrate and be creative.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Canberra
Current Music: Redgum

Whilst browsing the "friends of friends" page that I discovered this fascinating post from girliejones (who I'm not sure I know in person, I may do) about the loss of a letter writing culture. The question at the end being:

What's with us? Do we have no sense for the preservation of history?

I answered in the comments (so make with the clicky already), but wanted to keep my response here as well.

( If you made with the clicky up there, you don't need to do it here. )

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Canberra
Current Music: Midnight Oil - Power & The Passion

Disclaimer: I am not a mathematician so what follows is more in the line of philosophy. And I may have completely missed the point.

It occurred to me recently that computer systems, and in particular the software components, are in essence mathematical systems* and that Godel's Incompleteness Theorems may well apply.

ie: Every computer system has to have a fundamental assumption that is unprovable, and may well be unchangeable without a total re-write..

From a Business Analysis perspective this is yet another reminder to make your assumptions explicit otherwise a hidden axiom of the system may well bite you down the track.

Oh, and in the unlikely event of anyone being interested I've added a business analysis tag to classify my ramblings on related topics. :)

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Canberra

In addition to dealing with a wide range of target audiences, the challenges for a Business Analyst include dealing with a wide range of target purposes. Switching your thinking, your headspace, to meet the type of modelling required for a given purpose can be difficult.

One of the biggest jumps is between business process and system requirements modelling because the goals (and often the audience as well) are so different. The two disciplines require different writing styles, and different tools.

( Long and you probably don't want to look that closely into my head anyway... )

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Canberra

Is, alas, another essential skill for a business analyst.

In this case the wrong answer being "less than 20Kms".

( A living breathing example of Murphy's Law in action... )

Oh well, I think I can justify skipping the rest day tomorrow since I didn't ride at all on the weekend.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Canberra
Current Music: Mike Oldfield - To France

An essential skill for a business analyst is knowing the right question to ask.

For example when Fuse Recumbents have just returned a freshly serviced trike to me, "Are you going for a ride after work today" would be the wrong question.

The right question would be "How far are you going to ride after work today?"

:)

It appears that I'm coming down with a cold/flu thing. I Do Not Need This.

I was going for a ride with a friend tomorrow but should probably cancel. Grumble.

Oh well, at least

stephbg has a fascinating post up about technical writing and systems documentation which is providing considerable food for thought. Highly recommended.

Current Music: 菅野よう子 - Sweet feather

I've been playing with my interests list, copying stuff from friends, that sort of thing.

Along the way I decided to add some professional interests relevant to being a Business Analyst in.

Evidently I'm the only person on LJ interested in "unified modelling language" or "business process modelling". (UML gets considerable hits)

A significant chunk of the few people interested in "use cases" are Russian (judging by the cyrillic text). Ditto for "business analysis" (one of the two communities that produces is Russian).

I would have expected professional interests, particularly from the fringes of IT, to feature fairly heavily in the english-speaking audience.

I'm kind of wondering why they don't.

Current Mood: confused
Current Location: Canberra

Over here in dalekboy's LJ the comments have drifted to mentioning the BOFH: the Bastard Operator From Hell.

Like tikiwanderer, its been a while since I've read any of the BOFH but I have, on occasion, been known to refer to myself as the Bastard Business Analyst From Hell. :)

( Playing with Developer's Heads )

All jokes aside, I actually try for a much more collaborative approach with designers/architects/developers. The goal is to get a system that is good enough to do the job, accepted by the business, and well enough designed to support maintenance and enhancements. A confrontational approach just doesn't deliver that. Its my role to identify, clarify, document the business requirements, and make sure that they are achievable within the system: to do that I need to at least understand the headspace that the design/development team are in so that I know the constraints.

But sometimes I get caught between the mineral deposit of an absolute non-negotiable requirement and the unyielding location of technical difficulties. And thats where the jokes come from, sometimes if I don't laugh I'm sure as hell gonna want to cry. :)

Current Mood: mischievous
Current Location: Canberra

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
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21	22	23	24	25	26	27
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Job hunting and a interesting taxi ride.

The importance of defining boundary conditions

Writer's Block: Music and Moods

Loss of History

Beware the superficially profound. :)

Business Process vs System Requirements Modelling

Getting the wrong answer.

Asking the right question

Grumble

Didn't expect that

Riffing on the BOFH: the BBAFH

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June 2009

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