the business analysis books
Process Modeling for Business Analysts Made Easy
Determining Business Requirements Without Pain.
Many people say business process modeling is challenging, difficult and requires a lot of practice. They have been saying this for years, and there are scores of books showing exactly how difficult and complex it can be.
But this simply isn’t true.
- So, how do you elicit business requirements?
- How do you discover the real needs and problems of the business?
- How do you determine the questions to ask?
- How do you document the answers?
This book provides practical solutions to each of these important questions, and more. Trond Frantzen’s ‘PowerStart Business Analysis’ approach to Requirements Analysis provides a clear alternative to the legacy methods of wishy-washy, vague and non-specific specifications.
The results will always be clear, concise, unambiguous, in business terms, and brief. And provably complete.
And it's really fast.
Rapid Agile Business System Analysis
Fast, Agile, Measurable Results.
Whether you are a professional with twenty years of experience, or a new analyst – and whether your projects are short two-week efforts or multi-million dollar corporate initiatives – the event-based analysis approach covered in this book is for you.
This book is about “agile” business system analysis; and how to create a modern, useful business requirements specification really fast, without the tedious constraints of the past, and without the risk often associated with the term “agile”.
“Agile” business system analysis is about how to find the exact, specific questions to ask your clients and subject-matter experts – in the specific context of your project – and a way of doing the highest quality analysis in the fastest way possible, without chaos.
It’s about business-based analysis suitable to building complex integrated systems for the 21st century.
It’s about you, and how to find and specify the business requirements for a project successfully. And fast.
This book is not a a silver bullet nor is it a magic wand to wave over troubled legacy systems. This is a book about getting the business requirements for a system specified fast and right the very first time – without engaging in an archaeological dig that takes forever. “So, is this more of the Same Old Stuff,” you might ask, “but with different packaging?” No, this is not more of the Same Old Stuff (with – you guessed it – the Same Old Results). But, find out for yourself. Try the event-based analysis approach described in this book – you'll never look back.
Admittedly, “agile” means a lot of different things to different people. There will be some who seek instant answers and instant tools. But the only tools that count in the area of business system analysis is your ability to ask the right questions of your subject-matter experts (clients and users), in the context of your specific project, and to properly document their responses – but without taking forever. This book will show you how to do it – with precision and accuracy.
Mastering Business Requirements Analysis
The single most difficult challenge for any analyst has always been finding the right questions to ask clients and subject-matter experts. The analyst’s quandary has always been:
- How do I know what I should ask my clients?
- What should my first question be?
- And what should I ask next (and after that)?
Every business requirements analysis methodology has always lacked this fundamental foundation – a method to find the exact, in-context questions to ask clients and subject-matter experts.
The only way we can be sure of uncovering complete and accurate business requirements is to know, with absolute certainty, that we have asked all the right precise questions, and none have been missed.
Business requirements analysis isn’t horseshoes. “Close is good enough” just isn’t acceptable for the sophisticated, integrated business systems we need to have today.
And it’s not ‘agile’ business analysis to leave unasked, and unanswered, questions on the floor.
This easy-to-read book will show you how to find all the correct, in-context questions to ask, and how to easily record the answers in a productive way. You will never look back.
How to Run Awesome Discovery Sessions
This book is about the “how do I do this” of sitting down with clients and subject-matter experts to figure out what they really want and need for their system.
This book will put into context the nature of your questions, the environment you need, how long it takes, who should be involved, and the tools you need.
You’ll also learn how to do it quickly, without missing a thing.
You’ll really find out what “real agile” means – with the results, the specifications, the documentation; but without the chaos.
marketing & sales books
How to Sell More IT Consulting Without Pain
A Guide to Success for Independent Consultants.
“The good life is expensive. There is another way to live that does not cost as much, but it isn’t any good.” – Spanish Distiller
These are words that every consultant should etch on the screen of their mind, with indelible ink. The fact is, we deserve a good life. No one said we should work ourselves into exhaustion, make just enough money to get along, and be thankful for what we have. Or, at least, the person who said that is profoundly mistaken.
You’re an IT consultant. You’re well educated. You’ve studied, learned, practiced, made mistakes, worked weird hours on projects, eaten too much fast food, and paid your dues. Many times over. You deserve the rewards. The challenge, of course, is that rewards don’t just show up just because we’ve paid the dues. Rewards come from even more diligent work. We’ve got to put the nose to the grindstone and take the action necessary to cause the rewards to come our way.
And what kinds of rewards are we talking about? Let’s face it; it’s all about great contracts and the money that results from these. Without the financial rewards, we can’t possibly benefit from the house, the car, the vacations, the travels, the better restaurants … or anything else that costs money. Nor can we build an IT consulting business. It takes money. This book will show exactly how to do that, without pain.
A Playbook for Success
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A Guide to Sales Success for Consultants and the Rest of Us
We all sell something: A product, a service, an idea, or ourselves. Regardless of the type of service you provide, you are really your own sales and marketing expert.
And you are the exclusive representative of your great business.
Your objective is to earn the money you need, to provide the things you want, to live the way you choose. Whether you are a management consultant, a musician, a political candidate, an independent real estate agent, a software engineer, a photographer – or anyone else who is self-employed – you are your own exclusive representative. And no one is better at it than you.
Regardless of your profession, this book will help you sell more effectively and more often. This book will help you learn how.