Customer Reviews

The Business Analyst's Handbook

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has solid reference material that experienced Business Analysts can utilize on virtually any assignment. This is not the best book for a new Business Analyst and is really geared towards a practitioner that understands their craft and appreciates additional guidance. Coverage of techniques and models is very comprehensive.

In my experience most technical books are either overly dry and are useful as a reference tool or completely theoretical leaving it up to the reader to determine application modes. Howard Podeswa does a great job of blending the two. He also does this in the context of one of the most important and least discussed role - the Business Analyst.

Over the years I have had the privilege to be part of many software teams. We have had great successes and a few failures. One thing that is a constant is the impact of the Business Analyst role on project success. The The Business Analyst's Handbook provides a complete tailorable approach to facilitating, organizing and disseminating business information that is sure to have a positive impact on any team.

This is a book that should be near and dear to any professional Business Analyst.

The author says in the introduction that he began his career in Chemical Engineering and attempted to create a book similar to Perry's Chemical Engineer Handbook. At first I thought it was a neat idea to have everything I could ever need to know as a BA in one place. After muddling through the first couple of chapters, I noticed that this book contains way *too much* information in one place. It's like trying to read an encyclopedia cover to cover. This book may have its place in very rigorously structured environments where BAs need to quickly reference something, but as a comprehensive starting point for Biz Analysts it fails miserably. I think the biggest failure of this book is that it attempts to formalize everything too much without first getting across a hi-level overview of what a BA is supposed to learn from a particular section.
As a BA for several years, I can say that I found nothing in here of practical value. The organizations in which I have worked did not place much value of formal structure of analysis, so that may be why I do not find this book worthwhile.
Plus, the writing style is dreadfully dry. As my title suggests, when an engineer writes a book about soft skills this is about what you might expect. I'm a former engineer myself and have first hand knowledge of the low value placed on communication skills by many otherwise competent engineers (of course there are exceptions). I got more techniques for analysis out of Project Management books than this one (like the portable MBA series book on Project management) and I believe there are much better books out there but they probably don't have Business Analyst in the title.

Once upon a time, one would be hard pressed to find many reference books on doing business analysis work properly but since the creation of the International Institute of Business Anlysis professional association and the advent of the CBAP certification in 2005, there has been a welcome torrent of titles.

I recommend this as an essential tool in your BA toolkit especially if you perform business analysis in Agile software development environments, though many of these techniques can be adapted to other software development methodologies as well.

I strongly recommend this book for any kind of manager. Why? Because there are always problems and projects, and this book gives you great ideas for a structured thinking. Many times, I've seen people that when crisis or problems come, they start with whatever comes to their mind first. Rather than that, some of the ideas of this book is to go to the basis and understand all the components. Even when this book doesn't address problem solving as its main target the book does great for this purpose.

Obviously if you are working on the Information Systems Analysis and Design, Consulting or similar areas, this book is a must.

I'd love to see a QuickReference Version (like a HandPocket Book)!

Finally! Finally a book that serves as a handy reference to business analysis fundamentals, practices and processes with respect to latest industry standards and trends. I strongly recommend this book to BA practitioner at any level. Good job Howard!

This is a great tool any Business Analyst from every industry. An excellent book. It is THE book you must read if you are starting a Business Analysis career... I highly recommend it.

Handy reference for the BA. Every business does things differently. I'm in a new BA position and I've found this handy to dip into from time to time. Especially useful to correlate what you might already be doing with the standards and terminology.

I like the book a lot. It gives a thourough overview of close to all aspects of the business analyst. It's therefore a must have for a BA. For a dutch person working in the Netherlands there are some mismatches in names of e.g. project phases, but it all maps very well to my working life.

Sure, it's a dry read, but then I don't expect a Handbook to evoke emotions in me the way, say, a Keats' Ode To The Nightingale does. It's a Handbook and, I think, it does what a Handbook is intended to do, i.e., allow us to refer different areas as and when needed. It has the toolkit (UML, DFD, ERD, Pareto etc.) that you can rummage through in times of need; it has document templates in case the job you're at don't have a standard set, and even if they do, the ones here can act as a checklist; it has a section on setting and managing meetings, and in case if the company you're at demands process and work flows for everything and you're someone like me who usually don't have the interest and inclination for those, then the list here can be used as a reference or a starting point. Of course, if you want to thoroughly understand UML, ERD and the other tools, you'd need separate books on those, but this book certainly gives pointers on each of those areas. I think it's a valuable addition that assists you in formalizing your tasks.