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Leave a Trail!
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I recently had the pleasure of meeting Professor Carlos José Locoselli – invited professor for Fundação Vanzolini, Director of Education for the IIBA Brazil Chapter, and 2020 Volunteer of the Year (VOY) for the Americas Southeastern Region. Through my interview with him, I was reminded of the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” As an active 71-year-old, Professor Locoselli has a lifetime of experience and achievement in which he has “left a trail” for us to pick up, follow, and forge anew. Here are just a few of the breadcrumbs he has left to inspire us.
- Be a BA. Now, this piece of advice might be obvious in a blog written by a Business Analyst, published on a business analysis website. However, it isn’t just about being a Business Analysis professional; it’s about applying business analysis in all that we do. Professor Locoselli found that he was doing business analysis work even before he knew what a Business Analyst was. In fact, he states: “In the 70s, when I worked in the Payroll, in the Personnel Department of Banespa, I understand that I became a Business Analyst. When carrying out my activities as a clerk in preparing and checking the Payroll, I started to analyze the process and created alternatives for executing this process that were more productive and added more value to the business. I introduced these alternatives to my bosses who adopted them with gains for both the Banespa Personnel Department and the bank employees when receiving their salaries. This was the first job I can remember, where I applied the Business Analysis tasks defined many years later in the BABOK® Guide v3.”
Roughly 50 years later, this mindset is still ingrained in how he executes work today. He actively continues to look for “techniques and tools in the BABOK® Guide to be more productive, accurate and always adding the greatest possible value to my work.”
How many of you started your business analysis career by identifying gaps in the process and looking for improvements? (I bet a lot of hands just went up.) How many of you still approach many (maybe all) aspects of your life as Business Analyst? (Have I told you about our garage project?) - Be an educator (and a student). Over the years, you might have noticed our IIBA community is FULL of educators. Initially, this started as knowledge sharing and informal presentations at local Chapter meetings. It has blossomed into workshops and conferences, with deeply respected professional practitioners as speakers. It has further integrated with “traditional” education venues in the form of university courses and programs, substantiating the legitimacy of the BA practice. In recent history, we have had three VOY, including Professor Locoselli, who have created, and evolved university programs founded on the teachings in the BABOK® Guide. (Add Yves Nicole and Georges Bryson from our IIBA Montreal Chapter to the roster as well.) Professor Locoselli has been a professor for over 50 years, with teaching experience in mathematics and IT subjects, including business analysis courses. He, like many, thrives on his ability to share the knowledge he has gained with his students while simultaneously learning from them. He poignantly refers to himself as an “Eternal Apprentice.”
While we cannot all start university programs, what are you doing to educate others – about the BA practice, tools, techniques, IIBA, etc.? - Be an advocate. In addition to educating others, you can also be an advocate on behalf of the business analysis practice and IIBA. Professor Locoselli does this most prominently through his involvement in the IIBA Brazil Chapter. As Director of Education, he coordinates the semi-annual certification study groups. He manages the weekly Business Chat on IIBA Brazil’s YouTube channel, featuring guests who present topics on Business Analysis. He has a strong social media presence – as an avid poster and commenter on LinkedIn on IIBA- and business analysis-related topics. His advocacy clearly comes from a lifetime of passion.
How are you being advocate? Could you be doing more?
Thank you to Professor Locoselli for sharing your experiences with me! If you want to learn more about the IIBA Brazil Chapter, please visit its website (iiba.org.br) or YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/iibabrasil).
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About the Author:
Koryn Anderson enjoyed a couple of careers before finding her ultimate one. She has been a business analyst for more than 10 years and is currently a Lead Business Analyst at Baird. She is passionate about the BA discipline, has her CBAP® certification, is Past President of the Southeast Wisconsin Chapter, and is the current Communications Director for the Global Chapter Council.