Three Perspectives From BA Digest Q2

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the perspectives of IIBA.

The Q2 edition of BA Digest brings practical insights from practitioners across the world, with fifteen articles covering a wide range of topics. 

If you’re short on time, here’s a summary of three.

Developing People, Not Just Allocating Work

In her article “It’s Not Just a Puzzle, It’s Parenting: How BA Managers Balance Complexity, Growth, and Organizational Needs,” Ann Leemans uses the analogy of a jigsaw puzzle to explore a leadership challenge that many business analysis managers face: how to assign work in a way that supports both delivery and professional development.

Ann argues that assigning business analysts isn’t just about matching competency to the tasks at hand. It also involves judging the right level of stretch for the individual. Too little challenge can lead to stagnation, while too much can create frustration and risk failure. Growth tends to happen somewhere in between.

Additionally, it’s important to avoid focusing purely on efficiency. It can be tempting to give similar assignments to experienced analysts who already “know the ropes.” Repeatedly giving the same people the most complex work might help in the short term, but it can demotivate other business analysis professionals and limit their growth. Business analysis managers need to consider development goals, appetite for challenge, and the cumulative effect of multiple assignments.

Not every assignment will be a perfect fit. Ann acknowledges this, but emphasizes that with the right support, even a difficult assignment can become a valuable learning experience. Deliberate, thoughtful assignment becomes a way of building capability over time.

Expanding Analysis to Include Adversarial Thinking

In “Redshift: The Art of Asking the Right Security Questions,” Mark Cross explores how cybersecurity is reshaping the role of the business analysis professional.

He highlights that the environment around change has shifted. Cyber threats are more frequent, more sophisticated, and faster moving. Security can no longer be left to specialists at the end of delivery. It needs to be considered earlier.

Mark introduces the idea of the “red shift,” an adversarial mindset that complements user-centred thinking. Business analysis professionals are used to asking how a feature will help legitimate users. He suggests they also need to consider how the same feature might be misused.

This doesn’t require deep technical expertise. It’s about asking better questions. For example, what assumptions are being made about trust, identity, or usage? How might those assumptions be exploited?

He also emphasizes the importance of understanding attacker behaviours and reframing familiar concepts such as non-functional requirements. Qualities like confidentiality, integrity, and availability can be viewed in terms of how they might be undermined.

Timing is key. Many vulnerabilities are introduced during early decisions about scope, journeys, and integrations. Identifying risks at that stage is often easier than addressing them later.

Shifting from Backlog Management to Business Value

In “From Backlog to Business Value: How BAs Can Master the Product Mindset,” Anurita Ruscoe examines what it means for business analysis professionals to adopt a product mindset. She suggests the core job isn’t just refining the backlog but deciding what shouldn’t be there. This requires a sharper focus on business value.

Business value may be defined differently depending on context. It may be making money, saving money, or enabling intangible benefits such as customer satisfaction or brand strength. Viewing backlog items through these lenses shifts the conversation from features to outcomes.

Objectives and key results (OKRs) are highlighted as a useful tool. By linking backlog items to objectives and measurable results, business analysis professionals can test whether work genuinely contributes to what the product is trying to achieve. Another theme is value slicing and minimum viable product (MVP) thinking, enabling teams to test assumptions in smaller, outcome-driven increments.

A key conclusion is that a product mindset doesn’t replace analysis. It strengthens it by connecting work more clearly to outcomes and evidence.

Bringing It Together

These articles illustrate that business analysis isn’t standing still. Whether it’s developing people, thinking about security earlier, or focusing on outcomes over outputs, the role continues to evolve. As a community, we continue to build a more thoughtful, intentional practice, and there’s a lot we can learn from each other.

You can explore these articles and much more in the latest issue of BA Digest.

For more thought-provoking articles like the ones mentioned above, download your copy of BA Digest—a free, open-access, quarterly magazine published by Blackmetric, packed with real-world business analysis insights and ideas.

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