Every organization and project will require a specific skill set from a BA. If you are curious or exploring the business analyst role and wondering what they are. Here are SIX skills for success in this role.

1. Business Analysis Knowledge: As a BA, it is vital to understand the key business analysis concepts, techniques, tools, and practices. As a BA professional, you want to know the industry standard tools and techniques. Continuously learning, taking courses to keep you informed, and learning essential office tools are critical. It is worth noting the more experience and projects you work on, the more knowledge you gain in this area.

2. Critical Thinking: As a BA, it is an excellent skill to question everything and continuously ask questions until you understand the business need. For example, for a stakeholder who wants to redesign their website, as a BA, you need to ask Probing questions to identify, assess, and understand the reason for the redesign. This is because there are various reasons for the change, and driving your focus on analyzing helps you decide on a solution design to solve the need.

3. Creative & Presentation Skills: Creativity means seeking ways to engage stakeholders, improve engagement, and solve business needs. Using whiteboards to have interactive brainstorming sessions by sharing your screen or, if it is in person, gives an excellent visual to all stakeholders. During meetings, presenting information with PowerPoint slides, process flows, or even just demoing the features paints a picture and will get more reaction and interaction.

4. Requirement Elicitation & Documentation: BAs are having all these requirement sessions; they need to be able to document the requirements discussed clearly and concisely. Use the various requirement documentation, for example, user stories, use cases, process flow diagrams, wireframes, etc. Choosing a documentation technique will depend on the feature and how best to communicate it to the engineering team.

5. Communication and Facilitation Skills: The BA is working with various business and technology parties, meaning you will facilitate different requirement sessions, interviews, brainstorming sessions, and others. So, it is crucial to be confident in those questions to ask questions, active listening, and ensure you understand what is being discussed. For example, when in a meeting with your business and technical stakeholders, since you are the bridge between both parties, communicating and understanding both parties is an excellent skill to have. Also, as you get to know your stakeholders, you will develop and tailor different communication approaches to them.

6. Industry & Domain Knowledge of your Organization: As a BA, learning about your organization’s industry or domain is a big plus to leverage on your projects. For example, if you are sound knowledge in any of these industries, healthcare, Insurance, financial, e-commerce, or HR. You can leverage your expertise and focus your role in these specialized industries.