Wow! "Analyzing and identifying opportunities sometimes comes off in the regular world as critical, complaining, just plain annoying." Violet, what do you mean? That BAs don't live in the real world? In my opinion, I think we can get the job done without coming off as annoying. I don't like to work with people that are annoying. If BAs are really that annoying, then who will want to work with us. The comments I tend to get is working with me was helpful, not annoying.

I agree with Kupe on this one, but stated differently. It's all about personality, in my opinion, and BA's are usually very analytical people (myself included), and seen as though they only care about the details and changing them. My clients are extremely satisfied with my work on a current project, and are very excited that I am the BA on board. Today, during a meeting with them and my supervisors it was mentioned over and over that part of the reason of my great success on this project and in winning over the client was because I began the project by building solid relationships with my clients, and then went into my tasks later. I became very interested in their work and daily routines, and used that enthusiasm to show them how they could be much more efficient and productive. In a later meeting with my supervisors, we agreed that you can't teach personality, but can always teach BA skills. Asking so many questions and trying to change business for the better is part of the job, but maybe clients see a lack of enthusiasm or care from the BA into the actual business they are trying to change. Getting people to change a "years-long" routine is often one of the hardest things to do, whether in business or in life. If you really want to make the best impression on them, take a step out of the requirements and processes for a minute and think of what the client is going through to make that change. Most of them don't even want to change. If you show them for a minute that you care about their daily routines, maybe they won't think BA's are so annoying.

I Agree with Simon on this one... I think being "Difficult" is a trademark of the BA, because "difficult" often means asking questions a coming with suggestions in order to secure the best possible solution within the given constraints. One of my own examples is a project where I was dealing with a foreign unit of the company, and we discussed, often heavily, on the issue of legal requirements vs. technical possibilities within the given time frame (set by EU legislation). Af we had agreed and implemented with succes, we accidentially met, and the Business Representative came over and thanked me for the good cooperation!

I'm very excited that this blog has generated some strong opinions and feedback. That was my intent from the beginning! I've been managing my Boston conference, so my apologies for the delayed response. Here it is: Kupe- suck it up (I can say this cause we know each other well), no one is trying to hurt your feelings, plus your one of the more "difficult" people I know- in a positive way of course! @shaml in & @hjelholt - thanks for getting Violet's back - she needs to feel the love @Simonthe BA- I love that you self identity as difficult b/c you put the needs of the project and users first. We need more BAs to take the perspective. There is an obvious negative stigma attached to "difficult," but I truly believe that being difficult can be positive for the success of our roles as BAs. It doesn't mean annoying. However- it is a fine line to walk as the relationships we develop feed into the success of our efforts. I think the dialogue here is great and this is what I'd love to see more of on BATimes. Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming! -Adam

I'll give Amy a head's up since I won't be there! ;-)

@Vesna - great point!

Simon, you remind me of a quote from Spiderman. "With great power, comes great responsibility" - Uncle Ben. We need to remember to use our difficultness(I think I just made up a word) for good!

This is a bit of a sore point for most BA's I think. One persons "Difficult" or "Annoying" is another persons "Thorough"! I think that it is always our duty as BA's to ask the difficult questions of Stakeholders and persevere even if it can make us unpopular at times. I myself have tried very hard over the years to always find the line where it starts becoming annoying but everyones threshold for questions is different. A stakeholders personal agenda can sometimes cloud their professional judgement too. I live by the mantra "Do what's best for the business" but sometimes you're at risk of becoming a casualty of war when senior stakeholders are clearly doing whats best for them instead. I've just spent the past year being incredibly unpopular by challenging the lack of a business case on a major strategic project we were embarking on. The senior stakeholders knew (roughly) what they wanted to get at the end and wanted action but didn't understand what was involved to make it happen and how complex the subject matter was. No one was listening but I felt that it was my duty to persevere in the face of adversity. I'm pleased to say that as of today they have finally seen the light after my team have spent the last year conducting analysis across 5,000 + staff proving to them why it was a bad idea. We need to stay positive and try to build strong relationships but doing whats best for the business should be paramount.

@Simon - You have mentioned some great points about being "difficult" and also One aspect of my being "difficult" is that I'm not scared of people with power. I think this works well and wonders for me too when i am talking to key stakeholders,cu stomers and users as i provide them outputs more then expected out of me. But being "difficult" has not worked well always with every managers; few manager consider it to be a little bit of attitude problem lol but few just love the way i handle things with stakeholders :) @cecilie - great comments about yourself :)

(more) I actually had an IT person in a requirements session who kept repeatedly interrupting a business person to say that can't be done, and such. As facilitator, I had to forcefully remind this person to stop twice, and was on the verge of asking him to leave. At the end of the session, he walks up, shakes my hand, and says "sorry I was a such a pain in the ass, but that's my job." I did not have an immediate rejoinder to offer, but as a consultant, I would not have said anything anyway. My thoughts later was that such a "job description" will eventually blow up on him when he annoys someone he really should not have.

Hi Adam, As a BA, I need to get detailed oriented, else what would be the use of IT in solving the customer challenges faced? Secondl y, if the project fails due to not so proper requirements, then my job would be at stake and subsequent careers would be on a toss. Well, it is true that my customer generally gets annoyed of asking so many questions. Sometimes they do not respond effectively in meetings as well. In such cases what should be the path? Generally, I go informal to build up trust rather than dealing as professionals face-to-face.