Some business analysis best practices, especially those related to stakeholder engagement, communication, and collaboration, may sound simple and obvious. Yet, they are often overlooked and not implemented.
One such detail that can make a significant difference is confirmation.
Business analysis activities involve various elicitation procedures—formal, informal, planned, and unplanned. Regardless of the type, any elicitation results should always be confirmed.
This means validating the information with the person you spoke with and cross-checking it against other sources to ensure there are no contradictions.
For example, if you are conducting an interview with one of your stakeholders, following this process can help prevent misunderstandings, reveal additional information, and deepen your understanding of the issue:
Conduct the interview.
Capture the responses and elicitation results.
Confirm the answers with the stakeholder, ensuring there are no misunderstandings or misinterpretations.
Process the elicitation results by converting them into an appropriate format (e.g., a wireframe, schema, diagram, or use case) for the situation.
Present the refined artifact to the interviewed stakeholder and other relevant stakeholders. This is when additional details may emerge.
Process the feedback received during step 5.
Present the updated and revised business analysis artifact (e.g., a wireframe, schema, diagram, or use case).
Once the key stakeholders agree, hand off your final work to those who will use it, such as the development team.
Skipping from step 1 directly to step 8 often leads to rework, wasted time, and unnecessary effort.
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