Golden Nuggets for Professional BAs:
Insights from Anastasiya Pasiuk, Senior Business Analyst at Tripledot Studios:
“BA in Data Products: Bringing Marketing and Data Together”
Have you ever wondered what it’s like being a BA working with Data Products? Or perhaps you’re wearing a BA’s hat on a Data Project right now? In this case, this article is just for you. Senior Business Analyst at Tripledot Studios, Anastasiya Pasiuk, shared valuable insights in the webinar on key considerations for being a BA in a Data Product. She discussed the essential qualities for success in this role and, most importantly, how to work effectively with data.
Let’s start with an overview of the importance of the BA role for Data Products.
Working as a bridge between business and development is the daily task of every BA, however, in a Data Product, the variety of your stakeholders and “languages” you should speak is wider: not only the business and development teams but also the data analysts, data engineering team, and marketing team. Keeping in mind all important details and their dependencies is crucial for every BA. However, in a Data Product, you should consider the bigger picture to deliver value to your various stakeholders. One more thing that you should focus on is being a merging point between different perspectives and various points of view of all your stakeholders. Sounds challenging? Well, being a BA in Data Products is indeed quite challenging, however, it is rewarding and interesting, as you will see further.
Working as a bridge between business and development is the daily task of every BA, however, in a Data Product, the variety of your stakeholders and “languages” you should speak is wider: not only the business and development teams but also the data analysts, data engineering team, and marketing team. Keeping in mind all important details and their dependencies is crucial for every BA. However, in a Data Product, you should consider the bigger picture to deliver value to your various stakeholders. One more thing that you should focus on is being a merging point between different perspectives and various points of view of all your stakeholders. Sounds challenging? Well, being a BA in Data Products is indeed quite challenging, however, it is rewarding and interesting, as you will see further.
Next, let’s look at the key competencies of the Data Products BA role.
First, the BA should obtain a general understanding of the data industry trends and the importance of the data strategy of the company or the client. It plays a vital role in understanding how to build the work on a project and how to deliver value to the stakeholders.
Since data is a driver of the success of any company in any industry, from finance to oil, the BA needs to be able to use data and its insights to create a competitive advantage: operating with existing data, analyzing patterns, and supporting data-driven decision-making by highlighting relevant data points and valuable insights.
Next, it’s important to understand where your company stands: development and implementation of data strategy, the flows related to data, and data infrastructure. Remember that making data-driven decisions can drive the product to success, just as poor data can lead to the product’s failure.
To bring value by using data, the BA should focus on three steps:
First, the BA should obtain a general understanding of the data industry trends and the importance of the data strategy of the company or the client. It plays a vital role in understanding how to build the work on a project and how to deliver value to the stakeholders.
Since data is a driver of the success of any company in any industry, from finance to oil, the BA needs to be able to use data and its insights to create a competitive advantage: operating with existing data, analyzing patterns, and supporting data-driven decision-making by highlighting relevant data points and valuable insights.
Next, it’s important to understand where your company stands: development and implementation of data strategy, the flows related to data, and data infrastructure. Remember that making data-driven decisions can drive the product to success, just as poor data can lead to the product’s failure.
To bring value by using data, the BA should focus on three steps:
- Collect and process data: how the data is collected, where it’s stored, and what processes exist concerning data.
- Access data: being able to work with the data hands-on as a BA; consider users and user groups that can and should access the data, confidentiality, etc.
- Constant evolution: using AI, ML, and new methods and technologies is a continuous process. The BA should be ready to apply changes, and use multiple tools and different strategies."
The BA focuses on many aspects of the projects simultaneously: stakeholder engagement, requirements elicitation, data trends, and team collaboration among others.
In order to be able to constantly adapt and evolve, there are two major general areas the BA should concentrate on:
In order to be able to constantly adapt and evolve, there are two major general areas the BA should concentrate on:
- Understanding the context (business, environment, data).
- Facilitating communication (involving the right people at the right time, enabling smooth communication, ensuring alignment of all parties, and being able to work with cross-functional teams).
Let’s break these areas into more detail.
Understanding the business behind the data means constantly considering various levels of context for the data product you are working on and any related business processes:
Understanding the business behind the data means splitting it into three different levels with their focuses:
Understanding the business behind the data means constantly considering various levels of context for the data product you are working on and any related business processes:
Understanding the business behind the data means splitting it into three different levels with their focuses:
- High-level (industry of the company, industry of the client company, what is the main activity, current goals and objectives, what was done to achieve these goals/objectives).
- Mid-level (stakeholders and their needs, goals, and functions, what value they expect to be delivered, what benefits points, why the product is good for their business).
- Low-level (existing and current business processes directly related to the product you're working on, current state of the processes, level of automation, etc.).
Next, the BA should be aware of the environment, which brings us to the following questions: Where is the solution operating? What are the stakeholders? What is the data flow? Where is the data coming from? What are the constraints and limitations? How is it technically feasible to deliver value? Does the product need any external integrations? What external/internal tools does the product use? Does the product need an API?
With the help of this, the BA empowers decision-makers to make the right and informed decisions.
With the help of this, the BA empowers decision-makers to make the right and informed decisions.
The last point in understanding the context is understanding the data.
The BA should know: what each data point represents in the context of a particular business, what the related business processes are, and what value the product brings.
The BA should also be familiar with the data infrastructure and, in particular, with accessing and handling data, data sources, how the data is stored, how users can access it, and what tools can be used/provided depending on the data strategy.
One of the trends nowadays is “Self-service data,” which means users can access and interpret data themselves using AI and simple SQL. The idea behind this is that business users should be able to get data themselves and interpret it according to their needs.
The BA should know: what each data point represents in the context of a particular business, what the related business processes are, and what value the product brings.
The BA should also be familiar with the data infrastructure and, in particular, with accessing and handling data, data sources, how the data is stored, how users can access it, and what tools can be used/provided depending on the data strategy.
One of the trends nowadays is “Self-service data,” which means users can access and interpret data themselves using AI and simple SQL. The idea behind this is that business users should be able to get data themselves and interpret it according to their needs.
As a recommendation for BAs in Data Products: you may need to be more technical for data projects, including being able to work and interact with a dashboard yourself, having some knowledge of SQL to run queries, potentially using AI tools, etc. Although using AI is becoming increasingly popular among various industries and roles, making our lives a bit easier, BAs should always remember the privacy and security of the information they share with AI. If it’s confidential or not clear yet, it’s better not to share it and clarify with the regulatory/compliance rules, as well as with the policies of the company and the client’s company.
As another tip for BAs working on data products, it can often be useful to consider the testing approaches for your ultimate solution. Testing and quality assurance is a commonly known challenge for data products and projects, but thinking about how you are going to validate and check the final product might be helpful in defining your approach to work. This can essentially be looking at the product from the end user's or tester's perspective.
Last but not least, the area of focus for a BA is communication. Perhaps, the most challenging and exciting one; however, it brings even more risks in Data Products because of the various stakeholders and pool of roles involved. The BA should communicate with everybody: speak the business language with business stakeholders, speak the tech language with the development team, and often collaborate with data analysts, and data engineers to implement the code.
The BA should also ensure the involvement of the right people at the right time and build communication among various stakeholders in an efficient, consistent way. The frequency of communication should foster collaboration and enable smooth and efficient delivery.
The BA needs to involve stakeholders through constant communication, providing alignment and transparency on a project so that everybody is clear about the goals, value, and data itself.
The BA should also ensure the involvement of the right people at the right time and build communication among various stakeholders in an efficient, consistent way. The frequency of communication should foster collaboration and enable smooth and efficient delivery.
The BA needs to involve stakeholders through constant communication, providing alignment and transparency on a project so that everybody is clear about the goals, value, and data itself.
As a tip for BAs: be curious, flexible, ready to adapt, open to collaboration, and speak and understand the language of your stakeholders.
Helpful resources:
1. To organize the communication flow, you may use various techniques/diagrams to support communication such as Data Flow Diagrams and Sequence Diagrams. Remember that tailoring a specific diagram to the needs of stakeholders and a particular team is more important than following a particular notation.
2. Resources for BAs who are new to data products: self-study courses on Coursera and Udemy, such as Basics of Python.
1. To organize the communication flow, you may use various techniques/diagrams to support communication such as Data Flow Diagrams and Sequence Diagrams. Remember that tailoring a specific diagram to the needs of stakeholders and a particular team is more important than following a particular notation.
2. Resources for BAs who are new to data products: self-study courses on Coursera and Udemy, such as Basics of Python.
About the speaker and the article author
About the Speaker:
Anastasiya Pasiuk is a Senior Business Analyst at Tripledot Studios. She has a Master’s degree in International Economics, but has worked in IT for over 6 years now. Currently she’s working on Marketing and Data Products.
“I believe transparent and open communication is the key to delivering great products. As a BA, I strive to bring the perspectives of various stakeholders together to deliver value and achieve the business goals. In my free time, I can often be found watching films or reading about the media & entertainment industry. I am passionate about technology, great products and innovation and I always value the opportunity to meet new people”.
Anastasiya Pasiuk is a Senior Business Analyst at Tripledot Studios. She has a Master’s degree in International Economics, but has worked in IT for over 6 years now. Currently she’s working on Marketing and Data Products.
“I believe transparent and open communication is the key to delivering great products. As a BA, I strive to bring the perspectives of various stakeholders together to deliver value and achieve the business goals. In my free time, I can often be found watching films or reading about the media & entertainment industry. I am passionate about technology, great products and innovation and I always value the opportunity to meet new people”.
About the Author:
Hanna Kavalevich is a Business Analyst focused on FinTech and HealthTech domains. A lifelong learner, taking every opportunity to improve her skills and leverage career development. She also volunteers with the IIBA Poland Chapter, contributing to the growth of the BA community.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the webinar speaker and the author and may not reflect the perspectives of IIBA.
Stay tuned for more summaries and golden nuggets from our webinars, and don't forget to follow us for new webinars coming ahead to learn from fellow professionals.
Webinar Link
Eager to become a speaker? Visit this Link and join our speaker database to be part of this sharing journey!
Eager to become a speaker? Visit this Link and join our speaker database to be part of this sharing journey!
Join our newsletter to stay in the loop for all the newest updates: Click Here
Want to learn more about data? Get to know about Certification in Business Data Analytics: Follow this link
Follow Us
