What it means to be a System or Business Analyst (for me):<br><br><i>Welcome ...

Jefferey Cave - 2014-04-27 10:05:12-0400 - Updated: 2014-04-27 10:05:26-0400

What it means to be a System or Business Analyst (for me):

Welcome to your new position. Staff, with years of experience and training, in this specialized field, have been frigging things up. You have two weeks to be to to speed, and some idea of how to keep them from doing that.

Here are some notes scribbled on the back of a cocktail napkin; I've given your phone number out, it should start ringing any minute.

Jeff McDonald - 2014-04-27 10:21:20-0400

That pretty much sums it up

Jefferey Cave - 2014-04-27 11:52:07-0400

That's part of what I love about it, keeps things interesting ;)

I was trying to explain this to a young guy I'd taken under my wing a few years back (fresh out of high school). He wondered what was so special about the "Computer Stuff" that I did.

This is the answer I wished I'd given him (I was close, but this is better)

Jeff McDonald - 2014-04-27 12:15:53-0400

I'd change it a bit: "you have two weeks to be up to speed, come up with a plan to fix what they've done, and have some idea how to keep them from doing it again. Also, 90% of the notes on the napkins are not related to the work they've done, and the remaining 10% only cover about 1% of the solutions they've implemented without consulting IT. (that we're aware of) :-)