Written by Giorgos Sioutzos on August 11, 2022
Being creative may seem contradictory to an analyst structured approach to everyday tasks but this is far away from truth. Creativity is something required in every aspect of our life. Although, a deterministic approach is synonymous to analysis and decisions are being made using careful research, still there is much room for creativity.
In the business analysis field, the aim of developing creativity as a skill is to provide value to the whole business analysis lifecycle and to contribute not only to better outputs but also to significant outcomes.
Below are just some occasions when creativity can be required from a business analyst:
Creativity is required in finding the best way to elicit the actual business needs. You may modify and tailor an elicitation technique in order to achieve the most accurate and helpful results from elicitation activities. A creative business analyst will pose “clever” questions in order to better understand the customer. Will continuously modify predefined techniques in order to tailor them in accordance with the context and the special needs of the stakeholders.
In case there is not a predefined product that will be used, and the solution is bult from the scratch, creativity is detrimental in order to find feasibly solutions that will provide value to the end users.
usiness analysts advocate for the business while communicating what can be achieved with available technology. They way business analyst will transfer the information from one side to another requires creativity. Providing a bridge between technical and business viewpoints is sometimes challenging. Unorthodox ways of presentation and communication of the information may be the key.
Drawing out additional meaning from the elicitation results requires creativity resulting from a creative dispute mindset. Asking what the actual need of the customer is and how might the end user has defined the success imply sometimes filling information gaps using creative thinking.
Creativity skills can be learned and improved throughout professional life. What you first need is a desire to explore your unique creativity and a spirit of curiosity. Just ask yourself and try to come up with creative ideas in your everyday tasks. The most important is to be critical against conventional wisdom and try always to take into consideration the context in order to tailor and use wisely the conventional wisdom.