And by "THAT" I mean the time of year when I am forced to undergo an annual peer-, self- and supervisor/manager performance review.
On top of which, I have been asked to perform a peer review of a co-worker's business analysis artifacts.
All of which has brought back with emphasis the series of posts that I started last year about becoming a better business analyst.
I have had occasion this year (more so than most) to notice when someone's skill is not quite up to par, and now that I find myself needing to perform a formal self-review, here is my feedback about how I actually rank when looking at those underlying skills (as identified in the BABOK® Guide, Version 2.0) that all business analysts should have.
(approximately one hour later)
*blush*
Well. I wasn't actually expecting this. Out of a possible 5, with 5 being very strong and 1 being very weak, I have determined that I am a very strong business analyst. Not perfect, mind you, but very strong.
And the slightly more detailed self-assessment results are as follows:
It is important to note that while the majority of the underlying competencies identified by the BABOK are transferable, if the people I work with, the solution I am working on, the organization I work for, or the industry I work in were to change, that would have a temporary impact on my overall assessment.
I am relatively less stressed than I was before about my actual review meeting happening on Thursday. Depending on the outcome of that meeting, I may or may not write a follow-up post. There are some things that I KNOW are going to come out in that meeting, and I only got away with avoiding them in my self-assessment because there was no category for "shows up for work on time every day, or even most days" in the BABOK - they were more concerned about whether or not my tasks are completed on time. Which they are, most of the time.
Moving on, and looking forward to this next year, here are the things that I believe I need to work on:
- Being more detailed and analytical about my decision-making and problem-solving processes. Some of my lowest scores were around the ability to assess the decisions made based on the processes used to make those decisions. Addressing this should also help me articulate more clearly the reason for a decision, which was something else I felt could use improvement.
- Being more organized and efficient. This is something that has been highlighted for me over the last few months, when I have gone from being comfortably about 70% busy to overwhelmingly about 110% busy almost overnight, and found myself almost daily stopping by my project manager's desk to confirm that she and I were on the same page about my current priorities. Another thing that highlighted that were when my update in a weekly status meeting hadn't changed over the course of a few weeks because items that were low on the priority list never got addressed. That's not really acceptable for someone who is in a senior business analyst role, in my opinion.
- My level of understanding of how businesses operate in general could use some improvement, but I'm not very clear on what impact this has on my ability to perform as a business analyst, and I am very uninterested in learning anything more than I already know about human resources and finance, as examples.
- And while I have been working in the IT for Healthcare industry for 10 years now, I could still learn more about the healthcare side of it, and keep a better touch on the pulse of what is new and exciting in this field.
- Being able to communicate in critical situations without inducing panic is another skill that could be further developed, along with presentations that are spun to the positive side.
- And lastly, my negotiation skills could always use work.
<< Becoming a better business Analyst - Part 2
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