Welcome to Business Analysis Live.
I'm your host, Susan Moore, community engagement manager
with the International Institute of Business Analysis.
I explore topics with industry guests about the work of
business analysis professionals and how their work helps
organizations achieve better outcomes.
And Yep, we take your questions too.
Thanks for listening. Let's get started.
We are going to take a look back at some of our top 2025
episodes. You know, we've been doing this
podcast now for four years and what started out as a two person
regular conversation about business analysis topics and
techniques has expanded into incredible conversations about
all kinds of topics with people from all over our business
analysis community. And during that time, I have had
the pleasure of speaking to some of our listeners out there who
have really appreciated the authenticity and the honesty of
these conversations. It is clear that this podcast is
a way for you to be able to learn and to connect with others
that do what you do. So first, I want to thank you
all for sharing your thoughts and most importantly, your
questions. That's what makes this business
analysis live over the years. And I hope that you will like
subscribe and follow so that you can see more new episodes coming
to you soon. This year was an extra special
one because we reached a major milestone, 100 episodes.
And Laura Patton, speaker, author, and LinkedIn learning
instructor, join me for that episode on working with project
managers. We said some of the things that
you're probably thinking about working with project managers,
but we focused on how to collaborate with them better.
As we wrap up Season 4 today, reflect how far we've come.
It's the perfect time to look back at the conversations that
made the biggest impacts with you.
These episodes resonated with so many of you in the business
Analysis community. So let's dive into the top five
episodes of 2025, and I'll share with you what I think made them
stand out. Number five of our top five was
the episode What Business Analysis Professionals Should
Know About Agile. Kent McDonald was our guest for
this conversation, and what I always appreciate about Kent is
that we have no nonsense discussions that challenge
traditional thinking about business analysis.
This episode definitely lived up to that.
As business analysis professionals, we often let our
organizations define our work based on their interpretation of
agile, rather than stepping up to advocate for our work in
those environments. Kent had some great insights on
what that looks like, especially when it comes to understanding
how we can talk about value in an environment where speed is
likely the driving force behind what gets worked.
My view on business values, it's sort of like obscenity.
It's kind of one of those you'll know it when you see it, but
it's very fuzzy. So it's not very helpful for
people that are trying to figure out, well, how do I use that to
know whether to make decisions or not.
And what I have found again is it's going back to that idea of
understanding how your organization makes money and
spends money and how you're contributing to that and
effectively that when you're making decisions about what
should we do on this thing related to our understanding of
that and understanding related to understanding how our
organization tries to help our customers solve problems.
Tie that tie in is kind of where business value is really meant
to be, but I found that if you continue to use the word
business value, it still keeps that loosey goosey thing.
So adopting another idea from product management space, Matt
Lemay recently came out with a book called Impact First Product
Teams, which also he, he and they're basically said is that
if you're working on a team and you can't associate what you're
doing directly to again, how the organization's making or
spending money, you could be in problem.
So don't worry about are you doing things the right way?
Worry about are we doing things that help us drive impact?
Kent reminded us that our focus should be on impact, connecting
what we do to how the organization makes or spends its
money. It's a powerful shift in
thinking for business analysis professionals working in agile
environments #4 on our list is how a framework transforms your
business analysis. Laura Brandenburg was my guest
for this episode. And if you think that just
showing up and writing requirements is your job, you
might be missing out on opportunities to take an active
role in the work you do. More importantly, using a
framework can completely change how you show up for your
stakeholders. Why should I have an approach if
I've got a project manager and a agile like?
Isn't that all I need? I mean, we need to understand
where we fit into those approaches for sure.
Also part of what I see though with BA is who bring an approach
which could be the stages they need to go through the set of
deliverables that they need to create.
It enhances their credibility. So you're coming as opposed to
what do you need me to do? The the alternative is here are
some practices that I think would be really supportive of
this project. How is this going to fit in with
what everyone else is doing, right?
So you're bringing those to the practice versus asking for, you
know, guidance. It means that you are being
proactive and strategic and kind of guiding the BA piece, which
the B piece is often the very first piece.
In some cases, it really should even be before the project
manager starts working through things, right?
It's the value, it's the why are we doing this?
And so being strategic and proactive versus reactive and
scrambling is another big reason why.
And then another thing that I see is that, you know, often we
are put on projects and deadlines are set for us, right?
Like, OK, or just we're asked for when can the requirements be
done or they need to be done in two weeks or three months or
whatever that timeline might be. And that is not like coming up
with a plan and a practice and a way to guide the approach also
allows you to say, here's what needs to be done, here's who I
need involved, Here's what I think it will take from a time
and resource perspective and really help negotiate some of
those deadline deadlines. And a value focused, structured
way as opposed to that doesn't seem like enough time, right?
Which is never a great way to react to a deadline like that.
Laura's point really drives home the idea that frameworks aren't
just about structure, they're about confidence and influence.
When you lead with an approach, you become a strategic partner
who can guide the work. Coming in at #3 is AI and the
future of business analysis roles.
For this episode, I was joined by Deirdre Karen, who is a
business architect and an entrepreneur.
You may know her from Agra Insights, who is an early
adopter of AI and explored how it could shape the work of
business analysis. In fact, she uses AI in business
analysis to transform her own business.
This was one of the most detailed conversations I've had
on the subject of AI to date, and we really dug into how AI is
changing our profession. Deirdre shared a perspective
that really stood out. It's not AI that we should fear
will take our jobs. It's our own limitations that
put us at risk. Here's a clip where she explains
what she means. The importance of this is
understanding that your role is at risk.
If you don't understand how to learn and how to adapt to the
environment that's coming. And but on the other hand, if
you're a really good analyst, you are essentially going to be
able to speak both to humans and to AI.
Deirdre reminds us that we need to keep evolving our skills to
stay relevant. I always say that business
analysts are professional learners, and that applies to
our own development too. Staying curious, embracing new
technologies and understanding how they impact our work is what
will keep us ahead of the curve. One of the things that I enjoy
is when I have colleagues that agree to join me in front of the
camera. And this year, you got to meet
three of my IIBA colleagues. Coquetzo Chaba, our former
partner manager in South Africa and proud new dad was one of
them. Coquetzo joined me as a guest
for our episode on navigating a strategy Change.
If you've ever met him, you know he brings energy and charm to
every conversation. We will miss him.
Fabricio Laguna, the Brazilian BA but so much more, joined me
just a few months ago for our episode on the Outcome Driven
Mindset. He just recently published this
book with IIBA Publishing called Please Hold the Power of the
Outcome Driven Mindset, where we talked about putting outcomes
ahead of outputs in his very charming but educational way of
making that point. And then the other colleague
that you met is Tyler Kenny. He's one of our product
managers. Tyler was involved in updates to
the most recent version of the Business Analysis Standard,
which is available as a free download, as well as updates to
the ECBA exam, which just launched in July of this year.
His episode was our second most popular episode of 2025 on the
new standard in Business Analysis.
In this episode, we talked about the latest edition of the
standard that rolled out in early 2025.
The standard has been around for several years now, but with this
edition, its purpose and focus has begun to change.
Tyler describes how this version is no longer just a summary of
the Bablock guide, it's actually becoming something more
practical and strategic, and it is designed for specific
audiences. It's not a replacement for the
Bablock Guide. It's a natural evolution, like I
said earlier, like it's the Bablock Guide is a lot of
people's first entry into business analysis and it's 500
pages. It's pretty hefty to kind of
have that be the welcome person at the door.
So the standard is intended to kind of be like the appetizer
while you wait for the main course, and some people may not
need the main course. The Babak Guide is a 500 page
document that is a deep dive research into how business
analysis is conducted at a very not granular but a detailed
level of applying these practices in certain contexts
and situations. Whereas what we're focused on,
like you said, the organizational leaders, the
managers, people who are trying to talk about business analysis
and socialize it, maybe you're just getting started.
You might not necessarily need the 500 pages.
So what originally started as kind of a summary of the
critical information that was in the Bible guide is now kind of
taking on a life of its own where instead of being the
purpose of just summarization of 500 down to 60, it then becomes,
OK, well, what do we do with this critical information and
how do we talk about it and how do we position it and how do we
leverage to actually create the outcomes?
Tyler's explanation shows how the standard has become more
than just a resource for anyone who is helping shape outcomes
for their organizations. I'm hoping to have Tyler back
for future episodes, if for no other reason to see what new
look he rolls out. And our number one episode of
2025, Well, it was our episode on how to ask good questions and
Jamie Champagne, trainer, author and LinkedIn learning instructor
join me for that episode. And we had a really fun
conversation about asking questions.
That's the basis for a lot of the work that we do, which means
we might feel a little bit of pressure about getting a the
perfect question. But Jamie thinks we might be
focused on the wrong thing. Maybe we should define what we
mean by a good question because maybe it's not what folks think.
It is. What?
How do you define a good question?
Sure, Susan. And So what I want to do is
actually kind of step back for that answer is the pressure we
put upon ourselves to get the good answer, to get the answer
you're seeking. So I want to flip it backwards
instead of worrying about a good answer like is that right?
Is that what we should do? It's those good questions that
see, I instantly went to. So good question is about does
it help you validate what the team or the group is trying to
achieve? Does a good question get
clarity? Does it get confirmation?
Does it get agreement? You know those pieces.
It's kind of not so much what the answer is, but does your
good question drive the action needed?
How about that for a definition, Susan?
A good question drives the forward momentum.
Jamie reminds us in this episode that good questions invite
exploration and conversation. When we focus on getting people
to talk, the right questions just naturally follow.
And that's a wrap on our Best of Business Analysis Live for 2025
episode. From frameworks to agile, from
AI to business analysis standard and the art of asking great
questions, these conversations remind us why business analysis
is such a dynamic profession. Season 4 has been full of these
kinds of interesting conversations, and I want to
thank you for being part of this journey.
Your engagement and feedback are what make this community really
special. So do you have ideas for topics
you'd like to see? Well, e-mail us at Live at
iiba.org. We'd love to hear what you want
to know more about. That's it.
As we look to 2026, we'll continue exploring topics that
matter the most to you and bringing in voices that
challenge and inspire. Thanks for joining me today, and
I'll see you in the new year for Season 5 of Business Analysis
Live. Bye bye.
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