Business Analyst's Mentor Book: With Best Practice Business Analysis Techniques and Software Requirements Management Tips (Ba-works Inspiring) Paperback – July 22, 2013

This is an amazing book to guide and help new or developing BAs and also help shape the dynamic of the PM BA relationship on projects. I can tell it is written from a strong project organization, so there are points and areas that need to be read from the typical strong PMI lens if you want to apply the tips to an agile organization. Overall, great read. It has about 20 sections/topics that are written on for 3-5 pages each.

This book provides a significant amount of reasoning as to the why and what of a BA's role; informative in that sense, but not so much if you are looking for the how. You will not see any diagrams/templates, only references to the artifacts mainly used. However, this book really clarifies the role of a BA both within an organization as well as on a project team. Simple and succinct read for those new to the field.

author gets it! subtlety of VA role and value in this go agile world. development teams will build what they want vs what the client wants without a BA doing the analysis to understand and guide the requirements. product owners see as is or a costly guilded to be.the author provides clear and actionable ideas to mentor BAs. Best $10 I've spent in a long while.

almost too basic... if you want a lengthy job description then buy this..

I found the book to be a great refresher for those of us who have been around the block more the once. The book is a quick and easy read. I think the book would also be great resource for someone considering to become a BA. It would give you an overview of some of the expectations of the position.

It's clear that author has much experience in field of SDLC. He made many valid points in book. Non of them was a surprise, because his view is coherent with views of other experts or standards like BABOK.So why only 4 stars? Two reasons.First one is lack of any references or sources of statements. Book is full of statements like "Business analyst spend on average 40 percent of their time for testing-related activities." I wonder how Emrach is so sure about that? I would like to have sources on which author based such statements.Second reason is less tangible. Book is rather short, and that's a good thing, but I'm afraid that for someone who is less experienced many things could be still unclear. The book lacks explanations why something should be done in particular way. I consider myself as an expert and those things are obvious for me, but others can have hard time connecting the dots.This introduction brings me to the harsh conclusion that you will not find anything that hasn't been said or written elsewhere in that book.That's why only 4 stars.Nevertheless this is still good book that summarizes many aspects of BA work in one place. Even for experts, who can refresh memory a little bit, and confirm that their methods and views are still valid.

Excellent book for students. I'm teaching a requirements analysis course and this book has some really great resource material. For example, the information in the differences between a business analyst, a requirements analyst and a systems analyst is really clear and makes total sense. This is written at a very accessible level and has practical advice. Bravo!

This was a great thumbnail summary of many of the aspects of the Business Analyst job scope, with helpful philosophical asides thrown in. I bought it as an ice-breaker for Software Requirements (3rd Edition) by Karl Wiegers and Joy Beatty, and it served that purpose admirably.