Separating Analysis from Design

"Business Analysis is about thinking what your solution should do, while Design is about how to make it happen using the technology available. Don't ever combine the two - you save nothing."

Looking at what business objectives you are trying to satisfy before leaping into the technology enables you to use the technology wisely, manage scope and cut costs, producing systems which work for your clients.

It’s easy to concentrate on the technical features of any project and lose sight of the reason for its existence. Every project exists to solve a problem. Either what you have doesn’t work well enough and needs improving, or you need to invent something totally new. After all, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Too often the pressures of deadlines and budgets lead us to bypass the important process of analysing business needs, and we leap straight into the technology. But how often do we find that the system doesn’t do exactly what’s required. Users are obliged to use workarounds, reducing some of the benefits we were supposed to provide which also affects our credibility. How often do we need to invest extra time and expense in providing Version 2 (and 3 and 4 and …), when some careful work might have exposed the real needs earlier?

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