Business Analysts...

Does this sound familiar:

• Your company hasn't paid for you to attend a training event in two or more years, yet expects you to stay current in your field. 
  
• Your senior management always seems to release software even though you have worked hard to find problems that are still not fixed. 
  
  
• No matter how much you try, you still fail to capture and document important user requirements.
  
  
• You are asked to help with user acceptance testing, but you don't have an effective process in how to perform UAT. 
  
  
• You know you're capable of doing far more than you are allowed to do, but you never get the chance.
  
  
• You've "lost that lovin' feeling" for your career. What used to be exciting to you is now a long, hard slog. You hate to get up in the morning and find yourself evnying your dog or cat because all they have to do is lie there. You recognize you have all the signs and symptoms of a major burnout, but it doesn't make sense. This is your dream, right? How can you be burning out living your dream?

If any of these sound like you, you're not alone. In fact, the sad, unfortunate truth is you're probably in the majority of testers.

Do YOU know why business analysts struggle?

The speed of business is getting faster and faster. Just when you think you understand how the business operates and what people desire in a technical solution, the needs change.

Then there's the issue of knowing how to write a good requirement. It's easy to spot a bad requirement, but much more difficult to write a good one!

Some people in management think that business analysts are automatically good testers. I believe business analysts can be good testers if they understand how to test. Software testing and business analysis are different skills, yet related in some ways.

Just dealing with one of these challenges can keep you awake at night. But combined, these challenges form a toxic potion that can take its toll on you in a short time.

Secret #1 - No matter how much people try to avoid documenting requirements, you still need to understand and document user needs in the form of requirements.

So, why are requirements so important?

QUESTION: If you can't describe something, how can it be built or tested? For the past 20 years, several new software development approaches have tried to reduce or eliminate the need for user requirements. Guess what?

After the dust had settled from people trying to apply theoretical approaches to real-world projects, people realized in every case that solid requirements are needed for success. However, before you can have good requirements, you must be able to communicate as an organization and team.

So, who are the business analysts that really get ahead in their companies? It's the people who add value to an organization. When you add value, you energize your career and take charge of your life!

If you are stuck in your career and feel the loss of passion for your career, you are not alone. It has happened to so many people, including me.

I’m Randy Rice, and I was once a frustrated software tester and test manager. I had no knowledge of what worked or didn't work in software testing, no training, no tools, no idea of how the software was suppossed to work and very little time to perform testing. I was being asked to find all the defects in the software at our company, but given very little budget and no authority. 

“How do other people do it?” I would go to the free meetings at my local QA chapter and hear people talk about the measurement programs and process improvement models and wonder, “This all sounds great, but they are at Level 5, while I'm firmly at Level 0! What’s the best thing (or things) I can do right now to make a difference?”

Sound familiar? Don’t blame yourself. Nobody said it would be easy, but it doesn’t have to be so hard, either.

One day while listening to a self-improvement program, I heard something that changed my life!

Secret #2 - "If you spend 30 minutes a day reading or listening to any topic, in 5 years, you'll be an expert on that topic."

So, I started reading everything I could get my hands on about software quality, software requirements and software testing. Believe it or not, even after 13 years as a software developer I had never once seen a functional requirement. I had to go to a university library to see an example! By the way, at that time there were only five books available on software testing!

However, I kept at it and five years later I was getting my feet on the ground as an independent software testing consultant. Now, I have written over 50 courses on software testing and software quality so people like you can profit from my mistakes and my collection of knowledge over the years.

Secret #3 - Being recognized as a resident expert in your organization 
adds value to your career and to your company!

You know you’re a resident expert when…

• The number of projects you take on and your inspiration to work on them is in perfect balance.

• You are sought after for your advice - and your advice is followed!

• You have high credibility - people trust you.

• You command respect from your peers and from senior management.

• You are knowledgeable but don't act like a "know-it-all".

This entire site exists to help people like you build your skills and advance your career so you can be successful in building better software. Although I have many free resources on this site, such as articles, podcasts, narrated conference presentations and The Software Quality Advisor Newsletter, I also offer ways to go much deeper such as my very popular and affordable e-learning courses!

If you’ve already reached your potential – and you’re living a highly successful life of significance – then great. Congratulations. We need people like you to be mentors!

But if you’re ready to get unstuck, become a resident expert, advance your career, stand out from the crowd and change the habits that got you where you are, don’t stop now.

I have been working the past five years experiementing (and, yes, testing!) to see what makes e-learning effective. I have arrived at a combination of ways to deliver ten of my most popular courses PLUS engage with you in the learning process.

• Train at your convenience. If you have to juggle work and training, this gives you the option to spend a little time on a regular basis for training without sacrificing your productivity.
  
• No travel. Forget airport security, bad airport food, and hard hotel beds. Relax and spend time with your family and friends.
  
• You can repeat lessons. In a live class, you get one chance to hear something. In our online classes, you can repeat the lessons as many times as you like. In fact, we give you a full year of access to the course. For my certication prep course, you get access for one year or until you pass, whichever is longest!
  
• Consistent quality - You know exactly who the trainer is and what they are going to say.
  
• Geographic coverage - You can train people around the world at the same time without huge time and expense commitments.
  
• Interactivity - You have e-mail and forum access to interact with the instructor and other students. We know there is no substitute for the human touch, but we try to get as close as possible with e-mail, forums and chat sessions.
  
• High value - The cost is less than either a public course or an in-house course. Our team prices allow you to train your entire team at a very attractive rate.
  
• It's a great way to integrate new team members. This is true just-in-time training!
  
• It's a great way to build your team. Train as a team, discuss as a team and improve as a team.
  
• Certification Preparation - If you are preparing for certification exams, the basic training course is a great primer.
  
• Continuing Education - If you already have a testing certification and need Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits, online training can allow you to get those credits right away - you don't have to wait months for a class to come to your city. (Of course, you will need to verify with your certification provider if our training is accepted. QAI does accept it for CPE credits.)
  
• Quizes and feedback - There are exams at the end of each module to help you assess your learning. You get instant feedback on each question. You can also review the quiz to see the correct answers versus your answers.
  
• There are also fun training games throughout the modules to help you reinforce your knowledge.

Compare the Costs

And, this is just for one person!  Think about these costs for a team of five!

If you do the math, you'll see the benefits add up fast. With the money you save, you can buy a test tool, buy some books, hire an assistant...

We took care to try to deliver a learning experience as close as possible without being there in person. Here's what you will experience:

Deliverables:

• Access to the course for ONE FULL YEAR!
  
• A complete set of course notes in Adobe format, which includes pictures of all slides, checklists, examples and templates. These are the same materials that students get in our live courses.
  
• Streaming slide show presentations of each module in Flash shockwave movies which allows you to advance or review the presentation to see specific slides. This slide show is narrated by Randy Rice, just like he would in a physical class, except without all of his bad jokes.
  
• Exercises in each module, with sample solutions with which to compare your solutions. There are links that allow you to try your test cases on an sample application.
  
• Templates and examples in electronic format.
  
• Streaming video clips of supplemental topics, such as taking a tour of a test lab, how to perform regression testing, etc.
  
• Streaming video demonstration of screen video of tests being performed.
  
• Access to the instructor via e-mail, chat sessions, and message boards.
  
• Access to other students to share experiences via chat rooms and message boards.
  
• Certificate of completion upon completion of the course and submission of your evaluation.

The courses are designed to be viewed by people at all connection speeds from dial-up to DSL and high-speed cable modem. However, before registering and paying, please view the demos first to make sure you have the technical compatibility to access the course.

The course uses an online learning management system (LMS) called Moodle. This full-featured LMS provides many features and is easy to use. The whole idea about Moodle is that you can learn at your own page, interact with others and explore the topics as you like. You are not forced to follow any particular order.

When you register and pay using my secure shopping cart (we accept VISA, MasterCard and American Express), you will get a confirmation e-mail within 10 minutes which contains a link to download the access passwords and instructions. So, you can start right away!

Ready?  Here are the prices, demos and outlines. Just click the "add to cart" button to register, pay and get started right away..

(For team pricing, see the e-learning page)

Course Name	CPU Credits (Hours of Presentation plus Exercises)			Cost	Register
Introduction to RCS Online Training				Free	Click here to view.
Gathering, Documenting and Testing User Requirements	11	Outline	Free Demo	$349 per person	Add to cart
Structured User Acceptance Testing (Full Version)	17	Outline	Free Demo	$570 per person	Add to cart
Structured User Acceptance Testing (Fast Track Version)	9	Outline	Free Demo	$349 per person	Add to cart
User-Oriented Methods for Delivering Quality Software	17	Outline	Free Demo	$395 per person	Add to cart
A Process for Deliverable Reviews	4	Outline	Free Demo	$89 per person	Add to cart
Applying IEEE Standard 12207 for Software Life Cycles	8	Outline	Free Demo	$89 per person	Add to cart

My guarantee

If you are dissatisfied with the course, just let me know before your third session login and we will refund all of your registration fee or give you credit toward another online course - your choice. No hassle. No risk.

But How Effective is the Training?

I'll be the first to admit I love meeting people and training in a live classroom. At first, I was very skeptical that this would even work at all. In fact, I didn't even want to do all this work to create this environment. Then on 9/11 our world changed.

I was supposed to be conducting training across the street from the World Trade Center in New York City on that day, but the class had cancelled a few weeks prior. However, after that day companies placed their employees on travel restrictions, conferences were cancelled or were poorly attended and basically the public training business was bad for about nine months.  That all caused me to drastically reconsider the possibility of effective web-based training.

While there has been scholarly research on the question of e-learning effectiveness, I'll let some of our past participants give you their comments:

Still Have Questions?

Just check the Frequently Asked Questions page. If you don't see an answer to your question, just contact me!

Still not sure, but want to start building your skills?

The one thing you don't want to do is wait and do nothing!

Waiting until next week, next month, next year does nothing to move you closer to your goals. Just think of what you want your next performance review to look like. Do you want it to show that you have taken your skills to a new level (and get a raise or promotion)...or, do you want to maintain (and hopefully not get worse) the current levels of performance?

Even if your skills are already good, remember that the very best performers are always working to be better!

Fill in your name and email address to get your FREE BA Skill Building Packet. Start on your journey to becoming a  resident expert in business analysis today!

All materials on this site copyright 1996 - 2008, Rice Consulting Services, Inc.

Rice Consulting Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 892003
Oklahoma City, OK  73189
405-691-8075