Business Analysis and getting dressed: a worn-out metaphor

BA’s!  As you prep for that next interview, dress carefully.  Just as a book can be read by its cover, employers can judge Business Analysts by their clothing. You disagree?  Consider any of these button-down solid similes:

1. Product is more important than process.   No one cares which arm first goes into which sleeve; just don’t mix them up (that could be uncomfortable).  Likewise, your methodology will attract less management interest than the thorough, accurate functional requirements that you list.
   
2. Some things are more essential than others.  Wear shoes to your interview, but that lapel pin? – maybe/maybe not.  And when you get the job, your planning and scripting of User Acceptance Tests will bear more weight than that Smoke Test, which maybe doesn’t need a 50-page document.
   
3. What you do depends on where you are going.  Headed to the beach?  Yeah, business casual would be overkill.  Deploying a new reservation system for a billion-dollar hotel chain?  You may need to churn out level 1 and level 2 support docs first.
   
4. Ultimately, someone notices if you aren’t careful.  Dang!, that shirt or blouse is buttoned wrong.  Shoot!, didn’t think that a Service-Level Agreement would be necessary with the good folks hosting our databases.
   
5. You get to make a lot of choices.  Solid or pin-stripe; charcoal or navy:  all are good.  Page numbers left, right or center?  Don’t stress on the decision.
6. One choice impacts the next.  Oh-oh; now you’ve done it.  You’ve captured attention with those plaids and stripes.  Well, try redirecting their gaze over to that test plan, where every approved new function has become a tested new function.
   
7. It takes resources.  You won’t get the job if all of your professional attire is in the wash.  Users won’t like the solution you designed unless you write-up data and business rule requirements along with those functional requirements.  Depending on scope and complexity, you may need to consult a Data Architect or DBA… maybe both.
8. Check the weather before you begin.  Don’t let Interview Day become a Bad Hair Day, for want of an umbrella.  If the Coders all use UML and Object-Oriented Programming, you may have to churn out a Use Case or two, along with that wireframe mock-up.
9. A second set of eyes is good.  I hate it when asked, “Did your mother dress you funny today?” or when a helpful hand fusses with my shirt collar just as the meeting begins.  It is no less awkward to explain why so many requirements were missed in this release.
   
10. Don’t dawdle or you’ll be late.  If you believe “there is always room for improvement”, also remember that “time marches on”.  Get to the interview on time, and deliver that product on schedule.