These days, corporations are under exceedingly greater pressure to refine their processes, increase productivity and efficiency in their operations, and maximize the return on any investment they make – and quickly! 

With all of these expectations mounting, it comes as no surprise that when a company enlists the help of a Business Analyst to assist their team and take the lead on these somewhat daunting initiatives, they’re usually on the lookout for a candidate who comes with a rich, diverse background and a unique skill set that can be leveraged to satisfy a range of needs. 

Typically, these experts are seasoned Business Analysts who have been successfully performing in the role for three or more years. Ideally, they’ve worked with organizations from a few different industries, enabling them to deliver value to a broader scope of organizations and projects. 

In this article, I’m using the term Hybrid Business Analyst, but the titles of these talented BA’s can vary, and you might otherwise see them referred to as Flexible Business Analyst, Lead Business Analyst, and Enterprise Business Analyst. Also for the purposes of this article, I’m using the viewpoint of a Hybrid Business Analyst who is taking a more traditional approach.

Nonetheless, here are some of the common responsibilities of a Hybrid Business Analyst:

• Budget planning
• Understanding business requirements
• Facilitating meetings
• Elaboration of project details
• Team building
• Supporting project implementation

Let’s explore these responsibilities in detail to illustrate what you would often be responsible for in a Hybrid Business Analyst role. 

Budget Planning

Determining the estimated cost of a project is crucial for planning purposes, but also to validate that there is value in solving the problem. This includes going over all the current resources the company has at hand, the anticipated costs of new software or systems, and understanding what else is required in order to achieve project goals. 

Having a clear budget helps provide financial clarity from the get-go and helps avoid monetary problems late in a project.

Understanding Business Requirements

Hybrid Business Analysts need to understand what is expected of them with regard to the business’s goals and objectives. As a professional analyst, you should fully understand business requirements elicited from project stakeholders enough that you can successfully identify issues and facilitate the implementation of their vision with an effective solution.

Sometimes, stakeholders themselves are unclear about what their needs are. As a result, Business Analysts help all those involved in the project define goals and expectations. BA’s elicit information and perform the needed steps and actions to achieve the value of the transformation. 

Business Analysts are team leaders who clarify and refine these goals and prioritize work so that their other project team members are well enabled to do their work. You can think of the Hybrid Business Analyst as the quarterback of organizational change.

As a result, Hybrid Business Analysts often regularly attend meetings with stakeholders to make sure everyone gains a shared understanding of the business requirements as they are identified and refined. 

Facilitating Meetings

You can expect to give many presentations and facilitate many meetings throughout your career as a Business Analyst. Part of being a team leader means that you must impart learnings and knowledge to your teammates. This is often done in a group meeting setting.

Business Analysts also facilitate meetings to elicit information, solve problems, provide updates, and much more. In these meetings, you will often be leading a conversation with, or presenting complex information to, executives and senior managers. So getting comfortable speaking in front of people is crucial.

Elaboration of Project Details

Another important obligation of the Business Analyst is to make sure that everyone on the team is clear about their roles and responsibilities within the project. If team members do not know what is expected of them, their chance of meeting those expectations are slim.

But beyond basic responsibility mapping, you also must facilitate information between different subsets of stakeholders within the project. This collaboration allows each group of stakeholders to understand the changes that are being considered and how it would affect each team. A final solution is often only successful when all team members have a clear and shared understanding of the important project details. 

Team Building

While the average Business Analyst is not often expected to build and develop a project team, some organizations are now asking the Hybrid Business Analyst to do just that. This most often occurs when the Hybrid BA is also leading the project without a Project Manager. 

While this most often means ensuring the team has the necessary tools and skills to perform in their roles, in some cases this includes also overseeing the hiring process and being directly involved in interviewing and recruiting suitable candidates to fill up empty positions. 

Supporting Project Implementation

Business Analysts are expected to commit to a project and see it through from start to finish. However, most typical Business Analysts are not directly involved in the implementation process. Still, because they hold such an important role in enabling and facilitating the change, Hybrid Business Analysts are often naturally included within the implementation cycle. 

Their involvement can include taking care of any problems that reveal themselves during the implementation and addressing additional or changed needs that may arise as a result. In addition, Business Analysts who are also a bit technical in nature may participate in or facilitate testing to ensure the solution appropriately meets the goals and objectives set forth.

Towards the end of the implementation, BAs will also often find themselves helping with the rollout of the new solution including the training of stakeholders and creating documentation. 

To Wrap Things Up

As you can see, there are many crucial responsibilities a Hybrid Business Analyst can have with regard to project execution, implementation, and ultimately its success. Often when a project is short on key personnel, such as project managers and quality assurance professionals, the Hybrid Business Analyst is brought in to help facilitate these changes to a successful completion.

– Written by Jeremy Aschenbrenner, The BA Guide