Chapter 8
Uncovering and Analyzing Needs
In This Chapter
Understanding the differences between company and stakeholder needs
Finding the business problem and figuring out whether to solve it
Innovating solutions that speak to the business’s needs
Needs are things that someone wants but doesn’t have. At some point, a person with needs (or an organization with business needs) may decide that having a specific need unmet is unacceptable, and she’ll look for a solution to fill it — which is where you come in. This chapter walks you through how to figure out what those real needs are (not what the stakeholders just tell you they are) so that you can be a solution-provider, defining the right solutions and making them valuable.
Investigating the Needs
Although business analysts (BAs) help provide valuable solutions, their key goal is actually to help stakeholders meet their business needs. Investigating the real need becomes a critical activity for ensuring good business analysis because the decision to meet these needs becomes the requirement (for a refresher on requirements, flip to Chapter 5).
The thing is, stakeholders often express their needs in the form of a solution, so you must ...
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