Essential Soft Skills
The effective analyst needs skills to complement their requirements elicitation, analysis, documentation, management and modelling skills. Examples are shown below.
- The ability to make confident and competent presentations is a must.
- Interviewing is a primary technique for eliciting requirements and for selecting new team members.
- Workshops are recognised as another important technique for requirements elicitation.
- Reports that are going to be read need to be brief and to the point.
- Meetings, potential wasters of time and resources, need to be organised and structured to deliver benefit.
- Team leading skills: your team may be fashioned from groups from mixed priorities, loyalties and reporting lines
- Motivation skills: It's not all plain sailing. Keeping the teams motivated is a skill you cannot afford to be without.
- Preparing a business case: the analyst may contribute to this critical function.
- Managing change: projects usually involve change. Understand what's involved. Be prepared. Be proactive.
Capiro offers support in all of the above. This support can take a number of forms:
- Training: This is probably the appropriate start point for most individuals.
- Coaching and Mentoring: Particularly relevant to those seeking to advance their presentation skills.
- Direct participation in a project: Capiro staff join the project to support, for instance, workshops and interviews.