Recently I wrote a Paper on the overall state of craftsmanship that was geared more for public consumption instead of any particular industry. In my way of thinking, craftsmanship is a universal concept that touches all businesses, regardless if they are service or product related. This led to a flurry of e-mails to me questioning how it pertains to certain kinds of work, such as Business Systems Analysis (BSA) that, of course, is applicable but I wonder whether we have truly realized craftsmanship in this subject.
From the beginning, let Me say that BSA is not a new idea and has been with us for quite a long time, actually predating the modern computer age of the 20th century. Prior to this, companies had formal Systems & Procedures departments with analysts focusing on streamlining business processes and mostly using manual and paper procedures. As tabulating and other office equipment emerged, they were accountable for their integration into the company. However, as computers were introduced, a new role was invented that greatly influenced the future of analysts, specifically developers. Slowly but surely analysts have been substituted by developers.
From the end of the Structured Programming/CASE mania of the 1980’s and 90’s, BSA was phased out almost to the verge of extinction. To put it differently, companies were more concerned with programming instead of grappling with enterprise-wide systems. Consequently, systems were assaulted in piecemeal, usually one program at a time, which led to fragmented and disjointed systems, incorrect information, and redundancy concerning data resources and work effort. Slowly, companies started to understand that a higher level person was needed who knew the business and might engineer integrated systems to serve it.
Several of today’s ecba certification came up through the ranks of programming and are now developers in sheep’s clothes, and have a tendency to see things only from a computing perspective. However, there are lots of others whose origins can be traced to today’s business colleges. I see a real Business Systems Analyst as the intermediary between the end-users along with the programming team. This means that they have the capacity to understand both technical and business concepts and communicate them effectively with the end-users and the developers. To put it differently, one of the main functions the analyst plays is that of translator.
This itemizes the Variables related to craftsmanship. Before we talk about Knowledge, let us consider others first. Experience means the employee has been able to use the knowledge he’s learned, not only once, but advertising. Attitude addresses the individual’s sense of dedication and professionalism to his/her craft, they possess an intellectual fascination and always strives for improvement. And Success means the employee has shown he/she can deliver products to the satisfaction of both the customer and the firm he/she functions for, not only once but routinely. Irrespective of the individual’s knowledge, expertise and attitude, if the employee cannot successfully produce the work product, it is for naught.
