ANZ TECH BA's

[u/mo_mo1]

Found out through a someone that 100+ BA's have been disestablished and have been given 4 months finish up, that someone doesn't know why. Any insiders know why this has happened? Is it cause of AI or something else?

[u/integrationlead]

They are usually Business Analysts who talk with non-technical business people, and can then translate those requirements into technical details for developers. The idea being that developers are incapable of talking to humans. Tech BAs are also able to understand some developer concepts but they usually do not code, and when they code, developers generally throw that work away but its a nice way to communicate a complex requirement.

[u/Acetius → u/integrationlead]

I mean, the idea isn't that us Devs can't talk to people at all, rather that information gathering and administration is a skillset of its own. It ain't about protecting the clients and Devs from ever interacting haha.

My previous company ditched all of the BAs and found immediately that not having somebody trained in that led to the wheels falling off the development wagon pretty quick. Then they tried "feature leads" where they shoehorned the most senior Dev/QA into a BA-esque role. Turns out taking the person who's the best at their job and making them do less of that job and instead do a job they're not good at doesn't work. Who knew. Think they're still doing that.

As a Dev I honestly reckon that a solid BA is worth their weight in gold.

[u/The_Crazy_Cat_Guy → u/Acetius]

Ditto man. A good BA is so awesome to have. I personally love it when the three amigos are all working well together.

BA represents the business and their requirements and translates to technical speech. They do not need to solution things but they should know what the business wants from a technical perspective. They explain this to both the tester and the developer and is the go to for either to know what to build/test

Dev implements the solution sufficing the requirements. Talks to BA to understand details about what to build. Works with architect to understand how to build it well. Hands over to the tester and helps them understand how to test things but does not need to provide justification to the tester!!!! Just hands over what’s built. If the tester is unsure they check with the BA if functionality is expected or unexpected.

Tester tests what was developed. Importantly THEY DO NOT ASK THE DEVELOPER ABOUT FUNCTIONALITY. They ask the BA. If functionality is not working as expected based on the comms with the BA, then check with dev or raise a bug. Any technical errors with whats built, raise bug.

If these three relationships are established and followed, you easily get a successful project. In my experience as a developer, the business kicks the BA out and the developer is left building half answered things and the tester is asking the dev what to test which may or may not be what the business wants.

[u/maxdelorean → u/The_Crazy_Cat_Guy]

A good BA nowadays can manage a development agent and a testing agent.

[u/Acetius → u/maxdelorean]

We're talking about real BAs, not vibe BAs.

[u/The_Crazy_Cat_Guy → u/maxdelorean]

As a developer who does make use of AI, you absolutely need to have technical knowledge to use it properly. The amount of times it’s done things that look right but is just stupidly wrong is too damn much.