I have been with the Yukon Government for close to 3 years now. At the end of my current term I will have served in this position for the longest period of time since I was a dishwasher at age 13. A benefit of term in the same role and organization is some insight into what I can/should/will do for an organization.

I am officially called a business analyst. I have business cards with that title that I drop into fishbowls to get free lunches.

It's a nebulous title and the associated job responsibilities are equally hard to nail down. What I do depends on the project. If the project needs test plans, test cases and acceptance testing; then I am a testing BA. If the project wants to go to RFP or contract out development then I write business requirements documents and use cases; the requirements manager BA. If the project needs models then I am a modelling BA. I can also do strategic planning, business process review, gap analysis, change management, user interaction etc, etc, etc. There is a bucket of skills I can, personally, bring to a project. The BA Book of Knowledge (BABOK) is full of methods and techniques of many other skills that a BA can bring to the table.

The challenge arises when you must decide which of the above tasks need to be completed. I am but a single resource and the above can easily describe a small team. How many hats is it reasonable to wear on a project? All of the above deliverables are important to the ultimate success of a project but ultimately it's the final working product in the hands of the client that matters more than a checklist of completed documents. Ultimately the constraints of time, cost, quality and scope force decisions. Compound this with multiple projects running concurrently and the mind bends.

In my current reality I believe you must, at a minimum, have the business requirements documented, the user interaction designed and a documented test plan.

Even as I look at that list I am doubting my certainty of just those deliverables - my mind is spinning with exceptions! Too many roles, too many possibilities, so little time!

Do you have a minimum list? Are you struggling with too many hats?