Everyday Challenges faced by a Business Analyst (and how to overcome them)

The everyday routine of a Business Analyst is riddled with complex challenges.

From managing resources to clambering over challenges of project requirements and also having to put up with impossible stakeholder requirements, there are too many to deal with.

But these challenges are what make the career of a Business Analyst worth all the time. Although tough, they are not impossible challenges without a way out.

Combined with the knowledge from a Business Analyst certification and years of working experience, these challenges can be easily overpowered with little effort.

So, here they are. A quick snapshot of the most common challenges a Business Analyst will have to confront in today’s business scenario.

Also detailed, how to put up with the challenges and overcome them with gusto.

Bringing together the efforts of diverse resources

An everyday challenge that a business analyst must be prepared to face during his entire career span is the ever growing series of misunderstandings by other departments.

No matter how to-the-point, well-written, simple and understandable the SRS (Software Requirement Specification) is, there is a high probability that functional departments will adopt a completely different perspective.

Coordinating the efforts of resources like programmers, UI designers, QA professionals is a big challenge on its own.

How to get over it? Conduct joint sessions with all members of the developing and testing team. Assign responsibility to team heads for proper understanding and execution of the SRS by team members. Seek feedback for any clarifications on a stage-by-stage basis.

The growing need to handle hybrid projects

Hybrid projects are becoming mainstream in several organizations as they facilitate combining the strengths of Agile and Waterfall methodologies and aid in cancelling the drawbacks that are inherent to both methodologies.

There are several challenges that a BA will have to encounter while trying to implement a hybrid project management model. Some of which include:

• Assigning specific software and hardware tasks to Agile and Waterfall methodologies


• Understanding feature prioritizations and deciding which methodology (Agile or Waterfall) is to be opted for what feature development


• Describing features will also be completely different in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies


• Arriving at a common understanding will be more difficult while working with various operating teams that is spread across geographies

Handling unreasonable expectations of the business and stakeholders

Not every business and stakeholder appreciates the need to set realistic expectations. Some of them wrongly assume the BA to be someone who can get any result through resource management.

Although it is good to meet higher expectations, sometimes the Business Analyst will have to put his/her down and make understand the stakeholders how unreasonable or impossible the business requirements sometimes are.

Such a showdown is necessary to keep idling the resources on something that will never lead to satisfactory results.

However, before raising an objection, it will be wise to discuss with the technical team to understand in detail how probable and possible the requirements. Creativity and innovation may give way to new methodologies that can achieve results that are considered impossible until then.

Related read: Business Analysts - The axis power of any business organization

Time management (or the lack of it)

Time is a luxury for Business Analysts. There is always something that is long overdue. The successful Business analysts are masters of time management.

Be it through Business Analyst training or through self-motivation, they develop the skill to stay on top of their schedule at all times.

But these challenges can often topple the well-laid schedule of a BA upside

• Irregular attendance of resources at elicitation meetings


• UAT conclusions that fail to reaching a consensus thus further delaying the project execution


• User conflicts that delay project progress


• Multiple projects with overlapping deadlines

These complications can definitely kick in frustration. The key to keeping this challenges at bay is through communication. The entire team must be trained to cultivate a goal-oriented work culture. That way, there is conjunction of efforts towards a common goal which ensures everything works with clockwork precision.

Related read: 4 interpersonal skills you must build to become a hyper-productive business analyst

Not every challenge is an impossible dead end. A BA must apply his logical reasoning and management skills to find innovative solutions that will drive results.