UML for the IT Business Analyst: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Requirements Gathering |...

UML for the IT Business Analyst: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Requirements Gathering | Howard Podeswa | Must read for business analysts

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UML for the IT Bus...

	UML for the IT Business Analyst: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Requirements Gathering Howard Podeswa Course Technology PTR, 2005 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The IT Business Analyst is one of the fastest growing roles in the IT industry. Business Analysts are found in almost all large organizations and are important members of any IT team whether in the private or public sector. "UML for the IT Business Analyst" provides a clear, step-by-step guide to how the Business Analyst can perform his or her role using state-of-the-art object-oriented technology. Business analysts are required to understand object-oriented technology although there are currently no other books that address their unique needs as non-programmers using this technology. Assuming no prior knowledge of business analysis, IT, or object-orientation, material is presented in a narrative, chronological, hands-on style using a real-world case study. Upon completion of "UML for the IT Business Analyst," you will have created an actual business requirements document using all of the techniques of object-orientation required of a Business Analyst. "UML for the IT Business Analyst" puts together all of the technology pieces needed to proficiently perform the Business Analyst role.

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Business Analyst

I have heard about the book from various internet sources for BUSINESS ANALYST and when I read this book, it has a good worth which polishes the real skill the person has as a Business Analyst into the scientific approach of analysis work and clear representation. Thanks.

Must read for business analysts

UML is an excellent tool for communicating business and functional requirements. Podeswa does an excellent job how to best utilize UML, as when as how to elicit better requirements. With his background as a BA and trainer, the book is excellently written and very easy to follow. Senior BA's will find it a quick read with excellent points to improve our quality of work. Others will be able to follow is real world example as Podeswa walks through the requirements gathering process with examples and the rationale behind certain approaches.

I'd also recommend this book for any of your staff interested in a BA role or development management interfacing with business teams.

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Clean, reasonable guide to OO and UML for beginner to medium level BA

There are so many opinions about how UML should be used and none can claim universal application. It is not only the complexity of UML and OO methodologies, but the variety of software tools that support these methods and then you have to deal with an infinite variety of real life situations and people. At the end of the day, a BA must write documentation and communicate findings, outcome and models to stakeholders, users, developers, architects and sometimes to third parties involved in the project. Every single person has a different view, companies have different document templates and actors have different education and skills. How can you write a book to teach UML and make anyone happy? You can't. So, you have to get something from every book you read that suits you, your training and the project methodology used in your business.

I think that Howard manages to walk you through the complexity of all this, recognising the inherent limitations that I listed above and present a framework that you can use to expand your horizons. The author is reasonably disciplined about the UML standard, so this is not a popular book for, say, accountants or florists that want to know about UML. Another positive point of this book is that you are provided with documentation templates that you can use straight away to write business requirements for your next project. Additionally, the author combines the description of UML constructs with an induction into OO methodology. Some authors fail to make this connection between the standard and the work methodology.

The book is written by using a real life project large enough to cover almost every aspect of UML. Howard is quite practical, whenever he feels that in practice some tools are not widely used, he will say so and avoid spending too much time on something just to show you how much he knows. The examples are simplified to keep the size of the book at a sane level. The depth of the book is adjusted so that beginners are not intimidated by the complex concepts, especially when it comes to discuss static modelling.

The last section of the book talks about testing and spends sufficient on explaining the foundation of structured test methodology. Testing is becoming more and more specialised work and progressively fewer business analysts do both business requirements and test implementation. However, it is important to connect these two activities, and Howard does that very well. Testing should be based on business requirements and verify that the requirements are fulfilled.

One not so positive comment that I would make about the book, is that it mixes too much the role of the business analyst and system analysts. I believe that he should have put more emphasis on separating the roles, because they require distinct set of skills. Also he should have made the reader aware that the project management methodology has an impact on the way the business analyst works. The subject of project management is not discussed very much here. If you work in a large organisation this is an important factor to consider. On the book cover the claim is that you will learn how to use IBM Rational Rose. I think that this is a little bit exaggerated. Overall this is a clean, nice and useful book, if you fall in the right category.

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Teaching Collaboration At It's Best

UML for the IT Business Analyst is a great 'field guide' for Business and Systems Analysts at various levels of experience. The key thing I like about the book is that it teaches and also encourages truly "collaborative" working in building a business solution.

Collaborative Working

True collaborative working is something that I have found to be the most commonly missing ingredient on IT projects of all sizes. IT and business-side Analysts need to work with various stakeholders and players of varying levels while attempting to deliver true business solutions. Not an easy task, but from my years of experience in the field as a Business Architect I can testify that it is indeed possible.

This book goes a long way to showing you how.

UML for the IT Business Analyst is a resource that provides Business and Systems Analysts with tools and templates for success. You can pick the section that applies to your circumstances, your project or your experience level and go and implement it.

Gets a thumbs up from me 'Bayo Akinola-Odusola any day...and I don't give thumbs up that easily!

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A worthwhile purchase.

A very informative and practical book. Definitely a worthwhile purchase that offers some practical guidance on analysis & requirements gathering using UML. The only short coming is that there could have been more examples provided.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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