I’m currently working in an assingment as a Business Analyst, I view it as a bit of a sabbatical from proper work like career development for development team members and proper techie stuff like web architectures, knowledge management etc. Anyway, whether I see myself working long term as a BA, I still think it is an essential role in the development of solutions using technology.

Unfortunately it is also a bit of a thankless task if you have any inclination to doing it “properly”, for instance the term analysis paralysis comes up. Two options ring home in the wikipedia description, bureacracy and inexperience. What is unclear is the particular area of inexperience they mean. Is it lack of time in the role? Is it lack of business awareness? Raw analysis skills, or time management?

The wikipedia has a good section on requirements analysis which discusses some of the issues, some of which although recognised over two decades ago are still around in the industry.