Keep It Simple Stupid

The bit of being a BA that I am worst at, and so the part I work hardest at, is to simplify instead of complicate things.

Like most BAs I have a pretty high tolerance for complexity, especially if it makes things "elegant" or "flexible". I'm also a sucker for the simple basic idea, that can then be used to implement a thousand complex functions.

Now we all know that complexity equals cost. Development cost is the least of it. Complexity easily costs more in test/fix than in the development stage. Organizational Change, user confusion, and lost productivity is where the real costs of complexity lie.

So what's the solution? For me it's two fold:

Put the user first. Start with what the user is trying to achieve and work from there. Most people think "How could th system do this?" instead think "How does the user do this?".

Put complexity to use simplifying things. Be like an iPod. Simple up front, with the complexity hidden away.

This means being driven by user/business events and the required user/business response not by a system, and not by what functionality is available. In most projects if you start with the business process and work in you'll get off on the right foot.