Sometimes I guess I just don't understand..[RANT]

[techgnome]

I'm going to risk the wrath of the forums by saying that actually I do think a good programmer should be a bit of a business analyst. They should be a bit of a project manager and a bit of a politician too. I seem to have spent most of my career picking up the pieces behind programmers who didn't have these skills. I repeatedly see very clever code which performs ultra fast and has a marvelous look and feel but the client is tearing their hair out because it's not fit for purpose, it's hopelessly late and no-one's told them what the hell has been going on for the last six months. All that clever programming matters for nought because it doesn't deliver to the client what they want. I've been extremely successful (forgive my arrogance here but I really have) in turning these accounts round, not because I'm a better coder than the guy who went before me but because I apply some common sense and insight.

Yes... and no... that used to be the senario at my previous job... the developers were the analysts. And for a number of years that worked. But the process broke down when the developers could no longer do thier job because the industry became more complicated and we ended up spending more time talking to clients than we were developing. Things became backlogged. The only solution was to separate the roles and more clearly define what the business analysts did. It turned out to be good and bad. Good in that all of our clients needs and wants were then funneled through a single point of contact who could then see the big pcture and know if/when there would be conflicting requirements from different clients. It was good because it provided a much needed buffer between the developers and the client managers - who all see their client's needs as being top priority. It was bad because the BA was so..... Retentive that you couldn't sneeze w/o getting a change order. The BA also had a nasty habit of trying to insert technical requirements into the business document (something I fought against and won 9 times of 10).

You could argue that the roles should be separated so that there's a separate analyst but, when I've worked in that scenario, I've invariably found them to be little more than a barrier to communication. They're just another link in the chain of chinese whispers that leads to the important information getting lost before it reaches me. Let me at the users, I say. If I can sit with them I can gain some insight into what they're actually trying to achieve - and that's often not reflected in the formal requirements I'd get otherwise. I can bring my own ideas and suggestions to the table and, because I understand the limitations of the technologies I work with (something very few business analysts seem to do) I can spot potential problems at an earlier stage.

That's what the design phase is for... the BA gives you the business requirements (sans any technical requirements) and the design is supposed to say OK, here the business requirements, here's how we are going to achieve that technically. But it also depends on the industry and the clientel. We dealt with outside customers. More often than not, potential clients want the business documents to see what the system does. They don't care how the engine was put together, they just want to know what the horsepower and towing capabilities are.

I also don't think you need to have experience in a particular industry before you start programming for it. I've worked on examinations systems, nursing home booking systems, stock control systems, customer management systems and all sorts of other areas. I've worked in automotive, high street retail, education, home improvement... I didn't understand these formats and industries when I started in them but if you start by getting your head around what the clients trying to achieve and then start applying some common sense to the problems it's really not that hard to understand their requirements. You have to be willing to learn from your client though.

I don't think you need to have experience in a particular field either, but it helps.... I now know waaaay more about the energy industry than I've ever knonw, and I look at my bill differently now too. And now I get to learn about the construction industry. but even if you know bupkiss before starting, you should know SOMETHING eventually. It's one of the things I'm trying to get training on now where I'm at. I want to know how this all goes together.

-tg