Click here to return to current season. BA Brew 60: Imposter Syndrome: Are you an imposter in BA clothing? (feat. Jo Fahy) This week our intrepid crew are joined by Jo Fahy to talk about Imposter Syndrome, something 80% of us admit to having experienced. The discussion includes what Imposter Syndrome is; the many ways it can manifest itself; personal experiences; gender and age factors; why a little self-doubt is useful but a lot is prohibitive; the power of being authentic; asking for feedback; silencing the inner critic and more. Jo Fahy is a Senior Business Analyst at the University of Manchester, and a member of the Young Business Analysts Senior Leadership. Young, Valerie Dr. (2011) “The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Imposter Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It”, Crown Publishing Group, Division of Random House Inc More tools and resources available from Mandy Green at https://www.mandygreenleadership.com/ Dweck, Carol “The Power of Believing You Can Improve” TED Talk, available at https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_c… Fahy, Jo (2022) “It’s Not You, It’s Me – Impostor Syndrome”, BA Digest, available at https://heyzine.com/flip-book/a5dc676452.html#page/5 Tulshyan, Rushika and Burey, Jodi-Ann (2021) “Stop Telling Women They Have Impostor Syndrome”, Harvard Business Review, available at Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome BA Brew 59: Be More Pirate (Feat. Alex Barker and Julie Walker) This week we welcome two very special guests aboard the good ship BA Brew. Novelist Julie Walker shares the incredible story of notorious female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read while facilitator, speaker and author Alex Barker encourages us to learn from the Be More Pirate’s pirate code (see below). Are you brave enough to find your inner pirate and challenge the status quo? Topics discussed include: what motivated Ann Bonny and Mary Read to challenge the norms; the freedom and equality of the pirate life; how the Pirate Code and questioning rules applies to innovation and change; the power of collaborative rule setting and collective values; the impact of lockdown on attitudes to leadership and more. HOW TO BE MORE PIRATE 1. Rebel – but not for the sake of it. 2. Rewrite – bend, break but most importantly, rewrite the rules. 3. Reorganise – collaborate to achieve scale rather than growth…small is beautiful. 4. Redistribute – fight for fairness, share power, and make an enemy of exploitation. 5. Retell – weaponize your story and ‘tell the hell’ out of it. Further reading: How To: Be More Pirate Bonny & Read: The stunning new feminist historical novel for 2022 BA Brew 58: Customer-centric Change (Feat. Sushma Sundaran) This week the Brew Crew discuss why the customer should be at the centre of any change initiative. Their special guest is Sushma Sundaran, a Senior Technology Delivery Manager at the Home Office, with extensive experience of customer-centric change. Topics covered include: listening to, understanding and meeting diverse customer needs; customer journey mapping; the customer experience; customer retention; the importance of shared values; the human touch; using CATWOE, the SARAH curve and more. BA Brew 57: RE Practices (Feat. Karl Wiegers and Candase Hokanson) Karl Wiegers and Candase Hokanson join the Crew this week to chat about requirements practices. Answering the need for a shorter book on requirements, their new book ‘Software Requirements Essentials’ focuses on the 20 core practices essential for software and systems projects. Topics covered in the Brew include: the requirements engineering framework; modelling; why requirements matter; requirements management; the separation of elicitation and analysis; requirements in Agile projects; non-functional requirements and more. Candase Hokanson is a Business Architect at ArgonDigital. Karl Wiegers is Principal Consultant at Process Impact. Software Requirements Essentials: Core Practices for Successful Business Analysis Software Requirements Essentials BA Brew 56: The BA Story (Feat. Lee Fewkes) Are you a business analyst with a story to tell? In this BA Brew, Lee Fewkes tells the Crew why he created The BA Story, where business analysts can share their BA stories and insights. Topics covered include: The power and connection of the personal story; how no two business analysts are the same; how it feels to reflect on your career challenges and achievements; the many roads to becoming a BA and more. You can find the BA Story website here: The Business Analyst Story BA Brew 55: Whose Persona is it Anyway? How can you make your customers or end users feel real, empathise with them and better understand what they really want and need? In this Brew Kerry, Mike and Pete discuss the power of Personas, and how BAs can create and use them effectively. The chat covers: what are Personas; avoiding stereotypes; customer research; using photos and names; how Personas link to other techniques such as User Stories and Empathy Mapping; and more. If you’re interested in Personas you may be interested in AssistKD’s recent Service Design webinar on ‘Roles, personas and customer journeys: challenges and misconceptions’. You can find it on our YouTube channel here. Watch this short learning video on Empathy Mapping BA Brew 54: Neurodiversity (Feat. Simon Platt) The topic for this latest BA Brew was suggested by Principal Business Analyst Simon Platt. A keen Neurodiversity Advocate, Simon addresses this sensitive and sometimes challenging topic, sharing his insights into and experience of Neurodiversity with the Brew Crew and wider BA Brew audience. Topics discussed include: What is Neurodiversity?; looking beyond labels; trust and psychological safety in the workplace; strategies for the individual; the 3 components of ADHD and more. BA Brew 53: I'm A Business Analyst. How did that Happen? Our latest BA Brew guest is the wonderful Fae Marcano, Business Analyst of the Year 2022. In this episode Fae and the crew talk about how they became business analysts and their experiences of the BA of the Year awards. Topics include: how Fae, Jonathan and Lisa became BAs; the ‘why’ of becoming a BA; the Business Analyst of the Year experience and why it’s worth entering; the joys of networking and knowledge sharing; why mentoring matters; promoting the BA role and much more. Fae may well inspire you to apply for the BA of the Year award yourself! BA Brew 52: Books that Changed the Way We Work Can a book really change the way you work, or even how you look at life? The Brew Crew certainly think so. Watch this podcast to hear about the books that have made them think differently, and that they return to again and again for inspiration. Topics discussed include: how our reading choices evolve; people taking away different messages from the same book; books on self-awareness and mindset; books about dealing with change; insights from works of fiction; books with practical tips, frameworks and methodologies; consolidating learning by watching talks by authors on YouTube; Here is a list of the books recommended in this episode: Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy Mindset by Dr Carole S. Dweck Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr Spencer Johnson Atomic Habits by James Clear Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen You can also find a list of AssistKD publications here. BA Brew 51: Think Like A CEO (feat. Byron Morrison) The new series of the BA Brew kicks off with a cracker of an episode. Author, life coach and business consultant Byron Morrison challenges us to learn from the CEO mindset in order to reach our full potential in life and in business. It’s inspiring stuff. Topics covered include: the decision framework; thinking holistically; risk aversion; the value of trying and failing; maintaining momentum vs. staying in your comfort zone; energy management; reflection; self-awareness and more. Byron Morrison is the author of bestselling business books The Effective CEO and Think Like a CEO.
