BA Manager Forum

Since 2009 AssistKD has supported and sponsored the BA Manager Forum (BAMF). A highly respected professional body, BAMF helped to develop the International Advanced Diploma in Business Analysis, co-ordinated employer efforts to launch the Level 4 Apprenticeship in Business Analysis and is the awarding body for the Expert BA Award.

Regular Events for BA Leaders

Over 100 BA Managers attend regular BAMF events where they:

engage with and network with their peers
participate in workshops and presentations, sharing knowledge and best practice;
develop a common understanding of the (relatively new) BA Manager role;
work together to advance the BA profession.

Easy-to-Download Business Analysis Resources

We did not realise until we counted, but the BA Manager Forum has now generated output from close to 100 presentations and workshops, across a wide range of BA leadership topics. These downloadable resources include white papers, webinars, session slides, presentation notes and workshop output with many ‘ready-to-use’ sessions.

For ease of accessibility, we have moved the BAMF content to this dedicated area of the AssistKD Learning Zone, where it will be updated after every Forum event. There’s something for everyone, we hope you find the resources useful.

Please find the BAMF output organised by topic, below. Or, if you are looking for something specific, click here to search all content by keyword.

If you would welcome more information on the BA Manager Forum and/or wish to attend future events, please e-mail lawrence.darvill@assistkd.com with your details. Forum events are open to anyone with management or leadership responsibility for business analysis in their organisation.

Output from BAMF November 2025

In November 2025, a record 160 BA practice leaders gathered to attend our latest BA Manager Forum event. Slides that accompanied the workshops can be viewed below. Articles based on the workshops will follow shortly.

Workshop A - Don’t think harder, think smarter - Mike Williams and Chris Goy

This session explored smart thinking, identifying some of the thinking traps that we may fall into, offering practical advice and explaining techniques used to think smarter. The session provided opportunities to practise some of these techniques.

Areas to be covered included:

Bias
Perception and attention
Fast and slow thinking

Key takeaways:

An understanding of some of the common thinking errors
Practical tactics to help overcome those thinking errors

Workshop B - The BA role within business change and how BAs can overcome resistance to change – Saffron Leppard and Carlos Pullen-Ferreira

This workshop focused on how BAs can engage during organisational change, how they interact with change professionals and overcome resistance to change.

The session included:

Background to business analysis and business change disciplines - is there an intersection between the two?
Case study - “Pets at Home” – How BAs interact with a business change function
Practical models to help frame the BA/change discussion in the context or your own organisation
Overcoming resistance to change

The BA role within business change

Workshop C – Establishing and keeping a community of practice alive and kicking – Faizal Dawood and Craig Rollason

This session explored practical strategies to establish and keep Business Analysis Communities of Practice (CoPs) sustainable, vibrant and engaging. Participants learned how to foster a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation, whatever the size of the team.

The session covered key elements such as the benefits case for maintaining a CoP and how to build momentum through running regular, purposeful events.

Community of Practice

Workshop D - “You can’t just not do analysis”. The challenge facing product aligned practices – Gill Dunn

When longstanding roles vanished and fresh ones emerged, Gill Dunn faced the ultimate BA shake-up. In this interactive session attendees had the opportunity to:

Identify the analysis activities that underpin successful change
Prioritise tasks by blending risk insight with business impact
Spark innovative ways to weave analysis into any change model

Attendees left with:

A new perspective of the value of critical analysis work
Creative approaches to engage stakeholders and drive design
Fresh strategies to adapt, whatever change curve lies ahead

You can't just not do analysis