How to Be an Effective Analyst

Using a life-experience spanning 30 years, the author explains the details of a thorough and proven approach for engaging the human element of any systems analysis process. His research illuminates methods for dealing with a maze of issues by re-visiting the work of earlier professionals. They developed their models in an era when the focus was on modernizing information flow within the context of a business landscape dominated by manual systems and not technology. Logical arguments then follow that emphasize the need to view the business process as an artificial construct dominated by the people who control it.

How to Be an Effective Analyst is a book that guides the reader through a discussion of "the human condition" and how our sociological conditioning affects our behavior in the workplace. The author reviews popular notions prevalent in today's business place and how these impressions work to defeat human productivity. The important concepts of "conflict" and "competition" are discussed and compared along with risk assessment and the dangers of operating under ideological or political influence. He teaches us not to be naive about our professional development; life may be a stage upon which we all play a part but it is certainly not a Hollywood movie set.

In Western Culture, marketing propaganda has distorted the role of the analyst. The line between organizational productivity and "selling" has become amorphous. How to Be an Effective Analyst puts the business analyst back on track by revisiting the lost notion of professional integrity.