“Learn from the mistakes of others… you can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves.”
– Chanakya
7 Quotes From Chanakya And Its Relation To Business Analysis
Chanakya is an economy guru who authored the ancient Indian political treatise called Arthasastra (Economics) and he is considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science in India, and his work is thought of as an important precursor to classical economics
Chankya lists the 7 important pillars in business , they are “The king, the minister, the country, the fortified city, the treasury, the army and the ally”. The analogy is that The King is the CEO/Director in today’s world. The minister is the manager who runs the show. The country is your business market, the place where you want to run the show.The fortified City is the head office where all planning and strategies are made.The treasury is the finance, heart of any organization.The Army is your team. The Ally here is the business analyst, a people’s person who helps the developer to solve his problems by talking to his clients. So business analysis is not just a role, it’s a important character in the organization who guides business and the organization.
I thought to relate some of the quotes to Business Analysis.Following are the few quotes and lets relate it to business analysis:
1. “Learn from the mistakes of others… you can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves!!”
Learn from the mistakes of other projects, mistakes such as documentation,missed test scenarios. Always Retrospect and analyse other projects. Every project should have a retrospection meeting to understand what went right and what went wrong. Try to attend as many retrospection meetings as possible.It will make you a good business analyst when you understand problems created by others and you wont do the same problem because my common sense is that you will learn from your learning. won’t you?
2. ”A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first.”
A Business analyst should not be very honest.Gosh! a bitter truth it is .. Oh yes, You just can’t be so honest to everyone in a project. you should know what to speak with clients , what to speak with project managers and then you should also know what to speak with developers. Don’t mixup/ be more honest. That’s not your characteristic my friend, not yours. If you mix the drink, you vomit ?
3. ”Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.”
Presentation skills, no matter how bad your product is compared to your competitors, be confident and give an awesome presentation. Its not that everyone has a good product. Trust me –a badly presented good product is a bad product.
4.”There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.”
There are self interests in every friendship. Take these friends as your stakeholders like your client manager, coder, tester and self interests may be business, good coding, Good test case writing and this is where Business Analysts should know that he has to help them out but remember –we are people’s person.
5. ” Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions .why am I doing this, What will be the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.”
Off course these are important for your business ethics and your work. Take ‘work’ as business requirements and ‘I’ as your Organization and you have the answer.
6. ”Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.”
In business analysis, you do mistakes and you sometimes fail to recognize the mistake early. But a smart BA works on it and doesn’t abandon it. A smart BA works sincerely to get the ship back to the ocean with his sincere work. That’s where the champion business analysts are born. When everyone quit, they stay.
7. “A man is great by deeds, not by birth.”
A business analyst becomes great with the way he handles/manages the product and brings value to the organization, not by having great certifications like CBAP.
Whaddaya Say?