Do you ever feel more like a psychoanalyst than a business analyst? It can be tough to get into the minds of our stakeholders to get the info we need, but approaching our work like a therapist might be helpful.
Consider these thoughts on brainstorming sessions written by Isaac Asimov more than 50 years ago:
“I do not think that cerebration sessions can be left unguided. There must be someone in charge who plays a role equivalent to that of a psychoanalyst. A psychoanalyst, as I understand it, by asking the right questions (and except for that interfering as little as possible), gets the patient himself to discuss his past life in such a way as to elicit new understanding of it in his own eyes.”
“In the same way, a session-arbiter will have to sit there, stirring up the animals, asking the shrewd question, making the necessary comment, bringing them gently back to the point. Since the arbiter will not know which question is shrewd, which comment necessary, and what the point is, his will not be an easy job.”
BAs are like therapists for the business–helping them evolve, improve and change. We guide the business through change by evaluating mindsets and helping the business identify and let go of old patterns. We look deeply at what is valuable to us and the organization while we ask the shrewd questions that “stir up the animals.”
If you want to read the rest of Asimov’s essay: Published for the First Time: a 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity | MIT Technology Review