Upcoming Live Sessions
April 26, 2025
ODESA Deep Dive: https://bablocks.com/odesa/
April 28, 2025
Career Strategies: https://toronto.iiba.org/events/career-strategies-for-practicing-business-analysts-(part-2)/
Replays of Past Live Sessions
Business Analyst Boundaries: How To Navigate the BA Profession
Join Emal Bariali, the founder of BABLOCKS.COM, as he talks about the 4 very different worlds that business analysts can traverse throughout their careers.
🡇 Download the lecture notes here.
Business analysis has, perhaps, the most loosely defined boundaries of any profession in existence. This is because business analysts live in a very complex world that borders 4 very different sets of stakeholder groups.
Join Emal Bariali, Founder of BA BLOCKS to learn about how you can clarify these boundaries in your career through stakeholder analysis.
You'll learn about:
► The 4 different worlds that business analysts have to operate across
► How the BA traverses these 4 worlds as their careers grow
► Why stakeholder analysis is the mandatory foundational skill
Emal will be taking questions live from the audience. Make sure to join live to have your questions addressed.
The Role of the Business Analyst in Digital Transformation
Join Emal Bariali, the founder of BABLOCKS.COM, as he describes the role of the business analyst across all three phases of a digital transformation initiative.
Business analysis is an important profession with much bigger responsibilities than just "looking after software". In this session, you will see what other opportunities the BA profession has to offer you for your career progression.
► The three phases of a digital transformation initiative.
► Business analysis deliverables and activities across each phase.
► The business analysis processes that you can employ at each phase.
Emal will be taking questions live from the audience. Make sure to join live to have your questions addressed.
Articles referenced in the workshop:
► N-tier architecture style (Microsoft.com)
When Projects Go South: Business Analysis Tactics for Tough Times
Join Emal Bariali, the founder of BABLOCKS.COM, and Hannah Pearson-Coats, a Consulting Business Analyst at jimmyco.io, as they dive deep into the world of business analysis when projects are on the verge of collapse.
Have you been in a project that felt like it was burning down? Or maybe you're in one now? Learn from the firsthand project execution experiences of two seasoned BA professionals:
► The art of discerning which corners to cut and which ones to uphold.
Streamlining approaches without compromising the end results.
► Real-world stories from their personal "rescue missions" and the lessons learned.
► A dedicated Q&A session where you can ask your questions.
We'll be taking questions live from the audience.
EVENT: Gap Analysis (for your BA career)
Aug 12, 2023 - 1:00 to 2:00 PM ET
Replay here (members only) https://members.bablocks.com/events/event-gap-analysis-for-your-ba-career
You'll learn how to build your career development plan by employing one of the most widely used business analysis techniques: Gap-Analysis.
We'll be adapting this technique from the gap analysis that we do on the current/future state of our solutions, to the current/future state of our careers.
How To Choose a BA Training Program
With so many training options for you to choose from, it can be difficult to know which one you'll get the most value from.
Emal will provide you with clear guidance on what characteristics to look for when choosing a program, and what pitfalls to avoid.
Agenda
1. The two major red flags to look for when choosing a program.
2. How to evaluate your instructor to find a good fit.
3. What to look for in the subjects being covered by the program.
Resources
1. The BA Career Progression Playbook: https://bablocks.com/career/
2. DAY ONE Registration Deadline: https://bablocks.com/one/
3. What a refund policy should look like: https://bablocks.com/refund/
AI Prompt Engineering for Business Analysts
June 29, 2023 - 11:00 to 11:55 AM ET
Register with BA Excellence Conference to attend.
Business analysts should be dedicating some portion of their skills development to adopting AI into their toolbox.
Join Emal as he shares AI best practices for business analysts at BA Excellence Conference Q2 2023 sponsored by EPAM.
Topics of discussion will include:
1. Prompt Engineering Best Practices
2. Use Cases for Business Analysts
3. Ongoing Research (The AI Playbook for Business Analysts)
Resources
Risky Approach https://chat.openai.com/share/e75d0a5c-3021-4e10-ad48-2bcbc13d455d
Structure Approach https://chat.openai.com/share/e75d0a5c-3021-4e10-ad48-2bcbc13d455d
Using Chat GPT for SQL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iBaOznPJbo
The AI Playbook for Business Analysts: https://bablocks.com/ai/
The mindset and skills to lead larger-scale business and systems transformation programs.
We'll be joined in this session by veteran business analyst Yulia Kosarenko to get perspective on the mindset and skills that business analysts need to do this.
Learn more about Yulia at why-change.com
Mastering Essential Skills Across 3 Stages of Your BA Career
June 14, 2023 - 12:00 to 12:45 PM ET
Watch the replay on the IIBA Ireland Chapter YouTube
Business analysts must be strategic about their skills development plans across the different stages of their BA careers.
In this IIBA-sponsored talk, Emal will be speaking about the different skill sets that a BA should be focusing on across the three stages of their BA careers.
Pre-Project Business Analysis offers a great opportunity for mid-level and senior business analysts to branch out their careers into more of the business strategy activities of their organizations.
Join veteran BA / Architect Kevin Brennan and veteran BA / Consultant / Architect Emal Bariali to learn more about what these opportunities hold.
Recommendations made by Kevin during our talk:
1. Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.
2. Follow Roger Burlton on LinkedIn.
3. Learn more about the Intersection Group for Business Architecture Guidance and Education. Other business architecture institutions include TOGAF and Business Architecture Guild.
Jamie Toyne will be joining us to share his experiences of building a business analysis career from 2005 to 2022 and what step he has taken in his BA career now.
Connect with Jamie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamietoyne/
Learn about Herd Consulting here: https://herd.consulting/
Karl Wiegers will be joining us to share his wealth of experience in eliciting, documenting, analyzing, validating, communicating, and managing requirements.
Connect with Karl Here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlwiegers/
Learn more about Software Requirements Essentials Here: https://www.softwarereqs.com/
Enrique Flores will motivate us to power through career development challenges by sharing his experiences of breaking through the glass ceiling in the North American job market as a professional of Latino descent.
Enrique's Article: Being Latino isn’t what’s holding you back
Enrique's Website: https://www.paulainc.ca/
Join veteran Salesforce BA Vanessa Grant and veteran Generalist BA Emal Bariali as they do a deep dive into enterprise sales processes to get you up-to-speed on the sales domain.
To connect with Vanessa, go to https://vanessa.ba
Our discussion included
1. How to use ChatGPT to draft a new resume.
2. How to use ChatGPT to Practice for Your Interview
3. How to use ChatGPT to Conduct Stakeholder Analysis on Your Interviewer(s)
Our discussion will include the following:
1. The three distinct phases of a project.
2. What agile principles apply at each stage.
3. What aspects of Agile / SCRUM / SAFe business analysts should focus on?
We'll also learn about Tracie's career trajectory and about her decision to take the next step in her own career by choosing to help the next generation of analysts through her coaching program: https://traceabilitycoach.com/
Our discussion included:
Exploring the opportunities, challenges, and trajectories of business analyst’s careers.
Learn more about Linda, Julia, and what it means to have a BA Life at https://balife.co.uk/
Our discussion will include
- 1. Some of the major challenges that exist in business transformation projects.
- 2. What business analysis skills are needed on large-scale business transformation initiatives?
- 3. Asset management domain and opportunities for business analysts.
Links Shared During The Session
1. Link to ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/auth/login
2. User Stories with ChatGPT - https://youtu.be/QRB_cs-Uh54
3. Join BA Spaces - Enrolment Link Expires Feb 08 @ 1:00 PM ET
4. Generating Visual Diagrams with ChatGPT (thank you, Deb)
5. Download the template we created here - MyRequirementsTemplate.docx
Links Shared During The Session
1. Book your 15 minutes - https://calendly.com/emalbariali/book-your-15-minutes-bapc?month=2023-01
2. Enrolment Link for Non-Members - https://members.bablocks.com/plans/269336?bundle_token=9860a917224433cf4c5a7172f1481f24&utm_source=manual
3. Enrolment Link for Members (please make sure you log in first) - https://members.bablocks.com/plans/269341?bundle_token=e44aa3e21861e4386cd14b9f0b40fb16&utm_source=manual
4. Payment plan - email me at emal@bablocks.com
Links Shared During The Session
1. Certificates vs. Certifications - https://youtu.be/dBSOsi1D9pM
2. Business Analysis vs. Business Analytics - https://youtu.be/vG1tYl-cXPc
3. Honest Marketing - https://bablocks.com/honesty/
4. A sneak peek inside BAPC - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/learnba_ill-show-you-the-previous-versions-of-the-activity-7023687038084235265-8X9G
5. BAPC Course Details - https://bablocks.com/bapc/
6. Using ChatGPT to Write User Stories - https://youtu.be/QRB_cs-Uh54
Links Shared During The Session
1) Dealing with difficult stakeholders: https://youtu.be/CQI1c2A37BI
2) Link to next week's live session: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7021134779760717824
3) Link to BA Spaces: https://bablocks.com/membership/
4) Feel free to follow and connect with me here in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emalbariali/
