Why a UX-er and a Developer trumps System and Business Analysts

An empowered Product Owner (who cares passionately about their product) coupled with a UXer (a User Experience designer) and a full-stack developer (who can knock up some prototypes very quickly) trumps a couple of system analysts and business analysts, trawling their way through documentation and trying to create something that hangs together to be built in the future.

What seems obvious to some, is highly controversial to others.

People who come from a system analysis background, and are trained in Agile, are often nervous that their jobs are going to disappear. And they’re probably right to be nervous. Their jobs, as they currently exist, aren’t as effective as getting stuff out there in front of people.

A talented system analyst should have the ability to:

• Sketch prototypes
• Think through the whole business process they’re putting in place
• Go out and get feedback from customers
• Adjust what they’re building in terms of that feedback

So they will need to pick up some new skills, they will need to re-assess how they view their deliverables - they can do that to be better product people.

They need to start thinking about their role, making sure that the product is as valuable as it can be, for the least amount of development effort.

Also they need to think of value in terms of all the standard items:

• Usability
• Fit for purpose
• Getting customers using it
• Return on investment
• Generation revenue

So a system analyst’s days are numbered unless they can learn to be the expert at creating the most valuable product (as decided by the user) for the smallest time and effort.