Much has been (and will continue to be) said about the set of skills that go to making a good business analyst. Forrester Research, for example, has published a spreadsheet (called the Business Analyst Assessment Workbook — Note: subscription required) that lists more than 150 attributes of a good business analyst, grouped into categories such as Core Capabilities, Business Knowledge, Job-Specific Skills, Technical Knowledge etc. (I was particularly pleased to see this last category: It is important but not quite obvious that business analysts should also have a rudimentary general understanding of technology environments and architectures… mostly built up through seeing past analysis engagements fructify into delivered solutions). [Full text]

SAP’s Business ByDesign, the newly introduced SaaS version for ERP, is “ready and done” and “the coolest app ever written,” according to Apotheker. Yet, he admits, it’s a bad time, financially, for doing a big market push — “hurting our margin, and hurting our stock,” is how he describes it. [Full text]

Enterprise data modeling is a formidable task, as those who have attempted or witnessed it will vouch. Difficulties begin right from the outset: what, exactly, do we mean by Enterprise Data Model (and Modeling)? Is it one large model, or a set of models? If the latter, are these models required to conform/share (entities, standards etc.)? Is it another name for the canonical data model? Who is responsible for building the model(s) — is it one person, one central team, or diverse project teams all contributing to it? Where do we start? How do we start? How do we maintain momentum? [Full text]

During the 2000/2001 technology bust, the main culprit was… technology. Technology executives, product vendors and service providers all first bought into, then actively propagated, the erroneous and simple-minded formula “More + Faster = Better & Easier.” Throw in as much technology and services as possible as quickly as possible, and the results are almost guaranteed—cost be damned. That was the Generally Accepted Absurd Panacea of the day. Technology vendors and service providers salivated at the easy sales and high margins; on the other side of the table, IT executives not only bought into the madness, they whole-heartedly supported and propagated it. CIO’s and CEO’s swooned over terms like “B2B/B2C,” “first mover’s advantage,” and “24×7.” Businesses and venture capitalists fell over themselves in their eagerness to fund these exciting new opportunities. [Full text]

As a biz-tech writer with an established biz-tech publication, I am constantly striving to determine where lies that intersecting subset of what interests me, what interests you, and what passes by our beloved editor. Data structures and distributed operating systems? Interesting stuff for me, but likely much too theoretical for you. Social Web sites used for social purposes? Might be an essential part of your day, but leave me largely disinterested or wary even. Humor from the inimitable P. G. Wodehouse? Could have us both in tears of mirth (unless, of course, skewed – and skewered – stories of Edwardian England bore you), but will surely have Doug Henschen reaching for his editor’s scissors. [Full text]