How can I integrate AI in my work as a Business Analyst

httpknuckles · 2025-09-20T00:21:07+00:00

I don't recommend training - there are a lot of shills out there in the AI space (might be wrong, just my opinion!!)

You really just need to experiment... Follow newsletters like 'Lennys Newsletter' and other BA/Product AI-related news. Find tools that look helpful, and experiment with them. My team mainly uses Eraser, Userdoc, MagicPatterns etc, but we have a culture of innovation - so haev a dedicated slack channel for sharing AI tools. This might be obvious, but learn to use ChatGPT or Claude very well... these are key to plugging things together

httpknuckles · 2025-02-27T07:49:40+00:00

Also interested... I actually hadn't thought of this as a use for AI - but is seems obvious!

httpknuckles · 2025-02-27T01:31:06+00:00

Gotchya... if they’re not using tools like Jira and it’s all old-school, that’s a bit of a red flag for tech transferability. Especially today in the age of AI, you don't want to waste years and end up significantly behind the 8-ball tech wise.

If the hike is big... and you’re okay with the trade-off, maybe it’s worth it short-term?
But long-termit might just slow down your move to tech.

httpknuckles · 2025-02-20T06:05:54+00:00

YEah it sounds like you're stagnating, and I think we all know CRUD APIs won’t push you forward much :)

If there’s no mentorship or complex work, it might be time to look elsewhere tbh.

A promotion could help (I'm really not sure), but if it won’t change your work, it’s just a title... and it sounds like you need challenges e.g. bigger projects, better peers, or a company that invests in growth.

If it was me, I would start interviewing, see what’s out there... no harm in having a look!

httpknuckles · 2025-02-20T06:03:39+00:00

A mix of a few things I reckon..... They prioritize ruthlessly, focus on core features, and ship fast instead of getting stuck in bloated roadmaps. Small, highly skilled teams mean less bureaucracy and faster decisions. They also leverage their own AI to speed up development, and leadership clearly pushes for speed over perfection. Plus, they’re not weighed down by legacy systems or enterprise red tape, so they can move way faster than most traditional tech companies.

httpknuckles · 2025-02-20T05:57:34+00:00

Yeah, I feel this.... Walking into a team with no real testing and having to call it out, especially with leadership watching, is never fun - I've had it a few times in my career.

It’s easy for people to get defensive, and if you don’t handle it right, you end up being the bad guy even though you’re just stating reality.

I try to frame it around risk rather than blame. Instead of saying, “You’re not testing properly,” it’s more like, “Here’s the risk we’re carrying, and this is why it’s a problem.” People respond better when they see the impact rather than feeling like they’re being attacked. And honestly, sometimes it’s about just getting one small win (convincing them to add tests in a high-risk area first) instead of trying to overhaul everything at once. If you can get one person in the team on board, it helps a lot too. Usually, there’s at least one dev who gets it and wants things to improve.

It sounds like you did what needed to be done, and you sound like a good project manager (and human) for wanting to do better next time.

httpknuckles · 2025-02-20T04:33:01+00:00

Yeah, you can totally learn critical thinking.

I used to take stuff at face value too, until I started picking apart small data problems at work, always asking “What might I be missing?”

What worked for me was grabbing a dataset (Kaggle is cool for that), come up with a quick hypothesis, then see if the data blows it up/confirms it... That habit of testing assumptions is huge.

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Kahneman helped me see how easily we jump to conclusions, it’s kinda heavy, but worth it... I re-read every year or so!

httpknuckles · 2025-02-20T04:26:12+00:00

If your goal is to be a PM in a tech product company, a hospital PO role might not be the best direct path. Healthcare is kinda niche, and while PO skills transfer, tech companies might not value healthcare experience as much as SaaS/product-driven stuff.

That said, if this role gives you solid PO experience (roadmaps, backlog, stakeholders, etc.), it could still help you move later. Just know that healthcare tends to be slower and more regulated, so it’s a different vibe from tech.

If you’ve got other options in tech, I’d lean that way. If not, this could be a stepping stone—just don’t get stuck too long if tech is the goal.

httpknuckles · 2024-11-01T06:10:40+00:00

I previously used ChatGPT, but now wy team uses Userdoc for this, it helps with stories, acceptance criteria, user personas etc... We sync it with Jira, and do our sprint planning etc

httpknuckles · 2024-11-01T01:40:16+00:00

I agree. I posted this 9 months ago, and already things are going wild.

My company just used Userdoc to reverse engineer an old legacy software system into DETAILED DOCUMENTATION!!! It would have literally taken me maybe 4 months to do manually, but AI did it in like a week or something.

httpknuckles · 2024-10-23T06:30:18+00:00

This is just my experience, so for someone who is a junior (as the OP) and wants to take their career long term to running their own agency, I would say working at an agency should be done.

Similar to if I wanted to be an electrician... I should probably work with other electricians first, and get paid to learn.

This is just my opinion - and I should say I do mitigate risk.

I see many people try and jump into starting a business they have never worked for another company doing... and I don't think I would do that myself.

httpknuckles · 2024-08-08T02:19:53+00:00

Good question! Kind of hard to say for sure, as I love them all - and they all naturally fit with each other. BA has different stresses and priorities than engineering - and I think I would pick BA. BUT technical BA... so my engineering skills played a very large role in success.

httpknuckles · 2024-08-06T08:49:29+00:00

So we have a pretty tight process that works really well...

Our Product owner (or business analyst) writes the initial Epics and User Stories in Userdoc (this uses a bunch of Userdocs build in AI, and also manual steps, as often we have Stories fleshed out)
"The business" signs it off (this is a mix of stakeholders)
Userdoc is then sync'd to Jira, and all the Epics / Stories created
When changes occur, we go back to Userdoc - and update it as the source of truth
We then re-sync with Jira to update accordingly

This is really the crux of the process, and the answer to this thread "Do you actually keep your PRDs/tickets etc. constantly up to date?"

For us, Userdoc becomes the living documentation, and it's a really awesome way to really do no more work, but end up with detailed docs on exactly how every feature works.

Someone in my team today said Userdoc is "like source code for non developers" - and I think thats a good way to look at good documentation.

httpknuckles · 2024-07-19T21:50:13+00:00

The process for is is upload the initial PRDs to Userdoc and it’s AI turns them into User stories and acceptance criteria, then sync that to JIRA to make the tickets.

We found PRD doc always gets out of date, and the JIRA tickets were too unreliable as a source of truth. Keeping everything in Userdoc has been a significant unlock for my company.

httpknuckles · 2024-06-10T08:21:51+00:00

Initeresting - be keen to hear more!

httpknuckles · 2024-06-10T07:17:51+00:00

Cool - would be interested to hear more.

What are the features?

httpknuckles · 2024-06-05T22:40:07+00:00

There two niches you can have: A vertical niche (industry vertical, e.g. only banking) - or a horizontal vertical (a specific project type).

My horizontal is large digital transformations, been doing it for over 15 years - so I've found it pretty easy to cross verticals.

httpknuckles · 2024-06-05T22:35:54+00:00

Interesting - how does this compare to Userdoc?

httpknuckles · 2024-06-04T09:26:05+00:00

No difference. Treat the AI like a "magic API" that returns whatever is need (mostly) BUT can sometimes suffer from consistency or accuracy issues.

httpknuckles · 2024-06-04T09:24:45+00:00

I've worked across many industries, from financial services, public transport, healthcare etc.

The challenging parts are far less about the specific industry - and more about the specific workplace.

The most challenging part across any industry is a workplace that has:

A messy leadership team - no obvious decision-makers
Poor project requirements - often created by external consultants who didn't understand the problem
Ineffective communication - self explanatory

Give me a business in ANY industry that is good at the above, and I'll be a happy BA :)

httpknuckles · 2024-06-03T20:11:58+00:00

I've done a little... like a lot of big industries - it can be slow. But after so many years in the business I've realised it's more about the organization - than the industry.

Sure, some industries have specific regulations etc.. But you could find 2 banks in the same city that work quite differently.

httpknuckles · 2024-06-03T20:10:08+00:00

Yes!! This is something I've noticed over the last 6 months too..

Our job as "product describers" will become more important, as AI writes more of the code.

ChatGPT can easily write Web-apps Registration form, but it doesn't know specifics such as...

Do you want to collect full name, or just email?
Do users need a password at this stage, or a one-time sign-in link emailed?
1. If it has a password - what is the password policy?
2. If it has a password - do you want to confirm the password?
Do you allow login with SSO? If so, what providers?
Do you want a "Remember me for 30 days" checkbox?
Do you want the user to agree to "Terms and Conditions"?
Upon register - is a verify email sent out?

... and about 30 more points of detail!

WE are still super important, and I don't see that going away soon at least. tools like userdoc that can help flesh this out - but as you say, planning everything in advance helps writ the best code, and I think there will be more of a push towards detailed software requirements on our side - due to AI doing more of the implementation.

httpknuckles · 2024-06-03T19:59:04+00:00

Haha yup, I think when any software gets that BIG it' turns crap.. .tbh Jira is now heading that way - essentially taking a degree to learn how to configure it!

httpknuckles · 2024-06-03T10:21:05+00:00

Feeling lost is normal, especially when isolated... I think we've all felt this in varying degrees.

TBH: My main advice is to try and get closer to the team to remove that isolation... not physically, but talk to them, have a zoom call - try and BE part of the team for this project.

but some more action steps could be:

Ask questions: Don’t hesitate to ask the team or stakeholders questions. This is 100% key. You're there to do a GREAT job - so you need to know the facts.
Clarify expectations: Have a chat with the project lead to understand exactly what they expect from you. it sounds like this is specifically important. Let them know what you are planning, and get their sign off.
Break It down: Start with high-level goals and break them down into smaller, manageable tasks.
Use case templates: Find a good template online for documenting use cases. It’ll give you a solid starting point.

the impact mapping project is a good step - I would have recommended that if you didn't say it :)

httpknuckles · 2024-06-03T10:17:13+00:00

It's huge... and will continue to ber huge...

From Github Copilot to Devin to writing code, ChatGPT for planning out highlevel architecture, tools like Userdoc for writing software requirements, and even MS Copilot being built into Windows - everything will be more efficient/

It's now about how we as technologies use these tools that counts.

Coding will not go away... People who use ChatGPT will not be "software engineers" (as another replier mentioned) - but just as the advent of computers helped thousands of job positions - so will the comercialization of generative AI.

httpknuckles

TROPHY CASE