BA vs. UxD: Beyond Thunderdome
A co-worker challenged me (not in the traditional duel sense) to define what the difference is between a Business Analyst and a UX Designer. I replied with my stock answer of, “BA’s define business requirements and UX Designers define user requirements.” “What’s the difference between business requirements and user requirements? Doesn’t the user comprise the business?” I then replied with, “Not technically” and floundered for awhile before finally giving up and saying that I needed to articulate my thoughts and get back to him.
It’s one of those things that for the past year I’ve taken for granted. For me it’s like asking why the sky is blue and the clouds are white- they just are. I had taken the definition of the two roles as simple enough: I was the designer and the BA was the typically the Subject Matter Expert (SME). They would gather technical requirements, pass them on to me and I would design an experience built upon those requirements. Easy enough, right? But upon my co-workers question a thought occurred to me- one that had been scratching at the back of mind for awhile. I knew my process and documentation like the back of my hand and had evangelized UX like it was the last salvation for software- but I didn’t know the BA’s process at all. All I knew of it was a small percentage of the documentation they generated that was passed my way every now and then.
So what better way to figure it out than to ask? After trimming down the feedback I came up with this: The BA is concerned with the goals of the client’s company, the technical requirements, and how data interacts. The UX person is concerned with how the technical requirements are presented to the end user, how the program flows, and creating a usable system with which the user can accomplish the company goals that the BA has laid out. Business Analysts, as the name implies, view things from more of an implementation and business perspective whereas UX follows the users’ mental models (which is why we make such a concentrated effort to get to know the user).
Another way to put it is that the BA looks to accomplish the goals of the client with the product while the UX Designers design so that the user can accomplish the goal of the client through a well-thought out experience.
That seems to make it clear enough for me, but then again I’ve been over-analyzing it all day, so comments, additions, and critiques are more than welcome.
