Book Review: 15 Ways to Take Control of Your Career Now

I love reading books and have started to spend more and more time reading business related books. It helps that I get a lot of free books on my Kindle that I can read through – but I also purchase a lot of books specifically related to my current career path.

One of the things I have found in this past year, is that I can glean some relevant information out of almost any business book (and often even out of fiction books) that I can apply to myself to help make me a better person or apply to my skill set and knowledge base so that I can become a better employee. It doesn't matter if the information applies directly to my current projects or position, what matters is taking the information and using it to help me improve my talents and skills and benefiting my employer.

In the past several years, my company has undergone some changes based upon ownership and leadership shifts. I have seen some co-workers choose to become significantly less productive and take a more negative attitude as a result of those changes. I'm sure almost anyone who has been in similar circumstances has seen the same kind of shifts. While I have had my moments of struggle, overall I have been able to adapt and grow as a result of accepting these changes.

When I downloaded '15 Ways to Take Control of Your Career Now', I did not realize that this compilation of articles was geared towards workers facing unemployment, but I found many concepts in this book that I can still apply towards my existing career and in my existing organization.

I particularly liked how the book related the concepts to kayaking. One of the things I am learning as I work more and more in Project Management is how to review the projects I am involved in and learn from each success or failure. I have a long way to go until I may ever be participating in a 'perfect project', but I think that the ability to look critically at the work I have done as well as my co-workers and assess how I can do things different or better the next time an issue arises will allow me to take a more positive and proactive role in my company.

I do recommend this book for all employees. It is an easy and enjoyable read.

Notes from BA Collective Podcast: Business Analysis Use Cases

What is a use case and how are they used?

• A Use Case is a detailed description of a user's interaction with a system
  
• The only requirements are an actor and an object to be acted upon
  

A Use Case consists of seven components:

• Name – represented in the form of an action
  
• Description
  
• Preconditions – criteria that must be met before the execution of the scenario
  
• Scenario – anticipated series of actions and responses
  
• Results
  
• Alternate Paths – variations on the scenario. Represent failures in the system.
  
• Additional Business Rules

Notes from BA Collective Podcast: Business Analysis Documentation

• When people don't read documentation, it's as much a reflection on the writer, as it is on the reader.
  
• When a BA creates documentation it needs to get not only the attention, but the respect of the audience.
  
• 1) Balance documentation style and substance
  
• Know your audience
  
• 2) Use Word to its full potential
  
• 3) Create a documentation platform and strategy
  
• Keep documentation up to date
  
• Keep historical documentation