Great Resignation: IT Business Analysis Perspective

Recently, there has been an extensive discussion on “Great Resignation” the surplus demand over supply for job opportunities in the domain of IT business analysis. One of the reasons for this imbalance is the modern workforce’s anxiety due to the pandemic. As I searched on Google, I frequently came across the concept of “job crafting.” This terminology was explained in the 2021 Global State of Business Analysis webinar. Since the conference was conducted, there has been an enormous interest in this topic. So I felt that I should draw reader’s attention to the definition, practitioners personal experience, and views on this. 

The idea of “job crafting” is certainly not a recent concept. The phrase was developed by organizational therapist Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton in 2001. They stated that “Individuals engage in job crafting as a means to experience greater meaning at work, a positive work identity, better work-related well-being, and better job performance.” One of the things that I like about this definition is that job crafting is self-motivated. It highlights the skill and expertise of an individual to interact with their job to a significant extent. 

If we further investigate this term, we can learn about the components of task crafting. It involves switching the activities in terms of product scope, size and project duration. Debbi Levin, Secretary, IIBA, expressed her feelings about her job “I went from being a Business Analyst as we implemented a new tool to becoming level 2/3 support and a system administrator. I want to learn more skills such as data analysis because I enjoy writing reports” However, Catherine Moore, Business Analyst and Team Lead warns in her article titled What is Job Crafting? that “Job crafting shouldn’t be a means of changing the job beyond recognition” Relational Crafting is the next element, but is relatively less known. 

The second element includes the impact an individual has in the workplace. The manner in which an individual interacts with others, the cohort group with whom you interact, the synergy with your peers decide the success of already mentioned activities, and it perhaps impacts the third element. 

Cognitive Crafting is the third element. It targets an individual’s interest and how they document, associate, and support their activities. Cognitive crafting is the technique to determine definition and association to an individual’s activity. As a professional requirement engineer, there are many alternatives available; they can discover the next steps in their career. (Koryn Anderson, 2022), Global Chapter Council, IIBA, suggests to begin with “IIBA’s Continuing Evolution of Business Analysis diagram.” 

The diagram indicates the significance of possessing basic skills of Business Analysis (central hub). In addition to this, it demonstrates the diverse career prospects originating - it may be either focusing on technical or enterprises (spokes). In general, it appears to be apparent in Yasser Talat’s experiences: “(For example) from my own experience in the market, the productization trends have led to the need for specific skills for Product Ownership and Product Management. He further added that “it resulted in leading many BAs to learn such skills to cope with market changes and develop their career path. I, myself, found it necessary for me to have deeper knowledge and develop my skills in Product Ownership and thus sought for the IIBA-CPOA certificate and acquired it just after IIBA announced it” 

It can be finally concluded that Job crafting is a design process developed by an individual. It includes self-initiation, proactive planning to modify individual’s profession to align the job with personal skill sets.