BABOK v3 In An AI World: A BA's Practical Guide

AI is changing the business analysis role faster than most teams can keep up with, and figuring out what to actually do about it is the hard part.

This is the gap I want to help you close. I've spent 25+ years in business analysis, and since 2015 I've been studying how AI is reshaping our work; a focus that's intensified over the last three years as I've watched BAs and teams adapt in real time.

I was part of the committee that wrote the BABOK®v3, so the framework underneath this guide runs deep, and I dug into the question of AI and the BA role further in Futureproof, the book I co-authored with Tim Coventry, published by IIBA in 2024.

These days, I teach business analysis through LinkedIn Learning and Maven Learning and work directly with BAs, teams, and leaders with clients, and in my BA-Cube community.

I hope this guide helps you and your team think about and adapt your role and practices with AI and with confidence.

I'll likely be updating this as our practices evolve and as I evolve my thinking on this as well.

This guide (18 pages) focuses on 2 major impacts of AI on business analysis.

1) Productivity with AI BA Tasks/Process - Using AI for Business Analysis work: Driven by SDLC changes with AI. Requirements and analysis are integrated into AI Coding Agents, and how the software development lifecycle is changing with AI automating the requirements/design/coding/testing processes into AI Agents within development consoles connected to organizational assets. This redefines business analysis and how we work

2) Implementing AI Solutions - Doing Analysis on AI Solutions: As we work on projects and teams that implement AI for business processes, the analysis work that is needed changes. This includes AI augmented processes, AI embedded into workflows, AI automation and agentic AI.