System and business analytics in anticipation of the most significant event of the sphere!

    Before the International Conference on System and Business Analysis “ Analyst Days-2014 ”, which will be held May 24 in Moscow, a little more than a month, and there are almost no empty seats left. Anyone else who wants to attend an event should hurry to secure a place for himself!

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    Perhaps the doubt prevents you from registering , do you need a conference or not? Then you will be finally convinced to attend such a significant event in the field by several exclusively prepared interviews with conference speakers - Irina Surova, systems analyst at Kaspersky Lab R&D, and Denis Beskov, head of the School of System Analysis. From the conversation you will find out what key qualities analysts need, why it is important to attend industry conferences and what awaits the participants of Analyst Days-2014.


    What is the appeal of systems analysis? And what is its complexity?

    Irina Surova:“The appeal of system analysis lies in the ability to make a beautiful solution with minimal effort, and also in the early stages of the project to provide all sorts of disadvantages and risks in it.

    However, there are difficulties in system analysis. For me, they are that the analyst does not produce the final result, our result is an intermediate one and, unfortunately, it can rarely be touched and checked. ”

    Denis Beskov: “Using your head and communication skills wisely, you can budge multi-million projects, direct them in the right direction, save a lot of working hours for IT project participants and decent amounts for investors, and ideally, you can also help make the lives of millions of people better .

    The complexity of the profession is that the decisions that are made in the course of such work are of great importance for projects, therefore the cost of error and responsibility are very high. And in order to make such crucial decisions, you need to be able to identify and take into account many circumstances - the nuances of the law, technological trends, user experience and motivation, political conflicts, and actions of competitors.

    If you try to close all the risks and test all the hypotheses, then this approach will make the whole project unprofitable, so you have to re-choose the scope, depth and methods of research and design every time, based on the experience of past successes and failures.

    Another nuance - unlike many other professions, in analysis it is difficult to get quick feedback on your ideas and detect errors, so the learning cycle lasts a long time - without experience in 3-4 completed or failed projects, it is very difficult to understand which solutions will work, and which will not. ”

    What key qualities should a good systems analyst have?

    Irina Surova: “In my opinion, a good systems analyst should differ:

    - systemic thinking and a penchant for analysis;
    - communicative skills, including understanding of other people, as well as a clear communication of information to the interlocutor;
    - an active position;
    “Curiosity and willingness to quickly explore new subject areas, technologies and developments.”

    Denis Beskov: “A good systems analyst should be able to think systemically - that is, be able to form and justify a picture of interconnections, facts, events and phenomena.

    Two such paintings are usually built. The first is a picture of the present, in which we conduct research, clarifying the relationships of people, organizations and technologies, as well as the problematic situation that caused the project to come to life. The second is a picture of the future, how the target created system should be arranged, how the work and life of people and companies will change in it, how the system will bring the necessary benefits.

    Another, equally important skill, I would put communication - the ability to communicate with different people, obtain and communicate information in different ways, explain complex things in a simple and understandable language. Without this, the analyst, even talented as a thinker, would be an uncut diamond, useless for military projects. ”

    What advice can you, as an experienced system analyst, give young professionals who are just starting to take their first steps in the field?

    Irina Surova: “The best advice is to constantly practice, in other words, just work. It is also important to analyze your results and compare what you are taught in courses and books with your real actions. And for this, of course, you need to read books and learn. ”

    Denis Beskov:“Do not hesitate to participate to the fullest in testing and implementing systems created according to your requirements and models - the only way you can reliably know the quality of your ideas, see and correct your mistakes!”

    Is it worth it for analysts (both newcomers to the field and already experienced specialists) attend industry trainings, specialized conferences, etc.? Why?

    Irina Surova:“For me, trainings and conferences are an opportunity to rise above everyday life for a while and look at the trends of the IT industry. This is a means of broadening one's horizons, an opportunity to learn the specifics of work in other subject areas, in a different development culture, and simply in other companies. It is also an opportunity to communicate with people on the same wavelength, compare our results, catch new thoughts and inspiration for further interesting work. ”

    Denis Beskov:“If we talk about the tasks of professional development, then nothing will ever replace a good mentor and leader. Unfortunately, the mentoring institution in our IT space is very poorly developed, and only a few were lucky to work in such wonderful conditions. Therefore, a necessary measure is the appeal of specialists to consultations, articles, literature, trainings and conferences.

    Conferences and trainings are additionally interesting because here you can meet industry colleagues, exchange experience, learn about new methods and possibilities of their application. ”

    What interesting things did you prepare for the participants of the Analyst Days-3 conference?

    Irina Surova: “The conference will be a continuation of my last year’s storyhow we work with business and system requirements at Kaspersky R&D Lab. We wanted to make it convenient to work on large products that many teams are working on at once, and now we will share the results. The focus of the speech will be shifted from the needs of a specific project team to the needs of system owners, project programs and the picture of R&D work on products in general. ”

    Denis Beskov: “I will share my best practices for setting requirements for the quality of software in the form of standard quality profiles.

    Errors in determining non-functional requirements lead to a multiple increase in the cost of projects, to the inability of the system to bring its intended benefits. Many contracting companies try to avoid this topic, thus transferring risks to customers in the “you did not ask - we did not” mode.

    In turn, customers, speaking about the system, are ready to describe for a long time and how much they see the functional characteristics, and they talk about quality briefly, absolutely and amorphously - “the system must be safe, the system must be reliable, the system interface must be intuitive” . When designing, such words usually do not lead to anything concrete.

    The same analysts who work on the side of customers rest against the problem of determining the exact quantitative values ​​of indicators - how to calculate the necessary reaction time of the system? How to set the level of reliability?

    Another problem is that, for example, dozens of possible indicators are given by international standards for software quality, and it is difficult for a specialist without ten years of experience to choose the right ones for a particular project.

    These two problems also eliminate the classifier of types of systems that I offer and the typical quality profiles that I will present and describe at the conference. ”

    Isn’t it, experts have prepared very interesting topics for the conference on May 24? Want to know the details? Then register !

    So, is it worth it to be at the epicenter of events in the sphere of systems and business analytics on May 24? Of course it's worth it! Only at Analyst Days-2014 you will learn the latest trends in business and systems analysis, personally get to know and talk with the best experts in the field, be able to learn from the experience of the leaders of the IT industry and be inspired by new achievements in your work.

    You can obtain detailed information about the conference from the organizers:

    LLC Testing Laboratory
    Russian Federation, Moscow
    Tel. in Russia: +7 (916) 47-47-525
    Tel. in Belarus: +375 29 770-48-58
    Skype: vldcorp
    ICQ: 71226628
    E-mail: org@it-conf.ru

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