The Journey

The Journey to The Essential Business Analyst

After more than twenty years working as a Business Analyst, I’ve finally done something I’ve thought about for years — written the book I wish I’d had when I started.

The Essential Business Analyst has been a long time in the making. It began during a break between contracts a decade ago but got parked when work resumed, put on a shelf but with the intention of coming back to it one day. In the same situation again in early 2025, I decided to finish the project—after reviewing I decided it needed a refresh. From there, it evolved into something much bigger: a practical, modern guide to the BA role, shaped by real experience and by the rapid changes we’ve all witnessed in business and technology—especially with the rise of AI.

Since then it's pretty much taken over my life. As the chapters came together, so did the bigger picture—that Business Analysis is about much more than techniques or templates. It’s about mindset: curiosity, clarity, and the drive to make sense of complexity.

The book brings together the methods, tools, and thinking approaches that have helped me most in practice. It also explores how AI and data are reshaping the role, and what that means for the next generation of analysts. My goal was to create something practical, grounded, and genuinely useful for anyone who wants to understand what good analysis looks like—and how to deliver it.

I figured there were already enough beginner’s guides and dry handbooks out there. I wanted to humanise the role—hence the front cover—and include topics that rarely appear in BA literature, like ethics and mental wellness.

Now that it’s finally published, I’m incredibly proud (and a little relieved!). I hope The Essential Business Analyst helps new and experienced analysts alike build confidence, navigate change, and find renewed purpose in their work.

If you’d like to stay in touch, follow the LinkedIn page for updates, insights, and articles expanding on the ideas in the book. And if you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts—every bit of feedback helps shape what comes next.

Thanks for being part of this journey.

Stephen Ruffell
Author of The Essential Business Analyst: Mastering Business Analysis in the AI Age.