Dec 28

Written by: Michael Wilkes
12/28/2007

Mom used to say, "You'd spend 30 minutes figuring out how to do a 15 minute job in 5 minutes!" So true. When I took the StrengthsFinder test, "Maximizer" was one of my top five talents. I automate things. I make people and systems go faster -- and have for decades now. An underlying attribute that makes this a natural task for me is a hunger to understand... to know why things work the way they do. You could describe this as a process-oriented personality trait.

Having worked with other analysts for many years (often in the guise of a project manager or software engineer), I've distilled the core skills of an accomplished analyst down these five.

Facilitator - The ability to call, control, and actually accomplish things in meetings.

Experienced - The ability to see an open manhole before falling into it. No amount of intelligence can substitute for scar tissue.

Process-oriented - The linear mind, possessed by a need to follow a chain of thought from beginning to end. This runs contrary to how many people think and often talk.

Communicator - The ability to effectively distribute understanding to others. Not just writing and talking but the useful transmission of ideas so that others are served.

Organized - The ability to reduce chaos into systematic order. Having seen the trees, to assemble the forest.

These are the elements I seek when interviewing analyst prospects. They are a mixture of talent and acquired skill. A person with the attributes above can drop into a complex project and immediately add value to the environment.

Granted, FEPCO is not the slickest acronym for all this. Then again, Mom didn't care how I described the process... as long as I got my room cleaned up.

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