Helen Holder developed an idea to help her children talk about their fears during lockdown – and it proved to be highly effective. Now Helen is using the same powerful visualisation technique to help business change professionals name, and tame, their self-limiting beliefs.

In this mindset-challenging BA Brew, Helen and the Brew Crew discuss common 'Mental Monsters’ and share some practical strategies for challenging them.

See the resource list below for a link to Fiona Kiss’s ‘Problem Solving Duck’ article.

Helen Holder is Head of Business Analysis at RICS. She is also a volunteer with IIBA and YBA.

FURTHER RESOURCES 

BA BREWS

BA Brew 20: Resilience (feat. Corrine Thomas)

BA Brew 30: Confidence (feat. Philippa Thomas)

BA Brew 45: Developing Positive Habits and Behaviours

ARTICLES

Mental Monsters: Name and Tame Your Limiting Beliefs

Resilience Resources

Strengths Spotting - Achieve your goals by leveraging your strengths

StrengthsFinder 2.0

Foster a Growth Mindset with Mindset Advantage

The Problem Solving Duck

COURSES

Introduction to NLP Workshop

If you have relevant transferable skills, it is possible to change careers at any time of life. In this thought-provoking episode, Lisa Croft of Herd Consulting and AssistKD’s Amanda Christianson talk about transferable skills with host Jonathan Hunsley.

Relevant skills discussed include: stakeholder engagement; customer service; teamwork; data analysis; problem-solving; taking a holistic view; and documentation.

RESOURCES

CAREER PLANNING

• AssistKD Career Planing Tools

COURSES

• One Day Careers Workshop

ARTICLES

• What I Wish I had Known When I Started my Business Analyst Career
• 10 Top Tips for Entering the Business Analysis Profession

BA BREWS

• BA Brew 77: How to start your BA Career (Feat. Timothy Clark & Michelle Shakesheff)

Updating your skills toolkit? AssistKD offers a wide choice of business training courses.

Assist’s Learning Zone is packed with free learning resources, with new and topical content added regularly. Discover the latest BA Brew podcasts, articles, blogs, short learning videos and more.

If you’ve ever considered applying for the Business Analyst of the Year Award, this BA Brew special is for you. Current BA of the Year Mark Cross and 2024 winner Kay Hardy discuss what inspired them to apply, and some of the unexpected benefits of taking part.

FURTHER RESOURCES

• Visit our BA of the Year page
• Assist’s Learning Zone is packed with free learning resources, with new and topical content added regularly. Discover the latest BA Brew podcasts, articles, blogs, short learning videos and more.
• AssistKD BA Career Planner Tool
• Webinar: What it Takes to be BA of the Year

ARTICLES

• BA of the Year: 10 Top Tips for Applying
• Mark Cross Winner’s Interview
• Kay Hardy Winner’s Interview
• Pip Hall Winner’s Interview

BA BREWS

• BA Brew 20: Resilience
• BA Brew 68: Stepping Beyond the BA Toolbox
• BA Brew 80: Bravery in Business Analysis

In this stressbusting BA Brew, special guest and yoga teacher Jennie Macdonald talks to the Brew Crew about how yoga, mindfulness, and something as simple as a breathing technique can foster balance, calm and resilience in your work and home life.

Jennie and Ruth recommend the following online Yoga and Mindfulness resources:

• Yoga with Adriene is a particularly good entry point – well worth subscribing to on YouTube. This includes movement and breathing exercises, and she has multiple 30 day courses where the daily sessions are about 20 minutes long: Yoga With Adriene - YouTube

• The Mindful app is a great one for walking meditations – it isn’t free but it’s well worth the subscription: A Guided Walking Meditation for Daily Life - Mindful

• Nalanie Chellaram is a great teacher if people want to get into yoga in its broader sense: Nalanie Chellaram - YouTube

FURTHER RESOURCES

BA BREWS

• BA Brew 20: Resilience (feat. Corrine Thomas)
• BA Brew 30: Confidence (feat. Philippa Thomas)
• BA Brew 45: Developing Positive Habits and Behaviours

ARTICLES

• Resilience Resources
• Strengths Spotting - Achieve your goals by leveraging your strengths
• BOOK REVIEW: Begin with You by Petra Velzeboer
• Wellbeing in Times of Change By Petra Velzeboer

Bad service appears to be on the increase… why? Could it be because organisations are forgetting about the needs of the customer or are not sufficiently involving BAs, Service Designers or Business Architects?

Debra Paul, Jonathan Hunsley and Mike Williams share a few ‘tales of woe’ and discuss some of their favourite trouble-shooting tools and techniques.

Techniques discussed include scenario analysis; business continuity; the ‘Zone of Tolerance’; exploring the voice of the customer; and the POPIT™ technique.

FURTHER RESOURCES

BOOKS

• ‘Business Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide’ by Jonathan Hunsley and Debra Paul, is available from the BCS Bookshop.
• Business Analysis: 123 Essential Tools for Success by James Cadle, Debra Paul, Jonathan Hunsley, Adrian Reed, David Beckham and Paul Turner.
• Coming in 2026 and available for preorder: Service Design: A practical guide to creating customer centric services by Debra Paul and Jonathan Hunsley

ARTICLES

• The Rise of the CX Professional | Assist Knowledge Development  
• Putting the Service into Service Design | Assist Knowledge Development

COURSES

• Visit the Free Learning section of Assist’s Learning Zone for a choice of free short courses – with a course dedicated to POPIT™️. 
• AssistKD offers a wide choice of business training.

BA BREWS

• Customer Experience Analysis
• Business Service Architecture
• Business Service Design
• The BA Tools and Techniques Launch Chat

Could BAs be the new digital solutions superheroes? This week’s BA Brew, which features special guest Catherine Plumridge, looks at how the skills of BAs plug into digital solutions across every element of the BA Service Framework.

Questions addressed in the chat include:

• Could the BA role in the future embrace the development of digital solutions, using no-code platforms and AI?

• How does using the POPIT™️ framework enhance digital solutions?

• In what ways will the BA role evolve?

Catherine Plumridge is a BA Leader at Kensington Mortgages and was a key early reviewer of the new BCS Digital Solutions series written by Pete Thompson.

Stuart Mullinger and Fiona Kiss worked with Pete Thompson on designing and developing AssistKD’s new BCS Foundation Certificate in Digital Solution Development course.

FURTHER RESOURCES

BOOKS

• Defining Digital Solutions

• Designing Digital Solutions

• Delivering Digital Solutions

ARTICLES

• AI and the Business Analysis Role

COURSES

• Solution Development Courses

DIPLOMAS

• The BCS International Diploma in Solution Development

BA BREWS

• The AI Brew

• BA Brew 102: Trilogy Pete: The Digital Solutions Series | Assist Knowledge Development

In this music-themed BA Brew, three piano-playing business analysts identify and draw parallels between business analysis and music, highlighting interesting similarities and connections.

Claire Chaundy compares mentoring in music and in business analysis. AssistKD’s Stuart Mullinger discusses BA tools and techniques and the musical standards. And Dominic Ready (who also performs the intro and outro) finds some surprising common ground between performing live and the POPIT™ technique. 

FURTHER RESOURCES

BA Brews

• BA Brew 33: BA Skills and How to Develop Them
• BA Brew 104: Why BA Techniques are Useful

Books

• Business Analysis Techniques: 123 Essential Tools for Success

Courses

• BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis

Free Courses and Videos

• Check out the free Bitesize Learning Videos in our Learning Zone
• Top up your BA skills with free courses, in the ‘Free Learning’ section of our Learning Zone

In this week’s BA Brew, Kerry Adams chats to avid beekeepers Mike Williams and Mick Brian about what business analysts can learn from the organisation of a beehive – including how the bees communicate, make decisions, and allocate their resources.

Interesting facts include the many different jobs of the worker bees (they don’t just collect pollen) and the intricacies of the ‘waggle dance’.

FURTHER RESOURCES 

BA Brews 

• BA Brew 33: BA Skills and How to Develop Them

Book

• Business Analysis Techniques: 123 Essential Tools for Success  

Articles 

• AI Alchemy: Turning Change into Gold]

Courses 

• BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis

Free Courses and Learning Videos 

• Check out the free Bitesize Learning Videos in our Learning Zone
• Top up your BA skills with free courses, in the ‘Free Resources’ section of our Learning Zone

Ready for some BA toolbox inspiration? This BA Brew is all about business analysis techniques, and how to apply them.

Podcast guest Carlos Pullen-Ferreira waxes lyrical about the Requirements Traceability Matrix and User Stories; Debbie sings the praises of Data Models, the CRUD Matrix and a good Value Stream Diagram; and finally Jonathan puts a word in for GAP Analysis and can’t resist talking (or is it ranting?) about RACI.

Other techniques mentioned include: Swimlane Diagrams; SWOT Analysis; PESTLE Analysis; Use Case Diagrams and Context Diagrams; BPMN and UML; Capability Models; POPIT; Customer Journey Maps; Cost Benefit Analysis and VMOST.

Carlos Pullen-Ferriera is a highly experienced BA and Head of Change Management, Agile coach, author and conference speaker.

FURTHER RESOURCES

BA BREWS

• BA Brew 2: The RACI Rant
• BA Brew 19: The BA Tools and Techniques Launch Chat
• BA Brew 33: BA Skills and How to Develop Them

BOOKS

• Business Analysis Techniques: 123 Essential Tools for Success

ARTICLES

• Time For a Skills Stocktake? Customise your Toolkit with the BA Techniques Triage

COURSES

• BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis

FREE VIDEOS

• Check out the Free Bitesize Learning Videos in our Learning Zone

FREE COURSES

• The POPIT™ Model
• Introduction to BPMN 2.0

According to Simon Platt, every one of us, regardless of our age, job, title or background, has it within us to inspire others – even if we don’t always realise it.

Simon lived in the same village as Sir Captain Tom Moore, and observed close at hand how a simple idea lifted the nation’s spirits in lockdown and raised £39 million for NHS charities. In this uplifting BA Brew, Simon talks to the Crew about the skills, traits and beliefs that can help us inspire ourselves and others in the BA community and beyond.

The Brew crew are also joined by Simon's colleague Charlotte Neill who is running a workshop with Simon at the IRMUK BA Conference 2025. They are hoping that by BA’s sharing their stories in the workshop, others might see themselves in them or realise they’ve been inspiring people all along without even knowing it.

Topics touched upon include:

• What comes first, motivation or inspiration
• Practical steps to inspire yourself and others
• The lasting impact of role modelling and ‘paying forward
• Tangible actions we can all take in our day to day lives.

Simon Platt is Principal Business Analyst at Whitbread, a Neuroinclusivity Advocate, public speaker and podcast host. Simon was a BA of the Year Finalist in 2023.

Further Resources

Articles

• Work-life Balance: Creating a Career and a Life you Love
• Neurodiversity: The BAs Survival Guide
• Book review: Begin with You by Petra Velzeboer
• Wellbeing in Times of Change

Courses

• Introduction to NLP One Day Workshop

BA Brews

• BA Brew 49: Mental Health
• BA Brew 54: Neurodiversity