u/throwawayFintoCS

Hi,

I’m a new a business analyst (1-2 YOE) and I wanted to ask if certain things that happen at my job are normal or not.

I’m not familiar with all the lingo of a business analyst and I come more from the business side than the IT side but I have a good understanding of tech and software.

When I first started, I really enjoyed my job, I was tasked with improving a process and that’s exactly what I did. I listened to the stakeholders and asked the right questions and altered the process so it made sense with our goals and had the IT department develop the things we needed.

Now, I started working with more people across departments and I’m running into so many challenges and roadblocks and I dont know if its a lack of support from leadership or just maybe I’m doing something wrong.

I’m tasked with analyzing a department and even though I do, it’s like no one wants to hear my recommendations. The people doing the job think there can be no improvements to the process. The people above me want to come up with the ideas themselves. Meanwhile, im the only person who knows the full story but no one wants to know my thoughts. Im just asked to produce endless quantities of documentation that no one reads. I’ve spent so much time revising a massive flow chart that covers the processes of this department end to end. It took me a day or two to create but 2 to 3 weeks almost to actually finalize it because I had 5 other managers involved.

The guy who hired me as a business analyst keeps having so many other people give me direction and it’s getting very painful to work with all of them. I feel pulled in 20 directions and I just do work while they sit in a meeting room and discuss, I have to try and get all 5 managers focused on the same topic it’s like trying to ride a cart being pulled by 5 horses and cows.

I thought I was supposed to gather the information, make recommendations, meet with leadership, and execute their vision. I have so many people involved who don’t know what they’re doing and I really hate this.

Can someone give me some advice?

Question for all the “young” managers, how did you get your leadership position and how old are you?

I know young is kind of relative but I’m just interested to see if there are any common factors amongst people not traditionally put in a leadership position.

Is there anything you wish you knew when you started or anything you wish you did differently?

Basically the title, and I have one other question.

My manager is being considered to absorb another department to her own which would significantly increase her pay and title, I’ve been working with her significantly on this project, by that I mean I do the grunt work and she gets a summarized version from me. I now understand 90% of everything going on with this other department and I understand 100% of everything our current department does. I know how that department runs and what to do to improve it, which is what the execs expect her to do if she absorbs it.

She relies on me as her right hand man and she considers me her right hand man, closest confidant, etc. but every time I bring up a potential promotion to being her “official right hand man” she’s dodgy and says “eventually” and “down the line” and makes excuses of “you’re very early in your career”. I’m getting a little demotivated at hearing this considering all the work I do for her and my glowing reviews.

I personally believe she couldn’t handle this other department without me, at one point during the fact finding mission of understanding this other department she was “losing her mind” because she didn’t have to patience to try and understand anything. That’s where I really took over the project as a whole.

So, it’s my belief that based on all this, she’s incapable of absorbing this department without me. I’m pretty much the technical knowledge silo of her department. She will often ask me questions about technical things and on top of that I’m the “fixer” for any complex issues. Am I delusional in thinking she’s unable to do this without me? If so, does she realize that? How do I use my knowledge as leverage to get the promotion I want? How do I even get a direct answer from her?

The other thing is, I might not leave right away if she does say no because I have an opportunity to learn everything about this business which is valuable in its own right.