A Day in the Life of a BA Starting in a New Domain/Industry

As part of this month, we’re excited to welcome Kiranpreet Kaur - a seasoned BA who gave us a practical look into how BAs can start in a new domain/industry. Kiran began her career in software development before discovering her professional home in business analysis. Over nearly 20 years, she has built a diverse career across India, the UK, and Australia, working across banking, auto finance, insurance, telecom, and financial crime. That breadth gives her a practical, cross-industry perspective on how Business Analysts create real impact in complex programmes. An active IIBA member since 2013, Kiran is deeply committed to giving back to the BA community. She facilitates BABOK and Product Ownership Analysis study groups and has supported over 60 Business Analysts in strengthening their skills and advancing their careers. She regularly shares insights on LinkedIn across business analysis, leadership, and the evolving role of BAs in a fast-changing world in her “BA Gym” newsletter - grounded in a simple belief: grow together, master the basics, and shape the future. Kiran is particularly passionate about bringing the BA role back to its core - cutting through the role title noise to focus on what truly matters: enabling clarity, driving outcomes, and delivering value. In this session, she brought that same passion to life by building a framework that helps BAs settle in a new domain/new job. Starting in a new organisation or domain is one of the most disorienting experiences in a BA's career - and one of the most underestimated opportunities. Most BAs rush to contribute before they have been properly oriented. The result is weeks of misdirected effort, repeated work, and relationships that take longer than they should to build. 💡 What you’ll learn: A practical 4-phase roadmap for navigating your first weeks and months in a new Business Analyst role. Proven Business Analysis techniques, tools, and starter templates that can be applied immediately to accelerate your effectiveness. How to identify, engage, and build relationships with key stakeholders while asking the right questions to understand the business, processes, systems, and challenges. Techniques for gathering requirements, uncovering insights, and identifying opportunities for improvement in unfamiliar environments. How to leverage your outsider's perspective to spot risks, challenge assumptions, and create value before that fresh perspective fades. Real-world lessons, practical tips, and common pitfalls drawn from two decades of experience working across different organisations and projects. Strategies for building credibility, adapting quickly, and delivering meaningful impact from day one.