Here at Opinov8, Opinov8rs represent our culture. Cover Stories portray the richness within all of us, the differences that make us who we are. In this edition, meet Anastasiia, our Business Analyst, which also won the “Opinov8r of the Year” Award (the annual presentation of awards for contributions to the success of their team and the company overall). She tells us about her career at Opinov8, shared her tips that help avoid doing work twice while working remotely, and told us how travel helps her manage a work-life balance. Get to know Anastasiia a little more through this Cover Story, and don’t miss the opportunity to be part of this adventure too!

Business analysis requires being really picky and finding cases people usually don't think about. I believe in bringing value, BA shouldn't be afraid to ask questions even if they are obvious at first glance and propose possible solutions.

How did your journey start at Opinov8?

Before joining Opinov8, I worked as Business Analyst (BA) on internal projects in another company for 2 years, helping departments automate business processes inside the company. At that time, I started looking for new opportunities mainly because I wanted to try new domains and gain experience working with external customers. Luckily, I found all that in Opinov8. The job position that I hold in Opinov8 right now allows me to communicate closely with teams and customers, gives me a sufficient level of independence to gain my own experience, and use my knowledge to bring value.

What do you love most about your work, and working with people from other countries?

I am passionate about discovering something new, for example, puzzling how the system works or understanding customers' calculation rules in the systems. In a nutshell, I like digging inside the route cause and understand what customers' needs are and why they need them to provide possible solutions.

Business analysis requires being really picky and finding cases people usually don't think about. I believe in bringing value, BA shouldn't be afraid to ask questions even if they are obvious at first glance and propose possible solutions (of course, previously discuss it with the team 😉).

It was pretty challenging to work with people from other countries at the beginning. First, it was language, I was not sure if I described the message clearly enough for others to understand what I am asking about. Another thing was catching up on all the information during calls to reflect all that in requirements later. But as it turns out just a matter of time. Now, it's one of the points I love about my job. 

Apart from work points, I am really curious to talk about traditions and holidays, learn the way they communicate and work, how to spend free time, etc.

What is your typical workday like? How do you manage your time and productivity?

As we work with customers and teams from different time zones, and they could reach out to us when we're away, the first thing I do is checking all the chats and emails. Then goes supporting Dev`s and QA's teams if they have anything and working on requirements. In the late afternoon, jumping on the scheduled meetings.

I have a couple of tips that help me to avoid doing work twice:

• Work prioritization and doing a hard task in the first half of the day when I'm the most productive
• Organize requirements discussion with all the team, not with each individual. It saves time for all participants.
• Get feedback and make sure the right people read and accept what you wrote. Accepted different types of feedback can be approval or thumb up, reply in the chat, etc. If you didn't get anything, it's okay to remind or ask if the recipient saw your message.

Did you have moments or situations in your professional career that made you think you couldn’t make it through, but actually made you stronger? Which were those?

I had such for sure, but once you overcome it becomes not a big deal as you thought before.

Were you surprised when you received the "Opinov8r of the Year" Award? How did you feel when you received an award?

Yeah, it was really a surprise for me. I didn't expect anything like that. To be honest, I've even been stunned for a while. But I believe that I wouldn’t receive any awards without continued support from teams I work with, and Inna V. (Project Manager in Opinov8), in particular, who is always ready to give a hand.

What do you consider to be the balance between your work and personal life, especially when working remotely?

As for me, work and life balance are when I have time, energy, and will for any activities apart from my job. It could be sport, self-education, meeting with besties, or house choirs, anything that brings me energy and inspiration.

In remote work, the hardest part is to close my laptop on time and switch to 'at home' mode while always staying at home.

What do you most enjoy about your hobbies activities? What activities do you do that help you maintain a work-life balance?

A little bit of traveling and a little bit of sport in my life help me to keep myself in balance. By traveling, I mean not only going abroad or visiting new places. For me, it is any change of scene, but picnics outside the city, small journeys to the neighborhood, or even go outside for a while. I enjoy going to my native town — Novgorod-Siversky, a historic city in Chernihiv Oblast of Ukraine, it is my place of power. Rivers, forest, almost no people around, what could be better to escape from the crowd and have some time for my own.

What studies would you recommend to someone who wants to make their career as a Business Analyst?

The best way to start Business Analyst practice is to consider an internship program or an intern position. I know that many companies offer such. Practice shows that participating in such programs accelerates your time standing up as BA and provides the real opportunity to try the theory in practice.

Different BA networks are also a cool way to boost your skills and find useful contacts. When I was starting my BA career, I visited different workshops where Senior BAs shared their approaches and real cases in BA practice they faced. I don't see value in lectures where speakers retell the theory, easy access on the Internet, more useful real cases, and solutions that helped.

As Anastasiia was saying, Business Analyst requires being really picky, but it can really be a lot of fun and a lot like getting into an adventure. If you wanna join the BA team, don’t hesitate to check our open positions or send your CV to careers@opinov8.com