Common acronyms you’ll see as a Business Analyst
In my ideal world, we’d all stop using acronyms. To be brutally honest, they cause confusion at best and are used to hide a lack of knowledge at worst. After all, if I’m going to tell you to go chat with the PM, are you off to speak with a Product Manager or a Project Manager? Further to that, on more than one occasion I have heard people challenged on the meaning of an acronym only to admit they don’t actually know what it means. Maybe it’s just me, but if you don’t know what the meaning of something you’re saying is, you’re unlikely to know how it works!
Alas, as I alluded to, I would like to remove acronyms from existence, but since I can’t, here is a rundown of some of the most commonly encountered acronyms you may come across as a Business Analyst and a couple of general work related ones. Please note: this list is by no means exhaustive and has no industry related jargon.
The List
A
AC – Acceptance Criteria
B
BA – Business Analyst
BABOK – Business Analyst Body Of Knowledge
BRD – Business Requirements Document
C
CX – Customer Experience
F
FRS – Functional Requirements Specification
K
KPI – Key Performance Indicator
M
MNC – Multi-National Corporation
MoSCoW – Must do, Should do, Could do, Won’t do
MVP – Minimum Viable Product
P
PM – Product Manager
PM – Project Manager
PO – Product Owner
POC – Proof Of Concept
Q
QA – Quality Assurance
R
RACI – Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed
RFI – Request For Information
RFP – Request For Proposal
RFQ – Request For Quote
S
SDLC – Software Development Life Cycle
SM – Scrum Master
SME – Small to Medium Enterprise
SME – Subject Matter Expert
SOHO – Small Office, Home Office
SRS – Systems Requirements Specification
SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
U
UAT – User Acceptance Testing
US – User Story
UX – User Experience