What's Redefining Business Analysis Right Now?

About this episode

The episode discusses the evolving role of business analysts in the context of rapid changes driven by AI and organizational pressures.

What does it actually mean to be a business analyst when everything you knew about the role is changing — fast?In this episode, I sat down with Ryan Folster, a product leader based in Johannesburg, South Africa, who's been deep in the trenches thinking, speaking, and honestly losing sleep over exactly this question. Ryan came fresh off delivering a talk at the BBC conference in Toronto (where, for the record, neither of us dressed for the weather 😄), and he brought all of that energy and insight straight to our conversation.Here's what I love about Ryan's perspective — it's not an AI hype (or doom) talk. It's about the human things that enable AI: structured thinking, context-gathering, decomposition, and the very human judgment that no prompt can replace. We got into why experienced BAs sometimes struggle most with this moment of change, why your ability to think is still your greatest professional asset, and what it looks like to lean into adaptability when you genuinely don't know what next week will bring.We also talked about the pressure. The very real pressure organizations are putting on analysts right now — the "you have AI, so why isn't this done yet?&quot…

People in this episode

Guest: Ryan Folster

Topics covered

• business analysis
• AI impact
• adaptability
• professional development
• pressure on analysts

Keywords

• business analyst
• AI
• adaptability
• pressure
• professional asset

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC

Places: Johannesburg, South Africa, Toronto

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