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

AC – Acceptance Criteria

BA – Business Analyst

BABOK – Business Analyst Body Of Knowledge

BRD – Business Requirements Document

CX – Customer Experience

FRS – Functional Requirements Specification

KPI – Key Performance Indicator

MNC – Multi-National Corporation

MoSCoW – Must do, Should do, Could do, Won’t do

MVP – Minimum Viable Product

PM – Product Manager

PM – Project Manager

PO – Product Owner

POC – Proof Of Concept

QA – Quality Assurance

RACI – Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed

RFI – Request For Information

RFP – Request For Proposal

RFQ – Request For Quote

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

UAT – User Acceptance Testing

US – User Story

UX – User Experience