The concept of a Business Bridge emerged strongly in my conversation with Mariano Urbinatti Machado.
With more than fourteen years of experience working across technology and business domains, Mariano shared practical insights about how business analysts connect people, ideas, and solutions to ensure organizations deliver real value.
Watch the other episodes in this podcast series featuring interviews with experts from around the world.
From Engineering to Business Analysis
Mariano’s path into business analysis began in telecommunications engineering. While working with programming languages like Unix and Linux early in his career, he noticed a recurring challenge: developers were often building systems without fully understanding what clients actually needed.
This realization led him to move closer to the client side of projects. Instead of focusing only on code, Mariano became interested in asking questions, facilitating conversations, and translating business needs into solutions. At that time, the title business analyst was not widely used. Roles such as consultant or functional analyst were more common, but the work was already there.
The Core Value of Business Analysis
Mariano describes this Business Bridge in simple terms: the business analyst acts as the connector between two worlds.
On one side are stakeholders who deeply understand the business but may not understand the solution domain. On the other side are solution providers who can build solutions but may not fully grasp the underlying business problem.
The business analyst ensures that communication flows effectively between both sides, translating needs, clarifying objectives, and ensuring that the delivered solution actually solves the intended problem.
Importantly, Mariano highlights that business analysis is not limited to technology projects. The same bridging role can exist in any situation where someone needs a solution, and someone else is responsible for building or delivering it.
A Day in the Life of a Business Analyst
In Mariano’s experience, the daily routine of a business analyst involves a combination of collaboration, prioritization, and communication.
His typical day often includes:
- Reviewing the project board in tools such as Jira or Trello
- Participating in daily stand-up meetings with the team
- Facilitating conversations between team members who need support
- Managing and refining the backlog
- Prioritizing tasks and maintaining focus on what delivers the most value
One of the most critical responsibilities, according to Mariano, is keeping the backlog healthy. Old or irrelevant items should be removed, priorities should be reassessed, and the team should always have clarity about what comes next.
When Business Analysts Fill Organizational Gaps
A recurring theme in the interview is that business analysts often go beyond their formal job descriptions.
Mariano explains that BAs frequently step into gaps when necessary. For example, if the product owner is not actively maintaining the backlog, the business analyst may take the initiative to organize and prioritize it. Similarly, BAs often facilitate demos, support testing activities, or clarify expectations with stakeholders.
This flexibility comes from their holistic view of the project. Because business analysts understand both the business context and the solution development process, they are often in the best position to identify and address missing pieces.
Business Analyst and Product Owner: What is the difference?
Learn about their responsibilities, collaboration, and impact on decision-making.
How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Business Analysis
Mariano is particularly enthusiastic about the impact of AI on the profession.
Rather than replacing business analysts, he believes AI will increase productivity and accelerate delivery, allowing analysts to participate in more projects and create value faster.
Some of the practical ways he uses AI include:
- Transcribing and summarizing meetings
- Generating user stories and acceptance criteria
- Drafting stakeholder communications
- Structuring notes and follow-ups from discussions
- Explaining highly technical conversations in simpler terms
By providing AI with context such as team roles, project acronyms, and templates, he can significantly improve the quality of the outputs. However, he emphasizes that analysts must always review AI-generated content to ensure accuracy and avoid mistakes.
The Future of the Business Bridge
Mariano sees the future of business analysis as even more collaborative and insight-driven. As AI reduces the time spent on documentation and administrative work, analysts will be able to focus more on understanding problems, facilitating decisions, and connecting stakeholders.
In other words, technology may evolve, but the Business Bridge (linking needs with solutions) will remain essential.
Acknowledgment
I want to thank the International Institute of Business Analysis for supporting this initiative.
As part of the IIBA community and serving as Senior Advisor to the President & CEO, it’s a privilege to help bring forward the voices of practitioners shaping our profession.
References
- Connect with Mariano Urbinatti on LinkedIn
- Listen to this and other episodes on The Brazilian BA Guest on Spotify
- Read the summary and watch other episodes of The Brazilian BA Guests on the Current State of Business Analysis
- Connect with the global Business Analysis community at iiba.org
