The Role of Business Analyst – a Need but no Room for HCI? is a great look at a HCI-trained person taking a position as a BA and reporting from the inside. This illustrates one big reason HCI-related roles, like information architecture, have a hard time penetrating business: business thinks they already have a customer-centric process when they have BAs, and BAs aren’t trained in user research. It might continue to be true until the Tom Peters of the world say otherwise. Personally, I’m working with some BAs who are open-minded and like to hear what I have to say, but changing a culture takes a while.

Link courtesy PJB.