Women in tech: Hanna Kiper, business analyst

Hi, I’m Hanna, a business analyst on the TUI Group project. I live in Kyiv with my partner, daughter and hamster. In my free time, I enjoy singing, learning Japanese and cooking traditional Japanese desserts.

I started my career as a financial specialist and participated in various SAP implementation projects, providing business requirements. At some point, I transitioned to IT and joined a financial project as a business analyst.

My financial and business background helped me a lot at the beginning of my IT career.

I love working with TUI. I really appreciate the freedom I have to experiment and suggest new ideas.

I support two teams, and both of them are collaborative, kind and highly professional.

We also have a lot of fun together. Even though we are all based in different countries, the atmosphere within the teams is very friendly.

1. Understanding what people really need. Sometimes it’s simply experience that tells you a particular nuance is important. No one explicitly points it out, you just feel it. Being on the other side of requirements gathering helped me develop this skill.

    

2. Attention to detail. One small requirement can sometimes change the entire architectural approach. Lessons learned are very valuable here. Once you’ve analyzed and understood what went wrong, you’ll never underestimate the importance of that requirement again.

    

3. The ability to quickly understand core ideas. You don’t need to understand every single part of a solution in one day. But it is critical to first understand the main idea and then dive deeper. This helps a lot during the discovery process. Always remember the main goal.

We have quarterly planning, and each team sets prioritized quarterly goals. I keep those goals in mind when organizing my work. I also challenge each task by asking: Is it a must-have or a nice-to-have? 

And of course, every project has its own deadlines that we need to consider.

Finding a work-life balance. It has changed my life significantly.

The war in Ukraine has made the importance of work-life balance even clearer. Work is important, but it cannot be the first priority all the time.

Our energy is not unlimited, so it’s important to recharge. Quality time with family and friends, hobbies and small joys make life better.

I’ve been lucky to have women as my leads for most of my career. I’ve also met many women whom I admire and consider role models. This is another reason why I enjoy working with TUI. There are many empowered women there whom I deeply respect and find very inspiring.

To be honest, the role hasn’t changed dramatically over the past five years, so I don’t expect major changes in the next five either.

We are just getting better tools that help us to work or tools that generate other tasks. The key skill will remain the ability to adapt to new challenges and tools.

As a business analyst, it is important to understand how things work in practice. Talk to developers, testers and users. Observe their work and ask questions: why does it work this way and how could it be improved?

Keep learning and exploring your product and the business behind it. And don’t forget to look at what your competitors are doing.