Who is Susan Moore?
I was not named after a Johnny Cash song.
I come from a family of storytellers. I’ve always been fascinated by the art and artistry of a story told well. That’s why I went to school to be a Film Director. While at the University of North Carolina, I discovered a love of Florentine Art History because of the stories represented in those elaborate works but also in the stories of how the pieces came to be. With my degrees in Film and Art History, my job prospects looked, well, challenging. But there was this other thing I could do. Something that I learned in elementary school as a fun class: computer programming.
This was the days of BASIC and 5 ¼” floppy disks. I discovered you could make computers do things with code. I realized that I had a knack for creating something out of nothing but an idea. It felt a lot like making movies. I was hooked. But I didn’t just want to write code. I wanted to help people make their ideas come alive so we could build things from them.
Fortunately, the computer thing opened a few doors for me and after some graduate education in Adult Learning and Organizational Development, I became a Technical Writer and Trainer and later a Business Analysis Professional. During that time, I never stopped using my storytelling skills to bring focus to my clients’ needs, pains, objectives, and priorities to build things in organizations. I’ve always found that illustrating ideas and data with stories, influences organizations in ways that requirement specifications cannot.
Storytelling, interviewing and writing are my go-to tools. This set me apart from many other Business Analysis professionals because it is contrary to the ways that most of us are deployed in organizations. We are often cast against type as “requirement writers” or scribes rather than as authors of our organizations’ future direction. Business analysis implemented well shapes organizations by holding a mirror to it, asking smart questions and showing back its potential.
So you’re probably wondering “why aren’t you a virtual business storyteller coach?”
Because The Virtual BS Coach doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Seriously, I focus my business analysis lens on all parts of life and work, looking for those ideas that I can help make come alive and to show others how to do it too.
To that end, I write, speak and train on these topics:
- Virtual Communication
- Virtual presence
- Remote Work
- Productivity
Finally, the professional part of my bio. I’m a Business Analysis and Product Management practitioner with a focus (and many opinions) on agile with over 20 years’ experience on both the IT and business side of organizations. I’ve worked in insurance, finance, and energy and usually in small to mid-sized companies. I’ve dabbled in start-ups. I’m a bit of a “human Swiss Army knife.” However, my specialty is and always will be making great ideas come alive!
I’ve invested in my career and I’m a PMI certified Professional in Business Analysis (PBA) and Agile Practitioner (ACP) and have a IIBA Agile Analysis Certification (AAC). I also hold ITIL V3 Foundations and Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) certifications.
