Secondment is more than just switching gears quickly – the value of a long assignment

Halfway through my second year with a client, a senior developer called me directly. Not via the project manager, but directly: “Harm, I want to brainstorm about something.”

At that moment, I realized: this is why I do this work.

I have now been working through CIMSOLUTIONS for over twenty years. During that time, I have learned that the best experiences often arise when you really dive into something.

From outsider to trusted sparring partner

The first few months with a new client always go the same way: listening, observing, and cautiously finding your way. You get to know the systems, the processes, the people.

But with a longer assignment, something special happens: you grow from an ‘external’ to someone who belongs. After a year, you know the organization inside and out. After two years, stakeholders know how to find you without the intervention of a project manager. And after that, you become the person who shows new colleagues the ropes on how the organization works.

Domain knowledge you won’t get from a handbook

As a business analyst, domain knowledge is not a luxury, it is a prerequisite for delivering good work. You can only effectively translate an organization’s needs if you understand why certain processes are the way they are.

You build that knowledge simply by being there. By walking alongside a process, seeing where the friction lies, sitting in on a meeting that seems strange on paper but makes sense once you know the background. By speaking to an employee who has been managing the same system for twenty years and knows exactly where the gaps are that have never been documented.

That knowledge isn’t in a handbook. It’s in the hallways, in informal conversations, and in stories about what went wrong before. When the assignment ends, you take the knowledge and experience with you, not as a document, but as insight. With the next assignment, you start all over again, but you do know how to ask the right questions.

Colleagues who aren’t called colleagues

Over time, the people around you simply become your colleagues. You have lunch together, discuss challenges, and laugh at things that go wrong. That built-up trust makes the work easier and more fun. People are quicker to share what is really going on in the organization, exactly the information you need to make a difference as a business analyst.

The best of both worlds

At CIMSOLUTIONS, knowledge sharing is a top priority. Our specialists share their knowledge through Special Interest Groups and the Competence Centers: Business and Information Analysis, Architecture, and SAFe & Agile.

This way, you combine the depth of long-term assignments at a client with learning from colleagues who know dozens of different organizations from the inside. Here, you share practical experiences, not theory: from a colleague who guided a migration at a government institution to someone who experienced an agile transformation from the inside. You won’t get such insights anywhere else. This keeps you sharp, even if you spend a long time with the same client.

Secondment therefore means not only switching gears quickly and gaining broad experience. It can also mean: understanding an organization and making a long-term contribution. Twenty years ago, I never would have thought that a simple phone call from a developer could be such a wonderful moment. But it is precisely that kind of trust that makes my work as a business analyst so enjoyable.

And that is the reason why, after all these years, I still enjoy working through CIMSOLUTIONS.

Harm, Business Analyst