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on an Agile Project?
By Kent J. McDonald
Senior Instructor, B2T Training
more succinct recording
of requirements is
sufficient.
A
s the use of agile approaches Another change with
increases, business analysts agile approaches is the
struggle to determine how their use of short, time boxed
role maps to the new approach and delivery cycles referred to
how it has changed from their familiar as iterations or sprints.
development process. Business analysts, These iterations include
for example, often find themselves all the work necessary to
proclaiming “in everything I read/hear go from a requirement to
about agile, I never see “business analyst” a running, tested feature
mentioned!” that could be delivered
Even though the role of business to production. The use of
analyst is rarely mentioned in descriptions iterations allows the team
of agile it does not mean that business to continuously reflect
analysis does not occur. In fact, agile’s on their past efforts and
focus on delivering value to customers adapt their processes
requires the entire team to collaboratively to improve. The short
perform business analysis on a frequent timeframe of iterations
basis. This and other characteristics of (typically a week to a
agile change how a business analyst works month) means that the
on a project. scope for each iteration is
One change that agile introduces is a much smaller than most
barely sufficient process which does not traditional projects so
prescribe any documentation, including the business analyst only
requirements artifacts. That does not mean needs to focus on the
that documentation is not produced, portion of the solution being delivered effective, the person filling the product
rather the business analyst collaborates during that iteration. Business analysts owner role should be well versed in many
with other team members to decide what collaborate with other team members core business analysis techniques, but
is needed to best deliver the solution, to determine how much analysis is they rarely are. This provides the business
including how much documentation is needed at the beginning of the project analyst an excellent opportunity to assist
necessary. Contrast this with the detailed to establish the big picture, and during the product owner as is discussed below.
methodologies and standards for plan- each iteration in order to establish a Finally, all team members have the
driven projects used by large organizations shared understanding without creating an opportunity to perform analysis so the
that require business analysts to complete extensive requirements inventory. business analyst also coaches the other
extensive requirements documents. These A third change in agile is the existence team members on analysis techniques and
artifacts lead business analysts, especially of the product owner role. The product the appropriate stakeholders to contact.
less experienced ones, to document the owner is the ultimate decision maker Allowing multiple team members to
same requirements several ways using and ultimate representative of business perform analysis prevents handoffs that
different models and text even though needs for the project. In order to be truly occur in phased based approaches, and
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• Understanding of the business area that the project is • Ability to ask strong questions to help the team see areas
involved with that may lead to problems
• Expertise in conceptual modeling; ability to see the big • Ability to document requirements formally or informally
picture and envision possible solutions depending on the need of the project
• Outstanding verbal and non-verbal communication skills • Understanding of the agile development process
• Ability to multi-task • Familiarity with requirements techniques such as, user
• Ability to facilitate a team to consensus on scope, design stories, use cases, and informal modeling. These are the
decisions, and implementation decisions primary requirements techniques used by agile teams.
B i b l i o grap h y
Cohn, Mike, (2004), User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development, Addison Wesley.
Cohn, Mike (2009), Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum, Addison-Wesley Professional.
Cohen, Greg (2010), Agile Excellence for Product Managers: A Guide to Creating Winning Products with Agile Development Teams, Super Star Press.
Pichler, Roman (2010), Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love, Addison-Wesley Professional.
Pixton, Pollyanna, Niel Nickolaisen, Todd Little and Kent McDonald (2009), Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility, Addison Wesley.
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B2T Training developed the first comprehensive BA training program in North America and has been a model for other training
organizations. As experts in the field, B2T Training continues to shape the Business Analysis discipline and the careers of BA professionals
in major corporations across the globe through its high impact training sessions and valuable resources. To support students in their
transition from the classroom to their projects we provide individualized mentoring and consulting services to help companies develop
their mentoring strategy.
B2T Training is an endorsed education provider of the IIBA® and registered education provider of PMI®.
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