Your Agile Team s Indispensible Asset

Transcription

1 Agile / Scrum Training Lean Software Development Agile Organizational Metrics Executive Coaching Improved Team Dynamics Improved Efficiency! Your Agile Team s Indispensible Asset The Agile Business Analyst

2 ABOUT THE PRESENTER Business Analyst by Trade 12 years in IT / ebusiness Startup Fortune 50 Unknowingly practiced aspects of Agile since 2003 Track today s conversation! #BAWDFW Managing Director Coach & Trainer Davisbase

3 TODAY S OBJECTIVES Clearly understand the value of having a highly skilled Business Analyst on an Agile project effort How to immediately apply traditional business analysis skills to an Agile development effort Avoid the most common pitfalls and costly mistakes that teams make by not understanding or fully utilizing their Business Analyst

4 Document Specifications Work with Team Members Visualize & Model the Solution Differentiate Needs from Wants TRADITIONAL BA RESPONSIBILITIES

5 AGILE MANIFESTO REACTION We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation (Completed Functionality) Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation Responding to Change over Following a Plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

6 AGILE MANIFESTO REACTION We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: What? Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation (Completed Functionality) Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation Responding to Change over Following a Plan Documentation is my Job! That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

7 TRUE OR FALSE? Agile is an excuse not to do requirements. (1 of 5)

8 TRUE OR FALSE? A Product Backlog Item (PBI), along with its Acceptance Criteria is enough for a team to commit to delivering the item. (2 of 5)

9 TRUE OR FALSE? Agile teams should have a high degree of conwidence that the item they commit to is actually something that will benewit users of the product. (3 of 5)

10 TRUE OR FALSE? Agile teams magically know all the details necessary for how increments of the product should work and the things that should be considered when constructing it. (4 of 5)

11 TRUE OR FALSE? Agile teams must work with stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals. (5 of 5)

12 DEFINE THIS TERM Business Analysis The set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals. IIBA BABOK

13 THEN WHO SHOULD BE ON A TEAM? A Business Analysis Practitioner aka Business Analyst

14 BUSINESS ANALYSIS IS CRITICAL 1. Well groomed Product Backlogs are the key to successful delivery. 2. Divergent and convergent exploration is needed to determine the best way to meet the needs of users. 3. Teams cannot work in isolation. Their work must be done within the context of the organization.

15 PRODUCT BACKLOGS The prioritized list of all the things we could do to fulwill the vision Well groomed product backlogs are the golden cornerstone to a team s success they help avoid a failure to launch. Without them teams will not know what to deliver

16 MANY OPTIONS FOR DELIVERY There are countless alternatives for how a team can deliver a product increment that meets the needs of a user. Teams should avoid simply jumping in and pursuing the Wirst idea.

17 TEAMS ARE NOT ON ISLANDS Teams cannot afford to make decisions in isolation. They need to liaise with many stakeholders. It often takes many teams working cohesively in order to deliver large- scale highly- complex products.

18 TRADITIONAL MODEL Project Manager Project Team

19 AGILE SERVANT LEADER Agile Team ScrumMaster

20 TRIFECTA OF SERVICE Vision Priority Acceptance Product Owner Agile Team Systems Thinking Facilitation Analysis Structure Resources Insulation

21 5 LEVELS OF PLANNING IN AGILE Product Vision Yearly by the product owner Product Roadmap Bi-yearly by the product owner Release Planning Quarterly by the product owner and team Iteration Planning Bi-weekly by the team Daily Planning Daily by the team and individuals

22 APPLYING TRADITIONAL SKILLS IIBA BABOK v2.0

23 BABOK ALIGNMENT TO AGILE PLANNING Product Vision Yearly by the product owner Product Roadmap Bi-yearly by the product owner Release Planning Quarterly by the product owner and team Iteration Planning Bi-weekly by the team Daily Planning Daily by the team and individuals BA Planning & Monitoring Elicitation Requirements Mgmt & Communication Enterprise Analysis Requirements Analysis Level 1 Vision Solution Assessment & Validation Level 2 Roadmap Level 3 Release Level 4 Sprint Level 5 Daily

24 BUSINESS ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES Acceptance & Evaluation Criteria DeWinition Scenarios and Use Cases Benchmarking Scope Modeling Brainstorming Sequence Diagrams Business Rules Analysis State Diagrams Data Dictionary and Glossary Structured Walkthrough Data Flow Diagrams Survey/Questionnaire Data Modeling SWOT Analysis Decision Analysis User Stories Document Analysis Vendor Assessment Estimation RACI Matrix Focus Groups Stakeholder Map Functional Decomposition Variance Analysis Interface Analysis Baselining Interviews Signoff Lessons Learned Process Coverage Matrix Metrics and Key Performance Indicators Requirements Documentation Non- functional Requirements Analysis Requirements for Vendor Selection Observation Feasibility Analysis Organization Modeling Problem of Vision Statement Problem Tracking MoSCoW Analysis Process Modeling Timeboxing/Budgeting Prototyping Voting Requirements Workshops Checklists Risk Analysis Force Field Analysis Root Cause Analysis IIBA BABOK v2.0

25 TECHNIQUE USAGE SURVEY 49 techniques are on the wall Agile Practitioners use Green Dots Non- Agile Practitioners use Red Dots Place a dot on techniques you have used

26 PROVEN ANALYSIS STRATEGIES 1. Grooming & Review Cadence 2. DeWinition of Ready 3. Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

27 BACKLOG GROOMING The set of all activities necessary to prepare the items in a Product Backlog for incremental delivery. This will include, but not limited to: Story Writing Workshops Formal Story Grooming sessions Formal Story Review sessions Sizing Stories Elaborating Acceptance Criteria Prioritizing Stories Decomposing Stories Architecture & Technical Design Note, you do not have to use User Stories. They are a proven technique to cultivate better shared understanding of requirements.

28 ALLOCATE TIME Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Planning Daily Daily This is a sample 10-day cadence for an iteration. Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Grooming Story Review Daily Sprint Review Demo Retro

29 GROOMING SESSIONS Times set- aside to review & improve backlog items Level of formality to be determined by the team Recommend at least 1 all- team session each iteration Schedule other sessions as needed May include: The entire team A subset of the team Stakeholders beyond the team that need to offer input on Acceptance Criteria or high- level approach for delivering the item Focus on what is just enough The goal is shared understanding not shared documentation.

30 GROOMING TARGET Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 3 Planning Grooming 4 Planning Grooming 5 Planning Grooming The goal is to be grooming the stories targeted for two (maybe 3) iterations ahead of where you currently are. Approx. 2 hrs. 6 Planning Grooming 7 Planning Grooming 8 Planning Grooming

31 STORY REVIEW SESSIONS A session built into the team s cadence where the entire team comes together to review the items targeted for the next iteration Some teams choose to always look ahead 2 iterations Primary goal to determine if an item is Ready to take to Sprint Planning If not, identify speciwic grooming tasks and what additional information is needed in order to make it Ready If those items are not likely be completed, it is possible the item will need to be deferred until a later iteration It is not necessary to have it all right you will need to continue elaborating details as questions arise during the iteration

32 REVIEW TARGET Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 3 Planning Story Review 4 Planning Story Review 5 Planning The goal is to be reviewing the stories for the iteration you are about to start. Approx. 30min. Story Review 6 Planning Story Review 7 Planning Story Review 8 Planning Story Review

33 GROOMING & REVIEW CADENCE Current Iteration Focus for Story Review Focus for Grooming Also the Business Analyst? Focus for Product Owner

34 GOAL IS TO LAY THE RUNWAY Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3 Release Avoid Micro-Focus Step back to view the whole.

35 DEFINITION OF READY Similar to DeWinition of Done Governs the level of completeness for grooming What must be done during grooming for you to be ready to commit to the item? 1. Are Acceptance Criteria complete and understood? 2. Is it sized appropriately? 3. Do you know enough to dewine tasks? 4. Are all trucks on schedule to arrive?

36 IS THE PBI FIT FOR USE? Verification Assures that requirements specifications and models meet the necessary standard of quality to allow them to be used effectively to guide further work vs. Validation Ensures that all requirements support delivery of business value to the business, fulfill its goals and objectives, and meet a stakeholder need Prior to Sprint Planning User Stories should be Verified. (Story Review) User Stories should be continually validated through grooming. BABOK 6.5 BABOK 6.6

37 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Goal: Proactively get feedback & input Avoid surprises & why did you do that? Builds trust & involvement Prevents rework 1. Stakeholder analysis 2. Set the cadence 3. DeWine the focus

38 3 STEPS FOR ENGAGEMENT Stakeholder Analysis 3 Groupings Core Contributors Interested Parties Ultimate Sponsors Consider All Groups Business Architecture User Experience Training Operations Etc. Set the Cadence Frequency Weekly Bi- Weekly Monthly Audience Involvement All stakeholders Sub- groups Rotation schedule DePine the Focus Feature Readiness Release Scope Upcoming Demo Technical Design Training Strategy

39 ROTATION EXAMPLE A Product Owner Business Analyst Tech Lead UX Architect Business Manager B A- Team plus Training Manager Operations Manager C B- Team plus Business Director Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 3 Planning Story Review 4 Planning Story Review 5 Planning Story Review 6 Planning Story Review 7 Planning Story Review 8 Planning Story Review T revie the A

40 PITFALLS OF SKIPPING ANALYSIS Missing PBIs Were there gaps in the elicitation? Incomplete acceptance criteria Aspects of analysis glossed over? Lower velocity Less time for current sprint Missing Commitments Committing before ready

41 A BUSINESS ANALYST WILL HELP Build a Shared Understanding of Solutions that Inherently address the Needs of users By Embracing the Sprit of Agile s Simplicity and being Awesome at Nailing it down All while Looking for ways to increase Your productivity and Still maintain True balance Leslie J. Morse BA/SA/BSA: What do you call yourself? Technology-Enabled Business Solutions 4/3/2013 blog.fusionalliance.com

42 LET S CONNECT! Leslie J. Davisbase Consulting #BecomingAgile