Role of the Business Analyst in an Agile Project
Agenda 1: Introduction to Agile 2: Focus on Agile Principles 3: Business Analysis and the agile process 4: Addressing challenges 5: Close off and recap
1. Intro to Agile What is perfect Agile?
1. Intro to Agile Agile is Iterative
1. Intro to Agile Agile Manifesto agilemanifesto.org Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation 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.
1. Intro to Agile Agile Manifesto Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
1. Intro to Agile Business Value Less on Documentation
1. Intro to Agile Less Prescriptive Framework Agile RUP XP Scrum Kanban Lean More Less Henrik Kniberg These are all tools in a toolkit
1. Intro to Agile Agiletackles the following challenges Releases taking too long Stabilisation taking too long Software quality is low Often users don t get what they need or expect
1. Intro to Agile What about waterfall? Winston W. Royce I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failure. (1970)
1. Intro to Agile Over the wall Over the wall interactions create: Misunderstandings Less ownership Latency Wastage
2: Focus on Agile Principles Principles (3 of 12) Agile is a mind-set, defined by values guided by principles and manifested through many different practices
2. Agile Principles Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation
2. Agile Principles Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
2. Agile Principles Welcome changing requirements... 60% of requirements change Software development is not a defined process. It requires a empirical process. You NEVER end with the same specifications as when you started
2. Agile Principles Welcome changing requirements... Software's version of Schrödinger's cat The very act of creating the requirements will cause them to change.
2. Agile Principles Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
2. Agile Principles Work together... collaboration & on-going engagement vs. project phases
2. Agile Principles The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation
3: Business Analysis and the Agile process The Agile BA
3. The Process Business Analysis is represented in Agile P.O. S.M. Scrum Roles Dev Team
3. The Process Product Owner vs. Business Analyst P.O. B.A.
3. The Process The evolving BA
3. The Process Alistair Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn) Beware of anti-patterns
3. The Process User Interactions IKIWISI I ll know it when I see it
3. The Process Specifications are 2 dimensional breadth depth
3. The Process The Product Backlog
3. The Process BDD concepts As a I want So that Code this..?
3. The Process INVESTmodel Independent Negotiable Valuable Estimable Sized appropriately Testable
3. The Process Traditional Specs. Vs. As a I want So that
3. The Process Quality Functional Build the right thing Non-Functional Build the thing right
4. Addressing Challenges Different skills that are required in Agile Identify and remove communication barriers Over analysing Over the wall interactions
4. Challenges Things an Agile BA might do: Identifying Scope and Priorities Detailing the Functional Design Prototyping the User Interface Creating Other Artefacts o Ie. Input into Value Stream Maps Incorporating User Feedback and Evolution Facilitate Business and Dev sessions Writing Stories / Scenarios and Acceptance tests Getting requirements ready for upcoming iterations Learning from the Retrospective // Continuous improvement
4. Challenges Interview with a B.A.
Back to the question What is perfect Agile? Traditional Agile
5. Recap 1. Business Analysts to be empowered and part of the delivery team. 2. Improve collaboration and remove over the wall activities, along silo d roles within the team. 3. Agile welcomes changing requirements as this reflects real world development processes. 4. Delivering business value is a primary focus in any Agile/Scrum organisation
Thank you Brent Blake