The Agile Business Analyst – Part 1: Laying the Groundwork
The objective of this series of three blog entries is to share our working experience through some tips for the agile Business Analyst. Like those in some other IT roles, Business Analysts play a significant role in ensuring a smooth project implementation. If you consider the multiple phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) or Project Life Cycle (PLC), the business requirement gathering phase is the very first phase in the project pipeline. A precise and concise set of business requirements are the strength, backbone and foundation of the project implementation activities. Business Analysts are the people who face the firing squad of Business Users, Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts and other project team members, as well as other Stakeholders. They get involved in the early stages of the project, remain with the project as it evolves from one phase to another, work as a liaison between business users and developers, are fully accountable for the accuracy of requirements, produce documentation, and the list goes on.
First up, we will cover the preliminary stage, in which we do all of our groundwork prior to gathering the business requirements, along with some general hints and tips for the agile BA.
• Do your homework
• Take time to research the company history, business background and stakeholders. This knowledge will increase your confidence when addressing the company’s business users or other stakeholders.
• Be prepared
• Develop questionnaires related to business processes, business user expectations, etc.
• Prior to a meeting, send the agenda to business users so that they can be properly prepared.
• Be creative
• Open yourself up to unconventional solutions.
• Communicate well
• You are an ambassador representing the IT group. You must be able to communicate well not only with your teammates but also with business users, managers and everyone with a stake in the project.
• Break the rules
• Don’t take this to mean that you should literally break any of the company rules or policies. What I’m trying to say is that you should break the traditional way of capturing business requirements by incorporating new techniques, tools and methodologies in your requirement-gathering activities.
• Explore options to present requirements in a strategic way that others will understand.
• Control the interview sessions
• Always stick to your agenda and questionnaire topics.
In our next entry, we will continue through the project stages of gathering and documenting business requirements.
Tags: business analyst, business process, project implementation, project management, systems analyst, tips