Agile for Business Analysts

Overview

Does the Agile “on-site customer” mean the business analyst is no longer required? Does the “on-site customer” even exist in real organizations?

The course illustrates the theory and practice of agile software development for analysts. You will learn how business analysis fits within agile processes, how relationships with the business and the development organization can change, and how you can work with both to improve communication, delivery performance and stakeholder satisfaction.

Prerequisites

Previous involvement in software projects (preferably as a business analyst or similar stakeholder-facing role) is a prerequisite. Although we raise awareness of leading edge technical practices, we do so without requiring technical knowledge.

Format

The course blends tutorial, class discussion, question and answer sessions, and demonstrations / simulations.

Outline

Objectives

Understand the fundamental mindset shift behind agile processes
Explore the problems and opportunities agile processes present
Learn the advances in technical and management practices that act as enablers for agile processes

Common misconceptions about agile

Why they are misconceptions
To what extent they are actually true

Comparison with traditional (waterfall-inspired) processes

Comparing process models
Differences in value streams
Managing issues with rework

Handling requirements

“Stories”: units of requirements
The story-based SDLC
Scope minimization, splitting stories
Stories versus tasks
Acceptance criteria
Handling dependencies
Estimating lifecycle time

Iteration management

Iteration planning
Prioritization
Requirements queues
Iteration tracking
Development velocity
Burn-down charts
Tracking stories in play
States of a story (queued, played, in progress, done)

The Scrum process

Scrum process walk-through
Terminology primer
Scrum roles

Exercise: Scrum process simulation

Learn more about the Scrum process by trying it on a non-technical mini-project

Primer: Agile technical practices

Cost of change issues in testing and design
Building design effort into work packages
Tackling difficult or legacy systems

The role of analysts in agile

Requirements exploration and facilitation
Product ownership
Building a ubiquitous language
Requirements traceability

Options

Not quite what you want? Contact us if you’d like to shorten or lengthen this course, aim it at a different audience, cover particular topics or combine it with our other courses, briefings or services.

Further information and booking

Please contact us for further information or to book this course.