The Business Analyst Role on Agile Projects

6/2/15

1

Agile and the BA

Brian Watson, CSM|PMI-ACP|SPC|CBAP

© 2014 VersionOne 2

Intro

What is Agile?

What is the point?

Why do we need it?

6/2/15

2


Manifesto of Agile Software Development

Individuals and Interactions

Working Software

Customer Collaboration

Responding to Change

Process and Tools

Comprehensive Documentation

Contract Negotiation

Following a Plan

http://agilemanifesto.org


Principles Behind the Manifesto (important to the BA)

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through

early and continuous delivery of valuable software

Working software is the primary measure of success

Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential

The most efficient and effective method of

conveying information to and within a development

team is face-to-face conversation

http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

6/2/15

3


Agile is not…

Scrum XP

Kanban

Insert flavor here..

SAFe


6/2/15

4


Communication

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face

- to - face


http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/communication.htm

6/2/15

5


Hidden Costs of Documentation

•  Prevailing theory is you must document –  How will the developers know what to build? –  How will we ever have a record of the system? –  How will I achieve CYA?

Role Hours Cost Total Cost BA 900 (3 hours per

page) $50/hr $45,000

Executive 120 $100 $12,000 SME’s 250 $40 $10,000 PM 75 $75 $5,626 Reviewers/QA/Dev/etc.

50 $50 $2,500

Total $75,125

Assume: 300 Page Requirement Document

$250 per page!


What constitutes “documentation”?

6/2/15

6


Documentation goals

•  Lightweight •  Nimble •  Valuable! •  Just enough, just in time

Feed the development beast…


Simplicity

•  Simplicity: The art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential

6/2/15

7


A or B


Pareto Principle

45 percent of delivered features are never used.

(Johnson, J. 2002. Keynote speech, XP 2002, Sardinia, Italy.)

Edge Cases are the silent

killer of projects

6/2/15

8


How do we prevent edge cases?

…business analysis is performed to define and validate solutions that meet business needs, goals or objectives (BABOK, p.3, 2009)


MMF and MVP

MVP

MMF

“Smallest possible set of functionality that, by itself, has value in the marketplace” – James Shore

“Product with just those features needed to deploy, and nothing more” – Frank Robinson

6/2/15

9


Focus

Requirements/Specifications

Stories Models

Conversations

User Interactions Over


Delivering Value

•  Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software

•  Working software is the primary measure of progress

6/2/15

10


Cars


Cost

2 months savings

6 months savings

12 months savings

6/2/15

11


But…

1 12 6

What if you had no car? You have to walk 5 miles to and from work EACH day.

What if you could trade in a car with zero wait time and get the same value you paid?

NOW…what car would you buy?


Great example, but this isn’t real life…

•  4.8 oz •  128MB RAM •  4/8/16G •  3.5in screen •  2 MP camera

•  4.55 OZ •  1G RAM •  16, 64, 128G •  4.7in screen •  8MP rear, 1.5 MP front w/HD

Sold 6.1 MILLION

units

6/2/15

12


Cars

iPhone 1

iPhone 5/6

iPhone ? Iwatch ?


What if you tried to build the iPhone 5 from the start?

6/2/15

13


If someone asks why agile?


Questions…

Track me down…

@agilebdub http://www.linkedin.com/in/agilebdub www.agilebdub.com

The Business Analyst Role on Agile Projects

Documents

months savings

simplicity simplicity

development team

total cost ba

development beast

plan http

highest priority

conversation http