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MethodGroup business analysis specialists Lucas Murtagh – Lead Business Analyst MethodGroup – Business Analysis Specialists Is a BA required on an Agile team?

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Page 1: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Lucas Murtagh – Lead Business Analyst MethodGroup – Business Analysis Specialists

Is a BA required on an Agile team?

Page 2: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Agenda

Page 3: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Agenda

  Introduction

  Projects

  What are projects?

  How projects work and why some succeed and some fail

  Business Analyst

  What role do BAs perform?

  Good BAs Vs Bad BAs

  Agile Concepts

  So how does agile work?

  Traditional Vs Agile Analysis

  Wrap Up – We need to change our behaviour to become Agile

  Questions?

Page 4: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Introduction

Page 5: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Lucas Murtagh

A little about me

Page 6: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Born in 1974

Page 7: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Lived in the bush for most of my teens

Page 8: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Studied actuarial & maths at Uni

Page 9: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Spent first five years of career crunching numbers in Actuarial and developing complex systems to

understand risk

Page 10: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Got offered a job as a full time gambler

Page 11: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Got married and had some kids

Page 12: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Had to get a real job

Page 13: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Became a BA…..Real Job!

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A little about me

Worked on lots of projects

Page 15: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Across many industries

Page 16: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Telecommunications Throroughbred Racing

Mining Banking

Wealth Management Insurance

Media Property

Asset Management

Page 17: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

A variety of subject areas, sizes and complexities

Page 18: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Some projects went well

Page 19: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

A little about me

Some projects didn’t go so well

Page 20: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup

Page 21: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup

Clear philosophy Simple

Structured Collaborative

Industry Aligned Approach to Business Analysis

Page 22: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

The world is changing

IT is moving faster than the business Companies are subscribing to services rather than

building applications

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The world is changing

What does this mean for us?

Page 24: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Projects

Page 25: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Page 26: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Rusty and Waterfall

  Slow to market   Documentation is out of date by the time it’s

complete   Product/Solution is out of date by the time it’s

delivered   Silo behavior   May be restricted by what has been agreed in

contracts   Worker slave relationships within project

It must have some good points….

Page 27: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Definition of Project

1.  Project:“A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result”

2.  Has a definite beginning and end 3.  Is Unique

4.  Consumes resources

5.  Starts with an objective

Page 28: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Where do Objectives come from (worst practice)?

  From a senior manager’s posterior

  As a knee-jerk reaction to a media article

  From a big lunch with a supplier   From something someone said over drinks at a conference

  From the Chairman’s wife not being able to get through to the call centre

  From the need to be seen to be doing something

  From hearing that’s what they do in the US

Page 29: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Where do Objectives come from (best practice)?

  An efficient business will continually forecast the emerging threats and opportunities in their market

  An efficient business will continually measure and analyse the effectiveness of their operation and will thereby identify opportunities for improvement

  Based on these inputs an efficient business will devise and maintain an explicit business strategy including strategic objectives

  An efficient business will identify the programmes of work required to deliver the strategic objectives

  Project objectives should trace up through programme objectives to the overall business strategy

  All objectives will be SMART

Page 30: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Example of a reasonably clear objective

Our goal is, before this decade is out, to send a man to the moon and return him safely to earth John F Kennedy

JFK Stated this one objective in a speech

It is Measurable, either the astronaut returns alive or he does not

Congress passed the funding – it was Agreed

It was Realistic with the technology available at the time (although ambitious) to send a man to the moon

It is Timely, there is time component to the objective

SMART!

Page 31: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Why Projects Succeed

Project Success Factors % of Responses

1. User Involvement 15.9 2. Executive Management Support 13.9 3. Clear Statement of Requirements 13.0 4. Proper Planning 9.6 5. Realistic Expectations 8.2 6. Smaller Project Milestones 7.7 7. Competent Staff 7.2 8. Ownership 5.3 9. Clear Vision & Objectives 2.9 10. Hard-Working, Focused Staff 2.4 Other 13.9

Source: Standish Group, Chaos report, 2007

Page 32: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Why Projects Fail

Project Challenged Factors % of Responses 1. Lack of User Input 12.8%

2. Incomplete Requirements & Specifications 12.3%

3. Changing Requirements & Specifications 11.8%

4. Lack of Executive Support 7.5%

5. Technology Incompetence 7.0%

6. Lack of Resources 6.4%

7. Unrealistic Expectations 5.9%

8. Unclear Objectives 5.3%

9. Unrealistic Time Frames 4.3%

10. New Technology 3.7%

Other 23.0% Source: Standish Group, Chaos report, 2007

Page 33: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Why projects fail – My Experience

  The real problem trying to be solved is not understood

  The solution is agreed before the problem is understood

  There’s no planning. Not just the PM but BAs as well

  People don’t talk

  People infer and assume rather than getting the facts

  Project teams don’t work together to achieve the goal….SILOS and blame

Page 34: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Why projects succeed – My Experience

  Everyone is on the one page and understand the end goal

  Everyone has a clear role, deliverables and realistic scope/schedule

  The project team works together. The business, IT and Vendors are one. Not Silos

  The right skills are on the project

Page 35: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Business Analysts

Page 36: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

BA ROLE IN PROJECTs

  Someone who understands the business domain   Someone who understands how people behave   Someone who looks at the bigger organizational

problems   Someone who helps with the management of

artefacts and requirements   Someone who can help create diagrams/models to

illustrate system working better   Someone who can help capture learnings and adapt

Every project team needs:

Page 37: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

The IIBA defintion

  A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.

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What are BAs really doing

  Working in Business and IT projects. Mostly IT.   90% of the time BAs deliver

  Business Requirements   Functional/Non Functional Requirements   Use Cases/ User Stories   Requirements Traceability   Process Maps and Procedures   Data Modelling   Lots of workshops/1-1 stakeholder interviews   PA services to PM!!!

Page 39: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Good BAs

  Have fantastic written and verbal communication   Build trusted relationships with Stakeholders and their

team   Keep all stakeholders on the one page   Plan their activities   Have a clear approach to completing deliverables   Use modelling, benchmarking and reviews to identify

gaps and ensure quality of business needs and solutions   Don’t over analyse.   Identify and communicate risks and issues   Love unraveling ambiguity   Are proactive

Page 40: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Bad BAs

  Write down what the stakeholder tells them to write down

  Create the requirements themselves rather than engaging the business. Become SMEs

  Write confusing requirements and define a solution rather than understanding the business need

  Document to-be processes without testing they will work

  Sign up to unrealistic deadlines   Say yes rather than ask why   Act as a PA rather than BA   Are reactive

Page 41: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Agile Concepts

Page 42: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

The Agile Philosophy

  Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

  Working software over comprehensive documentation

  Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

  Responding to change over following a plan

Page 43: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Page 44: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Kate and Agile

  Fast to Market   Collaborative   Everyone is clear of what they’re responsible for

delivering   Team commits to each other   Continuous review of approach, products and

outcomes

Sounds great but must choose the right project

Page 45: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Agile Methods

  SCRUM   Lean   XP

Scrum is the most commonly seen

Page 46: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Scrum’s 3 + 3 + 3

Three roles

  Product Owner – Describes the Vision. Represents the business and its stakeholders. BA often perform this role.

  Helps write user stories   Prioritises the product backlog

  ScrumMaster – Runs the process. Makes sure the team adheres to the rules   Sounds a bit like a Project Manager

  Development Team – Build the product   Self organising   Analyse, Design, Build Test & Train

Page 47: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Scrum’s 3 + 3 + 3

Three artifacts   Product Backlog

  List of the features requirements that need to be delivered   Provides an overview of the business value and development effort

required to build   BA play a very important role in helping formulate and prioritizing this list

  Sprint Backlog   The sprint backlog is the list of work the team must address during the

next sprint.   Work is not allocated. Team members pick the next task as required   Can be split up into “Done”, “In Progress” and “To-Do”

  Burndown Chart   Charts the work remaining in a sprint

Page 48: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Scrum’s 3 + 3 + 3 Three Meetings

  Sprint Planning Meeting   Select what work is to be done   Prepare the Sprint Backlog that details the time it will take to do that

work, with the entire team   Identify and communicate how much of the work is likely to be done

during the current sprint   Daily Scrum Meeting

  What have you done since yesterday?   What are you planning to do today?   Do you have any problems that would prevent you from accomplishing

your goal?   Sprint Review Meeting

  Review the work that was completed and not completed   Present the completed work to the stakeholders (a.k.a. “the demo”)   What went well during the sprint? What could be improved in the next

sprint?

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The Agile Overview

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Agile works best when

  Project delivery (and ROI) can be incremental   Core team can be co-located and are dedicated

(business and technology)   Governance model allows for high visibility and adaptive

planning   High commitment and availability of stakeholders and

executive sponsors   Scope and/or High Level Requirements are not stable or

clearly known   A small team structure which is cross-functionally skilled

is feasible   Majority of development is on a single system, although

may interface to many   Project has low external dependencies on vendors or

other projects

Page 51: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

There are tools to help you confirm your project is a candidate for agile

http://www.hostfrontier.com/.../008_Agile%20Project%20Selection%20Criteria.xls

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MethodGroup business analysis specialists

Agile Analysis Vs Traditional Analysis

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Agile Vs Traditional Analysis

  Project chartering sessions to define vision, identify stakeholders etc

  Analyse overall high level plan for project delivery- tasks, time, delivery dates

  Conduct product vision and roadmapping workshops

  Design and plan release and iteration planning workshops

Requirements planning activities Set the stage to gather requirements for the project, identify stakeholders etc.

Traditional Agile

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Agile Vs Traditional Analysis

  Plan elicitation techniques suitable for project and stakeholders

  Plan, design, and conduct requirements workshops over weeks/months

  Plan and conduct short requirements modelling sessions throughout each iteration

  identify user acceptance test data in real-time while story is being designed/coded/prepare for testing

Requirements elicitation activities Identify the sources of requirements and then elicit requirements from those sources.

Traditional Agile

Page 55: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Agile Vs Traditional Analysis

  Define full scope up front   Develop analysis models for all

requirements

  Work with customer, to define high-level scope up-front (just-enough scope)

  Work with customer to define user stories and develop supporting models if-and-when needed through each iteration

  Customer is responsible for prioritization based on business needs and ROI

Requirements analysis activities Understand and refine requirements further so as to help customer prioritize

Traditional Agile

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Agile Vs Traditional Analysis

  Write a full-blown requirements specification document

  Customer and team work together to write user stories

  Create user acceptance tests for each story

  Determine the form and format of any other documentation that is necessary and sufficient for requirements-related work-in-progress, handover, or product documentation.

Requirements specification activities Refine and organise requirements into documentation

Traditional Agile

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Agile Vs Traditional Analysis

  Write Requirements Management Plan

  Establish requirements baseline, document change control processes and generate requirements traceability matrices

  Conduct change control meetings

  Smallest necessary requirements attributes are established for each backlog item

  Use simple requirements mapping and organization techniques such as story cards on the wall

  Changes are considered an important aspect of the Agile approach and these are incorporated quite simply as part of the next iteration

Requirements management activities Monitor the status of requirements and control changes if any

Traditional Agile

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MethodGroup business analysis specialists

WRAP UP

Page 59: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

Tips to being a great BA in Agile

  A change in mindset is required- same work, different tools/format/techniques/physical environment

  Learn to keep the requirements slices to a bare minimum necessary until it is just about to be developed

  Connect the development team to the ultimate sources of business needs

  Get the clients closely involved in the development of the project

  You are not the sole custodian of all the requirements, you are part of a self-organizing empowered team

  We need to be more adaptable

Work beyond the title of ‘Business Analyst’

Page 60: BA World - BA in AGILE Projects

MethodGroup business analysis specialists

QUESTIONS?