down with the revolution - hacking the hype and clearing a path for agile business analysis

Down with the Revolution

hacking the hype and clearing a path for agile business analysis

DavidJCMorris CSM CBAP ITCP

what do agile practices really mean for business

analysts ?

why am I here to talk about this ?

these are

my views

health warning

on with the show ...

BA

agileBA

DON’T PANIC

cutting through the hype

a brief lesson in grammar

“Most media today report that Agile

has reached mainstream usage”

“Most media today report that agile

has reached mainstream usage”

“Most media today report that agile

practices have reached mainstream usage”

dictionary definition

ag·ile [aj-ahyl]

–adjective1. quick and well-coordinated in movement; lithe.2. active; lively.3. marked by an ability to think quickly; mentally

acute or aware.

a brief history of time

is this an agile revolution?

there will always be cowboys

use simple frameworks

a brief debunking of hype

HYPE is a root cause of antagonism

waterfall practices are bad

agile practices are on a spectrum

waterfall

‘rigid’

‘chaos’agile

iterative kanban

if you’re not doing XP or pure Scrum you’re not agile

Snowbird, 2001

individuals beat processesworking software beats documentation

collaboration beats contractschange beats plans

… we have come to value …individuals and interactions over processes and tools

working software over comprehensive documentationcustomer collaboration over contract negotiation

responding to change over following a plan

while there is value in the items on the right we value the items on the left more.

Evil plans for world dominationAgile Manifesto

oh, yeah, we’ve implemented Agile already

Agile projects are just an excuse for no discipline or planning

so if it’s not a revolution,

what’s really changed ?

accepting uncertaintyshift happens

did the cat survive in the box ?

phe

w!

no plan survives first contact ...

new approach to risk

purpose of gates

gates on ‘waterfall’ projects

Analysis

Design

Development

Verification

Release

gates on agile projects

gates on agile projects

© 2010 International Institute of Business Analysis

value-driven

what is business value ?

Value-driven vs plan-driven

Plan-drivenPlan-

driven

Value-drivenValue-driven

Fixed Scope Resources Time

Waterfall Agile

Estimated ScopeResources TimeWhat will it cost to deliver this scope?

What scope can we deliver?What’s highest value?

one more thing

on agile projects, there is nowhere to hide.

A G I L E

what does it mean for business analysts ?

the need for agile business analysis

change in approach

roles for the business analyst

Systems analysis

Requirements facilitation

Requirements ownership

Product owner (proxy)

business analysis on agile projects

© 2010 International Institute of Business Analysis

closing

questions

Please note: no kittens were harmed in the making of this presentation

thank you

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