an agile analyst

An Agile Analyst"A BA's Day in the Life"

The Analyst’s Value in Agile

Angela Weller

515-770-5812

[email protected]

Linkedin: anzela998

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anzela998/

Agile Mindset

Agile Mindset = Based on core

human values that include:

• Respect

• Courage

• Collaboration

• Continuous Learning

• Customer Focus

• Value Optimization

Maximize the Value Delivered

with Minimal Output.

Do Less

&

Do The Right Things

Main Aspects:

• Deliver Value Rapidly & Consistently

• Collaborate Courageously

• Iterate to Learn

• Simplify to Avoid Waste

• Consider Context & Adapt to Realities

• Reflect on Feedback and adapt both Product & Process

• Produce the highest quality Products

IIBA’s BABOK

Business Analysis

Core Concept

Model

Agile Horizons Details

Strategy The decision that impact the entire organization – ENTERPRISE impact

Initiative The decision that impact a particular goal, initiative or team

Delivery The decisions made regarding the DELIVERY of the solution

Quality Assurance

Daily Scrum/StandupDaily Standup

Attendees • ScrumMaster (facilitator)

• PO, SME's, BA, (attendee / not req. to participate in discussions)

• Developers & Quality Assurance (participate in discussions)

BA’s Interaction Attends

Agenda • Review current sprint commitments & discusses needs

• What have I done since we last met to help achieve the sprint goals?

• What will I do prior to us meeting again to help achieve the sprint goals?

• What barriers threaten the sprint goals?

Prep Log details of what did

During Discussion is in relationship current sprint commitments:

• Did yesterday

• Do today

• Issues blocking success?

Post NA

Ideal Time Box 15 Minutes

Ex: 9:15A -9:30A

Ideal Day of Sprint Day 2-10

Sprint PlanningSprint Planning


• PO, SME's, BA, (attendee & QA for discussions)


BA’s Interaction Participates

Agenda • Review Product Backlog Initiatives/stories (PBI); the Product Owner’s top needs for

business.

• Identify stories to commit to our upcoming sprint work

• Create subtasks & time box the effort of each task

• Commit story to the current sprint

Prep Ensure all story requirements are fully detailed

During Q/A, call out dependencies, then update stories with relevant last-minute details from

discussions

Post Update stories & complete all the takeaways to ensure all stories can be solved during sprint

Ideal Time Box 2-4 hours

Ex: 9A – 11A

Ideal Day of

Sprint

Day 1

Product Backlog Story RefinementPBI Refinement

Attendees • BA (facilitator)

• PO, SME, ScrumMaster Developers & Quality Assurance (participate in discussions)

BA’s Interaction Facilitates

Agenda Activities to Mange & Refinement of the backlog include:• Collaboration on a detailed approach of each story

• Review all stories in Ready for Refinement status

• Review each story & identify any missing gaps or concerns

• High level story discussions for possible solutions

• Assign estimated efforts with Fibonacci points (1,2,3,5,8,13,21,…)

• Removing stories that are no longer relevant

• Creating new stories in response to newly discovered needs

• Re-assessing the relative priority of stories

• Correct estimates considering newly discovered information

• Split user stories which are high priority but too much effort to complete in an upcoming sprint

Prep Elicit requirements

During Discuss problem

Document gaps that need additional elicitation

Add points & update status: TO DO

Post Research gaps & update stories for next prioritization meeting

Ideal Time Box 1-2 Hours

Ex: 1P – 3P

Ideal Day of Sprint Day 3 & 8

PBI PrioritizationPO PBI Prioritization

Attendees • Product Owner

• Business Analyst

BA’s Interaction BA facilitates

Agenda PO & BA review backlog & prioritize order of stories

Review roadmap

Identify any missing stories

Prep Ensure all placeholders are documented

Revisit roadmap

During Discuss gaps & clarifications

Post Research GAPS & finish prepping stories for refinement

Ideal Time Box 1-2 Hours

Ex: 10A -12P

Ideal Day of Sprint Day 9

Sprint ReviewSprint Review

Attendees ScrumMaster (facilitator)

PO, SME's, BA, Developers & Quality Assurance (participate in discussions)


Agenda Demo the current sprint's new features that are ready to be released into production

Prep Revisit all user facing deliverable to ensure problem is solved

During Answer any last-minute questions after each developer demo's their work

Post If any gaps were found; note the issues, then create new bug ticket in sprint so

developer can solve before released to production

Ideal Time Box 1 Hour

Ex: 2P - 3P


RetrospectiveDaily Standup


• BA, Developers & Quality Assurance (participate in discussions)


Agenda Closed door meeting & HR managers not allowed

1) What went well during the sprint?

2) What could be improved in the next sprint?

• The scrum master writes down the team’s answers in summary form.

• The team prioritizes in which order it wants to talk about the potential improvements.

• The scrum master is not in this meeting to provide answers, but to facilitate the team’s search for better

ways for the scrum process to work for it.

• Actionable items that can be added to the next sprint should be devised as high-priority nonfunctional

product backlog. Retrospectives that don’t result in change are sterile and frustrating.

Prep NA

During Open & honest discussions

Post Apply any takeaway that is relevant to BA space


Ex: 3P - 4P


Release PlanningRelease Planning


• PO, SME's, BA, (attendee / not participate in discussions)


BA’s Interaction Attends

Agenda Plan the last sprints development efforts being released into production

Addressed as a tech story

Occurs during sprint planning meeting

Prep NA

During Create a story identifying all stories that will be pushed to production

Post NA

Ideal Time Box NA

Ex: NA

Ideal Day of Sprint Day 11 / Day 1 of next sprint

Release Implementation

Release Implementation

Attendees • Developers & Quality Assurance

BA’s Interaction NA

Agenda All dev efforts that are approved for production get released to production

Prep NA

During Test dev effort in production still meets the req need

Post Create sprint release communication for all SMEs impacted

Ideal Time Box NA

Ex: NA


Warranty Window ClosesWarranty Window

Attendees • Developers & Quality Assurance


Agenda 2 Days after production release, to allow team time to stabilize code

& correct any missed bugs during release.

Prep NA

During NA

Post NA

Ideal Time Box NA

Ex: NA


Sprint Launch Meetings

Sprint Launch

Meeting


• PO, BA, Developers & Quality Assurance

(All attendees participate in discussions)


Agenda 1. Product Vision Document

2. Roadmap Overview

3. Team Roles & Responsibilities

4. Create Team Working Agreement

5. Create Definition of Ready to Work

6. Create Definition of Done

Prep NA

During Participate

Post Document

Ideal Time Box 4 Hours

Ex: NA

Ideal Day of Sprint 1x Quarter

Team Quarterly TouchpointQuarterly Touchpoint


• PO, SME's, BA, Developers & Quality Assurance (all attendees participate in

discussions)

BA’s Interaction Participate

Agenda 1. What is going well?

2. What is not going well?

3. What changes are needed for the future?

Prep NA

During Discussions

Post Apply any BA related changes


Ex: NA

Ideal Day of Sprint 1x Quarter

Review Future Sprint’s 'Ready' storiesReq Clarifications

Attendees • BA


Agenda Review all stories in the upcoming 3 sprints to ensure all stories are ready to work

Prep Review stories

During Identify gaps

Post Update stories if gaps exist

Ideal Time Box 1 Hours

Ex: 10A – 11A

Ideal Day of Sprint Day 2 & Day 7

Acceptance Criteria Review

AC Review

Attendees • BA & QA


Agenda Discuss all stories

Verify acceptance criteria is all recorded and understood by QA & BA

Gherkin format is implemented

Prep For new testers, I like to write scenarios out in Gherkin:

• Given, When, Then

If experienced tester I simply call out business rules:

• If… Then...

During Discuss to ensure all scenarios are called out

Post Add/update acceptance criteria details where needed


Ex: 1P - 2P


Dev Design Session

Dev Design Session

Attendees • BA (facilitator)

• PO, ScrumMaster, Developers & Quality Assurance (participate in discussions)


Agenda Discuss problem & develop a design plan to solve

Used to help BA write stories when there are a lot of unknowns

Prep Identify problem, timeline, dependencies, etc.

During Guide developer solutioning discussion

Post Document details & update placeholder with dev next step details


Ex: 30 Min – 1 Hour

Ideal Day of Sprint As needed

3 Amigo

3 Amigo

Attendees Lead BA, Lead QA, Lead Developer


Agenda Discuss stories that are ready to point to ensure all gaps have been found

before presented to the team

Prep All stories are ready to be discussed

During Lead discussion on problem & record all details gaps

Post Document details found in session where value.


Ex: 1P – 2P


Scrum of Scrums

Scrum

Attendees ScrumMasters across all teams

BA’s Interaction ScrumMaster facilitated

Agenda Goal: Collaboration

Look for cross team impact

Each team present their roadmap plans

Discuss current efforts & identify cross team impact & team expertise

Prep NA

NA NA

Post NA


Ex: NA

Ideal Day of Sprint 1X Month

Inception for the BA’s

Scrum

Attendees BA’s across the Organization

BA’s Interaction Rotate

Agenda Goal: Collaboration

Look for cross team impact

Each team present their roadmap plans

Discuss current efforts & identify cross team impact & team expertise

Prep NA

NA NA

Post NA


Ex: NA

Ideal Day of Sprint 1X Month

Agile CeremoniesSprint typically: 2 Week (10 days)

Duration Tuesday - Monday

Status Ceremony Time Day of Week

BA Attends Daily Scrum/Standup 9:15A-9:30A Day 2-10

BA Leads Sprint Planning 9A-11A Day 1

BA Participates PO PBI Prioritization 10A-12P Day 9

BA Leads Product Backlog Story Refinement 1P-3P Day 3 & Day 8

BA Attends Release Planning 9A-11A Day 11/Day 1 - During Planning

BA Participates Sprint Review 2-3P Day 10

BA Participates Retrospective 3-4P Day 10

BA Attends Release Implementation All Day Day 12

BA Leads PO Req GAP Touch base 10A-11:30A Day 5 & Day 10

BA Leads Future Sprint "Ready" Review 10-11A Day 2, 7

BA Leads Acceptance Criteria BA & QA Review 1-2P Day 9

BA Leads Dev Design Sessions 30-1Hr As Needed

BA Leads Req Gathering Sessions 30-1Hr As Needed

BA Leads 3 Amigo 1Hr Day 7

BA Lead Inception for BA collaboration 1 Hour 1x Month

Fibonacci Points are used by and within SCRUM team and are NOT to be used by management to compare teams.

Hours do not equal points.

Assign estimated efforts with Fibonacci points (1,2,3,5,8,13,21,…).

The Fibonacci sequence is used by Scrum teams for story point estimates – 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on.

Teams use this sequence, rather than a linear 1 – 10 as it forces them to provide a relative estimate. Once

everyone has selected a card the whole team turns over their cards and compares the estimates.

Hours & effort are to be considered when pointing. If it took an hour to code but the risk impact to the

system was extensive the points would need to be higher to ensure the testing was extensive testing was

completed.

Points are used to plan velocity & ensure the team commits to the right amount of work & can complete all

the work in the sprint.

Hours can be used but are not recommended due to the complexity of the system.

Velocity EXAMPLE

Sprint 1 = 21 Points



Add all 3 sprints together the divide by the # of sprints = VelocityEx: 21 + 25 + 23 = 69 / 3 = 23

Velocity is a measure of the amount of work a team can tackle during a single sprint and is the key metric in Scrum.

Velocity is calculated at the end of the sprint by totaling the points for all fully completed User Stories.

BA Meeting Timeline Plan: Week 1

BA Meetings

Monday

PO Touch-base - Wkly (FYI)

Review - Bi-Weekly (Approval)

Retro - Bi-Weekly

(Teambuilding)

Tuesday

QA PBI Review - Bi-

Wkly

Revisit Q/A each story

problem with team

Wednesday

Sprint Review bi-weekly

Pass BA Testing

3 Amigo - Bi-Wkly

Discuss story needs for future

sprints

Thursday

Refinements Wkly

• stories ready to work

• Pointed & dev solution

identified

Friday

PO Prioritization Bi- Wkly

Roadmap & Backlog

• PO Touch Point - discuss new

issues that PO is NOT aware of

yet & build stories if solving issue

• Review - ensure SMEs agree &

approve Dev effort

• Retro - Discuss lessons learned &

pain points

• Discuss all stories

with team, Q/A &

concerns, scope

creep concerns etc.

• Review: Verify all stories in

current sprint meet req.

expectation

• 3 Amigo: Discuss Req &

verify Story is ready to

present to the team during

Refinement

• Current Sprint (Solving Now)

100% of stories = Ready to

Work

• Upcoming Sprint (2 Weeks

out)

75% of stories are Ready to

Work

• 2 sprints away (4 weeks out)


Work

• 3 Sprints away (6 weeks out)


Work

• PO/BA Roadmap visited &

stories prioritized to prep

Tools & Techniques

During Discovery Phase: During BA Planning &

Monitoring Knowledge area.

Systems Context Diagram – Data Flows

People Context Diagram – Personas

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) to identify Epics,

Features, Stories

Roadmap

Company Vision

BPM

MoSCoW

Priority matrix (A1, B1, B2, C1, D1, D2, D3, F1)

Functional Decom

A Day in the Life of … (the system)

AGILE TEAM TOOLS:

Product Backlog Item White Board

Working Agreement

Definition of Ready

Definition of Done

Release Planning Tool

Scrum Electronic Board

Product Vision

Stories:Type Details Example

Project The system that we are building Ex: XZY Trading Platform, CRM, SharePoint

EPIC All features related to the Product/Project we are building

(Bucket of work)

Ex: forms, reports, workflows, layout, UI

User Story: User's problem detailed out

What do we need to tackle?

As a, (Who/Role)

I Want, (What/Goal)

So That, (Problem/Reason)

URL: Link

Biz Rules & Req Details:

Dependencies:

Mockup

Acceptance Criteria

Scenario 1

If, Then

OR Given (Beginning state of the scenario), When (Action), Then (Testable outcome)

Pre-Conditions: Pre steps to identify the ask

Post Conditions: down stream impact

Technical Story: Technology updates to system The Need:

Why:

Bug: Software that Broke

(Broken & needs fixed)

As Is: Problem

To Be: Goal

Criticality Impact

Acceptance Criteria

Spike: Need Developer to Research limitations & scope of system

before we can discuss possible solutions

1 Point

Research Why & How

Identify Dependencies:

Expected deliverables are clearly described so BA can book a design session or write Story

Task Breakout the Dev tasks

Calls out steps identified during Planning

Dev Note:

If … Then…

GherkinGherkin acceptance criteria can have 5 main statements:

1. Scenario — a label for the behavior you’re going to describe2. Given — the beginning state of the scenario3. When — a specific action that the user takes4. Then — a testable outcome, usually caused by the action in When

5. And — this continues any of the other three operators

Together these statements describe all of the actions that a user must take to perform a task and the result of those actions.

Example:Scenario: User clicks the link

Given I am on the homepageWhen I click the provided linkThen I should see the link click confirmation

Scenario: Some determinable business situationGiven some precondition

And some other preconditionWhen some action by the actor

And some other actionAnd yet another action

Then some testable outcome is achievedAnd something else we can check happens too

Requirement Gathering – User StoryFocus Areas:

Current Sprint: Address any req. gaps the Scrum

team encounters during sprint.

Next Few Planned Sprints: Completing requirement

for user stories planned to build in our next two

planned sprints

Backlog: Collecting user story requirements slated for

future sprints based of PO’s priority.

ACCEPTANCE

CRITERIA

Testable, clarifies what

done will do.

Should have at least 1

Usually several (+ & -)

Gherkin:

Given, When, Then

Biz Rules: If, Then

Scenario 1 (Detail)

Pre-Conditions

Given

When

Then

Post Conditions

Scenario 2 (Detail)

Pre-Conditions

Given

When

Then

Post Conditions

Example of a User Story Subject: Board of Directors Webpage Update

URL: http://www.centraliowaiiba.org/chapter/board-members

As a CIC IIBA website UserI want to have the ‘About Us’ Board of Directors page updatedSo that there is an email link to each board member.And display the term date range for each position

Issue: Not able to find emails to contact our IIBA CIC board members very easily.

Req Details:Title: Director of Volunteerism & OutreachName: Angela WellerTerm: 2017 - 2018Email: [email protected]

Complete similar details for each board member

See mockup attachment

ACCEPTANCE CRITERIAScenario 1 - LayoutGiven a user clicks on our about us tabWhen the user views the board membersThen user will be able to see all emails & terms

Scenario 2 – InteractionGiven a user clicks on our about us tabWhen the user clicks on the email link or any board member Then email template is created and user can send an email without typing the email.

http://www.centraliowaiiba.org/chapter/board-members


The Board:Ex: Ticket

Status

Status

Category

Purpose

New To Do New ticket added to backlog (place holder)

In Requirements To Do BA is researching issue & prepping story to refine

Ready for Refinement To Do Need team to discuss & point

To Do To Do BA work is all done & team is ready to solve

In Progress In Progress Work is in progress (used on tasks as well)

Test In Progress Test phase

Ready For Review In Progress Passed test & needs Product Owner to approve

Done/Completed Done Story is now in production & closed

Removed Done Decided story is NOT needed

WHISPER/Pending To Do Place holders for projects/stories we know we eventually want

to solve – pending’s

Agile Electronic Boards:

Podio (Open Source), JIRA, Trello, Zoho & more

http://www.usefyi.com/scrum-board/

Retrospective Retrospective

KUDOS – shared by team

DO MORE

OK AS IS

STOP DOING

HR Managers should NEVER attend

Why? = destroys a safe open space for teambuilding.

Use stickies for team to call

out details & place on image

Sky = Good

Boat = Status Quo

Water = Not So Good

Techniques for Strategy Horizon

Agile Extension Techniques

Minimal Viable Product

Planning Workshop

Portfolio Kanban

Product Roadmap

Purpose Alignment Model

Real Options

Relative Estimating

Value Stream Mapping

Visioning

BABOK Guide Techniques

Backlog Management

Balanced Scorecard

Benchmarking & Market Analysis

Business Capability Analysis

Business Cases

Business Model Canvas

Metrics & Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

Organizational Modeling

Risk Analysis & Management

Stakeholder List, Map or Personas

SWOT Analysis

Vendor Assessment

Techniques for Initiative Horizon


Kano Analysis

(Feature Prioritization)

Personas

Planning Workshops

Purpose Alignment Model

Real Options

Relative Estimation

Retrospectives

Story Decomposition

Story Mapping



Backlog Management

Balanced Scorecard

Brainstorming

Collaborative Games

Concept Modelling

Data Dictionary

Data Modelling

Document Analysis

Functional Decomposition

Glossary

Interface Analysis

Interviews


Observation

Prioritization

Process Modelling

Prototyping


Scope Modelling


Vendor Assessment

Techniques for Delivery Horizon


Personas

Real Options

Relative Estimation

Retrospectives

Story Decomposition

Story Mapping



Backlog Management

Balanced Scorecard

Brainstorming

Collaborative Games

Concept Modelling

Data Modelling

Document Analysis

Functional Decomposition

Glossary

Interface Analysis

Interviews


Observation

Prioritization

Process Modelling

Prototyping


Scope Modelling


RESOURCES

IIBA - Agile Extension – https://www.iiba.org/

Scrum Alliance: https://www.scrumalliance.org

Scrum.Org: https://www.scrum.org

Mountain Goat Software: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum

https://www.iiba.org/

https://www.scrumalliance.org/

https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-scrum

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum

Thank You!

An Agile Analyst"A BA's Day in the Life"

The Analyst’s Value in Agile

Angela Weller

515-770-5812

[email protected]

Linkedin: anzela998


an agile analyst

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