Make the Case: Breaking Down Analysis Planning

How many times have you been told that you have two days to “get requirements done” when you know you need two weeks or even two months? Or maybe you’ve even been told that the analysis can be done “during the sprint” (or worse, not at all!) while the developers are designing and developing? We […]

4 Step Process to Data Analysis

I find myself running into a lot of business analysis professionals who say, “I don’t do data analysis. That is the data architect’s job.” My response: “…What?!?!”  In a nutshell, a good business analysis professional knows that part of their role is to understand the business and help the business solve its problems by making sure […]

Employ Decision Criteria for Making Decisions

During a recent Facilitating a Requirements Workshop class, my students and I had discussion regarding decision criteria. While the discussion came out of a class centered on business analysis, the answer resonates with almost any industry. Since my students asked me for a quick write up to reference, I thought it might help others and wanted […]

6 Prioritization Techniques for Yielding Value

The Pareto principle theorizes that about 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. If we apply that to our projects, then 80% of the value comes from 20% of the requirements or the backlog.  People often prioritize using their gut feel, or by ‘the executive said so’, or by the squeakiest wheel […]

Prioritize Using the Weighted Shortest Job First Technique

The Weighted Shortest Job First, or WSJF, prioritization technique might seem confusing at first, but it isn’t and can provide some powerful insight. The simple calculation divides the Cost of Delay (also called COD) by the Job Size (or Duration).  Let’s explore the Cost of Delay first. The Cost of Delay can be estimated using the sum of three factors:  […]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… and Apply the SCAMPER Technique

I recently had a thought process that I wanted to share… I promise it ends with something useful! I was initially reflecting on Earth Day, which is coming up soon, and thought about how the motto of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” can be applied to our work – our processes, tasks, and even people. My mind […]

A BA’s Guide to Validating Requirements

Here’s a question related to requirements validation that pops up regularly in the classes we teach: How do I know I’m not missing any requirements?  My first response is: “You don’t!” I know that’s not what you want to hear, but you have to remember that nothing is perfect. Unfortunately, as business analysts we typically have at […]

Metrics for Business Agility

What should your metrics tell you about your organization? They should tell you: Did we succeed with what we did in the recent past? Are we succeeding now? Will we succeed in the future? Traditional metrics often measure outputs, not outcomes. In an ‘agile world’, we need to understand if what we are doing is […]

What’s the Difference Between Business Requirements and Functional Requirements?

What are business requirements? A common answer I get when asking for an example of a business requirement is a sentence like: “The system shall facilitate the automation of email to the customer.” Is that a business requirement? Well of course it must be. The business told me that specifically, and in those words! It […]

Just Enough Doesn’t Mean None! The Agile Business Analyst Role

I have recently been teaching and consulting in organizations that have transitioned to an agile framework AND have decided, as part of that transition, that business analysts are no longer needed. In this blog post, I would like to note where I think this mentality came from and then argue against it. The agile approach […]