UiPath Solutions Management Preview - Northern CA Chapter - March 22.pdf
Agile projects cannot be successful without Business Analysts
1. Agile projects cannot be
successful without
business analysts
It is a myth that Agile projects are not requirements driven. The Agile Manifesto is all about
bringing business and technology closer through creating a co-located single team environment
where requirements can be tested with limited overhead. This does not negate the need to wrap
the project with structured requirements or the reality that enterprise systems live well beyond the
project teams that deploy them.
In many instances, we see hastily assembled Agile teams where business stakeholders and
developers are expected to immediately and productively start developing systems. This
approach didn’t work before business analysts (BAs) and it won’t work now. BAs remain the
vital bridge between business and IT stakeholders – able to interpret business requirements
and consider how technology enabled solutions can support them.
THE BSG (UK) APPROACH
BSG advocates that BAs supplement the role of a product owner on an Agile team. This means
that BAs continue to have responsibility for structured specification of requirements. BAs are then
responsible for clarification and documentation of requirements as part of the design process.
Practically, they will be involved in creating and updating the product backlog, burndown chart,
highlight reports and requirements documentation (at whatever level of detail is agreed).
BENEFITS OF THE BSG (UK) APPROACH
• BAs are experts in delivering benefits. Software projects deliver new or improved capability
within an organisation. The capability will be part of a broader change, justified by benefits
specified within a business case. In order to realise these benefits, there are typically many
other considerations around how the software is to be adopted and operationally embedded.
This requires consideration outside of the build of the new software. BAs are well positioned to
act as the bridging role between the software delivery team and the broader project.
• Agile projects still require documentation. BSG’s approach to Agile projects allows for a
reasonable level of documentation to be completed in parallel. This ensures that there is an
audit trail for improvement, growth and repairs if needed at a later stage. This also allows for the
flexibility required by Agile to outline, create, approve and implement changes quickly.
• It allows business stakeholders to maintain appropriate focus. Agile projects can be very
time demanding. By reducing the documentation overhead on business stakeholders, they can
focus time on both their project and, where appropriate, business-as-usual activities.
The Agile Manifesto - http://www.agilealliance.org/the-alliance/the-agile-manifesto/
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+44 20 7390 8674
please visit our website or contact us
busdev@bsguk.co.uk
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