In my session at Agile 2017, I talk briefly about the future of Agile and the importance of what some may consider traditional roles in this new world. I remember well what it was like to be an engineer… that’s where I started my career. Today, I am a solution architect, a role very much aligned with business analysis and systems engineering, and I have realized that there is so much value in knowing both the business and engineering perspectives. Read my blog to know more: https://dzone.com/articles/the-wow-factor-behind-successful-agile-transformat

1. Amy Silberbauer
Solution Architect, IBM Watson IoT
asilber@us.ibm.com
Do we still need Business Analysts and Systems
Engineers? Now more than ever!

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Y
So where do Business Analysts and Systems Engineers fit into
this equation?

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YAgenda
Why
scale
agile?
The
“Wow!”
factor
The
new
sheriffs
in town

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Do successful agile teams = successful enterprises?
Team success
• More Story Points, higher velocity
• More Features
• Shorter cycle times
• Lower defects
• Cool new stuff
Enterprise success
• Improved time to “happy customer”
• Increased market share
• Improved competitiveness
• Lower risk
A “project” is more than just
a single “feature”

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From Idea to Wow!
Line-of-business
“I have an idea”
Development
“Create a feature”
Operations
“Manage a feature”
Customer
“Awesome feature”
But how do we ensure that
“awesome feature”?
It’s simple really… bring more who,
why and WOW! to the what

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Where do Business Analysts & Systems Engineers fit?

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Client Opportunities
Engineering
Solutions
Business
Priorities/StrategiesSupport
Sales
Product
Mgmt
Test/UAT
Marketing
End
Users
Business
Owners
Competing & Disconnected
Interests
IBM Confidential
We need “designers” to build the “systems view”
Dev
Support
Sales
Product
Mgmt
Test/UAT
Marketing
End
Users
Business
Owners
Dev
Unified Vision & Goals

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Defines use
cases for solution
that address
need
Provides a
solution for a
customer applied
to a specific need
• Solution name
• Capabilities & Features
• Engineering/technology
Sequence of events
➢ “Who” applies “What” in
some sequence to solve
business problem
• Customer Name
• Business Problem
• Applications
• Roles
• Benefit Hypotheses
Solution
(Value!)
Why?
Who?
What?
How?
Outside-in thinking helps us get from the Why? to the What? – With
Focus!

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Applying lean and agile principles – across the Enterprise -- improves
“time to happy customer”
Lean Agile
Measure
improvements
Validate working
software/products
Cross-domain
collaboration
Embrace change &
adjust
Identify & deliver
MVP
Avoid over-
engineering
Apply economic
thinking
Deliver “just
enough”

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The roles and dynamics of developing Large Solutions in SAFe®
10
Take a
systems view
to deliver on
the vision
across
teams-of-
teams
Early solution
elaboration to
ensure delivery
of value before
consuming
engineering
resources

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Be the “face” of the organization
Tease out the real requirements
Get continuous feedback, keeping
customer “in the loop”
Take a Systems View
Apply economic thinking to define MVP
and iterative delivery plan
Collaborate with Engineering to
determine best alternatives
Propose and evaluate alternatives
Explore and validate technological
assumptions
Define common architectural and
technical vision
Ensure consistency
Define the solution
Understand roles and personae
Elaborate end-to-end solution use cases
and activities within them
Business Analysts and Systems Engineers are the new sheriffs in town
http://www.scaledagileframework.com/system-and-solution-architect-engineering
Business
Analysts
Systems
Engineers
As Designers
As Architects
As Engineers
As
Orchestrators
As Customer
Advocates

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• IBM IoT Continuous Engineering
• DevOps concepts and more: ibm.com/devops
• Blogs:
• 3 Rules for Successful SAFe Adoption
• Scaled Agile: Faster Feature Cycle Time,
Improved Time to Value
• Explore SAFe® quickly, easily and cheaply with
IBM’s SAFe® in a Box!
Learn more…
Join me at the IBM booth to get a
signed copy

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