This document discusses the trials and tribulations of being a business analyst in an agile work environment. It describes the key responsibilities of a product owner, which include establishing vision and goals, representing users, and managing return on investment. Some challenges for business analysts include serving as a proxy product owner without true empowerment, having insufficient business knowledge or agile training, and business analysis being undervalued. To be successful, a business analyst needs business knowledge, facilitation skills, and agile business analysis techniques. Getting agile certification, learning from books, and referencing the BABOK guide are recommended.
want to become a business analyst without it backgroundJanBask Training
Read a few tips to become a business analyst without having any IT background. We will discuss how, with no BA experience, you can make a pathway to be a business analyst.
https://www.janbasktraining.com/business-analyst-training
* What is Business Analysis?
* Who is a Business Analyst?
* The reasons to become a Business Analyst
* The principles of Business Analysis
* Business Analyst’s role
* S.W.O.T and M.O.S.T Analysis
* Requirements of being Business Analyst
* Business Analysts’ work
* Business Analysts’ workplaces
* Difference between Data Scientist and a Business Analyst
* Analysis work
want to become a business analyst without it backgroundJanBask Training
Read a few tips to become a business analyst without having any IT background. We will discuss how, with no BA experience, you can make a pathway to be a business analyst.
https://www.janbasktraining.com/business-analyst-training
* What is Business Analysis?
* Who is a Business Analyst?
* The reasons to become a Business Analyst
* The principles of Business Analysis
* Business Analyst’s role
* S.W.O.T and M.O.S.T Analysis
* Requirements of being Business Analyst
* Business Analysts’ work
* Business Analysts’ workplaces
* Difference between Data Scientist and a Business Analyst
* Analysis work
Agile Inception Strategies : Presented by Khaarthigha SubramanianoGuild .
Agile Inception using Innovative and Collaborative techniques & Gamification came for rescue, But now this is also diluted a lot and becoming in-effective. But used well, this is highly effective even to discover more than what we are focusing and help channel the investments for the clients.
We took a real world problem that is meaningful to all attendees and used the following techniques as a real inception
– Describing the objectives of inception and inception outcomes
– Setting the vision
– Identify Competing constraints and decouple them
– Understand nuances of client relationship and being dynamic in modelling the solution
– Stakeholder mapping and communication plan
– Assumption mapping and hypotheses prioritisation
– Traceability of user needs to business goals through impact mapping.
Architects of the new era often struggle with increased span of control, business focus and strategic responsibilities in the organization. The IT architecture discipline in 2013 is facing completely new set of challenge than what it used to address couple of years ago: architects are now focusing on how to help business units to respond in a way that creates business agility, drives better, faster and cheaper production (or delivery), and flows value in rapid cycles, while optimizing the strategy along the way. History of traditional IT Architecture is becoming legend, legend is turning into a myth; this session will help architects to transform so they maintain or increase their relevance in the modern industrialized IT-as-a-service world.
Original article from the Flevy business blog can be found here:
http://flevy.com/blog/the-ultimate-reference-guide-for-consultants/
The majority of documents available on Flevy are produced by seasoned consultants and consulting firms. Many of these documents were produced FOR consultants, as well.
Below, we have listed a number of must-have references for anyone working in management consulting–and, in particular, those who run their own boutique firms. They are roughly grouped into common themes/phases.
PURSUIT – SALES & MARKETING OF THE FIRM
Selling Consulting Services Effectively
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/selling-consulting-services-effectively-724
This a training document used by a major consulting firm on business development. It introduces a new approach (i.e. the ORDER Model and the 4S Model) to selling and building client relationships.
Winning New Consulting Business
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/winning-new-consulting-business-741
Discusses five key elements of winning proposals and provides a tool immediately to develop proposals by using a new approach. The five key elements are relationships, message, issue, team and interaction.
Initial Meeting Sales Presentation
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/initial-meeting-sales-presentation-81
This presentation provides a template for slides that can be presented in an initial meeting with a potential consulting client. The first section of the presentation (covering the majority of the slides) includes an overview of our consulting firm. The second section contains a high level assessment of the client based on high level financial analysis. The final section outlines potential next steps.
Business Strategy and Creative Execution Pitch Deck
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/business-strategy-and-creative-execution-pitch-deck-82
Panic! Why projects get done at the last minute and what you can do about itebwatt
It seems like every project we complete is finished at the last possible minute. We promise ourselves that next time it will be different, but it rarely is. In this presentation, I examine why we complete projects at the last minute, what that is probably okay, and describe three strategies you can use to manage time/workload to gain a little more breathing room.
Challenges for Business Analysts in Distributed AgilePankaj Kanchankar
Here I share, my pick of top 5 challenges faced by Business Analysts in Distributed Agile development. You will realize that these challenges apply to all distributed teams Agile or no Agile.
I have also provided some of the techniques and tools that I have used to overcome these.
This was presented at the Business Analyst World Bangalore on 25/May/2012.
Preparing a case analysis presentation in two hours (this assumes you have read and analyzed the case)- how to budget your time and organize the information.
Agile Inception Strategies : Presented by Khaarthigha SubramanianoGuild .
Agile Inception using Innovative and Collaborative techniques & Gamification came for rescue, But now this is also diluted a lot and becoming in-effective. But used well, this is highly effective even to discover more than what we are focusing and help channel the investments for the clients.
We took a real world problem that is meaningful to all attendees and used the following techniques as a real inception
– Describing the objectives of inception and inception outcomes
– Setting the vision
– Identify Competing constraints and decouple them
– Understand nuances of client relationship and being dynamic in modelling the solution
– Stakeholder mapping and communication plan
– Assumption mapping and hypotheses prioritisation
– Traceability of user needs to business goals through impact mapping.
Architects of the new era often struggle with increased span of control, business focus and strategic responsibilities in the organization. The IT architecture discipline in 2013 is facing completely new set of challenge than what it used to address couple of years ago: architects are now focusing on how to help business units to respond in a way that creates business agility, drives better, faster and cheaper production (or delivery), and flows value in rapid cycles, while optimizing the strategy along the way. History of traditional IT Architecture is becoming legend, legend is turning into a myth; this session will help architects to transform so they maintain or increase their relevance in the modern industrialized IT-as-a-service world.
Original article from the Flevy business blog can be found here:
http://flevy.com/blog/the-ultimate-reference-guide-for-consultants/
The majority of documents available on Flevy are produced by seasoned consultants and consulting firms. Many of these documents were produced FOR consultants, as well.
Below, we have listed a number of must-have references for anyone working in management consulting–and, in particular, those who run their own boutique firms. They are roughly grouped into common themes/phases.
PURSUIT – SALES & MARKETING OF THE FIRM
Selling Consulting Services Effectively
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/selling-consulting-services-effectively-724
This a training document used by a major consulting firm on business development. It introduces a new approach (i.e. the ORDER Model and the 4S Model) to selling and building client relationships.
Winning New Consulting Business
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/winning-new-consulting-business-741
Discusses five key elements of winning proposals and provides a tool immediately to develop proposals by using a new approach. The five key elements are relationships, message, issue, team and interaction.
Initial Meeting Sales Presentation
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/initial-meeting-sales-presentation-81
This presentation provides a template for slides that can be presented in an initial meeting with a potential consulting client. The first section of the presentation (covering the majority of the slides) includes an overview of our consulting firm. The second section contains a high level assessment of the client based on high level financial analysis. The final section outlines potential next steps.
Business Strategy and Creative Execution Pitch Deck
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/business-strategy-and-creative-execution-pitch-deck-82
Panic! Why projects get done at the last minute and what you can do about itebwatt
It seems like every project we complete is finished at the last possible minute. We promise ourselves that next time it will be different, but it rarely is. In this presentation, I examine why we complete projects at the last minute, what that is probably okay, and describe three strategies you can use to manage time/workload to gain a little more breathing room.
Challenges for Business Analysts in Distributed AgilePankaj Kanchankar
Here I share, my pick of top 5 challenges faced by Business Analysts in Distributed Agile development. You will realize that these challenges apply to all distributed teams Agile or no Agile.
I have also provided some of the techniques and tools that I have used to overcome these.
This was presented at the Business Analyst World Bangalore on 25/May/2012.
Preparing a case analysis presentation in two hours (this assumes you have read and analyzed the case)- how to budget your time and organize the information.
A brief about how create business plan for an investor/partner.
Main audience: IT start-ups. The presentation and upcoming video and webinar may be interesting for young companies in other business sectors.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
2. Break into Groups of 5-6 people
Avoid (if possible) sitting with someone from your
company
Quick Introductions
Your experience with Agile BAs
3. PO Core Responsibilities
Establish vision & goals for overall project
Represents the users or customers for the project
One voice, even if not one person
Typically a person with product knowledge
4. More Responsibilities
Knowing what to build and in what sequence
Manage the return on investment (ROI)
Calls for releases
5. Discuss: In 10 words or less….
What do you think is the role of a Business Analyst in
an Agile work environment?
Discuss with your group
Summarize
6. Agile Business Analyst (ABA)
Traditional BA techniques:
Liaison
between Business and IT
Detailed
Requirements Gathering/Definition
Stakeholder
Process
analysis
re-engineering
7. Timing is everything
Agile business analysis delivers pretty much
the same artifacts as traditional, but:
Lightweight
(avoiding waste)
Just-in-time
More
frequent feedback loops
Evolve over time
8. Agile Business Analysis is:
About
increasing the delivery of maximum
business value
Ensuring the development team has:
the right information
The right level of detail
At the right time
To build the right product
9. Discuss: In 10 minutes or less….
What do you think are the key challenges for a
Business Analyst in an Agile work environment?
Discuss with your group
Summarize
10. Challenges of an ABA in the PO role
The un-empowered BA serving as Proxy PO
BAs commonly used for PO role
If not truly empowered, a proxy only adds to the length of the
feedback loop.
Tendency to do all of the backlog (not prioritized)
The un-supported BA serving as Proxy PO
New/inexperienced BA assigned to complex projects
No current-state documentation
The un-trained BA
No business knowledge
No Agile training or experience
Business Analysis is commonly under-valued
11. Discuss: In 10 minutes or less…
Given the typical challenges of a BA, what 3 things
would help a BA be more successful in an Agile
environment?
12. What does it take to be a Great ABA?
Focus on delivering maximum business value
Business knowledge (of course)
Facilitation skills
Business Analysis skills:
Story Mapping
Personas/Stakeholder analysis
Business Modeling
Detail-oriented
13. Recommendations for Becoming a Better ABA
Get certified in Scrum (CSM or CSPO)
Lots of great books on Agile practices/techniques
User
Stories Applied – Cohn
Agile Modeling – Ambler
Agile Estimating and Planning – Cohn
Agile Product Management with Scrum - Pichler
Visit your local IIBA chapter
BA
Competency model
Credentials model (CCBA, CBAP)
Agile Extension to BABOK
14. BA Body of Knowledge (BABOK)
International Institute of Business Analysis
Certifications available
The Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide (Nov 2011)
15. The Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide
Agile Extension drafted - November 2011
Business analysis primer for Agile SW development
Intro to business analysis practices/techniques
Mapping traditional practices to Agile practices
For all team members, not just ABAs
Get the draft copy now, for free!
16. IIBA Agile Extension includes….
Business Analysis in different Agile lifecycles
Scrum
XP (eXtreme Programming)
Kanban
Techniques
Personas
Value Stream Mapping
Story Mapping
Kano Analysis
Backlog Management
Agile estimating
Collaborative Games
Retrospectives
Lightweight documentation
Let’s quickly review the role of the Product Owner.The core responsibilities include:
Within the Agile approach to delivery, Collaboration between the business, IT and customers are recognized as paramount to success. And as many companies began to adopt the Agile approach to delivery, the role of the Business Analyst has become recognized as crucial for success, but not without some hiccups.The Agile approach promotes Lean concepts of minimum documentation and only producing what the team needs. And unfortunately some companies and teams interpreted this as “no documentation”. That might work OK for small projects and small companies, who, by the way, were the early adopters in Agile. But as larger companies like State Farm and Humana have learned, we need more documentation. So the challenge becomes to determine the right amount of documentation.You see, larger companies don’t have a few independent projects and teams. We have large programs and portfolios of projects to manage. And add to that the fact that our systems are becoming more integrated and connected, the business and technical complexity and sophistication of our service offerings are growing exponentially. Add to that the fact that of-shore utilization has grown from 40% to nearly 75% in the last 4 years. So in the beginning (back in the 1970s) the role of a business analyst emerged from the need to help business folks communicate with the IT folks to solve some business problem.Today, with so much more complex, complicated and distributed systems and services, The Business Analyst role has become so much more that a liaison.He or she needs to provide:more detail in the actual business requirements to partners that may not have the personal experience of using the services we have come to understand daily.Help teams better understand the actual users and stakeholders of the solutions being developed.Constant process-reengineering of business processes as offerings expand and systems become more integrated
Of course, there have been challenges to using Agile Bas as Product Owners
So what does it take to be a great Agile BA?Well, Agile business analysis is:About increasing the delivery of maximum business valueEnsuring the development team has:the right informationThe level of detailAt the right timeTo build the right product
So what’s included in the Agile Extension?Information on how to perform business analysis in different Agile frameworks, including Scrum XP and Kanban. In one survey over 70% of companies that claim to be Agile are doing Scrum oe a combination of Scrum and XP.But probably the biggest value for me is the techniques highlighted that, for larger projects, are critical, such as:How to develop personas to help teams understand their customersValue stream mapping techniques for current state/future state analysisAgile EstimatingCollaborative games