Archive for the ‘Business Analysis Training’ Category
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Over the past few years, I’ve spoken to user groups to share my experiences working with use cases, scenarios, and user acceptance tests in support of data warehousing and Business Intelligence (BI) BI analysis. Afterwards, many people ask me to summarize my recommendations. In response, I wrote a short article – Requirements Tips for Data Centric Projects. You can access it here (note: you may have to register).
In my article, I focus on analyzing the context of usage. In addition, remember this: to elicit, analyze, and specify requirements in this space, almost all of the time-tested data-centric techniques are still necessary.
People often asked me for additional tips and advice. What additional considerations for business analysis for BI? Continue reading
Tags: Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Analytics, BABOK, Books, Business Analyst, Business Intelligence, Data Modeling
Posted in Agile, Agile Analytics, Analytics, BABOK, Books, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Intelligence, Data, Data Modeling, iiba babok, Sue Burk | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
I was recently interviewed by SearchSoftwareQuality editor Yvette Francino about this week’s Business Analysis and Requirements Workshop at the Better Conference/Development Conference this week in Las Vegas, Nevada (6-7 June, 2011).
Yvette asked me to explain the logistics, if we would be emulating gathering requirements for a particular project and if the workshop be relevant regardless of domain area. Here are my answers: As conference chair, Continue reading | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile, Agile BA, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, BABOK, Business Analyst, business analysts role, Business Value, Documentation, Elicitation, Product Owner, requirements, Stakeholder Analysis, Stakeholders
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Analysis, BABOK, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Analyst, Business Value, collaboration, Communication Skills, Documentation, Elicitation, ellen gottesdiener, Facilitation, iiba babok, lean, Learning, requirements, retrospectives, Stakeholder Analysis, Stakeholders, Waste, Workshops | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 14th, 2011
In a prior blog post, you learned about the in-progress book Mary Gorman and I are writing. We are thrilled to have our workshop proposal for the Agile 2011 Conference accepted. The workshop will incorporates elements of our book. Here’s our YouTube video on The Product Partnership submission. Continue reading | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile 2011, Agile BA, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, Agile Planning, agile requirements, agile team, Books, buisness analyst, Elicitation, product needs, Product Partnership, Product stakeholders, requirements, Stakeholders, Structured Conversation
Posted in Agile, Agile analysis, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Books, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Discovery Workshop, Elicitation, Elicitation Workshops, Facilitation, mary gorman, Product Partnership, requirements, Structured Conversation, Workshops | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
Mary Gorman and I are in the midst of writing a book. The title is still a WIP (work in process). A couple of contenders are “Agile Product Needs: <subtitle1:> ” and “The Agile Product Partnership: <subtitle2>”. We’ll be looking for your help on settling on a compelling title – stay tuned, we can use your creative inspiration!
Our goal is to provide practical guidance on challenges agile teams face. Wrestling the “right” user stories out of the product backlog. Slicing user stories into “right-sized” chunks so they are ready for estimating and planning. Deciding on the next high-value product needs for delivery. Planning more than two weeks ahead (realizing you need a longer time horizon). Using acceptance criteria and examples to deepen shared understanding. Exploring product needs in a holistic way. … Continue reading | 3 Comments
Tags: Agile BA, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, Agile Planning, agile requirements, agile team, Books, Business Analysis, Elicitation, product needs, Product Partnership, Product stakeholders, requirements, Stakeholders, Structured Conversation
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Books, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Analyst, Business Value, collaboration, Discovery Workshop, Elicitation, Elicitation Workshops, Facilitation, mary gorman, Product Partnership, requirements, Structured Conversation, Workshops | 3 Comments »
Thursday, January 13th, 2011
What Tough Agile Analysis Questions Do Business Analysts Need Answered? 
This is the question I posed to the participants in a facilitated workshop at the Building Business Capability Conference (BBC) 2010 this past fall. The BBC conference, held in the Washington, D.C. area, was the first official IIBA ® conference. It offered tracks for business analysis, business rules, and business process management.
Context for the “Tough Agile Analysis Questions” Workshop
As the facilitator, I had 30 minutes to “crowdsource” from an energetic, curious, and motivated group of 120 business analysts. Many analysts in attendance were new to agile practices. All of them cared deeply about the value of business analysis. They were eager to… Continue reading
Tags: Agile, Agile analysis, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, BABOK, Business Analyst, business analysts role, IIBA, requirements
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Analysis, BABOK, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Analyst, Business Consulting, Business Value, collaboration, Communication Skills, Facilitation, iiba babok, requirements, Workshops | No Comments »
Monday, November 1st, 2010
By Guest Blogger Rob Elbourn, Scrum Team Lead working at a major financial concern in UK. Visit Rob’s Agile78 Blog
I recently attended the “Agile Requirements by Collaboration” presentation at Skills Matter lead by Ellen Gottesdiener from EBG Consulting. Here are some of the main points I got from it.
Ellen described how collaboration needs to happen on several different levels of granularity along the way requirements are viewed on agile projects– the product (which establishes the product or portfolio roadmap), the release and the iteration (or work-in-progress).
Exploring these views can occur in several different facilitated workshops, from the roadmap workshop, to the release workshop to iteration workshops. The corresponding requirements that are clarified or driven out from these workshops also appear on different levels – boulder, rock and pebble.
The idea is that the pebbles form your user stories and are driven out at the level of the iteration workshop. Projects can encounter rock sized requirements at the iteration level and suffer a time delay as new pebble requirements are chipped off from them. This brings to question the level of “doneness” for a user story. Continue reading
Tags: Agile, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, collaboration, Facilitation, Workshops
Posted in Agile, agile requirements, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Consulting, Business Consulting Training, Communication Skills, Learning | No Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010
By Mary Gorman
In my Stickyminds.com column “Playing at Work: Agile Games Deliver Value” I share game ideas and experiences – the benefits games can provide, selecting an appropriate game, facilitating a game, and designing a winning game.
Designing and Facilitating Agile Games
When writing the column I got to thinking how agile principles could provide a basis for good game design and facilitation. I reflected on a recent experience I had at Deep Agile 2010: Empowering Teams with Agile Games. Working in a small group we created a new game, tested it, and retrospected both the game and our design process in less than half a day. We consciously (and some times unconsciously!) were being agile! (To see and learn more about our game, read Michael Sahota’s summary at The Backlog Is in the Eye of the Beholder.)
Games and The Agile Manifesto
To clearly communicate the agile-ness of our work and what we learned I did a quick mapping to the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Continue reading
Tags: Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile manifesto, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, games, Learning, retrospectives, Workshops
Posted in Agile, agile manifesto, Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, games, Learning, mary gorman | No Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
b
y Mary Gorman and Ellen Gottesdiener
We liked it when a good thing took on a life of its own.
We learned that it really resonated with many folks.
We lacked sharing the full understanding of the technique.
We longed for more sharing.
Liked – Learned – Lacked – Longed For
At the recent Deep Agile event, Mary briefly mentioned a 3Ls’ technique she used in a recent retrospective (Liked, Lacked, Longed For). A few folks tweeted about it, and it took off in the web’o’sphere
To fulfill our longing to share and provide some background, keep reading to learn how we use this technique.
Many moons ago… Continue reading | 8 Comments
Tags: Agile, Agile Planning, Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, mary gorman, retrospectives
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, retrospectives, Workshops | 8 Comments »
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Adult children. Jumbo shrimp. Seriously funny. I’m sure you recognize these expressions as oxymorons—self-contradictory phrases, often with an ironic meaning.
Should we add “agile requirements” to the list? Does agile development fit in with traditional requirements practices? And if so, how?
Once More into the Breach
Traditionally, defining requirements involves careful analysis and documentation and checking and rechecking for understanding. It’s a disciplined approach backed by documentation, including models and specifications. For many organizations, this means weeks or months of analysis, minimal cross-team collaboration, and reams of documentation.
In contrast, agile practices—leanLean, Sscrum, XP, FDD, crystalCrystal, and so on—involve understanding small slices of requirements and developing them with an eye toward using tests as truth. You confirm customers’ needs by showing them delivered snippets of software. Continue reading | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Dependencies, Facilitation, requirements, roles and responsibilities
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Facilitation, requirements, roles and responsibilities, Workshops | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Last time, I introduced Open Space, an innovative approach to creating change in whole systems and inspiring the best in human performance. Also called Open Space Technology (OST), Open Space was created by Harrison Owen in the 1980s. It’s a self-organizing practice that encourages people to exchange information and ideas in informal settings.
How Does It Work?
To start, Open Space participants gather in a dynamic opening event in what we call the marketplace. Anyone can offer topics they care about, want to reflect on, and learn about with others. You don’t have to be an expert, guru, or even highly experienced or knowledgeable about the topic you convene. During the marketplace, participants create a board that lists all the session topics people want to talk about, with time slots and locations for each proposed topic.
Then each participant directs her own choices. Groups convene sessions around these topics and record their findings.
Open Space operates on four principles:
1. Whoever comes is the right people.
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
3. Whenever it starts is the right time.
4. When it is over it is over. Continue reading
Tags: Agile, agile games, Business Analysis Training, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, Open Space, OST, retrospective, roles and responsibilities
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile games, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, Open Space, OST, retrospectives, roles and responsibilities | No Comments »
