Archive for the ‘Business Analysis’ 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, December 13th, 2011
Security requirements are a difficult quality attribute to elicit and specify. (Quality attributes are one the three types of nonfunctional requirements—along with interfaces, and design & implementation constraints*). Distinguishing can help. So too, it helps to
Sue Burk distinguishes between security requirements and security controls, shares four categories of security requirements, provides suggestions for eliciting security requirements, and explains why making them testable is important in her expert response. Continue reading
Tags: BABOK, Business Analyst, Business Value, Elicitation, Planguage, Quality attributes, requirements, Security Requirements
Posted in BABOK, Business Analysis, Documentation, Elicitation, iiba babok, requirements, Security Requirements, Sue Burk | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
I’m honored to share my podcast with Yaaqub (Yamo) Mohamed of The BACoach. We discuss ingredients for effective requirements workshops described in my first book, Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs.
Tags: Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile requirements, agile team, BABOK, Books, Business Analyst, Business Value, collaboration, Elicitation, Facilitation, requirements
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile manifesto, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Analysis, Books, Business Analysis, collaboration, Communication Skills, Discovery Workshop, Elicitation, Elicitation Workshops, ellen gottesdiener, Facilitation, requirements, Requirements by Collaboration, Workshops | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
The tenth anniversary of the international Agile 20xx conference, Agile 2011, returned to its inaugural location, Salt Lake City, Utah. The attendance set a record for being the largest agile conference in the world! This year’s conference, held August 9-12 2011, was attended by 1,600+ people. It was jam-packed with morning-to-night activities. The conference also included events to reflect and celebrate on the 10th anniversary of the Agile Manifesto.
We at EBG Consulting were pleased to have been selected (from over 900 submissions) to present three sessions. Here are some of highlights and trends: 
Tags: Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile requirements, Business Rules, Product Partnership, Product stakeholders, requirements, Structured Conversation, Tester Mindset
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile manifesto, Agile Workshops, Analysis, Business Analysis, Business rules, collaboration, Continuous delivery, ellen gottesdiener, lean, Lean startup, mary gorman, Product Partnership, requirements, Structured Conversation, Tester Mindset | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
Are you working on data-centric software products? For example, ones that involves building a data warehouse, using extract-transform-load (ETL) and getting the gold—delivering business intelligence and analytic reports and queries for business decision makers?
Sue Burk shares the value of scenarios to define acceptance tests, and other practical techniques to improve your success with these data-centric projects in her expert response. Continue reading
Tags: Analytics, BABOK, Business Analyst, Business Intelligence, Data, Documentation, Elicitation, requirements, Scenarios
Posted in Analysis, Analytics, BABOK, Business Analysis, Business Intelligence, Data, Documentation, iiba babok, requirements, Scenarios, 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 »
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
By Ellen Gottesdiener and Mary Gorman
In September 1977, the TV sitcom Happy Days had über-hip Fonzie, clad in leather jacket and swimshorts, water ski over a shark to prove his mettle—and at that moment even diehard fans knew that the show was past its prime. They were right. After that episode, ratings plummeted, and the expression “Jumping the Shark” was born. When a TV show, or anything else, jumps the shark, you know it’s on its way out.
Our question this month: have any of your software development practices jumped the shark?
For example, are there boundaries around people’s roles? Some organizations tend to confine people to roles such as developer, architect… Continue reading
Tags: Agile, agile team, Business Value, Documentation, leadership, product needs, Product Partnership, Product stakeholders, requirements, retrospectives, Stakeholders
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analysis Flow, Agile Business Analyst, agile games, agile manifesto, Business Analysis, Business Value, collaboration, Communication Skills, Documentation, ellen gottesdiener, heavyweight team, leadership, lean, mary gorman, Product Partnership, requirements, retrospectives, roles and responsibilities, Stakeholders, Waste | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Have you been in a situation where there’s no documentation, yet you’re expected to understand functionality?
Trial transactions and observing behavior is one answer. But understanding context is also important.
Sue Burk suggests creative solutions in her expert response.
Tags: Business Analysis, Business Analyst, Documentation, Elicitation, product needs, Product requirements, Product stakeholders, requirements, Requirements Management, Software Requirements, Stakeholder Analysis
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Business Analysis, collaboration, Discovery Workshop, Documentation, Elicitation, Elicitation Workshops, Facilitation, Process Modeling, requirements, Requirements Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Sue Burk, Workshops | No Comments »
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 »
