Archive for the ‘Communication Skills’ Category
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
This winter, SD Times editor Jennifer deJong Lent asked me to contribute an SD Times article on recommended books for developers. Jennifer and I agreed my list would exclude books about languages, databases or IDEs. I was pleased to contribute.
Jennifer begins her article with the following: “With the proliferation of online articles and ebooks, old-fashioned paper books seem not to have a place in today’s world. Many experts, however, still find useful things in paperbacks and hardcovers. From technology to people and team management, these books still help developers out today. Here are what the experts recommend.” Continue reading
Tags: Agile, BABOK, Books, leadership, Personal Development
Posted in Agile, Books, Career, Communication Skills, ellen gottesdiener, Learning, roles and responsibilities, SD Times, Software Development, Writing | 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, August 23rd, 2011
I’m pleased to share with you an “author cast,” a podcast interview of me by Yaaqub (Yamo) Mohamed of The BACoach.
Yamo’s interview got me thinking and reflecting on my own professional learning journey and dig into the two books I’ve written (so far 
). Continue reading | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile BA, Agile Business Analysis, agile requirements, Books, Business Value, Elicitation, Product Owner, requirements, Workshops, Writing
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Analysis, Books, collaboration, Communication Skills, Discovery Workshop, Elicitation, ellen gottesdiener, Facilitation, leadership, lean, Learning, requirements, Requirements by Collaboration, retrospectives, The Software Requirements Memory Jogger, Workshops, Writing | 1 Comment »
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 »
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 »
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
“Oh drat”, you think.
“I’ve got to do a presentation!”
Nevertheless, you smile and ask, “Oh, sure—what’s the date?”
Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals to the rescue!
Out comes Naomi’s Karten’s splendid book. You open it, eager for your sit-down with your personal presentation skills coach. You are easily captivated by Naomi’s clever style and practical guidance on presentations, and grateful for the online references and resources that supplement the text. Reading this book not only prepares you for your upcoming presentation; it also helps you get in the groove and enables you to gain confidence as you prepare. You actually enjoy the process!
I was flattered when… Continue reading
Tags: Agile Business Analysis, Business Analysis, collaboration, Communication Skills, Facilitation, Learning, Presentations, Workshops
Posted in Analysis, Business Analysis, Business Value, Communication Skills, Facilitation, Presentation Skills | No Comments »
