February Meeting Epilogue: The Evolving Role of the Agile BA
February 12, 2012 in Event Summary, Monthly Meetings
Thanks to all who came out to our meeting last week! We had over 50 registered for the meeting and about 42 show up, both records, so thank you!. We also saw plenty of new faces and added over 25 new members. Lastly, this month was the first month we started charging a few dollars for the pizza. Previously we had been providing it free of charge. Thanks for working with us during this transition. The money we save will be used to provide even better programming for you by allowing us to bring in more speakers from out of town. Stay tuned!
Like every meeting we kicked off the night with networking. We hope those attending got to make some long lasting connections.
At the beginning of the meeting, we announced Rally Software as our newest Silver sponsor. Thank you Rally Software!
Alston kicked off the meeting by taking a quick survey of how our member’s use Business Analysts (if at all) and what has happened during transitions to Agile development.
Then Alston turned to a history of Business Analysts in the corporate world and contrasted with the core responsibilities of the Product Owner on an Agile project.
Alston highlighted the four (4) traditional BA techniques that become even more important with Agile projects. They include:
- Liaison between Business and IT
- Detailed Requirements Gathering/Definition
- Stakeholder Analysis
- Constant process re-engineering
Alston led us through a case study from one of his previous consulting engagements which gave the members some context.
Finally Alston wrapped up with some “misuses” of the Agile BA (ABA) role and some recommendations for becoming a great ABA.
ABA anti-patterns include:
- The un-empowered BA serving as Proxy PO: Lack power to make decisions
- The un-supported BA serving as Proxy PO: Lack experience with complex projects
- The un-trained BA: Lack Agile training and/or experience
Recommendations for becoming a great ABA:
- Focus on delivering maximum business value
- Business knowledge (of course)
- Facilitation skills
- Business Analyst skills: Story Mapping, Personas, Business Modeling, Detail-oriented
Lots of great questions from the audience helped close out a great session!
Kelly Adams took home Agile Product Management with Scrum (the book recommended by Alston) and Jeanette Rosing took home an Atlassian Tshirt from our door prize drawing. Thanks Pearson and Atlassian for your contributions to Agile Cincinnati success!
Congrats Jeanette!
Congrats Kelly!
