As we continue to review the Agile perspective, it is important that you remember these key points about the Agile methodology:
- An Agile environment is an adaptable environment which incorporates the principles of constant change.
- Business analysts working on agile initiatives need to continuously reevaluate, adapt, and adjust their efforts and methods.
The Business analysis scope in the Agile perspective talks about the actors that are play an important role in the Agile initiative.
These actors include the following:
1. Change Sponsor : It is vital that a sponsor of an agile initiative is familiar with the agile mindset, and is also open to necessary information trade-offs with the stakeholders.
An agile sponsor needs to understand and accept the following:
- The use of adaptive planning over predictive planning.
- The use and value of a work cycle i.e an iteration.
- The need and value of the sponsor’s participation.
The sponsor’s active participation with the agile team is crucial in providing the sponsor with the ability to review and understand the product being developed, as well as allowing an opportunity for the sponsor to provide continuous feedback to the team and modify the product as needs change.
2 Change Targets and Agents: for the project’s success, it is important that the organization embraces the Agile mindset. So the change agent has a key role to play.
The changes agent can include the following people:
• Agile team leader: this is the facilitator of the team’s work. This role is similar to that of a project manager, but they have delegated the tasks of planning, scheduling, and prioritization to the team members.
This role is also called scrum master, iteration manager, team
leader, or coach.
• Product owner: this team member is in charge of ensuring that the products fulfills the business requirements.
In Scrum this role is called the product owner. The dynamic systems development method (DSDM) calls this role a visionary, and in extreme programming (XP) they are called customer representatives.
• Team members: these domain experts can include both technical and customer representatives. Examples include software architects, and database administrators.
• External stakeholders: the remaining team members are the stakeholders who have a vested interest in the success of the project.
3. Business Analyst Position: There may be one or two skilled team members who do not have a business analyst job title but they perform business analysis activities.
These team members could include:
- A business analyst working on the Agile team.
- The product owner.
- Other team members.
4 Business Analysis Outcomes: for the project’s success there has to be open communication and collaboration. Business analysts ensure that the project’s vision and direction are in alignment with the organizational goals and business needs.
The business analyst is also involved in defining the criteria for project completion and acceptance.
The documentation in an Agile project is created just-in time rather than using predefined models for delivered documentation. This allows the documents to use as much of the introduced change while keeping the cost of the change low.
But, it is important to also create important documents such as auditing or compliance reports in each delivery cycle.