Audience
Anyone wishing to understand the Agile approach from a business perspective. This includes business architects, business analysts, project managers and business managers.
Prerequisites
There are no formal prerequisites for this course. However, participants would benefit from an understand the following techniques prior to attending the course or sitting the examination:
- CATWOE
- Business Activity Model
- Use Case Diagrams
Duration
Three days. Lecture presentations are supported by practical work which allows discussion, reinforcement of learning and enhancement of the understanding process.
Course Objectives
This course has been independently developed but conforms to the current BCS Professional Certificate in Agile Business Analysis syllabus. Course fees do not include the BCS examination which may be taken at any PearsonVUE testing centre. Our Bath training centre is also a PearsonVUE testing centre, if you'd like to take the exam as part of the course please notify us after booking and we can arrange this for you.
At the end of the course participants should be able to demonstrate that they can:
- Describe the philosophy underpinning Agile approaches.
- State the core Agile values in the agile manifesto.
- Interpret the key Agile principles.
- Apply agile in the wider business context.
- Describe a range of Agile methods (process, roles, principles).
- Evaluate the applicability of an agile method for a given situation.
- Analyse the stakeholders in Agile projects.
- Discuss the 8 wastes of Lean.
- Discuss the FMM.
- Illustrate the use of Agile analysis, modelling and documentation techniques.
- Analyse business goals and their decomposition.
- Identify and analyse user roles.
- Analyse the application of the user story technique.
- Explain the role and management of the solution backlog.
- Explain techniques and meetings used to plan and manage an iteration.
- Describe the role of the business analyst when using an Agile approach.
- Apply the POPIT model and the system of interest model during Agile adoption.
Course Content
Agile Philosophy
The rationale for adopting an Agile approach
• Definition of Agile
• 3 pillars of Agile
The Agile manifesto
The three overarching aspects of Agile
• Principles
• Methods
• Techniques
Business Analysis thinking and how it is relevant in Agile business
• Systems thinking
• Service thinking
• Lean business analysis (Lean thinking, 8 wastes of Lean, Value proposition)
• The POPIT model
Agile Principles
The 12 core principles
Key principle – collaborative working
Key principle – self organising teams
• Tuckman & Jenson theory of group development
Key principle – continuous improvement
• Kaizen
• DMAIC (from Lean)
Key principle – iterative development and incremental delivery
Key principle – building in change
Agile Methods
Elements of a method
Defined v empirical methods
Characteristics of Agile methods
• Product development methods (SCRUM, XP, Lean software)
• Scaled methods (DSDM, SAFe)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Agile methods
Understanding Stakeholders
Stakeholder groups
• Business Stakeholders: Project sponsor; Business Managers; Business Architect
• Project Stakeholders: Project Manager; Programme Manager
• Technical Stakeholders: Technical Architect
• Development Team: Subject Matter Expert; End-users; Business Analyst; Designer; Team Leader; Solution Developer; Solution Tester
Agile Modelling
Rationale and principles for Agile modeling
• Levels of definition (Black box, White box)
Hierarchy of models using the Functional Model Map (FMM)
• Enterprise view (Business activity models, Business use case diagrams, Business context diagrams)
• System level view (Systems context diagrams, System use case diagrams)
• System component view (Component designs)
MoSCoW prioritisation
Decomposing and Organising Business Goals
Goal decomposition and Functional decomposition
Benefits of a goal decomposition approach when using Agile
Iterations, releases and goals
Agile Requirements
Hierarchy of requirements and how this relates to agile projects
• General
• Technical
• Functional
• Non-functional
User Roles
• Identifying and documenting users roles
• Personas and extreme characters
User Stories
• 3 Cs
• INVEST
• Techniques to elicit user stories (Interviews, Surveys, Observation, Story-writing Workshops, Scenario analysis)
• Defining user stories
• Hierarchy of user stories (Themes, Epics, User story)
• Patterns for splitting epics: compound and complex
• Documenting non-functional requirements
Managing Requirements
The solution backlog
Managing the backlog
Estimation techniques:
• Wideband Delphi
• Relative sizing
• Planning poker
Managing the Iteration
Planning the iteration
• Iteration planning meeting
Calculating and utilising velocity
Techniques to manage the iteration
• Daily stand-ups
• Agile boards (Kanban)
• Burn-down charts
• Iteration reviews (Show and tell, Retrospectives)
BA Role in Agile Projects
Agile business analysis
• The business view
• The system view
• Transition between the views
• Exploring the system view: Scenarios; Storyboards; Wireframes; Prototyping
The Generalising Specialist
Agile adoption
• The POPIT model
• The system of interest model