B A great Agile team member!
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Introductions
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Gene Johnson, Agile Transformation Coach
 gjohnson@fairhavensolutions.com
614.284.2437
 Pragmatic, engineer, innovator
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Lauren Johnson McGeorge, Agile Coach and Team Accelerator
 ljohnson@fairhavensolutions.com
614.406.8757
 Young, people whisperer, born nimble
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 2
Today’s Goals
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Find a common context
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Share in our perceptions from the front lines of several Agile
transformations
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Take away some pragmatic techniques, insights and new thoughts
increase the visibility and value of the BA role while
accelerating the team’s delivery of business solutions
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 3
Topics
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Prerequisites
 What is “Agile”?
 What is the Workflow?
 What is the “Agile Team”?
Where does the BA fit in?
BA versus Inukshuk on an Agile Team?
Be Part of the Team
Show the Value
Align with “Why Agile?”
JIT
B A Great Team Member
Q and A
References
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 4
What is Agile?
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As an adjective?
 Nimble - quick and exact in movement and thoughts; able to adapt
to changes quickly and easily with a sense of purpose.
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As a solution delivery tool?
 A lightweight framework that provides the ability to both create
and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business
environment.
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There are many flavors of Agile.
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Differ in simplicity, frequency of feedback, and rigor.
Share two things:
 an incremental release strategy and
 an iterative work strategy.
More than a set of practices – it is something you become, not
something you do.
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 5
What is Agile?
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The Fundamental Tenet of Agile
?
What
Cost of Change
We can dramatically reduce the cost of change…
traditional
agile
Time
agile
traditional
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?
How
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… simply by proactively, explicitly, continually expediting feedback.
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Every Agile practice supports these values
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Feedback
Communication
Simplicity
Courage
Respect / Humility
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 6
What is the Workflow?
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Value-driven requirements represented by Stories within time-boxed
Sprints
Fueled by a visible, continually groomed Product Backlog
Delivering increments of DONE work every Sprint
Daily
Standup
24 hours
Sprint
Design/Code/Test
2 weeks
Product Backlog
Sprint Planning Meeting
 Review Product Backlog
 Set Sprint Goal
 Identify Sprint Backlog
 Define Our Commitment
Sprint Backlog
Daily Standup
 What has been accomplished?
 What will be accomplished?
 What is blocking you?
Releasable
Product Increment
Sprint Review Meeting
 Show and Tell
 Adjust Backlog
 Retrospective
 Open Next Sprint
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Released to PROD
Release Management
 Frequent, fixed
cadence of releases
Slide 7
What is the “Agile Team”?
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Product Owner
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Scrum Master
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Is one person, not a committee.
Responsible for maximizing the value of the work the team performs.
Their decisions are visible in the ordering of the Product Backlog.
The team takes direction from the Product Owner. Those wanting to
change a backlog item’s priority must convince the Product Owner.
Sprint focused, inward to the team.
Facilitates, optimizes and defends the sprint flow.
Removes blockers; inspires and improves the team.
Development Team
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Includes Developers, QAs, BAs.
Turns Sprint Backlog items into functionality every sprint.
Defines team rules.
Is accountable for team commitments.
Is accountable for continually improving.
Is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete
significant work.
Is cross-functional and self-organizing.
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 8
Where does the BA fit in?
Enterprise
Analysis
Daily
Standup
24 hours
Sprint
Design/Code/Test
2 weeks
Product Backlog
Releasable
Product Increment
Sprint Backlog
Ensure items
are playable
Enable Feedback,
Validate Understanding
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Released to PROD
Solution Assessment
and Validation
Slide 9
BA versus Inukshuk on an Agile Team?
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An indication that "You are on the right path.“
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What traits is an Inukshuk missing that may be required to be a great
Agile team member in the role of BA?
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 10
Be Part of the Team
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Be visible
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BAs are active participants
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BA can be part of standup
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Available, on call whenever team needs you
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Support the Product Owner
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 11
Show the Value
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Continual exploration of the need and elicitation
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Derive acceptance criteria for stories
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Need to remind the team of the value overall (the “why”)
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Requirements arranged around value, not technical implementations
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Story mapping and dependencies of stories is critical
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 12
Align with “Why Agile?”
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 13
JIT
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Need stakeholders to speak with one voice via a Product Owner
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Right info, right level of detail at the right time (JIT), light-weight
documentation
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Frequent feedback to drive change, refine requirements and mitigate
risk
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Starting a project is different, need story backlog to start
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Sign-off as you go, not at end
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Use of real options – deferring decisions to last possible moment
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Stay ahead of the team
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 14
B A Great Team Member
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Focus on interpersonal skills – communication, facilitation, coaching,
negotiation, effective meetings and dialogues, passionate
I see you, I am here
Be credible – lions don’t need to roar
Balance inquiry and advocacy
Question, fight back, train others to fight back and question
Anyone can be a BA on the team and anyone can create a story
Bring the Product Owner into the team
Be a catalyst for inducing change, not just enabling it from others
Be motivated; align the team with purpose, autonomy, craftsmanship
Help the team have fun
Create a team identity
Seek improvement
Step outside your role
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 15
Questions?
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 16
References
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“The Agile Extension to the BABOK® Guide, November 2011 Draft for
Public Review” by IIBA and Agile Alliance.
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“Adaptive Leadership – Accelerating Enterprise Agility” by Jim
Highsmith
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“Scaling Software Agility” by Dean Leffingwell.
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“The Scrum Guide” by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland.
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“2011 State of Agile Development Survey Results” by VersionOne.
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 17
BABOK Agile techniques
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See the whole
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Think as a customer
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Analyze to determine what is valuable
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Get real using examples
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Understand what is doable
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Stimulate collaboration and continuous improvement
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Avoid waste
2012 IIBA Columbus Chapter Professional Development Day
Slide 18