Series: Business

Analysis Success
Factors

The Agile Business

Analyst Mindset

Yulia Kosarenko
August 2020
© Yulia Kosarenko
Photo by Frans Vledder on Unsplash
 consult@why-change.com

NEW RELEASE

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 What is BA mindset?

Agenda Understanding agility

Who is agile business analyst?

Applying principles of the BA mindset in agile context

Transition to agile

Agile business analysis techniques

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 What is mindset?

A particular way of
thinking Strive, develop, see
A person's attitude or set of opportunities
opinions about something

Motivations – self,
others, mankind Beliefs and ideas
Making choices

Believing in own
potential Growth and learning
How we think

© Yulia Kosarenko
© Yulia Kosarenko
 What is agility?

Agility: ability to move quickly and easily

Business agility: capability of a business or

its components to rapidly respond to a
change by adapting to maintain stability.

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 Agility in software development

The authors of the Agile Manifesto

chose word “Agile” because that
word represented the adaptiveness
and response to change which was
so important to their approach.

© Yulia Kosarenko https://agilemanifesto.org/

 Agility is not only about software delivery
Business agility comprises several critical
organizational competencies:

1. Deliver Fast and Responsively (Delivery Agility)

2. Innovate and Disrupt (Product Innovation)
3. Adapt Organization and Culture (Organizational
Adaptability)
4. Lead through Complexity (Leadership
Effectiveness)

https://www.solutionsiq.com/unlock-business-agility/
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 Agility is accepting and embracing change

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 Who is agile BA?

Scrum team member?

Product Owner substitute?

“Story writer”?

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 Who is agile BA? Agile BA is…

Development team member? A professional practicing

Product Owner substitute? business analysis in agile
context: in organizations that
‘Story writer”?
have adopted agile practices

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 Agile analysis – principles & core values
Customer Value
focus maximization

Respect
Collaboration

Continuous
Courage
learning
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 The core values are the same -
agility is not just about Scrum

© Yulia Kosarenko
 See the whole. Think like a customer.

 Think like a customer to solve the right problem

 Think like a customer to understand business value
 Capture a meaningful “SO THAT” for each user story
 Ask questions until you understand the “Why?” and the business value
 Think big, deliver iteratively

© Yulia Kosarenko
 See the whole. Think like a customer.

 Start with big picture

 Keep the big picture
front and central

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 Analyze to determine what’s valuable.

 Agile or not, we still need to ANALYZE to understand business problems

and needs. We don’t just “write user stories”

User stories Product Owner

Requirements do not come from business:

they come from business analysis

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 Get real using examples

 and don’t forget

other analysis and
requirements sharing
techniques

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 The main outcome of business analysis is
shared understanding of business requirements

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 Understand what
#3: Question everything is doable

Plan
 Be part of solution cycle

Deploy Tech.
Non-
tech.
Analyze  Improve with the team
changes
changes

 Remember non-
technology changes
Test Build

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Stimulate collaboration and
#3: Question everything continuous improvement

 Manage relationships
 Facilitate collaboration
 Be a communication centre
 Help the team improve
 Reflect on feedback and adapt
 Never stop learning
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 Avoid
#3: Question everythingwaste

 Invest effort into high quality backlog items (requirements)

I Independent: one story should not depend on another that is being developed in the same iteration

N Negotiable: Anything that can be left out or delayed, should be.

V Valuable: the value can be demo-ed to the user – measurable business value

E Estimable: small enough that it can be estimated easily

S Small: can be finished in 2-3 days (6-10 user stories in a sprint)

T Testable: small enough that it can be tested easily

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 Does it have to be this complex?

 Does this serve a business goal?

 Are all these handoffs necessary?

 Can this subflow be optimized?

 What is the minimum number of approvals?

 Can the decisions be simpler with better data?

 Can we avoid this bottleneck?

© Yulia Kosarenko
 Simplify the product, the process,
and the backlog
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story

User story

User story

User story

User story

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 Transition to agile

Methodology

Techniques

Mindset

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 Transition to agile
Core
Core business
business analysis
analysis skills
skills and
and What
What may
may feel
feel and
and look
look different
different
accountabilities
accountabilities do
do not
not change
change

• Needs assessment & discovery • Structure and timing of work

• Focus on business value • Process and terminology
• Analysis & functional • Format of BA deliverables
decomposition • Granularity of
• Facilitation & communication requirements/user stories

© Yulia Kosarenko
 Still expect human behaviour from human beings
 Listen: pay attention to what people say or not say

 Suggest options, consider other points of view, and negotiate

 Be patient, slow down and make others comfortable

 Have frank conversations and ask difficult questions with empathy

 Stand your ground and not be afraid to disagree

 Keep calm in dealing with conflicts, disruptions and arguments

 Sometimes, just lighten up and humour to relieve tension

© Yulia Kosarenko
 Agile techniques

Story mapping Personas Planning workshops

Backlog refinement User and job stories Relative estimation

Minimum Viable
Decomposition Retrospectives
Product

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 Learn the skills and techniques….

© Yulia Kosarenko
It’s up to you how you
develop your mindset
• Focusing on what’s important
• Listening
• Practicing empathy
• Looking beyond obvious
• Learning from mistakes
• Taking pride in your work
• Standing up for what you believe in
• Speaking up when nobody else will

© Yulia Kosarenko
 About

Yulia has spent most of her career alternating between IT and business engagements, with
more than 15 years as a senior business analyst and business systems analyst, before
changing focus to business architecture. She has worked in many industries, from
transportation and logistics, to insurance, education, energy, pensions and payments. Yulia
has managed teams of business analysts and architects, as well as cross-functional project
teams. She now runs her own consulting company, Why Change Consulting.
Yulia’s passion for business analysis culminates in her books “Business analyst: a profession
and a mindset” and “Business Analysis Mindset Digital Toolkit”. She likes to blog about
business analysis, architecture and change management on her blog https://why-
change.com and has recently recorded a podcast with the BA Academy’s Voices of the
Community about the value of the business analyst mindset. In her spare time she coaches
business analysts and works on a new college course on business analytics.
Yulia holds a degree in Computer Science and Math from the Taras Shevchenko University of
Kyiv, as well as ScrumMaster, SixSigma and Pega Business Architect designations and an
Advanced Certificate in Business Analysis from McMaster University.
© Yulia Kosarenko
 Find more

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Thank you for this hour
from your life.

I hope it was well spent.

Until next time!

© Yulia Kosarenko