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AAC with Requirements Engineering

Agile methods and approaches have become prevalent in recent years. The ideas which were identified in the realm of software product development have spread beyond software development into many other areas that are impacted by business analysis. This means that the practice of business analysis has to evolve to support the new ways of working, not just in software development but in any area of the business where change is happening rapidly. In this context, the term agile refers to a mindset or way of thinking about work. Agile is not a specific set of practices or techniques

 

This training is designed for describing the benefits, activities, tasks, skills, and practices required for effective business analysis with an agile mindset which has a constant focus on delivering business value. It also describes how techniques and concepts commonly used in agile approaches can be applied to business analysis practices. This provides practitioners, teams, and organizations a base of knowledge to enable effective agile business analysis in order to generate successful business outcomes that add real business and customer value.

The Agile Analysis Certification introduces a multi-level, rolling planning model to help practitioners, teams, and organizations manage business analysis work, so they can quickly leverage learning and discover what provides the most actual value. This rolling wave planning model is presented using three horizons which provide context and scope for lower levels. The three horizons are:

  • Strategy Horizon,

  • Initiative Horizon, and

  • Delivery Horizon.

There are a wide variety of techniques, processes, and tools that can be applied to agile business analysis. There is no single approach that should be applied to every context, and part of the skill of the agile business analysis practitioner is to select the most effective techniques for the specific context; the Agile Extension does provide some advice for practitioners on the applicability of different techniques to different contexts.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand 

    • Agile mindset​

    • Strategy Horizon,

    • Initiative Horizon, and

    • Delivery Horizon.

  • Understand the business and project context for requirements.

  • Use a systematic process for gathering requirements.

  • Describe and identify key stakeholders for requirements gathering sessions.

  • Use numerous methods of eliciting the right information from your clients in the right situations in order to:

    • Inspire clients to express their expectations as well as their requirements.

    • Help discover hidden requirements.

    • Utilize the right type of question in the right circumstance.

    • Elicit all types of requirements.

Who should attend

This course is valuable for all agile team members: Requirements Engineers, Business Analysts, Product Owners, customer, users, Scrum Masters, testers, developers and architects – anyone on a project who is involved in eliciting, defining, analysing, and validating business needs and requirements in order to transform them into working software.

Prerequisites

There is no prerequisite. But if the participants have worked on the analysis, development, maintenance, or enhancement of at least one business project, preferably in agile environment, it will be helpful in understanding the concepts. 

Format and Material

To help assimilate the tools and techniques learned, there is a mixture of exercises throughout the course. A lively role play and case study help reinforce concepts learned. Students will need to be prepared for a high level of participation. Each participant will receive a comprehensive study guide with PowerPoint slides and detailed notes to serve as both an in-class guide and on-the-job reference. Handouts are provided to help with exam preparation. Workshops will give participants an opportunity to practice applying the agile skills they learn. Class discussions and exercises to reinforce the information presented.

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Duration: 2 Full days or 4 half days

Course Contents

Introduction

  • Agile Business Analysis / Agile Requirements Engineering

The Agile Mindset

  • The agile mindset & manifesto

  • Agile business analysis principles

  • Planning approaches

  • Overview of the three planning horizons

  • Scrum framework and terminology

  • Scrum and agile team roles and responsibilities

Strategy Horizon

  • Overview of the Strategy Horizon

  • How agile principles apply at this horizon

  • Techniques used to align initiatives with business strategy

Initiative Horizon

  • Overview of the Initiative Horizon

  • How agile principles apply at this horizon

  • User roles and personas

  • Creating the Product Backlog

  • User stories and job stories

  • Ordering the backlog

  • Prioritization methods

  • Value mapping techniques

 Delivery Horizon

  • Overview of the Delivery Horizon

  • How agile principles apply at this horizon

  • Sprint planning process

  • Estimation techniques

  • Refining the Product Backlog

  • Using models to elaborate stories

  • Running a Sprint

  • Sprint review

  • Retrospective

Common Techniques

  • Backlog Refinement

  • Behaviour Driven Development

  • Impact Mapping

  • Job Stories

  • Kano Analysis

  • Minimal Viable Product

  • Personas

  • Planning Workshops

  • Portfolio Kanban

  • Product Roadmap

  • Purpose Alignment Model

  • Real Options

  • Relative Estimation

  • Retrospectives Reviews

  • Spikes

  • Storyboarding

  • Story Decomposition

  • Story Elaboration

  • Story Mapping

  • User Stories

  • Value Modelling

  • Value Stream Mapping

  • Visioning

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