Business Analyst Resources

In February 2001, 17 software developers met at a ski resort in Snowbird, Utah, to discuss lightweight development methods. They published the Manifesto for Agile Software Development to define the approach now known as agile software development. Some of the Agile manifesto's authors formed the Agile Alliance, a non-profit organization that promotes software development according to the Agile manifesto's principles.

Agile Manifesto reads, in its entirety, as follows:

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

Twelve principles underlie the Agile Manifesto, including:

• Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software
• Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
• Working software is the principal measure of progress
• Even late changes in requirements are welcome
• Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
• Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
• Simplicity
• Self-organizing teams
• Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
   

This is used to perform an external environmental analysis by examining the many different external factors affecting an organization.

The six attributes of PESTLE:

1. Political (Current and potential influences from political pressures)
2. Economic (The local, national and world economy impact)
3. Sociological (The ways in which a society can affect an organization)
4. Technological (The effect of new and emerging technology)
5. Legal (The effect of national and world legislation)
6. Environmental (The local, national and world environmental issues)
    

This is used to perform an internal environmental analysis by defining the attributes of MOST to ensure that the project you are working on is aligned to each of the 4 attributes.

The four attributes of MOST:

1. Mission (where the business intends to go)
2. Objectives (the key goals which will help achieve the mission)
3. Strategies (options for moving forward)
4. Tactics (how strategies are put into action)
    

This is used to help focus activities into areas of strength and where the greatest opportunities lie. This is used to identify the dangers that take the form of weaknesses and both internal and external threats.

The four attributes of SWOT:

1. Strengths - What are the advantages? What is currently done well? (e.g. key area of best-performing activities of your company)
2. Weaknesses - What could be improved? What is done badly? (e.g. key area where you are performing poorly)
3. Opportunities - What good opportunities face the organization? (e.g. key area where your competitors are performing poorly)
4. Threats - What obstacles does the organization face? (e.g. key area where your competitor will perform well)
    

This is used to prompt thinking about what the business is trying to achieve. Business perspectives help the business analyst to consider the impact of any proposed solution on the people involved.

There are six elements of CATWOE

1. Customers - Who are the beneficiaries of the highest level business process and how does the issue affect them?
2. Actors - Who is involved in the situation, who will be involved in implementing solutions and what will impact their success?
3. Transformation Process - What processes or systems are affected by the issue?
4. World View - What is the big picture and what are the wider impacts of the issue?
5. Owner - Who owns the process or situation being investigated and what role will they play in the solution?
6. Environmental Constraints - What are the constraints and limitations that will impact the solution and its success?

This is often used in a brainstorming session to generate and analyse ideas and options. It is useful to encourage specific types of thinking and can be a convenient and symbolic way to request someone to “switch gear. It involves restricting the group to only thinking in specific ways - giving ideas & analysis in the “mood” of the time. Also known as the Six Thinking Hats.

1. White: Pure, facts, logical.
2. Green: Creative, emotional
3. Yellow: Bright, optimistic, positive.
4. Black: Negative, devil’s advocate.
5. Red: Emotional.
6. Blue: Cold, control.

Not all colors / moods have to be used

Five Whys is used to get to the root of what is really happening in a single instance. For each answer given a further 'why' is asked.

This is used to prioritize requirements by allocating an appropriate priority, gauging it against the validity of the requirement itself and its priority against other requirements.

MoSCoW comprises:

• Must have - or else delivery will be a failure
• Should have - otherwise will have to adopt a workaround
• Could have - to increase delivery satisfaction
• Would like to have in the future - but won't have now

This technique is used when analyzing the expectations of multiple parties having different views of a system in which they all have an interest in common, but have different priorities and different responsibilities.

• Values - constitute the objectives, beliefs and concerns of all parties participating. They may be financial, social, tangible and intangible
•  Policies - constraints that govern what may be done and the manner in which it may be done
•  Events - real-world proceedings that stimulate activity
•  Content - the meaningful portion of the documents, conversations, messages, etc. that are produced and used by all aspects of business activity
•  Trust - trusting (or otherwise) relationship between all parties engaged in a value system