©2008 Protegra Inc. All rights reserved.

Agile and the Business AnalystMindset shift :: Practical Agility

1

www.protegra.com blog.protegra.com

How agile are you?

2

Learning Outcomes

3

1. Understand one facet of “why agile?”

2. Describe some mindset shifts for Business Analysts

3. Two agile analysis practices you can

use tomorrow

4. An improved understanding of

agile

About.us

@tbunio bornagainagilist.wordpress.com

@srogalsky winnipegagilist.blogspot.com

Continuous Improvement

Process Hacker Family Agile Helping others learn People First Application

Architect Inclusive Models Problem Solving Coaching

Test First Making change happen Lean

444

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." 

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Money, money, money

5

6

Practical Agility – Practice #1

• Printing company- We will have a 3% discount for quantities over

1,000. And we will discount by 3% if they have more than 50 pages in the book.

- Unless it’s a digital book. Then we will do a 2 % discount, which will jump to 3% if they have more than 1,000 quantity. Except in the case of more than 1,000 books and more than 50 pages, which is 4%.

7

Specification By Example

8

Book Quantity Pages Type Discount1,000 50 Regular 0.00%1,001 50 Regular 3.00%1,000 51 Regular 3.00%

1,000 50 Digital 2.00%

1,001 50 Digital 3.00%

1,001 51 Digital 4.00%

• Regular books: 3% discount for quantities over 1,000 or over 50 pages

• Digital books: 2% discount. 3% if they have more than 1,000 quantity. 4% if they have more than 1000 and more than 50 pages.

Specification By Example – Attempt #2

User Story: As an employee I want to receive overtime pay• For each week, hourly employees are paid:

9

a standard wage per hour for the first 40 hours

worked

1.5 times their wage for each

hour after the first 40 hours

2 times their wage for each

hour worked on Sundays and

holidays

(40 * $20) = $800.00

a standard wage per hour for the first 40 hours

worked

1.5 times their wage for each

hour after the first 40 hours

(40 * $20) +(5 * $20 * 1.5)= $950.00

2 times their wage for each

hour worked on Sundays and

holidays

(40 * $20) +(8 * $20 * 1.5) +(8 * $20 * 2)= $1,360.00

(40 * $20) +(8 * $20 * 1.5) +(8 * $20 * 2 ) = $1,520.00

*1.5

2 times their wage for each

hour worked on Sundays and

holidays

Executable Specifications

Credit: This example is from “The Role of Quality Assurance in Lean-Agile” – Allan Shalloway

Specification By Example - Conclusions

15

Great communication

toolFocus on defect

prevention

Encourages good design

Moves towards a test first strategy

Practical Agility – Practice #2

• How do you typically gather requirements?• What are the types of sessions and situations that you

prefer?

• Take 3 minutes now and write down those ideas on stickies- One per stickie

16

Discussion versus Dialogue

• Dialogue – Hearing each others words to gain understanding or meaning- Hearing others- Free flowing

• Discussion – Searching for the answers by proposing, interrupting, jumping to conclusions- Making ourselves heard - Directed- Competitive

17

Silent Brainstorming

• Refers to the collaborative methods where ideas are created, gathered, organized, priorized, and voted on in silence.

• Benefits- Everyone has a voice- Early ideas do not prevent other contradictory ideas- Quick and efficient- No idea is too ‘out there’. Anonymity

18

User Story Review

• As a [Role] I want to do [Action] so that I get [Value]

19

Scenario

• We are going to build the new Facebook and Google+.• We are going to come up with the requirements for the new

application

• I’d like you to break up into teams of 4-6

20

Trial #1

• Take 5 minutes and work as a team and collaboratively come up with User Stories.

21

Trial #2

• Using Silent Brainstorming take the next 5 minutes and write down User Stories individually

• No talking at all.

22

Trial #3

• Using Silent Brainstorming take the next 5 minutes and write down User Stories individually

• Each person will only write down one part of the story and then hand it off to the next person- One persons fills out the role- Next person fills out the action- Next person fills out the value- Start all over again

• No talking at all.

23

Retrospective

• How did that feel?• How did the numbers compare?• Any surprises?

24

Conclusions

25

Short Feedback Loops Mindset Shifts

Specification By Example Silent Brainstorming

Prioritized Q & A

• What scares you the most about agile?OR

• What don’t you understand about agile?

26

More questions?Terry.bunio@protegra.com steve.rogalsky@protegra.comBornagainagilist.wordpress.com winnipegagilist.blogspot.com

http://iiba.info/AgileExtension

Agile is a Direction

Individuals and Processes andInteractions Tools

27

Working Comprehensive software documentation

Customer ContractCollaboration NegotiationResponding Followingto change a plan