The illusion of control

The core mission of the BIA: requirements engineering.

Unlike waterfall projects, where all requirements are defined in detail in advance, in Scrum this is done gradually and iteratively.

In addition to this core task, the BIA has other responsibilities and may fulfill other roles. In this blog, I discuss these in more detail.

The BIA before the start of the project

The BIA plays a role even before the project starts. For example:

• Performing a GAP analysis: This identifies whether a project is needed and what, in outline terms, needs to be done within that project.
• Support in preparing Product Vision: This captures the stakeholders' vision of the product to be developed, in terms of key needs and characteristics. It then includes an outline of the intended product.
• Contribute to the Product Roadmap: This shows the planned development of a product over a longer period of time. It provides a visual overview of key milestones, features and releases and is aligned with the Product Vision.
• Help create the initial Product Backlog: The BIA supports the Product Owner (PO) in creating the User Stories. The User Stories with the highest priority are at the top. Initially, the User Stories contain few details.

The role of the BIA during the project

During the project, the BIA is part of the development team. He is mainly concerned with working out the User Stories. The BIA draws up and works out the User Stories together with stakeholders such as the end users and the Product Owner.

More details are already added during the refinement sessions and acceptance criteria are defined. Only the User Stories that will be addressed in the next two to three sprints are picked up during the refinement session. All Developers work on the refinement of the User Stories. Details are added from different angles. For example, a software developer looks at requirements from a technical perspective and a BIA looks at requirements from a business perspective.  

During the sprint, the team works on the User Stories to be picked up in that sprint. More details are then added. The BIA also provides clear functional documentation and is responsible for process management. In addition, he works out test plans and supports the execution of tests. 

Sometimes they choose to have the BIA worked out for the team and detail the User Stories for the next sprint. That way, these User Stories are sprint-ready and can be picked up immediately by the team in the next sprint.

The BIA as Product Owner

The Product Owner is someone who represents the interests of the business. Ideally, therefore, the Product Owner comes from the business side. In practice, you also often see Product Owners from the IT side. Sometimes a BIA is asked to (temporarily) take on the role of PO or to act on behalf of the PO.

Conditions are:

• The BIA can and may make decisions
• The BIA can effectively manage the Product Backlog
• The BIA can work well with the development team and stakeholders
• The BIA has the necessary Agile/Scrum knowledge and mindset.

Summary

The Business and Information Analyst may not be explicitly named within the Scrum framework, but nevertheless plays a crucial role in the success of the project. The BIA focuses primarily on gathering, analyzing and specifying requirements as well as supporting the Product Owner. This blog has hopefully given you a good idea of the role of the BIA within Scrum projects. Do you have additions or your own experiences? Please let me know!

Be sure to read my blogs: Non-Functional Requirements: The Basis for a Good System, An Effective Approach to Conducting a Gap Analysis, Tools for Mapping Problems and Changes, A Week in the Life of a Business & Informati Analyst and What Does a Business & Information Analyst Do.

For more information feel free to contact Wendy Groven-Hogenboom.