21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Business Analysis & Agile
Your Way to Success – ensuring economic, effective, efficient quality best
practice service (every time)
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Business Analysis & Agile
– a Collaboration
Ruaidhri McSharry |
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Agenda
SureSkills Welcome
Business Analysis & Agile – So What! Ruaidhri McSharry,
SureSkills
Who is the Business Analyst in 2013? Cameron O’Connor, SME
SQS/SureSkills
Agile – an industry story Franco Campione,
Director CME Group
An Agile Approach to Business Intelligence Maurice Lynch, CEO
Nathean Technologies
Q&A / Event Close Event Panel
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Business Analysis & Agile
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Global
Delivery EMEA
AJP
USA
Project
Management Program & Project Management Practices
Project office, PMO, Portfolio
Management, Resource Placement:
Program Managers & Project Managers
Education
Development Instructor Led & E-Learning Development
Rapid 2
SureSkills Connect
Service
Management Gap Analysis – Best practice
frameworks & Standards – ITIL®,
ISO20000
Steering – Continual Service
Improvement Programs
LaaS Social Learning
E-Learning
Virtual Labs Capability
Social
Media Social Media for Business
Digital Marketing
Search Engine
Optimization
Business
Analysis Business Analysis Operations
Assess & Recommend: Business
processes
Business Process Modelling
Managed
Services Service Desk Outsourcing
Application Management and
Deployment
Vendor SLA Management
Private Tailored Customized Courses
On site/off site
Groups
1-1
Public Schedule Microsoft
VMware
ITIL
PRINCE2
Business Skills
SQL
Business Analysis
Support Pro-Active Monitoring and Alerting
IT Administration (MAC service)
Remote and On-Site Hands On
Response
Technical
Consulting Data management solutions
Storage solutions
Virtualisation solutions
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Business Analysis & Agile
– So What!
Ruaidhri McSharry |
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Business Analysis
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Definition of Business Analysis
An internal consultancy role that has the responsibility for
investigating business systems, identifying options for
improving business and bridging the needs of the business
with the use of IT.
But is this correct?
Do you agree with this?
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Challenges & Opportunities Facing Bus. Analysts
http://www.batimes.com/articles/would-you-hire-a-project-manager-or-a-business-analyst.html
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Different Versions of Reality
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Business Analysis can ensure.....
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Is the Requirement for a Duck or a Rabbit?
Similarly, is the
requirement for
a Sales
Solution OR
Marketing
Solution
OR
Manufacturing
Solution
OR all three?
Ill-defined requirements or inability (or reluctance)
of users to articulate their requirements challenges
effective requirements definition
Ummm…. I want something that has some sort of
hearing ability, can See AND can EAT also…
Question.. Does the user
want a Duck or a Rabbit? (after Wittgenstein)
Based on These
requirements, the user will
probably get a Duckrabbit!
Multi-world views
or multi-
Weltanschauung
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1
5
“I think my main challenge based on my experience so far as a BA could be
grouped under the banner of engagement. There will always be areas I am
asked to work on that will be outside my expertise. If a BA is very technical
then understanding the bigger picture & the company strategy, economy,
political and other environmental risks takes work. If a BA is very business &
environment driven then understanding IT solutions can be more challenging.
We are trying to be a master of all trades & then mostly condensing that into
one appealing document.”
Business Analyst Feedback - Challenges
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Key Skills of a Good Business Analyst
• 30% Capturing business needs & shaping
requirements through dialogue with business
sponsors
• 25% Understanding end user requirements
• 25% Working on solution design & communicating
with solutions team
• 10% Project Management
• 10% Integration planning/dependency management/
business process mapping
Source:
http://www.executiveboard.com/blogs/what-to-look-for-when-hiring-a-business-analyst/
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
• Challenges Willingly: able to speak up to shape requirements,
influence sponsors and understand the “why” behind requests
• Deals with Ambiguity: Information-intensive projects tend to have
the most unclear requirements. This emphasizes the business
analysts’ ability to reason logically and efficiently through ambiguity-
and be intellectually flexible
• Collaborates Effectively: BAs need to collaborate with host of
stakeholders
• Filters & Analyzes Information: Business sponsors supply BAs with
a large volume of information which they must analyze to understand
priorities and options, as well as filter signal from noise
• Applies a Journalistic Mindset: Being a business analyst often
involves observational and puzzle-solving skills similar to a journalist
or anthropologist, particularly where the requirements are unknown
or difficult to express
Key Skills of a Good Business Analyst
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Agile
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What is AGILE?
Agile Methodology is an
alternative to traditional project
management, typically used in
software development. It helps
teams respond to
unpredictability through
incremental, iterative work
cadences, known as sprints.
Agile methodologies are an
alternative to waterfall, or
traditional sequential
development.
The Waterfall Model is
a sequential design process, often used in software
development processes, in which progress is seen
as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall)
through the phases of Conception,
Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing,
Production/Implementation, & Maintenance.
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Agile – What It Can Mean
• Agile transforms teams to deliver flexible, efficient, high-quality projects
that enables businesses to meet rapidly changing requirements by
utilising cross departmental teams to produce high-quality projects.
• Agile project development methods are based on iterative &
incremental development feedback loops that can be used to optimise
the delivery of project phases while maximising alignment to
customers’ needs.
• Through collaboration & communication, Agile allows organisations to
assess and adjust any development aspects throughout the project
lifecycle to keep projects on track, minimise risk and maximise ROI.
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Why Agile?
Agile Promotes:
• Fast project delivery
• Successful project delivery
• Earlier ROI
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Cross-functional teams
• Lightweight documentation
• Projects delivering against customer needs
• Cultural change
• Organisational change
• Continual assessment of priorities
• Dynamic projects related to changing
requirements
• Maximise return
• Lower risks
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
IT Project Management Landscape
Project Methods
• Waterfall
• Agile & Lean
Quality Management
• Service Management (ITIL / ISO20000)
• Security (ISO27000)
• Governance (COBIT / ISO38500)
Complexity
• Information Exchange
• Platforms – Smartphone, Tablets
• Global Enterprises & Customers
Service Delivery Models
• Virtualisation, Cloud
• SaaS
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Traditional PM Methods
PRINCE2 PMBOK
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Traditional PM – PRINCE2 & PMBOK
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What is LEAN?
The core idea is to maximize customer
value while minimizing waste. Simply,
lean means creating more value for
customers with fewer resources.
A lean organization understands
customer value and focuses its key
processes to continuously increase it.
The ultimate goal is to provide perfect
value to the customer through a perfect
value creation process that has zero
waste.
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
What is SCRUM?
Scrum is the most popular way of
introducing Agility due to its simplicity
and flexibility. Because of this
popularity, many organizations claim to
be “doing Scrum” but aren’t doing
anything close to Scrum’s actual
definition. Scrum emphasizes empirical
feedback, team self management, and
striving to build properly tested product
increments within short iterations.
Doing Scrum as it’s actually
defined usually comes into conflict with
existing habits at established non-Agile
organizations.
Scrum has only three roles: Product
Owner, Team, & Scrum Master.
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Agile PM – SCRUM
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Incremental Development & Delivery
REQUIREMENTS
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The Major Agile/Lean Methods
• Scrum (1995) – PM Oriented – Timeboxing
– Prioritized backlog
– Daily standup meetings
– Demo after each iteration
– Correct the process through lessons learned
XP (1999) – Engineering Oriented
• (A)TDD, refactoring, pair programming,
continuous integration, simplicity, whole
team, planning game, …
Kanban(2010) – Max Value & Continuous Improvement
Visualize
Reduce WIP
Manage Flow
Make process Policies Explicit
Build in Feedback Loops
Improve Collaboratively (using scientific method)
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Adapted from Don Reinertsen, 2009
Economies of Speed
Shorter Cycle Times
Improved Quality
Less Demand
Less Overhead
More innovation
Manage
Variability
Reduced Risk
More Motivation
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Chaos Project Database 2002-10
Adapted from Standish Group 2010
“It is now U.S. law that all DOD contracts are Agile” – Jeff Sutherland Dec 2012
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
• The Gartner 2012 advisory on
application development to all IT senior
management is:
o Business users are losing
patience with old-school IT
culture
o Relationships are tense &
resentful
o Legacy systems & practices
impede agility
o Adopt a product perspective
o Say goodbye to waterfall
o Improve cross-competency
collaboration
o Launch a deep usability
discipline
Why Change - Business
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Why Change - BA Gone Awry
• Communication Barrier
• Lack of Skills
• Out of date (previous experience)
• Undue project influence (requirement priorities)
• Reduce Stakeholder influence
• Reduce feedback
• Reduce opportunities for developers to gain
communication skills
• Over analyse?
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Agile Perspective - Pragmatic
Agile Business Analyst
Significant shift in how we look at requirements
When they are defined in the process
BA integrated part of the team throughout the life
of the project
Requires new skills
Collaboration - project team and the business.
Facilitation
Leadership
Coaching
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
BA Role - Team Organisations
Categories of team organisations (Scott Amber 2006)
1.One Room
Developers & Stakeholders are co-located
2.Over the wall
Single location BUT not co-located
3.Across the network
Dispersed / Distributed Development
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
The Right Horse?
Barriers to Further Adoption of Agile:
• Resistance from business partners
• Lack of developers with the ability to be successful with Agile
• Lack of support from first line managers
• Funding model in conflict with Agile processes
• Time required to up skill and transition staff
• Complexity of projects
• Lack of confidence in ability of Agile to scale
• Project interdependencies are difficult to manage with Agile
• Challenge of using Agile with distributed teams
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
So?.....
1. All projects are suitable for Agile ??
2. Business does not always have time / desire to
be ‘Product Owner’
3. Business may lack broad business perspective
(department perspective)
4. “Architecture” perspective
Reality for Business Analysts?
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Which Means …..
Revamp Perspectives
Reduce isolation of specialists
More Facilitator than bridge
Collaborate / Facilitate
Leaders
Mentors
Lose Weight
Decouple breadth & depth
Collaborative approach
Flexible Methods Across Project
Types
“Generalising specialists” in
Development
Agile techniques for agile
projects
‘Slimmer’ traditional technique
for ‘waterfall’ projects
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Who is the Business Analyst in
2013?
Cameron O’Connor |
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
What is a Business Analyst?
• “An internal consultancy role that has the
responsibility for investigating business situations,
identifying and evaluating options for improving
business systems, defining requirements and
ensuring the effective use of information systems
in meeting the needs of the business” – Business
Analysis – Paul, Yeates & Cadle
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Role of the Business Analyst
• The key agent of Change
• To bring Structure to Change projects
• Planning and Strategic Thinking
• Advocate and Advisor
• Ability to learn a new domain
• This is accomplished using techniques, skills
and experience
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21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Attitudes to Change
Entrepreneur
Formal Planning
Strategy
Intrapreneur, individual
or group
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It’s all about getting the Requirements
right
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The BA’s Role Covers
• Develop a business strategy
• Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Understand stakeholder perspectives
• Model business activities
• Perform GAP analysis
• Identify areas for improvement
• Manage stakeholders
• Propose solutions
• Articulate the costs and benefits
• Develop the business case
• Management the Requirements Process
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Business Analyst v System Analyst
Business Analyst System Analyst
Bridge between IT &
Business
Based in IT department
Develops the Business Case Evaluate technical solutions
Stakeholder focused Resource efficiencies
Excellent communication
skills
Good written and mathematical/
analytical skills
Applications focused (IS) Systems focused (IT)
User Acceptance Testing Systems Testing
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Skillset of Analyst - Learn
• Access to and understanding of the current
situation:
– the core values, core purpose and vision of the
organisation
– the external environment
– the objectives of the organisation
– the current strategies
– new ideas
– the issues (problem analysis)
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
BCS Business Analyst Practice
• Develop a business strategy
• Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Understand stakeholder perspectives
• Model business activities
• Perform GAP analysis
• Identify areas for improvement
• Manage stakeholders
• Propose solutions
• Articulate the costs and benefits
• Develop the business case
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BCS Requirements Engineering
• Hierarchy of Requirements
• Requirements Elicitation
• Use of Models in Requirements Engineering
• Managing Documentation
• Requirements Validation
• Requirements Management
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Written Exam
• Open book
• Case study based
• 15 minutes reading time and 1 hour written
• Pass mark 50%
• Practice questions available
• Mock exam at the end of this course
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
BCS Business Analyst Diploma
• Awarded by BCS (British Computer Society)
Professional Certification
• Passing written exams leads to Certificates
• Once passing 4 exams you can take the oral
exam leading to the Diploma
• More information on BCS website
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Agile – an industry story
Franco Campione |
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
CME Group • World’s largest futures & options exchange
• 3000 staff / 1500 IT
• IT occupies 8 floors in the west edge of the
Loop in Chicago
• Competitors
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• In 2009 – all of IT was waterfall
• All developers were in cubes. Is Tom in today? Let me email him.
• Do we even have windows? I can’t wait to go home.
2009
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
• Agile buy in? In early 2010 – The 12 person
development team moved to sit together
Except the room was:
• Small
• No natural light
• 1 3ft x 3ft whiteboard
• A perimeter desk with everyone facing away from
each other
• The loudest air conditioner you’ve ever heard
• Next to the bathroom
Agile Buy In?
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It was a massive success
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Success based on what?
The complaining disappeared
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End of 2010 – Let’s Build a Proof of Concept
• Idea paint
• No walls
• TVs & projectors
Proof of Concept
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2011 – Build 2012 – Move in!
• An entire floor of 175 people
• 16 dedicated agile areas
• The brushed aluminum button
2011 & 2012
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• Seating for 10
• 4 simultaneous displays
• Fuzzy pillows and Xbox’s
Mediascape
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• Iteration 0
• 2 standups a day
• Retrospectives & showcases
• The role of PM
• Transparency
• Business Involvement
CME Agile Landscape
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• Just in Mind
• Jira
• Confluence
• Custom Dashboard
Tools
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Business Intelligence
Maurice Lynch |
An Agile Approach to Business Intelligence
Copyright © Nathean Technologies Ltd 2013
21st November 2013 Maurice Lynch (CEO)
Nathean Technologies Ltd.
www.nathean.com
Agile BI
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
So What’s The Problem?
Fear of the unknown! How much will it (eventually) cost me?
How long will it take?
Will it work?!
…only 36% of managers in top performing organisations get
information they need in timeframe that supports their decision
making cycle… Aberdeen Group, 2011
…fewer than 30% of business intelligence (BI) initiatives will
align analytics completely with enterprise business drivers… Gartner 20012
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
• Disparate business systems and data sources
• Set of in-built reports with each system
• Heavy & recurring Excel usage
• Information out-of-date soon after it is published
• Key metrics not always well known
• Reporting driven by IT not business users
• Lack of centralised control over data distribution
• The Project Goal : “Single View of the Customer”
Typical Starting Points
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
• Create a Project Plan (Waterfall Method):
• Ask every department what reports they want
• Determine all possible data sources for Day #1
• Design and build a Data Warehouse
• Up-skill staff on new BI tools…
• Go Live … and hope the business does not change!
Typical Solution
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
• The Project has become : “The Data Warehouse Project”
• Moved from the Business to I.T.
• New and unexpected data sources will have to wait for change control
• Uptake on new tools is poor or too advanced for users
• Revert to Excel and Ad-Hoc tools
Typical Problems
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
How far did we get?
Fear of the known unknowns!
Where are the reports I used to get!?
How much have we spent already!?
How long more will it take?!
The business is changing can we change the
requirements?!
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
The Agile Approach
Create Value & Momentum quickly
by starting with real world Burning Issues
…and don’t wait for “Perfect Data”
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
A Customer Story…
Fingal County Council
Deliver a wide range of services to 240,000 citizens
On-going ad-hoc queries from multiple divisions across multiple systems
Implement Cost Savings and Efficiencies
Prepare reports for Government Departments
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Finance
Time &
Attendance
HR
Payroll Other… Housing
Rates Water
Meter
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Public Sector Times – Aug 2011
Benefits of Better BI for FCC
Improved efficiencies throughout the council
Greater transparency and increased accuracy of
data
Improved debt management and revenue
collections
Enhanced citizen services
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Unknown Costs => Incremental Spending
Unknown Timeframes => Iterative Development
Unknown Adoption Rate => Immediate Feedback
Benefits of Agile
From the Unknown to the Known
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
About Our Company
Nathean Technologies Ltd.
• Founded in 2001, Dublin … 100% Irish Owned … Software & Data Services
• Our product Logix Agile BI™ is in use across multiple sectors
• Enterprise Ireland client since 2008 … Export to UK, US & Canada
• Member of CeADAR – Centre for Applied Data Analytics Research
• Domain Expertise in Procurement/Finance/HR/Payroll/ERP Analytics – Education, Public Sector, Commercial
21st November, 2013 Copyright © SureSkills
Logix Agile BI™
Agile Development
Dashboards with Drilldown
Links Multiple Data Sources
PowerPivot Integration
Advanced In-Memory Caching
Multiple Client Applications
Pre-built Data Apps
Social Media Connectors
HTML5 – Mobile
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Some of Our Customers…
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Thank You
Email [email protected]
Call us on + 353 1 685 3001
www.nathean.com
Copyright © Nathean Technologies Ltd 2013
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Join The Debate on LinkedIn
SureSkills Service Management & Project Management Group
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Belfast: Callender House, 58-60 Upper Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GJ, Northern Ireland
Dublin: 14 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland
Austin: 7000 N. Mopac Expressway, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78731, USA
www.sureskills.com
Phone: +353-1-240-2222 Email: [email protected]
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