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agile

How to be an agile business analyst

What is an agile business analyst

November 1, 2019 by KentMcDonald

An excerpt from How To Be An Agile Business Analyst, a book that explores how to apply your business analysis skills in an agile manner so that your team solves the right problems with the right solutions.

Read moreWhat is an agile business analyst

Should agile adoption be top down?

August 23, 2019 by KentMcDonald

Sometimes the outcome you're asked to deliver is a reduction in staff. This post explores how to deal with mandated outcomes such as reducing staff.

Read moreShould agile adoption be top down?

Role of a Business Analyst in Agile

May 27, 2016 by KentMcDonald

The role of a business analyst in an agile setting varies based on the context. Find out about the 3 most common models for BAs in an agile setting.

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Getting the Most out of Agile2015

July 29, 2015 by KentMcDonald

Agile2015 is next week in Washington DC so I thought I’d share some ideas for getting the most out of the conference.

Read moreGetting the Most out of Agile2015

The Power of Feedback

July 8, 2015 by KentMcDonald

Feedback is an important ingredient to successful projects. One reason teams use iterative approaches, either time boxed sprints or single piece flow, is that they have the opportunity to get frequent and rapid feedback. A few recent experiences have inspired me to think a bit about how helpful feedback can be and some subtle aspects of feedback that are important to keep in mind.

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Beyond Requirements on Mastering Business Analysis Podcast

April 13, 2015 by KentMcDonald

About a month ago I was honored to talk with Dave Saboe on his Mastering Business Analysis Podcast. We talked about my forthcoming (for a while now) book Beyond Requirements: Analysis with an Agile Mindset and other things analysis and agile.

Read moreBeyond Requirements on Mastering Business Analysis Podcast

Feature Injection Clarified (Hopefully)

December 26, 2014 by KentMcDonald

I take a shot at providing a practical, useful explanation of Feature Injection, an approach where teams understand the value an initiative intends to deliver, deliver the features that provide that value, and build a shared understanding about those features primarily through examples.

Read moreFeature Injection Clarified (Hopefully)

5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Agile2014

July 27, 2014 by KentMcDonald

I’ve learned a lot of lessons, some more painfully than others, about how to get the most out of the conference. I thought it would be good to share some of those lessons as we are about to embark on Agile2014 in Orlando.

Read more5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Agile2014

BDD and the Business Analyst

November 22, 2013 by KentMcDonald

This morning (November 22, 2013) I had the opportunity to be involved in a very unique discussion. SkillsMatter hosted the Agile Testing & BDD Exchange in London. This particular discussion involved people from three different countries, and only one of them was actually in London when the conversation occurred.

Read moreBDD and the Business Analyst

Analysis and Product Management In Agile

October 27, 2013 by KentMcDonald

I am proud to be a part of a new program in the Agile Alliance - Analysis and Product Management in Agile that was formed with the purpose of providing a way for practitioners in the business analysis and product management communities to share stories, questions, and puzzles about using those skills in an agile setting and to share ideas between communities. The first activity of the program will be an Agile Open Jam at the Building Business Capability (BBC) conference

Read moreAnalysis and Product Management In Agile

Better, Cheaper, Faster, sort of…

May 6, 2013 by KentMcDonald

If your development organization is adopting agile, you may be able to get to better, cheaper, faster but you aren't going to really see those types of benefits unless you bring your stakeholders along for the ride.

Read moreBetter, Cheaper, Faster, sort of…

Do we really have to create new labels?

October 8, 2012 by KentMcDonald

We have a tendency to create new labels for concepts that are similar to, but slightly different than existing concepts. Some of these labels include Scrum, Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Feature Injection. Are these labels helpful? I'm not so sure they always are.

Read moreDo we really have to create new labels?

Scrum is a subset of agile, not an alternative.

September 12, 2012 by KentMcDonald

It's not agile/scrum, it's not agile and scrum or agile or scrum, it's just agile.

Read moreScrum is a subset of agile, not an alternative.

Agile 2012 Tuesday Thoughts

August 15, 2012 by KentMcDonald

With my work done, I spent Tuesday attending sessions and acting as the prodigal product owner at the Agile Philanthropy Dev Lab. Here are some summaries of the sessions I attended, including Bob Sutton's Keynote, a great talk on BDD, and a discussion around why the Product Owner Idea is not such a good one.

Read moreAgile 2012 Tuesday Thoughts

Agile 2012 Monday Thoughts

August 15, 2012 by KentMcDonald

A few thoughts from the sessions I attended on the first day of Agile 2012. These sessions discussed how to determine whether projects are worth it, and how to improve communication and collaboration through improv.

Read moreAgile 2012 Monday Thoughts

The Roundabout BA

July 18, 2012 by KentMcDonald

BA's may not be bridges, they may be more like roundabouts helping information flow in more than just two directions without any stop signs or stop lights.

Read moreThe Roundabout BA

Five Things Teams Should Remember

May 9, 2012 by KentMcDonald

The Scrum Master from a team I was coaching recently asked me to provide a list of 5 things, that above else the team should remember when going forward and when a coach was no longer present.  I thought this list would be helpful for others to do as well, so I thought I would …

Read moreFive Things Teams Should Remember

A Domain Agnostic Description of Agile

April 13, 2012 by KentMcDonald

I recently saw probably the best description of agile I have ever seen, from PMNetwork, the magazine of the Project Management Institute. The article discusses the agile movement 10 years after the signing of the Agile Manifesto, and interviewed four of the signatories in order to get an informed perspective. In response to a question …

Read moreA Domain Agnostic Description of Agile

Too Much Collaboration?

March 27, 2012 by KentMcDonald

“Too much fun? What’s that mean? It’s like too much money, there’s no such thing” Trace Adkins “I Ain’t Never Had Too Much Fun” On an agile project, is there possibly such a thing as too much collaboration? Collaboration is one of the cornerstones of the agile mindset. We’re reminded about it in several places: …

Read moreToo Much Collaboration?
What you need to know

Ten Things Business Analysts Should Pay Attention To

February 25, 2012 by KentMcDonald

The end of one year and the beginning of the next brought with it a slew of posts covering the top trends for just about every field. I’ve run across three so far, all of them providing a different perspective, some I agree with, some I don’t. Regardless of my thoughts, they deserve reading: Glenn …

Read moreTen Things Business Analysts Should Pay Attention To

Agile 2011 – Agile Thinking for Business Analysis: Beyond User Stories

December 1, 2011 by KentMcDonald

After an inexcusably long delay, here is another post on one of the sessions from Agile 2011. This one, Agile Thinking for Business Analysis: Going Beyond User Stories was presented by Steve Adolph & Shane Hastie. The premise of the session was that although User Stories are the “industry standard” way of documenting requirements in …

Read moreAgile 2011 – Agile Thinking for Business Analysis: Beyond User Stories

Agile2011 Making the Entire Organization Agile

September 6, 2011 by KentMcDonald

Steve Denning, a former world bank executive and author gave two presentations at Agile 2011, both of which were of extreme relevance and importance for business analysis practitioners. I was able to attend both and found in this case at least, we were able to schedule across stages in the right order. His Making the …

Read moreAgile2011 Making the Entire Organization Agile

BA Questions: The Scrum Master

June 28, 2011 by KentMcDonald

The role of Scrum Master is specific to Scrum. Since Scrum has become the most widely known of the agile approaches, the term Scrum Master has become a common term for the person who is acting as process guardian and facilitator for agile teams. Question: How do you feel about the BA being the daily …

Read moreBA Questions: The Scrum Master

BA Questions: Offshore and Agile

June 28, 2011 by KentMcDonald

Question: How do offshore resources fit into agile? Agile is heavily reliant on team communication and collaboration. The most effective means of communication is face to face, at a white board because you have the most means of transmitting information – the words, the nonverbals, and tone of voice. An ideal situation is for all …

Read moreBA Questions: Offshore and Agile
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