Today I gave this talk at the Project Summit – Business Analyst World conference in Orlando. The slides I used for this presentation are here. The most recent version of the slides, which includes links to detailed discussions of more topics, is at:
http://rpchurchill.com/presentations/SimFrameForBA/index.html
In this version I further developed my concept of the Unified Theory of Business Analysis. I also collected more survey responses, the results of which are reported below.
List at least five steps you take during a typical business analysis effort.
- requirements gathering
- delivery expectations
- user experience work with customer
- process mapping
- system and user testing
- system interaction (upstram and downstream) how does a change affect my process?
- understanding stakeholders
- stakeholder elicitation
- brainstorming
- requirements analysis
- wireframing
- process / flow diagrams
- current state analysis
- future state
- gap analysis
- requirements gathering
- success metrics
- interview users
- gather requirements
- document business rules
- business process flow
- mock-ups
- UX design review
- requirements gathering
- vision gathering / understanding
- requirements elicitation
- gap analysis
- shadow users
- follow up to verify understanding of business and need
- mockups, high-level design concept
- present mockup, design concept
- create and mintain stories and acceptance criteria
- brainstorming
- external stakeholder feedback
- internal stakeholder feedback
- break down epics
- user stories
- building
- stakeholder analysis
- elicitation activity plan
- requirements tracing
- prototyping
- document analysis
- research
- requirements analysis
- state chart diagram
- execution plan
- reporting plan
List some steps you took in a weird or non-standard project.
- data migration
- did my own user experience testing
- got to step 6 (building) and started back at step 1 multiiple times
- mapped a process flow on a meeting room wall and had developers stick up arrows and process boxes like I would create in Visio to get engagement and consensus
- moved servers from one office to another
- process development
- showed customer a competitor’s website to get buy-in for change
Name three software tools you use most.
- Visio (4)
- Excel (3)
- Jira (3)
- MS Teams (3)
- PowerPoint (3)
- Draw.io (2)
- Word (2)
- Balsamiq (1)
- Google Docs (1)
- iRise (1)
- Lucid Chart (1)
- Miro Real-Time Board (1)
- MS Office (1)
- Pendo (1)
- Siebel (1)
- Slack (1)
- Visual Studio (1)
- Visual Studio Team Server (1)
- Vocera EVA (1)
Name three non-software techniques you use most.
- brainstorming
- brainstorming
- business process modeling
- charting on whiteboard
- document analysis
- interview
- interviews
- job shadowing
- mind mapping
- note-taking
- paper easels
- product vision canvas
- requirements elicitation
- requirements workshop
- SIPOC
- surveys
- taking / getting feedback
- walking through client process
- whiteboards
- workshops
Name the goals of a couple of different projects (e.g., automate a manual process, interface to a new client, redesign screens, etc.)
- adding feature toggles for beta testing
- automate manual process
- automate risk and issue requirements
- enhance current screens
- new functionality
- product for new customer
- prototype mobile app for BI and requirements
- provide new functionality
- replace legacy system
- rewrite / redesign screens
- system performance improvements
- system-to-system integration
- UI optimization