Tag Archives: Agile

Product Owners vs Business Analysts – MOSTly different roles?

14 Feb

The MOST acronym (Mission, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics) can be used to describe the main differences between the Product Owner and Business Analyst roles on a project.

Mission

  • This is the vision statement for the product. It should be concise and value driven.
  • This will provide answers to the following questions: What is the intention and long term direction of the product? Who is the user-base/target market? What is the business benefit?
  • Example: “We want to deliver the most popular Sports app in the World – with unparalleled journalist content”
  • Responsibility of the Product Owner.

Objectives

  • These are derived from the product mission. These are targets that will translate the product mission into reality.
  • These will provide answers to the following questions: What goals will lead us to achieve our mission? What will need to be created? What will need to be changed? What will need to be acquired?
  • Example: “We need to deliver live video streaming in the iOS app“
  • Responsibility of the Business Analyst.

Strategy

  • This is a description of how success will be achieved. This should describe the features and their prioritisation.
  • This will provide answers to the following questions: How will the product scope be delivered across iterations? What is the Minimum Viable Product for release 1.0/launch? Which features are nice-to-haves?
  • Example: “Pundit analysis, live video & match statistics are required for the first release – personalisation will be delivered in the second release of the app” 
  • Responsibility of the Product Owner.

Tactics

  • These are derived from the product strategy. These are the deliverables that will be provided by the development team.
  • These will provide answers to the following questions: How can we achieve tangible benefits in the next Sprints? What tasks need to be completed? How can work be grouped together logically & in terms of delivery?
  • Example: “Provide live streaming of our CMS videos using Media Player”
  • Responsibility of the Business Analyst.

Summary

Within MOST there are 2 definition activities (Mission and Objectives) and 2 planning activities (Strategy and Tactics).

  • The Mission (high level product definition) is done by the Product Owner.
  • The Objectives (detailed product definition) is done by the Business Analyst.
  • The Strategy (high level product planning) is done by the Product Owner.
  • The Tactics (detailed product planning) is done by the Business Analyst.
Advertisement

Tags: , , , , , , ,

User stories – WHO wants them, WHAT are they, WHY use them?

9 Feb

WHO wants user stories?

  • Project stakeholders: these individuals want an easy method to pin ideas to the product backlog. With user stories ideas don’t need to be defined in detail – the user story will provide a “placeholder for a conversation”.
  • The end user: teams that are able to elicit requirements directly from end users can use this technique to facilitate the discussion and documentation of feature requests. What does the user want to do? Why?
  • Project Manager/Product Owner: when grooming the product backlog – user stories are much easier to prioritise than detailed requirement specifications. User stories provide a non-technical, concise summary for the product team to decide the primacy of a feature.

WHAT are user stories?

  • Definition: User stories describe the desired interaction/dialogue between a user and the system. User stories provide the user’s rationale for a feature.
  • Typical format:
    • AS A [actor/user role] – this can be referred to as the WHO section. Who wants this feature? The user could be a generic actor (e.g. AS A user of the website), or a specific user role (e.g. AS A frequent business traveller), or even another system (AS A BACS payment system). Actors can be identified by internal discussions within the project team – identifying user roles may require more sophisticated analysis (e.g. profiling activities by the marketing department, transaction analysis, industry segmentations etc).
    • I WANT [feature/action] – this can be referred to as the WHAT section. What does the user want? The user will typically want the system to perform a new behaviour e.g. I WANT  the ability to track an order, I WANT to pay for orders using an AMEX card, I WANT to cancel an order without any hassle.
    • SO THAT [benefit] – this can be referred to as the WHY section. Why does a user want this functionality? This section provides the justification/benefit of the feature.
    • Characteristics of good user stories: the INVEST acronym is frequently used to describe attributes of a good user story:
      • Independent
      • Negotiable
      • Valuable / Vertical
      • Estimable
      • Sized Appropriately / Small
      • Testable

WHY use user stories?

  • Requirements as an emergent property: user stories provide the Business Analyst with a springboard for analysis. A single user story (e.g. AS A price sensitive user, I WANT to be able to cancel my order, SO THAT I do not get charged by the bank for exceeding their overdraft limit) can lead to multiple scenarios for the BA. What is the happy path of this user story? What are the edge cases (e.g. what if some of the items are in the sale)? What are the business rules (e.g. full refunds are only provided up to 3 days from when the transaction was processed)? Requirements should emerge from user stories  (not vice versa) – all requirements should have a user justification.
  • Maintenance of the backlog: the detail of a feature is abstracted a level below user stories. In addition – user stories should have few/no dependencies (refer to the INVEST acronym) – this means that user stories are lightweight additions to the product backlog and are therefore easy to maintain.
  • Available for discussion: user stories should be understandable by business users/end users/developers/all team members. User stories facilitate cross-role discussions and encourage open communication between various project sillos.
  • Trees and forests: Working at a detailed level can occasionally mean that some requirements are not identified. User stories provide a way to mitigate the probability that user journeys are missed by the team.

Tags: , ,

The 3 Amigos – BA, QA and Developer

7 Feb

The 3 Amigos (sometimes referred to as a “Specification Workshop”) is a meeting where the Business Analyst presents requirements and test scenarios (collectively called a “feature”) for review by a member of the development team and a member of the quality assurance team. The overall aims are to ensure:

i)              COLLABORATIVE REQUIREMENTS: a common understanding of what needs to be built, business justification is conveyed for a feature, a project-wide sense of ownership.

ii)             COLLABORATIVE TESTS: all teams members contribute to testing the quality of a feature, business & technical edge cases are identifed, testing restrictions are conveyed, test duplication within the team is reduced.

iii)           READY FOR DEV CONSENSUS: Pull vs Push approach – features are pulled into a Sprint when they have been reviewed and accepted by the 3 Amigos. Features cannot be pushed into a Sprint – this reduces the risk of the team incorrectly assuming that a feature is ready for dev.

The general format of the 3 Amigo process is:

  •  A time boxed meeting (30 mins – 1 hrs max) is setup 1-2 Sprints before a feature is expected to go into development.
  • 1 Developer + 1 QA are identified and invited to the meeting. These are expected to be the individuals who will develop and test that feature.
  • The Business Analyst begins the meeting by introducing the feature to the Amigos. Why is the feature needed, is it like anything they’ve done before, what should it look like on the site?
  • The Business Analyst presents the requirements (prepared prior to the 3 Amigos) – these are reviewed by the Amigos who provide feedback. The requirements should be updated in the session until the requirements are deemed “Ready for Dev”.
  • The Business Analyst will then present the test scenarios (prepared before the meeting) – these are also reviewed by the Amigos. Feedback is incorporated until it is agreed that the test scenarios cover the feature’s expected behavior – this ensures good test coverage.
  • The feature/specification is now “Ready for Dev” – it has been accepted by the developer and QA.
  • Developer – asked to identify any tasks that need to be done pre-development e.g. do they need access to an endpoint, do they need to see variants of the visual design? These tasks are assigned and put on the current Sprint board.
  • QA – asked to identify any tasks that need to be done pre-feature testing e.g. do they require access to a system, do they need mock data? These tasks are assigned and put on the current Sprint board.
  • Estimate: the Amigos should have a common understanding of the requirements and the test scenarios (the “feature”). This is a good opportunity for the developer and QA to provide estimates.

Lessons we have learnt:

  • The developer and QA involved in the 3 Amigo meeting should be the individuals who will develop and test the feature. We have explored the idea of “any developer/QA can be involved in the 3 Amigos and any developer/QA can then pickup the feature” – however we have learnt that maximum benefit comes from the Amigos being involved in a feature until its completion.
  • The requirements and test scenarios should be maintained in a place where everyone has access. This gives individuals/stakeholders (even non-Amigos) VISIBILITY of the requirements and tests.
  • What language should be used for requirements and test scenarios? Technical? Business? Plain English? We have found that DOMAIN language is the most useful … if you work in banking than all 3 Amigos should know what a derivative is – but not everyone is expected to know what a cron job is. If in doubt – maintain a glossary of terms.

Challenges:

  • For the BA: although the BA still tacitly “owns” the requirements – part of the collaborative 3 Amigo process is a shared level of ownership. This can be difficult for a BA – as requirements are one of the main BA deliverables.
  • For the Developer: there may be some resistance to reviewing requirements/test scenarios as these are “non–development activities”. In our experience the 3 Amigos process enables the developer to have greater visibility of the requirements, provide technical feedback and convey challenges/blockers.
  • For the QA: similar to the BA – they may need time to adjust to the test scenarios being under common ownership.
  • For the Product Owner: the Product Owner isn’t an Amigo. The process assumes that the BA represents the Product Owner/stakeholders. Once the requirements and test scenarios have been through the 3 Amigo process– it can be worth re-confirming them with stakeholders.
  • For the PM: the 3 Amigo process limits what a PM can put into a Sprint – features are pulled into a Sprint by the team and not pushed by the PM. The BA can begin to take on some traditional PM duties: task breakdown (tasks are identified in the 3 Amigos), estimations (developer + QA estimates are provided in the 3 Amigos), limited Sprint planning etc.
  • For the Agile enthusiast: to be a fully iterative process there may be “pre amigo” meetings – and complex features may require several sessions.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Newer Entries →