Business Analysis

Agility

Solve the Real Problem,

Deliver Real Value

James Robertson
Suzanne Robertson

•VAddison-Wesley

Boston © Columbus * New York * San Francisco • Amsterdam

Cape Town • Dubai » London * Madrid * Milan • Munich • Paris
Montreal * Toronto # Delhi e Mexico City * Säo Paulo • Sydney
Hong Kong • Seoul * Singapore * Taipei « Tokyo
Contents

Foreword xv
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxv
About the Authors xxvii

1 Agile Business Analysis 1

Why Is This "agile"? 2
Möbius Strip 2
Why Are We Concerned with Business Analysis? 3
Bernie's Books—An Example in Agile Business Analysis 4
What Do You Do? S
What's Bernie's Problem? 6
People Assume They Know the Solution 7
Analytical Thinking 7
Bernie's Business Goals 8
Customer Segments 9
Loyal Customers 9
Twentysomethings 10
Book Cover Bandits 11
Value Proposition 11
Who Identifies Customer Segments and Their
Value Propositions? 13
How Can I Solve the Problem? 13
Safe-to-Fail Probes 15
Who Performs Safe-to-Fail Probes? 18
Investigate the Solution Space 18
Who Investigates the Solution Space? 20
Designing the Solution 20
Who Designs the Solution? 23
Opportunities 24
Write and Manage Stories 25
agile Business Analysis 27
Business Analysis for Traditional or Sequential Projects 28
The Changing Emphasis of Business Analysis 30

ix
x • Contents

2 Do You Know What Your Customers Value? 33

Problem Versus Solution 34
Identify the Customer Segments 36
How to Identify the Customer Segments 36
HomeSpace 38
Other Stakeholders 39
Priorltize the Customer Segments 39
Value Propositions 41
Talking to the Customers 43
What Impact Will Your Solution Have? 45
Business Value 47
Is It Risky to Deliver the Value? 47
The Moving Target 48
Wrong Until Right 49
Summary 51

3 Are You Solving the Right Problem? 53

The Problem 53
Are You Solving the Right Problem? 54
Maslow's Hierarchy ofNeeds 56
The Outcome of Solving the Problem 56
The Customer's Needs 57
Customer Journey Maps 58
Havel the Same Journey as Your Customer 60
Talking to the Customers 60
Uncovering the Essence of the Problem 61
Ask Why Again and Again and Again 62
Referred Pain 63
Disguised Problems 64
The Real Scope of the Problem 66
Are You Solving the Problem That You Want to Solve? 68
Now You Need a Solution 68
The Solution Is a Hypothesis 69
Off-the-Shelf Solutions 69
Options for Solutions 70
How Might We? 71
Willingness to Be Creative 72
Techniques for Generating Ideas 72
Innovation Triggers 73
Constraint Removal 74
Combining Ideas 75
The Slogan 76
Personas 76
Portraying Your Solutions 78
Safe-to-Fail Probes 78
Right Outcome? 82
"Failed" Probes 83
Double Loop 84
 Contents • xi

Outcome and Impact 85

Systems Thinking 87
Choosing the Best Option 88
Summary 89

4 Investigate the Solution Space 91

Why Are We Investigating? 92
Defining the Scope of the Solution Space 92
Business Events 95
Scoping by Business Event 97
Finding All the Stakeholders 99
Investigating the Business Events 101
Prioritize the Business Events 102
Using Models for Your Investigation 103
Modeling Business Processes 104
Live Modeling 107
Business Rules 107
Why Don't I Skip Analysis and Just Write Stories? 109
Contextual Inquiries 111
Creative Observation 112
Consider the Culture 113
Summary 115

5 Designing the Business Solution 117

Designing 118
Designing: An Example 118
Useful, Usable, Used 121
What Is Design? 121
Making Decisions 122
Meeting the Essence 122
Meeting Constraints 123
Meeting Architecture 123
Good Design 124
What Are You Designing? 124
Designing the Information 126
Designing the Interaction 128
UX Design 130
Designing Convenience 132
Incremental, Iterative, and Evolutionary Design 134
Enabling Technology 135
Recording Your Design 136

6 Writing the Right Stories 139

Business Events 140
Writing Stories 144
"Asa..." 144
Try Not to Write "I Want" 144
xii • Contents

Ask "why?" again and again 145

The Two-Line Story 146
Story Maps 146
Functional Stories 148
Given-When-Then 149
Breaking Down the Functional Stories 149
Detailed Tasks 151
Developing the Map 153
Enhancing Your Stories 155
Acceptance Criteria 155
The People Involved 156
Wireframes 157
Prioritizing the Map 158
Dependencies Among Business Events 160
Prioritizing the Tasks 160
Periodic Reprioritization 160
Kanban 161
Minimum Viable Product 162
QualityNeeds < 163
Qualities: What Do They Look Like? 165
Qualities at the Product Level 168
Fit Criteria for Quality Needs 169
The Volere Template 170
Look & Feel 170
Usability 171
Performance 171
Operational and Environmental 171
Maintainability and Support 171
Security 172
Cultural 172
Compliance 172
Exceptions and Alternatives 173
Stories and Development Cycles 174
Summary 177

7 Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick 179

Jack Be Nimble 179
Wicked Problems and Gordian Knots 180
The Next Right Answer 182
Looking Outwards 183
Continuous Improvement 183
Why Are They Complaining? 185
Enlightened Anarchy 186
Jack Be Quick 187
Hour 1: Customer Segments 187
Hour 2: Value Propositions 188
Hour 3: Solving the Right Problem 189
 Contents • xiii

Hour 4: Safe-to-Fail Probes 191

The Rest of the Day and Some ofTomorrow:
Design the Solution 192
Jumpin' Jack Flash 193
Jack and Jacqueline Jump over the Candlestick 194
Jumping the Silos 194
Avoiding Sign-Offs 196
The Blue Zone 197
Agile Business Analysis and Iterative Development Cycles 198
The Product Owner Coordinates 199
The Discovery Activity Responds to Priorities 199
And Jill Game Tumbling After 201
Documentation 202
Knowledge Artifacts 202
Project Goals 202
Solution Scope 204
Story Maps 205
Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat 205
Traditional Business Analysis 208
Traditional Process 209
Routine Problems 210
Complicated Problems 211
Complex Problems 211
The Requirements Document 212
They Have Licked the Platter Clean 214

Glossary 217
Bibliography 223
Index 227