Introduction to Business Analysis

Michael Kramarenko, PhD, CSO

Case study: “Tower of Babel”
Product: a tower whose top is in the
heavens

Product owner: Nimrod, the great-

grandson of Noah

Fail reason: “Lord confused the language

of all the earth; and from there the Lord
scattered them abroad over the face of all
the earth”
Case study: “Wasa Museum”
Product: The biggest warship on the Baltic
and beyond (1626-1628)

Product Owner: Swedish King Gustavus

Adolphus

Development process: designer Henrik

Hybertsson strictly followed the king’s
instructions

“Big Fail”: maiden voyage to the naval

station at Älvsnabben 10 August 1628.
Center of gravity was too high
Case study: “Titanic”
Product: The biggest unsinkable ship in the
world

Product Owner: White Star Lines

Development process: untested

“unsinkable” requirement, problematic
clincher material, not calculated boats
amount

“Big Fail”: colliding with an iceberg

15.04.1912 during maiden voyage from
Southampton to New York
Computing is everywhere. Top Worst Cases
● September 16, 1983 - Erroneous report Soviet nuclear early warning
system
● February 25, 1991 - 28 were killed and 100+ injured due to failed to
track and intercept a Scud missile (Gulf War)
● February 2003 - St. Mary’s Mercy Medical Center computer system
reported costs the lives of 8500 patients
● October 2014 - Wrongly calculated taxes for 5 mln UK workers
● December 2014 - One penny goods price in Amazon marketplace
Recent IT Projects statistics
Dr. Dobb’s Journal 2013 IT project survey
Nothing has changed during 30 years!
● The requirements were not properly
understood, recorded, and analysed
● Risks were not planned, budgeted and
managed competently
● Requirement changes were not kept
under control
● Stakeholder conflicts were not resolved
before the computing project started

www.pmtoday.co.uk | MARCH 2014

Computing is everywhere. Cost of error

NASA Johnson Space Center, Error Cost Escalation Through the Project Life Cycle. 2004
What is Business Analysis?
“Business analysis is the practice of enabling change in an
enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions
that deliver value to stakeholders”
Answer Simple Questions
● How to properly identify stakeholders?
● What does the value mean? How to measure it?
● How to design & define the solution?
● Who, how and why will use the solutions?
● Why we can recommend the solutions?
○ How to assess it?
○ How to delivery it?
● How to be ready for possible changes?
 Value
Business Analysis Periods
-focused
Agile

Specification
-based
Conceptuali
sation

1950’s - 1968 1968 - rare 2001- the main mid 2000’s -

nowadays trend nowadays nowadays
Conceptualisation period

● Focus on hardware efficiency

● Complexity of programming
● Low productivity
● Heroic debugging
● Unpredictable results
○ Budget
○ Schedule
○ Quality
● Requirements first
Specification-base period ● Software/hardware cost
● Software crisis
● Clarification of software
development life cycle
● Importance of domain
knowledge
The Agile Period
● Controlled uncertainty
● Controlled scope creep
● Levels of granularity & detalisation:
○ Vision
○ Epic
○ Story
○ Task
● Demo session & Early feedback
● Big Picture: Sprint 0 or Discovery phase
● New roles
○ Product owner
○ Proxy Product owner
Value-focused period
● High level of uncertainty
● Constant readiness for changes & pivoting
● Hypothesis about users, their problems & goals
● Hypothesis instead of requirements
● Measurable hypothesis validation
● MVP as a tools for hypothesis validation:
○ Problem
○ Solution
○ Value
● Data driven decision making
● Knowledge as a gain value
Outsourcing landscape transformation
Outsourcing landscape transformation
New challenge: “From Idea to Delivery”
Business Analysis Key Concept
Business Analysis Core Concepts Model
● Stakeholder - a group or individual with a relationship to change, the need, or
the solution
● Need - a problem or opportunity to be addressed
● Solution - satisfaction the needs by resolving a problem faced by stakeholders
● Change - the act of transformation in response to a needs
● Context - the circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide
understanding of the change
● Value - the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to a stakeholder
within a context
 Stakeholders IRONIC
Interest
Rights
Ownership
kNowledge
Impact
● Culture Contribution
● Values
● Assumptions
● Expectations
● Language
● Status
● Personality
Key stakeholder questions
● How to identify?
● How to access?
● How to reveal their real need?
● How to sell yourself?
● How to engage?
● How to validate?
● How to reach consensus?
Chain of Reasoning or Reasons of Changes
Problem

Stakeholders

Needs

Constraigns

Criteria

Solution
Analysis in the Context
● Trends context
○ Political
○ Economical
○ Social
○ Technology
○ Demography
● Organisational context
○ Strategy
○ Product & Services
○ Competitors
○ Competencies
○ Chart
○ Processes & Tools
○ Rules & Policies
Business Analysis Techniques

Context

Experience BA Goals Lifecycle Stakeholder

Techniques

Deliverables
Some Business Analysis Techniques
● P.E.S.T.L.E ● Document analysis ● Brainstorm
● Fishbone diagram ● Context diagram ● Interview
● 5 Why ● SWOT analysis ● Observation
● MoSCoW ● Cost/benefit analysis ● Workshop
● Power/interest grid ● Use case ● Prototyping
● Organisational chart ● User story ● Business Model
● Business process ● Story mapping Canvas
model ● Data Modelling ● Consumer Trend
● KPI Canvas
● Acceptance & ● Validation Board
Evaluation Criteria
Business Analysis Deliverables

Context

BA Goals Audience Lifecycle Methodology

Tools Deliverables Templates

SOW BRD SRS Product Backlog Prototype ...

Vision
Requirements Hierarchy
Business requirements
Why?

Stakeholder
Who?Where?What?
requirements

Solution requirements

Functional Non Functional Transition

requirements requirements requirements

What? How?
What?Who?

How?
Requirements quality
● Complete
● Clear
● Correct
● Consistent
● Feasible
● Testable
● Traceable
● Trackable
 Deliverables quality

Ways of disinformation:

● information distortion & hiding

● unstructured information
● over detalization
● irrelevant language
Chain of Reasoning Example
Business goal

Business
objective

Business
requirement

Solution
requirement
Business Analysis as a Cross-disciplinary Knowledge

Business Project
Architecture Management

Quality
Business Process Management
Management
Business Analysis
Business System
Intelligence Thinking

Lean Design
Startup Thinking

Software
Engineering Psychology
BA Portrait

Business Business
Analysis Domain
Knowledge Knowledge
Business
Analyst
Technology
Underlying
Domain
Competences
Knowledge
BA Personality
● Partner
● Investigator Design
● Change Agent
Thinking
● Diplomat

Thinking
Analytic
Business Analyst Career Paths
BA Salary 2015
Business Analysis Sources of Knowledge
Summary
● Business Analysis is about real business needs and measurable value from
delivered solution
● Business Analysis is about communication with stakeholders
● Business Analysis is about answers simple questions: Why? What? Who?
When? Where? How? Erroneous answers are very costly
● Business Analysis is about decision making under high level of uncertainty
● Business Analysis is about readiness for constant changes
● Business Analysis as a set of cross-disciplinary techniques. But “No Silver
Bullet”
● Business Analysis is a creative demanded profession opening new horizons
Thank you!
Q&A