Week 10 (Elicitation) : Newbie swotting as a Business Analyst
Hello friends,
Welcome back to my #SwottingAsABusinessAnalyst series. Read my previous post here.
If you're new here, explore the initial post of my journey 'Swotting' as a budding Business Analyst.
In Week #10, we delved into other Business Analyst’s (BA) essential skill which is “requirement elicitation”, a crucial aspect of the role.
Here are some key takeaways :
#1 Identify Stakeholders
It’s important to know who's involved in the project, including users, developers, customers, and more.
Use tools like Stakeholder Register and Stakeholder Mapping for clarity :
Power Grid
Salience Model
Stakeholder Cube
Direction of Influence
#2 Gather Requirements
At the heart of the process lies a clear vision and scope for the product, setting the stage for gathering requirements. This involves:
Defining a project vision: Establishing a clear direction for the product.
Analyzing available requirements: Using techniques like document analysis, interface evaluation, and user feedback.
Gathering requirements: Involving stakeholders, leaders, and end-users to understand their needs and goals.
Utilizing various elicitation techniques: Such as focus groups, brainstorming sessions, surveys, and prototyping, based on the project's needs and experience.
#3 Document Requirements
Review and polish gathered requirements for clarity, completeness, and consistency.
In your documents, include:
Participants: Who's involved, like the product owner, team, and stakeholders.
Status: The current state of the program, whether on target, at risk, or delayed.
Target release: When the project is expected to be completed.
Purpose or goal: Team goals and business objectives.
Background and strategic fit: Why the project is important and how it aligns with company objectives.
Scope: What's included and what's not.
Risks, constraints, and assumptions (RAID) : List any technical, business, or user-related risks, constraints, and assumptions.
There also various type of documentations format to be explore : Read here
#4 Manage Requirements
Communicate and manage requirements throughout the project to ensure they meet stakeholder needs. Key components include prioritization, change management, traceability, and verification/validation to ensure the system meets requirements and fulfills its purpose.
As you elicitating requirements and creating the right documentations for the purpose,
Watch Out for Traps:
Over-planning: Avoid planning every detail upfront.
Excessive Sign-offs: Don't wait for approval from everyone before starting.
Lack of Communication: Ensure everyone knows when requirements change. Everyone = designers and developers
Stagnant Requirements: Ensure requirements get updated as needed, even after initial sign-off.
Lone Product Ownership: Involve the whole team in setting requirements, not just the product owner. e.g Set a weekly design hour session to get everyone agree on the requirements
Most importantly, by mastering requirement elicitation, BAs can effectively gather, document, and manage project requirements, ensuring successful project outcomes
In a nutshell,
Week #10 is where things get more exciting and ability to perform elicitation works will get me (as a BA) closer to the development team. This means, you are now have better understanding and doing a valuable work contributing to the team.
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You can also explore my other blog post on Agile Delivery, Project Solutions, Agile Mindset and Career Bits on WorkWizard. Leave me a comment, would love to hear if we are on the same wavelength!
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