Four Roles for Business Analysts to Play on Agile Projects by Mark Tonsetic

As more and more IT teams adopt an Agile approach to software development, they have had to find the best place to deploy their business analysts; work with hundreds of teams show they tend to fit into one of four roles

IT applications teams, whose job it is to develop software for a company in-house, employ business analysts to do a range of tasks that involve talking to IT’s internal customers (anyone else in the company) and help turn customers’ requests into a salient request for either an upgrade or a new piece of software.

But as applications teams start using the Agile approach to software development more and more, and as that changes the way all of IT need to work together, applications managers have had to think hard about how to help business analysts (BAs) work within this new process. Questions about this topic are some of the most common that applications managers in CEB’s dedicated network ask us and each other.

Four Roles for Business Analysts to Take On

CEB’s work with hundreds of Agile teams shows four roles BAs can competently play based on the project at hand, internal customers’ willingness to be involved, and the BAs’ skills and experiences.

1. Requirements lead: Requirements leads are members of the core Agile development team and create the initial requirements for whatever’s being worked on, determine new requirements, and reprioritize requirements, typically in partnership with the product owner. These responsibilities are most similar to the traditional BA role, and one-third of IT functions have requirements leads on Agile teams.
   While most BAs already possess the skills to work as requirements leads, they may have trouble adjusting to Agile approaches for documenting requirements as user stories, gathering and prioritizing requirements iteratively, and co-designing solutions with business partners. To help them avoid reverting to Waterfall methods (a more traditional development approach), make sure they understand the reasoning behind Agile approaches and how this will help them provide more useful solutions for their internal customers.
2. Product owner: Product owners are typically asked to represent the part of the company that will actually make use of what’s being developed (e.g., an HR team that will use a new HRIS system, or a regional sales team that will trial a new piece of sales software).
   They are responsible for making decisions about the requirements of the software, day-to-day prioritization decisions, and resolving conflicting priorities among stakeholders. Product owners are typically a subject matter expert from the business, but organizations may have a BA play the role if no one with the required expertise is available from the business group.
   There are risks to BAs taking this role on however, as they may not have the comprehensive understanding of the business context required to convey the business’s needs, or may have to defer to a business partner for decisions, which then results in delays. BAs that play the product owner role are often more senior and have specialized expertise in the business domain so that the business sponsor will confidently delegate decision-making authority.
3. Scrum master: A less common option is for BAs to take on what is essentially the team leader role; typically called a “scrum master” in Agile terms. Scrum masters coach team members on using Agile methods, lead decision making on project activities, and coordinate with other teams and functional partners to remove barriers to the team’s progress.
   Because of the greater scope of responsibilities involved, high-performing BAs with superior relationship management skills, or those that have served as BA/project management hybrids, will have the greatest likelihood of success as scrum masters.
4. Core team member: The traditional division of responsibilities often blurs in Agile development, as the short iterations require team members to work collaboratively on analysis, design, development, and testing. Many IT functions have organized Agile teams with jack-of-all-trades developers who are able to conduct a variety of activities effectively, rather than having expertise in a specialized activity.
   Business analysts with a background in development or testing are well-positioned to succeed in these roles.