Process

Elaboration phase

The elaboration phase is the first step towards bringing a new product (feature, module, you name it) to market. It’s needed to dig around and roughly estimate the volume of future efforts. This is the very first stage of communication with the (prospect) customer.

Researching business problems. When assessing the business model, the BA figures out the business owner’s main points of pain (such as low-level customer acquisition or irrelevant digitalization) or what market gap they try to fill in or expand. These concerns will later be reflected in business requirements and initial technical offer.

Deciding on the expected business value. Understanding the product’s course and the expected market niche usually contributes to the primary wireframes. These are visualized concepts of how the system elements will interact with each other. This activity also includes establishing the method of interaction between a future product and its target audience, as well as its monetization.

Drafting nonfunctional requirements. This scope of responsibility involves the description of how the system is supposed to behave. Also, it establishes the constraints of its functionality. When drafting this type of documentation, a business analyst includes the system’s quality attributes, such as usability, security, reliability, performance, availability, and scalability.

Preparing functional requirements. A business analyst is also responsible for documenting functional requirements. These are the product features that engineers implement to allow users to achieve their goals. Hence, a BA’s role is documenting it clearly for both developers and stakeholders.

Formulating the main backlog. By this time, the general outline of the project is already in. It constitutes a good basis for a common backlog with an instructive to-do list. A business analyst ensures that all business aspects discussed earlier are reflected.

Deliverable: documented business requirements

Solution Design phase

This stage represents the phase during which the future product team has already undertaken a significant amount of raw research from different aspects. Primary decisions are already made, business requirements are evaluated and approved, and there’s only one thing to do before the development starts – find and approve the most suitable tech stack that meets all business and system requirements. Here, the BA plays a significant role, while comparing the overall scope with the promised business value.

Story mapping. This is arguably one of the most important BA’s responsibilities. Basically, a user story is a description of a feature from the end-user’s point of view. They are usually created within the functional requirements after software specification document and use cases are compiled. The process of story mapping usually involves several decision-makers, such as product/project manager, stakeholders, UX designers, and representatives of the development team. But it is the BA who ensures that a supposed user flow matches the approved business value.

Establishing acceptance criteria. This is no less important than user stories compilation. Acceptance criteria are the conditions that determine whether a feature satisfies both a stakeholder and the end-user. As in the case of user stories shaping, a BA shares this responsibility with a product manager. A QA engineer also participates but to a lesser extent.

Prioritizing backlog items. This is one of the most important areas of a BA’s responsibility. Upon choosing one a prioritization techniques, a business analyst helps realize which cluster of tasks is more important or relevant from the business point of view.

Deliverable: documented backlog

Development phase

This is the phase where active software development begins. The product team completes the tasks according to allocated roles. Here, the business analyst’s role is assuring that the development falls in line with the discussed and approved business values and requirements.

Setting up preparation activities. The business analyst shadows the entire pre-development process to guarantee that every sprint is planned in accordance with approved requirements and goals. Participation in such activities as pre-planning and grooming is an evitable part of a BA’s responsibility.

Tracking the development process. Although the BA doesn’t interact with developers directly, their daily routine includes the participation in daily Scrum and Standup meetings. Here, the BA watches the development process to address and accomplish all business requirements.

Deliverable: a released business software product

Maintenance phase

This is the final stage of the development process. It’s usually considered the phase of improvements or necessary changes. The BA’s responsibilities for this period include gathering the feedback from the customer on the result. They usually compare the outcome with supposed business value, deciding the opportunities for improvements.

Gathering and processing feedback from customer and users. As often happens on releasing a product, there are still some improvements to be made. One of the BA’s responsibilities is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the finished product from a business point of view.

Formulating the next backlog. Based on gathered feedback, the BA shapes the volume of business issues to improve, change, complete, or remove. This is how the backlog for a new development round appears.

Deliverable: a maintained and improved business software product