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Entries for the 'Elicitation (BABOK KA)' Category

» FEATURED: How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 3 - When More Requirements Detail Is Advisable

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How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 3 - When More Requirements Detail Is Advisable

There are several situations in which recording only high-level requirements information increases the project’s risk. When you encounter situations such as the ones described in this article, expect to spend more time than average developing detailed requirements specifications.

» FEATURED: How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 2 - When Less Requirements Detail Is Appropriate

(2215 Views) (2 Comments)

How Detailed Should Requirements Be? Part 2 - When Less Requirements Detail Is Appropriate

Several conditions make it appropriate to leave the requirements descriptions at a higher level of abstraction. Recognize that these are broad guidelines. The BA should perform a risk-benefit analysis to balance the potential downside of omitting important information against the effort required to include it.

» Requirements Reuse: the State of the Practice

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Requirements Reuse: the State of the Practice

For several decades, software reuse has been a recognized solution to improving efficiency of software development. However, implementing reuse in practice remains challenging and the IT community has little visibility into the state of the practice specifically as it pertains to reusing software requirements. This paper presents the results of a s...

» FEATURED: Ambiguity, Uncertainty or Both?

(1997 Views) (8 Comments)

We have always been fascinated by the exceptional business analysts who can create order out of total chaos. The ones who can ask those great questions, who can figure out what’s important and what’s less so, who can synthesize lots of information, put it all into their magic hat and come out with requirements that make sense to all the stakeholder...

» FEATURED: How Detailed Should Requirements Be? - Part 1

(6363 Views) (15 Comments)

How Detailed Should Requirements Be? - Part 1

Recently I was chatting at a wine tasting event with a couple of lawyers, who I had just met. One was surprisingly inquisitive about my work in the software requirements arena. Apparently she was working on case involving software at that very time. At one point she asked me, “How do you know how detailed to make the requirements?”

» FEATURED: The Real Brains Behind Better Facilitation

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The Real Brains Behind Better Facilitation

Facilitation is one of the most critical soft skills of the business analyst, as well as one of the most difficult to master. Working with various stakeholders requires tremendous preparation, insight and finesse in addition to an understanding of key principles of the facilitation process.

» FEATURED: The Influencing Formula for Business Analysts

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The Influencing Formula for Business Analysts

I often get asked, “How can I get stakeholders to attend my meetings?” or “How can I get stakeholders’ buy-in on the project?” These are complex questions and the easy answer is that you can’t. As BAs and PMs we can’t get anyone to do anything, but we can certainly influence them so that they want to.

» The Mentalist Guide to Requirements Gathering

(2365 Views) (7 Comments)

The Mentalist Guide to Requirements Gathering

The reason I bring this up is that there has always been a fascination with trying to guess what is going on the minds of the people in front of you. This is particularly apt when you are trying to understand what the in-duh-vidual in front of you really wants.

» The Doctor/Patient Analogy for Problem Definition

(2313 Views) (1 Comments)

The Doctor/Patient Analogy for Problem Definition

Over the years I have noticed that we, as Americans, seem to possess a knack for attacking the wrong problems which I refer to as the “Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” phenomenon. I see this not only in the corporate world, but in our private lives as well. Instead of addressing the correct problems, we tend to attack symptoms.

» FEATURED: The Wasted Interview?

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Once while teaching a business analysis elicitation course, a student in the class asked me, “Have you ever had a wasted interview with a stakeholder?” The question took me back, a surprise; a question I had not been asked before.

» FEATURED: iRise Requirements Visualization

(3824 Views) (0 Comments)

Thousands of business analysts have turned to software visualization from as a strategy to simplify their jobs and cut through the confusion. With iRise, business analysts are empowered to quickly assemble a high-fidelity working preview of an application before development ever begins. These visualizations look and act just like the final product,...

» Agile Requirements: Not an Oxymoron

(5911 Views) (2 Comments)

Adult children. Jumbo shrimp. Seriously funny. I’m sure you recognize these expressions as oxymorons—self-contradictory phrases, often with an ironic meaning. Should we add “agile requirements” to the list? Does agile development fit in with traditional requirements practices? And if so, how?

» FEATURED: An Overview of Requirements Elicitation

(8250 Views) (7 Comments)

A thorough discovery of business requirements is almost never readily available at an analyst’s fingertips—rarely can requirements be quickly looked up as one would gather information for a term paper or study for a test. Much of business or technical requirements is not documented anywhere—it resides in the minds of stakeholders, in feedback that ...

» FEATURED: Stakeholder Strategy 101

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As stakeholders play decisive role towards solution delivery, it would be helpful for business analysts and project managers to have a stakeholder strategy. Stakeholder strategy can help facilitate communication between stakeholders and IT teams. Stakeholder strategy allows project members to consider stakeholder availability and associated risks e...

» FEATURED: Brûlé’s Rules of Playing Telephone with Requirements

(5525 Views) (1 Comments)

Brûlé’s Rules of Playing Telephone with Requirements

You remember the game of telephone, right? The test of communication skills where one person whispers a message to his neighbor, and that message is translated multiple times from person to person until eventually, the last contestant repeats her interpreted message aloud. The goal is for the final person in the chain to correctly hear the or...

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Business Analyst Articles: Business Analysis & Systems Analysis

Entries for the 'Elicitation (BABOK KA)' Category

Join the Premier Community for Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals, Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…

Business Analyst Articles: Business Analysis & Systems Analysis

Entries for the 'Elicitation (BABOK KA)' Category

Join the Premier Community for
Business Analysts, Business Process Professionals,
Systems Analysts, Data Analysts, and more…