Last month we began our “fight” by exploring two estimating techniques that are often used on both Scrum and Waterfall projects. The first was relative sizing (one kind of analogous estimating) and the second Delphi (called Planning Poker in Scrum). Scrum won both rounds (barely) because although both techniques can be used on both types of projects, their usage in Scrum seems easier to understand, learn, and apply. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the terms Analogous and Delphi I think academics and hard work. When I hear about tee-shirt sizes and planning poker, I think fun.
Author Archive
Scrum vs. Waterfall: The Fight Continues
Posted: July 6th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. 4 Comments »A Heavyweight Fight–Scrum vs. Waterfall: Estimating Part 1
Posted: May 7th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »
I think people like a good fight. Certainly the media seems to, not only in the world of politics, but also in the worlds of sports and entertainment to name a few. In the world of business analysis the current fight seems to pit Agile methods against the Waterfall approach. For the next several blogs we’ll have a Scrum vs. Waterfall match. In corner #1, representing the Agile methods, we have the Scrum framework. In corner #2, representing Waterfall, we have the “traditionalists.”
Round One
Relative sizing of user stories (Scrum)
Should Business Analysts Model Requirements?
Posted: April 8th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »During a recent client visit I encouraged the use of modeling as a way to uncover hidden requirements and expectations. One of my clients expressed her rather strong opinion that modeling requirements was not and should not be a part of business analysis work. Oh, she could accept the fact that uncovering gaps between the “as-is” and “to-be” using process models made some sense, but she was adamant that this gap analysis should be done by a business Subject Matter Expert (SME), not by a business analyst (BA). As to data modeling, well that was technical in nature and if done at all, she said, it should be done by the technical IT staff. Use cases were helpful to the testing staff, but were clearly technical and were not to be done by BAs. Prototyping? This should be done by developers—no question about that one!
Four Tips for Avoiding Conflict Between the PM and BA
Posted: March 10th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. Comments » 
At a recent conference I sat next to a project manager who observed, “My organization hired a new consulting company to do business analysis work. They’ve completely taken over. Now they do a lot of the project management work that I used to do, such as meeting with the sponsor to uncover the business problems, determining what we’re going to do on the project…I can’t believe it! I feel like I’m being treated like a second-class citizen!”
Five Tips for Estimating Requirements
Posted: February 10th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. 2 Comments »Years ago I worked on a large effort to reengineer a distribution
center for a large retailer. We provided an estimate for both the business analysis work and for the entire project, which would involve the organization’s first use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), new business processes, many software changes, and the purchase of new barcode scanners. The business analysis effort took far longer than we anticipated, and at the end of it we refined our estimate for the total project. When we reported the new estimate to the president of the company, he literally pounded his fist on the table and asked, “How did we get to this point? Why didn’t we know sooner? You’ve already spent all this time on the project and what do we have to show for it? Nothing!. Absolutely nothing!”
Who Should Plan the Business Analysis Work?
Posted: January 8th, 2010 by ElizabethLarson. 4 Comments »
When I first read the BABOK® Guide, my initial reaction was, “What are they thinking?!” With my Project Manager (PM) hat perched squarely on my head, my reaction was “but… but this is project management work!” In my mind I imagined all kinds of conflict occurring as the Business Analyst (BA) took on more and more of the PM role. After all, as PM I had done such traditional project management tasks as creating work breakdown structures, activity lists, the estimating, the scheduling, and now a body of knowledge was saying that the BA was supposed to do this work? I could see heads butting already.
Can the Same Person Function as a PM and BA on the Same Project?
Posted: December 3rd, 2009 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »
One of the most frequently asked questions I still get from my clients is whether or not one person can be both a Project Manager (PM) and a Business Analyst (BA) on the same project. The answer, of course, is yes, they can. Another related question, though, is whether or not they should. I think there are really two different answers to two different questions.
