Agile Business Requirements Analysis: Fast, Complete, and Accurate

One of the biggest challenges for any analyst is the awkward issue of how to get a project started as quickly as possible. An analyst needs to be visible and productive just about right away because, well, clients think of them as experts who can walk on water while so many pass water. But, as we all know, analysts come into an organization or are assigned a project, have little background on what makes it tick or who has the knowledge, and are expected to become visibly productive just about right away.In a dramatic departure from the uncertainty of the past, the approach to business system analysis detailed in this book is very straightforward, making it easy to begin and finish.With this approach to business analysis, you will learn how to identify business events or circumstances in the target system; how to find the subjects for context-specific questions; how to structure the questions to be asked; and how to organize and document the results – all without pain. It is suitable for for senior level analysts with extensive experience and for new analysts too. The Method in this book is a gateway to fast, agile, accurate specifications.The event-based approach to business system analysis described in this book appears to be non-technical in its application. That’s because there was no apparent reason to make business requirements analysis a technical exercise. Under the surface, however, there is a very technically precise blueprint that enables us to find context-specific questions to ask the business experts; document concise answers to those questions; and a method to generate a prescription for database design (if required) based directly on the business needs.This is a book about getting the business requirements for a system specified fast and right the very first time – without engaging in an archaeological dig that takes forever.