How getting an AgileBA qualification can help your career
Learn how AgileBA certification can elevate your career and explore opportunities in agile environments. Read more to enhance your expertise!
AgileBA (Agile Business Analyst) training and qualifications from the Agile Business Consortium can help you start, or develop, your career as an agile business analyst.
This article is useful for people at all different stages in their agile business analyst journey. It explains the key benefits of AgileBA training and earning a professional qualification.
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Start your career with AgileBA
Agile practices
Agile has experienced a significant surge in popularity over the past two decades, expanding beyond IT-specific frameworks to achieve success across various industries and organisations.
In fact, Agile practices have often progressed more rapidly than those of traditional professions that operate in agile environments. Although certain roles, such as project managers and business analysts, have not become obsolete due to Agile practices, they may not perfectly align with agile ways of working – until now.
New qualification
A new agile qualification scheme, AgileBA, has emerged to aid business analysts in fulfilling their roles in an agile project environment. This certification also teaches business leaders about the importance of agile business analysis in relation to their organisational mission and strategy.
New skills
While traditional skills remain valuable, business analysts must learn new skills to fully realise the benefits offered by Agile practices, given the unique relationships between staff, managers, developers, and stakeholders. Excelling in an agile business analyst role can offer a competitive edge and access to exciting career opportunities.
Is a business analyst role a good career choice?
Business analyst skills
If you’re considering a career in business analysis, getting yourself up to speed with agile is a smart move. The role demands a diverse range of problem-solving, communication, and time-management skills, with particular emphasis on soft skills that are essential for working closely with agile product owners and stakeholders.
Agile business analysts must be flexible, adaptable, and able to tackle challenges and changing contexts. This role is ideal for individuals who enjoy dynamic environments and are continually honing their problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
Transferable skills
Agile business analysts work across all levels of an organisation, with entry-level junior analyst roles often prioritising soft skills over advanced technical abilities. If you’ve worked in a role requiring open communication, creative thinking and problem-solving, or the ability to work autonomously, many of your existing skills may be transferable to an agile role.
Salaries
Salaries for experienced agile business analysts in the UK reflect the importance of this role and its ability to generate value, with a median salary of £52,000 p/a [1].
Can AgileBA training help me?
An agile business analysis course can be immensely beneficial to those interested in pursuing a career in this field. The Agile Business Consortium developed AgileBA qualifications to help organisations and aspiring business analysts derive maximum value from the combination of traditional business analysis and an agile mindset.
A course covers a wide range of skills and knowledge required for agile business analysis, including the role of a business analyst in an agile world, stakeholder management, requirements planning, and agile modelling.
If you’re interested in pursuing this career path, agileKRC offers training and support to help you acquire the necessary skills and knowledge.
AgileBA Foundation training
AgileBA Practitioner training
Expand your business analyst skills with agile
Aligning business analysis with agile
The changing needs of modern businesses have led to the widespread adoption of Agile, which promotes greater flexibility and adaptability than traditional approaches.
However, the traditional role of the business analyst in creating innovative solutions has not kept pace with the development of new agile methods for different industries and management styles. As a result, traditional business analysis is often awkwardly applied in agile contexts, missing out on the full benefits of Agile.
To address this issue, the Agile Business Consortium and APMG International have developed the AgileBA training and qualifications scheme to align business analysis techniques with agile management and mindset.
How AgileBA training can help
The AgileBA training equips business analysts with the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively in the context of agile projects. With the rise of iterative and incremental approaches, business analysts must align their skillsets with the Agile methodology to work effectively.
Managing requirements in agile environments
AgileBA courses also helps business analysts learn how to manage requirements in agile environments, test and evaluate benefits delivery, and define roles and responsibilities within agile projects. By supporting and facilitating the implementation of Agile, business analysts can ensure successful outcomes for projects.
Delivering greater value
The AgileBA framework helps agile team members and stakeholders understand how to work with business analysts to deliver the most value. The training provides insights and tools to help you to apply your business analysis skills in agile contexts, which is essential to deliver the right value to stakeholders.
Underlying philosophy
AgileBA training teaches you the underpinning philosophy, principles, and practices of AgileBA. By applying common agile practices such as timeboxing, facilitated workshops, and MoSCoW prioritisation, business analysts can produce, evaluate, and communicate deliverables effectively.
The AgileBA Handbook
Agile Business Analyst training complements the AgileBA Handbook. The handbook provides clarity and insights for people working on agile projects. It also aligns with the DSDM Agile Project Framework, making the skills taught through AgileBA training applicable to a wider range of agile project contexts.
What distinguishes AgileBA from other qualifications?
AgileBA stands out from other agile business analysis qualifications due to its comprehensive and robust method based on the agile project framework shared by DSDM and AgilePM. As one of the first truly agile management frameworks, DSDM/AgilePM has undergone extensive empirical testing, development, feedback, and evolution.
Business analyst role
The developers of AgileBA have taken care to address every aspect of the agile business analyst role, including those that are not adequately covered by other frameworks. For instance, AgileBA provides guidance on how to implement the business analyst role in Scrum, a method that lacks clear instruction on the subject.
Integration of business analysts into agile teams
AgileBA training helps business analysts adopt an agile approach in their work and enables project managers to understand the role of the agile business analyst. This facilitates the integration of agile business analysts into existing agile teams, allowing them to deliver value faster and more efficiently.
AgileBA Foundation training
AgileBA Practitioner training
Grow your business analyst career with a qualification
Continuing professional development
AgileBA is a specialised certification within the business analysis profession and a relatively recent addition to the list of agile qualifications.
Earning your AgileBA qualifications demonstrates a proactive approach to career development and initiative to acquire new skills.
As AgileBA is based on the same framework as other APMG International certifications, such as the well-known DSDM and AgilePM, it can help you discover new career paths in the agile industry, work more effectively with other members of an agile team, and progress to more advanced roles within your organisation.
Global employment opportunities
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI®), there will be a growing demand for nearly 88 million individuals in project management and related roles by 2027 [2]. This presents a significant employment opportunity for business analysts who have earned an AgileBA qualification.
As a specialised certification, an AgileBA qualification can set you apart from other job candidates, making you more competitive in the job market.
Furthermore, having a globally recognised qualification like AgileBA, in combination with your existing business analysis experience, can open employment opportunities in various parts of the world.
AgileBA Foundation training
AgileBA Practitioner training
Training your team
Using our expert trainers, we can deliver AgileBA training to your team at your premises anywhere in the world. Or we can deliver training via our online virtual classroom platform. This can even support hybrid classrooms where remote learners join a physical class using the virtual classroom software.
Training can be off-the-peg accredited AgileBA training with or without exams or can be customised to your needs.
To find out more about how our consultants can help your team, get in touch with us.
References
[1] Glassdoor. 2022. Salary: Agile Business Analyst (May 2022) | Glassdoor. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/agile-business-analyst-salary-SRCH_KO0,22.htm [Accessed 15 February 2023].
[2] PMI | 2017 | Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017-2027 | PMI [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.pmi.org/learning/careers/job-growth [Accessed 15 February 2023].