Getting good user stories from business analysts
Learn how to craft effective user stories — read on for essential analyst insights.
Introduction
A lot has been said and written about user stories and their role in an agile context. But what are people actually writing as user stories?
It doesn’t matter if you are agile or traditional in your approach, poorly written requirements are one of the major causes of project failure. This is where the business analyst comes to the fore.
At agileKRC we believe that understanding the business analyst role and the powerful effect it has is pivotal to success when working in an agile way. The business analyst is the role which should write the requirements.
There are 7 things to keep in mind when writing good requirements:
- Keep asking ‘why’.
- Build on the User Story structure.
- Go for purity – avoid the solution.
- Interact.
- Start with the end in mind.
- Beware the role of the Product Owner.
- Move centre stage – become pivotal.
Video
In this video, Keith Richards, the Founder of agileKRC explains why the agile business analyst role is so important in agile, the importance of getting good requirements and user stories in an agile context, and the harsh realities about requirements.
The video is a recording of a webinar in which Keith answers these questions:
- Why is the business analyst role so important in the agile space?
- Why is this role missing from most agile approaches?
- Why is it vital to write good requirements and user stories?
- What can go wrong without a business analyst?
- How does the business analyst blend in with the team and stakeholders?
- What is the difference between a business analyst and a Scrum Product Owner?