Overview:

Rapidly changing market conditions are requiring companies to shorten delivery cycles and become more responsive to customer expectations. Agile development methodologies are leading the way, helping software development teams adjust to the new economy. Agile challenges our notion of software engineering best practices, project management methodology, and how we lead our teams. The Agile movement impacts every role on a project team differently and creates opportunities to learn new skills and develop new ways of working together.

Agile development is having a significant impact on the Business Analyst community. Agile introduces a significant shift in how teams look at requirements and when they are defined in the process. Agile Business Analysts are an integrated part of the team throughout the life of the project and facilitate collaboration across a broader cross section of the project team and the business. Collaboration, facilitation, leadership, coaching, and team building become significant new skills required for Business Analysts on Agile projects. Leadership and collaboration are key components critical to their success.

With these new skills and new ways of looking at the development process, Business Analysts are well positioned to become critical to the success of Agile teams.