What is Agile Analysis?

Agile analysis is being spoken of more and more frequently in the world of business analysts.  This form of analysis is becoming more and more popular as the next generation of business owners comes into play.  It is a more hands on approach to the business analysis.  There is more communication.  Face to face discussions occur more frequently.  E-mails and faxes are becoming few and far between.  So what is agile analysis?

Agile analysis is the warm concept of business trouble shooting.  The business analyst who uses agile analysis is more of a hands on type of person.  The stakeholders who demand agile analysis are more informed than the normal upper management.  Agile analysis incorporates all stakeholders and participants into one unit each with a given task.  Communication channels are always open when it is concerning agile analysis.  The qualified business analyst is more dependent on his or her people skills with agile analysis than any other type of productivity.

Analysis answers the questions of who, what, why, when, and where.  The infamous how much is also in there somewhere.  Who is it for?  What do they want?  Why do they want it? When do they want it?  How much is it going to cost?  Where will it be used?  If you can answer these questions with the data and information you gather then you are well on your way to solving the issues at hand.  With agile analysis throw all of this out the window.

Agile analysis is personable.  The business analyst will want to be in constant communication with the stakeholders.  He or she will want to have more personal contact with them versus e-mails and faxes.  The stakeholders are key in agile analysis.  They will be more of a hands on client.  They will want to be in every step of development.  

In short, with agile analysis the business analyst and development teams will work hand in hand to deliver working software in a quick manner.  They will be able to get face to face feedback allowing for changes to be made for the client.  A working model structure will target each step or phase.  The results will be classified as just in time solutions.

As each phase in presented the stakeholders will be able to generate questions of compatibility.  They will be able to analyze the progress to determine if it will still work within the guidelines of the scope of the project.  Each phase meeting will be a kind of question answer segment for the teams.  This will ensure all parties involved know what is happening and what is going to happen.

Agile analysis has become more widely used over the past few years.  Customers are finding they like the quick approach to the issues.  New business analysts are enjoying the close contact with the stakeholders. IT likes being able to produce code that is going to be utilized and not just dumped.  The end product is developed as an anticipated program.  Agile analysis in some cases can be more cost effective.  It is a win win situation.