Let us observe who is Scrum Master and what Scrum Master Role is in a Project.
Scrum team includes of Scrum Master, Product Owner and Development Team.
Let us discuss some important roles of the Scrum master’s in project:
The primary responsibility of the Scrum Master is to build a Team. And he works closely with the team to deliver the project without bugs and he ensures to deliver on time. To achieve this Scrum Master needs to coordinate and discuss with internal and external stakeholders. Scrum Master acts as a guide for Scrum process, assistant, coach, facilitator and change agent.
Scrum Master facilitates the Scrum activities and removes impediment’s so that the team can build successful product. Scrum Master closely works with the team to understand the team concerns and challenges, and he works with the concerned teams to provide solution to the team to deliver successful product.
Facilitator: To adopt scrum for team, maintain transparency, bring effectiveness in meetings, resolve conflicts and bring best of team.
Guide: Scrum master act as a guide, he explains scrum frame work, roles, responsibilities and activities to the scrum team.
Let us discuss here how to write user stories and what are 3 C’s of User Story.
User Stories and how to write user Stories
When we are working on agile process (methodology), user stories are very important. Because we have to write requirements as a user story to understand easily.
To write user stories first we need to understand who the user/Actor is and what his role in application is and what actions user will perform by using this product.
User story should be understandable
And User story should be Testable.
Usually product owner will write the user stories with the help of the team, team will participate on discussions to understand what the requirement is clearly.
A User Story has three primary components. Before writing user story we must understand below.
Who is the user?
What action he will perform?
What outcome or benefit he will get?
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This is the standard template using to write user stories.
As a <user role> of the product,
I can <action>
So that <benefit>.
In other words, the written text of the story, the invitation to a conversation, must address the “who”, “what” and “why” of the story.
What are The Three ‘C’s of User Story
Card: The Card, or written text of the User Story is best understood as an invitation to conversation.
Conversation. The collaborative conversation facilitated by the Product Owner which involves all stakeholders and the team.
Confirmation.
Let us discuss in detail below what are the 3 C’s of User Story
Discussions/ Team meetings:
The collaborative conversation facilitated by the Product Owner / Scrum master which involves all stakeholders and the team.
As much as possible, this is an in-person conversation.
The conversation is where the real value of the story lies, and the written Card should be adjusted to reflect the current shared understanding of this conversation.
This conversation is mostly verbal but most often supported by documentation and ideally automated tests of various sorts
Confirmation
The Product Owner must confirm that the story is complete before it can be considered “done” The team and the Product Owner check the “done status” of each story in light of the Team’s current definition of “done” .Specific acceptance criteria that is different from the current definition of “done” can be established for individual stories, but the current criteria must be well understood and agreed to by the Team. All associated acceptance tests should be in a passing state.
The test for determining whether or not a story is well understood and ready for the team to start working on it is the INVEST acronym:
Independent — The story should be independent.
Negotiable — Can this story be changed or removed without impact to everything else?
Valuable — Does this story have value to the end user?
Estimable — Can you estimate the size of the story?
Small —Is it small enough?
Testable — User story should be testable.
User Stories FAQ
What is a user story in Agile?
A user story is a tool used in Agile software development to capture a description of a software feature from an end user perspective. The user story describes the type of user, what they want and why. … A user story can be considered a starting point to a conversation that establishes the real product requirement.
What are 3 C's in user stories?
The Three ‘C’s This discovery occurs through conversation and collaboration around user stories. In other words, the written text of the story, the invitation to a conversation, must address the “who”, “what” and “why” of the story
What are the characteristics of a user story?
The INVEST acronym, given by Bill Wake, suggests characteristics of good user stories. The acronym stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimative, Small, and Testable. Let us examine each characteristic in detail. User Stories are often inherently dependent on each other
Who writes a user story?
Anyone can write user stories. It’s the product owner’s responsibility to make sure a product backlog of agile user stories exists, but that doesn’t mean that the product owner is the one who writes them. Over the course of a good agile project, you should expect to have user story examples written by each team member.
How do you define a user story?
A user story is a tool used in Agile software development to capture a description of a software feature from an end-user perspective. A user story describes the type of user, what they want and why. A user story helps to create a simplified description of a requirement
Are user stories requirements?
A User Story is a requirement expressed from the perspective of an end-user goal. User Stories may also be referred to as Epics, Themes or features but all follow the same format. A User Story is really just a well-expressed requirement. … It defines the requirement in language that has meaning for that role
Differences between waterfall and Agile Methodology / Agile vs Waterfall
To understand what are the differences between waterfall methodology (Agile vs Waterfall) and Agile Methodology, first we will understand what are the advantages and disadvantages of these methodologies then we will look into Agile vs Waterfall.
Before learning Agile vs Waterfall we will discuss what are the advantages and disadvantages of Waterfall and Agile Methodologies.
It is one the easiest model to manage. Because of its nature, each phase has specific deliverable’s and a review process. In each phase we will get to know what to deliver and when to deliver.
Faster delivery of the project
Process and results are well documented and documentation plays important role in Waterfall methodology.
Easily adaptable method for shifting teams.
This project management methodology is useful to manage dependencies.
It works well for smaller size projects where requirements are easily understandable.
Disadvantages of Waterfall Methodology(Model):
This model is not suggestible for Large projects
If the requirement is not clear at the beginning, we can’t use waterfall methodology because every phase is dependent on previous phase.
Here next phase will start once previous phase completed.
Very difficult to move back to makes changes in the previous phases.
The testing process starts once development is over. Hence, it has high chances of bugs to be found later in development where they are expensive to fix.
There is no team work in this model.
Difficult to manage change requests in this model.
Agile teams are extremely motivated and self-organized so it likely to provide a better results from the development projects.
Client involves in every phase of the SDLC, so requirements are clear and if team needs any clarifications also we can close as soon as possible.
Agile software development method assures that quality of the development is maintained
The process is completely based on the incremental progress. Therefore, the client and team know exactly what is complete and what is not. This reduces risk in the development process.
Change requests are welcomed at any phase of the SDLC.
Disadvantages of Agile Methodology(Model):
It is not useful method for small development projects.
It requires an expert to take important decisions in the meeting.
What are the difference between Waterfall and Agile Model?
Agile vs Waterfall
Difference between Agile and Waterfall Methodologies/ Agile vs Waterfall
Agile
Waterfall
It separates the project development lifecycle into sprints.
Software development process is divided into separate phases.
It follows an incremental approach
Waterfall methodology is a sequential design process.
Agile methodology is known for its flexibility.
Waterfall is a structured software development methodology so most times it can be quite rigid.
Agile can be considered as a collection of many different projects.
Software development will be completed as one single project.
Agile is quite a flexible method which allows changes to be made in the project development requirements even if the initial planning has been completed.
There is no scope of changing the requirements
Agile methodology, follow an iterative development approach because of this planning, development, prototyping and other software development phases may appear more than once.
All the project development phases like designing, development, testing, etc. are completed once in the Waterfall model.
Test plan is reviewed after each sprint
The test plan is rarely discussed during the test phase.
Agile development is a process in which the requirements are expected to change and evolve.
The method is ideal for projects which have definite requirements and changes not expected.
In Agile methodology, testing is performed concurrently with software development.
In this methodology, the “Testing” phase comes after the “Build” phase
Agile introduces a product mindset where the software product satisfies needs of its end customers and changes itself as per the customer’s demands.
This model shows a project mindset and places its focus completely on accomplishing the project.
Prefers small but dedicated teams with a high degree of coordination and synchronization.
Team coordination/synchronization is very limited.
Products owner with team prepares requirements just about every day during a project.
Business analyst prepares requirements before the beginning of the project.
Test team can take part in the requirements change without problems.
It is difficult for the test to initiate any change in requirements.
Description of project details can be altered anytime during the SDLC process.
Detail description needs to implement waterfall software development approach.
The Agile Team members are interchangeable, as a result, they work faster. There is also no need for project managers because the projects are managed by the entire team
In the waterfall method, the process is always straightforward so, project manager plays an essential role during every stage of SDLC.
Agile and Waterfall are very different software development methodologies and are good in their respective way. Organizations will follow the methodology which suits for the project and requirements how ever it is better to know the differences between Agile and Waterfall (Agile vs Waterfall).
Usually Waterfall methodology will be used for small projects where requirements are clear and there is no chance to change the requirements.
Usually Agile methodology will be used for large projects where requirements are not clear and client is changing the requirements frequently.
Documentation plays important role in waterfall methodology.
Difference between Waterfall and Agile Methodologies
Let us discuss and observe below in details what is the Difference between Waterfall and Agile Methodologies.
difference between Waterfall and AgileAdvantages of Waterfall Model:
It is one the easiest model to manage. Because of its nature, each phase has specific deliverable’s and a review process. In each phase we will get to know what to deliver and when to deliver.
Faster delivery of the project
Process and results are well documented and documentation plays important role in Waterfall methodology.
Easily adaptable method for shifting teams.
This project management methodology is useful to manage dependencies.
It works well for smaller size projects where requirements are easily
understandable.
Disadvantages of Waterfall Model:
This model is not suggestible for Large projects
If the requirement is not clear at the beginning, we can’t use waterfall
methodology because every phase is dependent on previous phase.
Here next phase will start once previous phase completed.
Very difficult to move back to makes changes in the previous phases.
The testing process starts once development is over. Hence, it has high
chances of bugs to be found later in development where they are expensive to fix.
There is no team work in this model.
Difficult to manage change requests in this model.
Advantages of the Agile Model:
Agile teams are extremely motivated and self-organized so it likely to provide a better results from the development projects.
Client involves in every phase of the SDLC, so requirements are clear and if team needs any clarifications also we can close as soon as possible.
Agile software development method assures that quality of the development is
maintained
The process is completely based on the incremental progress. Therefore, the client and team know exactly what is complete and what is not. This reduces risk in the development process.
Change requests are welcomed at any phase of the SDLC.
Disadvantages of Agile Model
It is not useful method for small development projects.
It requires an expert to take important decisions in the meeting.
By reading above we can understand difference between waterfall and Agile.
Let us observe in table in details what are the difference between Waterfall and Agile
Difference between waterfall and Agile Methodologies
Agile
Waterfall
It separates the project development lifecycle into sprints.
Software development process is divided into separate
phases.
It follows an incremental approach
Waterfall methodology is a sequential design process.
Agile methodology is known for its flexibility.
Waterfall is a structured software development methodology
so most times it can be quite rigid.
Agile can be considered as a collection of many different
projects.
Software development will be completed as one single
project.
Agile is quite a flexible method which allows changes to
be made in the project development requirements even if the initial planning
has been completed.
There is no scope of changing the requirements
Agile methodology, follow an iterative development
approach because of this planning, development, prototyping and other
software development phases may appear more than once.
All the project development phases like designing,
development, testing, etc. are completed once in the Waterfall model.
Test plan is reviewed after each sprint
The test plan is rarely discussed during the test phase.
Agile development is a process in which the requirements
are expected to change and evolve.
The method is ideal for projects which have definite
requirements and changes not expected.
In Agile methodology, testing is performed concurrently
with software development.
In this methodology, the “Testing” phase comes
after the “Build” phase
Agile introduces a product mindset where the software
product satisfies needs of its end customers and changes itself as per the
customer’s demands.
This model shows a project mindset and places its focus
completely on accomplishing the project.
Prefers small but dedicated teams with a high degree of
coordination and synchronization.
Team coordination/synchronization is very limited.
Products owner with team prepares requirements just about
every day during a project.
Business analyst prepares requirements before the
beginning of the project.
Test team can take part in the requirements change without
problems.
It is difficult for the test to initiate any change in
requirements.
Description of project details can be altered anytime
during the SDLC process.
Detail description needs to implement waterfall software
development approach.
The Agile Team members are interchangeable, as a result,
they work faster. There is also no need for project managers because the
projects are managed by the entire team
In the waterfall method, the process is always
straightforward so, project manager plays an essential role during every
stage of SDLC.
Agile and Waterfall are very different software development methodologies
and are good in their respective way. Organizations will follow the methodology
which suits for the project and requirements.
Usually Waterfall methodology will be used for small projects where requirements are clear and there is no chance to change the requirements.
Usually Agile methodology will be used for large projects where requirements are not clear and client is changing the requirements frequently.
Documentation plays important role in waterfall methodology.
I hope it helped you to understand the difference between waterfall and agile.
In interview also they may ask what is the difference between waterfall and agile methodology.
If you need any clarifications on difference between waterfall and agile, you can post here.
Agile Methodology in Software Development Life Cycle
Now a day’s most of the companies are looking for Agile methodology because it is light weight and faster delivery. We can say if we not mentioned Agile methodology in our resume we may not get calls from the interviewer also.Let us discuss what is Agile methodology and advantages
What is Agile Methodology in Software Development Life Cycle
Minimum documentation
Agile Methodology is one of the methodologies under which we will develop a software/application in incremental base and deliver it in small chunks.
Scrum: Scrum is not a methodology, Scrum is a framework. That means it provides opportunity to work as per the project needs or requirements with cross functional team to reach the project goals.
Mostly it will use in implementation of projects.
Product Backlog :
Need to prepare the product backlog, it contains the list of user stories, user story is nothing but requirements.
Once we prepare the Product backlog, will prioritize the user stories which can be implemented in this Sprint.
Scrum Roles:
Product Owner(PO):He will decide what needs to done in this sprint/project and he is the responsible for managing the product backlog. He will be the responsible person for product like how product should be and all. He interacts with Business Analysts and Customers. This role may be played by BA or any person who is having strong knowledge on product and who works with end users for a long time. Depends on the project client also may play this role.
Scrum Master (SM) : He will monitor the performance of the team within the sprint. Team will raise all their concerns and issues to scrum master. He is responsible to provide solutions to the team. He will interact with the stake holders to address the issues and concerns raised by the team. This role can be played by any person in team usually Business Analyst will play this role.
Development Team ( Cross functional team who are self organized)
Scrum Team: Resources who are working in this project are formed as Scrum team which comprises of Business Analyst, Developers and Testers.
Sprint Zero:
In this phase all the stakeholders will join in meeting, and we have high level requirements in this phase.
Based on the requirements Product backlog will be created Product backlog will have user stories (user stories means Requirements.). Once Product backlog is prepared, there will be 3 activities performed (a) along with core team – Scrum master will conduct story point estimation session. In this session team will discuss on prioritized requirements, how many man days needed and how to do and all. (b) Team will prepare high level architecture document (c) Release Planning
Sprint Planning
Sprint : Sprint is nothing more than that set period of a time to complete the prioritized requirements, usually sprint duration is two weeks. It may vary based on the product and project. Usually for banking project they scheduled for 4 weeks.
Assigned work should be completed within the sprint and it should be ready for product owner to review the completed task.
Before development starts, team will do sprint planning. i.e how many sprints are required to complete the project? Which stories will go under which sprint? Usually sprint duration will be ranging from 2-4 weeks maximum. Sprint-1 starts During sprint, we will take the user stories Design>> Develop>>Test>> Integrate We will have ‘Show & Tell’ Session. Product owner will give his feedback in this session. If any rework to be done based on feedback, we will take those points and add it to next sprint. (these points to be updated in Product backlog as user stories) Participants : Client, developers, testing team and Business Analyst.
Business Analyst will split the requirements and prepares the product backlog.
Will discuss with the client regarding backlog, then client will prioritize the requirements which we need to deliver on priority. So, team will first work on prioritized requirements only.
For example, out of ten requirements client prioritized 1,2 and 3.
So, in this sprint planning session we will discuss about 1,2 and 3 only even though we have 10 requirements in backlog.
Business analyst will write user stories; user story is nothing but requirement.
Will discuss about how much effort needed to complete this prioritized user stories.
Will use the JIRA tool to track the requirements.
Release Testing
Release testing is done by product owner. This is similar to UAT phase of Waterfall. Product owner will test the functionality and ensure all the stories are covered. If any defects that will be taken care from core team
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Release & Deploy/Go live/Implementation:
In the typical waterfall, we will have one release. In agile methodology project there can be multiple releases. Releases are done based on the release planning. Release decision will be Product owner decision. We can group sprints under release-1, release-2, release-3 based on the need and we implement as per release plan.
Support and Maintenance:
As per the alignment, there will be warranty of 6 months, 12 months , 2 years or more. Core team will support during this period and once warranty is done. Project will be closed.
Meetings:
Daily Scrum Meeting: This happens every day where team will just discuss on 3 questions. Everyone should participate in this meeting, and meeting should be completed in 15 to 30 minutes.
What you do today?
What will you do tomorrow?
Is there any impediments stopping you?
Sprint Review Meeting:
This will happen at the end of the sprint where team will give demo on completed stories to product owner.
Sprint retrospective Meeting: This will happen at the end of the sprint where team will answer these 3 questions.
What went well in the sprint?
What did not go well?
What are the required areas of improvements in next sprint?
Scrum Meetings
Business Analyst Role in Agile Methodology Scrum :
To start with, once a project kicked off, BA does the requirement planning, then conducts various requirement gathering sessions and analyses the requirement.
Then the requirement is listed as “Feature List” This feature list is drafted by Business Analyst and he will discuss with product owner. This feature list will have all enhancements and existing features.
From the Feature list, BA identifies the Epic and breaks them as Themes and then to User Stories.
User story
User Story will have below information:User Stories
As a <user>
I want to <What is the purpose>
So that <What you gain by this story>
Ex : As a customer
I want to login to the net banking
so that I can perform banking activities.
Acceptance Criteria:
This area will have mandatory information that is needed for this user story.
Then Business Analyst briefs the story to development team and regularly supports the team for development.
And Business Analyst also does the integration Testing and system testing to ensure the system performs as per requirement.
I hope this helped you to provide the overview of Agile Methodology
To know more about Agile Methodology you can visit Agile Methodology official website.
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Agile FAQS
What is agile and how it works?
Agile is a process that helps teams provide quick and unpredictable responses to the feedback they receive on their project. It creates opportunities to assess a project’s direction during the development cycle. Teams assess the project in regular meetings called sprints or iterations
What is the difference between Scrum and agile?
Difference Between Agile and Scrum. Agile describes a set of guiding principles that uses iterative approach for software development, while Scrum is a specific set of rules that are to be followed while practicing the Agile software development.
What are the 12 Principles of Agile?
Satisfy the Customer. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. Welcome Change. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. … Deliver Frequently. … Work Together. … Build Projects. … Face-To-Face Time. … Measure of Progress. … Sustainable Development.
What are the 4 values of agile?
individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; and. responding to change over following a plan.
What is agile tool?
Jira Software is an agile project management tool that supports any agile methodology, be it scrum, kanban, or your own unique flavor. From agile boards to reports, you can plan, track, and manage all your agile software development projects from a single tool
What is Agile SDLC?
Agile SDLC model is a combination of iterative and incremental process models with focus on process adaptability and customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of working software product. Agile Methods break the product into small incremental builds.
Why Agile is used?
and Why Do We Use It? Agile Methodology is a type of project management process. The agile method anticipates change and allows for much more flexibility than traditional methods. Clients can make small objective changes without huge amendments to the budget or schedule
Here I want to share Business Analyst role in Agile project, now a days most of the companies are looking for Agile methodology because software will be delivered frequently so that client will happy.
I observed people are thinking Business Analyst is needed in Waterfall methodology and not needed for Agile Methodology as it is team work and scrum team will handle everything. Business analyst title is not present in scrum roles; however someone needs to analyze the requirements and should be decision maker. Business Analyst job is not only to prepare the documents.
I can say Business Analyst is needed when we are working on Agile Methodology too, because even if we are following Agile methodology below things needs to be followed.
Elicitate the requirements
Analyze the Requirements
And prepare the documents, (here need not to maintain the documentation as we maintained in Waterfall methodology, however BA needs to document the requirements in the form of User Stories.
BA needs to track the requirements.
Communicate with internal and external stakeholder to deliver the requirements on time without bugs.
Can read below to understand the Business Analyst Role:
I feel it helps you to understand the overview of Business Analyst Role in Agile Project.
If you want to do certification, then you can visit IIBA
FAQs
What are the roles and responsibilities of business analyst?
Business analysts (BAs) are responsible for bridging the gap between IT and the business using data analytics to assess processes, determine requirements and deliver data-driven recommendations and reports to executives and stakeholders.
Are there business analysts in agile?
There is an opportunity for Business Analysts to become effective members of an agile team but they need to be prepared to rethink the way they approach their jobs. … Additionally, while Business Analysts provide significant value to an Agile team, all team members have a responsibility to do “business impact analysis”
Can a business analyst become a scrum master?
No, You Cannot Be The Business Analyst and ScrumMaster. The ScrumMaster focuses on the team and how to continuously improve. The Business Analyst focuses on product backlog, stakeholders, and customer needs. Despite these shared skills, it is difficult for one person to assume both roles successfully . It depends on organization to organization. In some companies Business Analyst act as a Scrum Master.
What does a business analyst do agile?
What is an Agile Business Analyst? The main goal of an Agile Business Analyst is to solve business problems as and when they occur. While the rest of the Agile team is focused on producing new pieces of working software in every iteration or sprint, they are focused on the main goal of the entire project.
Is business analyst part of agile team?
Even though the role of business analyst is rarely mentioned in descriptions of agile it does not mean that business analysis does not occur. In fact, agile’s focus on delivering value to customers requires the entire team to collaboratively perform business analysis on a frequent basis.
What is a BA called in agile?
Agile Business Analyst Summary: The business analyst (BA) has played a key role in software development. But within a modern agile context, the role of the BA is less clear, and there is some confusion as to whether the product owner role subsumes that of the traditional BA.
What is the role of business analyst in sprint planning?
The business analyst’s role in Sprint planning is to mentor, coach and support the PO in ensuring the product backlog items (PBIs) for a particular Sprint are “ready” (refined) as possible.
Does business analyst write user stories?
User stories are written throughout the agile project, however, the Business Analyst assigned to the project should produce user stories in the discovery phase. After the discovery phase, everyone on the team will then participate to create a product backlog of user stories
Is a scrum master a business analyst?
No, You Cannot Be The Business Analyst and ScrumMaster.
The Scrum Master focuses on the team and how to continuously improve. The Business Analyst focuses on product backlog, stakeholders, and customer needs. Despite these shared skills, it is difficult for one person to assume both roles successfully.
Where does a BA fit in Scrum?
The Business Analyst, also known as BA, plays a crucial and drastic role in the Scrum Team, though a BA role is not formally defined in the Scrum Framework. They act as the link between the Product Owner/customer and the technical IT team
What are the essential qualities of an agile BA?
Key Characteristics of a Good Agile Business Analyst
Communication Expert. Effective communication is the key to the success of any business. …
Problem-Solving Ability. …
Critical Thinking. …
Analytical Bend of Mind. …
Process Modelling. …
Relationship Building Skill.
Which is a better role Scrum Master or business analyst?
The scrum master ensures the team’s efficiency, consistency, and continuous development. On the other hand, a business analyst is more objective, focusing on the business operations or requirements and tackling concerns such as product backlogs, customer needs, marketing strategies, etc
