How Business Analysts Can Partner With the Technical Team

Today I'm continuing what is becoming an 8-part series on our 8-Step Business Analysis Process Framework.

(If you'd like to check out the first 5 parts of the series, you can find them on the Successful Business Analysis newsletter - while you are there be sure to hit "subscribe" to get notifications on all my new articles.)

And now we are on to step 6 - Support the Technical Implementation.

The shift from step 5 (Define the Detailed Requirements) to Step 6 represents a shift in energy. In the first 5 steps, the business analyst is driving the show and intentionally moving various elements of the project forward. Starting with step 6, the business analyst (unless they are filling the hybrid role of project manager) is in more of a responsive/supportive role.

Historically, this is where the requirements got "thrown over the wall" and the business analyst turned their attention to starting other projects.

But we all know that doesn't work! It's essential to maintain ongoing collaboration between the business and technical teams throughout the development of software, and the business analyst can help facilitate that.

Your key responsibilities in this step include:

• Review the solution design to ensure it fulfills all of the requirements and looking for opportunities to meet additional business needs without increasing the technical scope of the project. This is also a great way to learn about the technology systems even if you don't have a technical background or now how to code. Just be sure to stay in your lane - don't jump into debating the actual technical design but stay focused on how it fulfills the requirements and meets the business objectives (ask me how I know!).
• Update and/or repackage requirements documentation to make it useful for the technology design and implementation process. This could include splitting up user stories, getting the right details into Jira, or even creating different packages of requirements for the developers of different parts of the system.
• Engage with quality assurance professionals to ensure they understand the business context for the technical requirements. This responsibility may include reviewing test plans and/or test cases to ensure they represent a clear understanding of the functional requirements. Your testers may have more detailed questions about the requirements to ensure they know how to test they are fulfilled - be available to answer them! On that note....
• Making yourself available to answer questions and help resolve any issues that surface during the technical design, technical implementation, or testing phases of the project. And it's not a bad idea to proactively reach out if you haven't received any questions as that can be a red flag that assumptions are being made.
• Manage requirements changes to ensure that everyone is working from up-to-date documentation and that appropriate stakeholders are involved in all decisions about change.
• When appropriate, lead user acceptance testing efforts completed by the business community to ensure that the software implementation meets the needs of business end users. And then coordinating the feedback that goes back to the development team to ensure it's clear, de-duplicated, and represents feedback against the actual requirements. (As a side note, this was actually my first unofficial "BA" role that I filled as a Data Quality Assurance Engineer.)

All of these efforts help the implementation team fulfill the intended benefits of the project and ensure the investment made realizes a positive return.

And more than this, you'll build relationships, learn more about the technology being implemented, and experience the joy of seeing your requirements come to life! It's such an exciting time. I really can't believe that there was a time when we did NOT take this part of our role seriously.

Over to you - What are your best practices when it comes to partnering with the technical team? Please share in the comments!

And if you want the entire deep dive on the 8-step business analysis process framework, be sure to check out the BA Essentials Master Class, which goes through each of the 8 steps in more detail, and includes practical guidance on how to handle the most common challenges that pop up on projects.