Agile Business Analysis Flashcards

In Agile BA, what is the MAIN risk of having a 'groomed' backlog that is too large and extends many months into the future?

Answer: It creates false certainty and waste, since distant items will likely change before they are built

Over-grooming distant backlog items wastes effort because requirements and priorities change, making detailed preparation for far-future work likely obsolete.

Which Agile principle most directly supports the business analyst's role in reducing documentation overhead?

Answer: Working software over comprehensive documentation

The Agile Manifesto's principle of valuing working software over comprehensive documentation guides BAs to focus on just-enough, useful documentation.

A business analyst is asked to define the 'Definition of Ready' for user stories. Which criterion is MOST important to include?

Answer: The story is small enough to complete within one sprint and has clear acceptance criteria

A story is ready when it is small enough to fit in a sprint and has acceptance criteria that the team agrees make it testable and complete.

What is the BEST description of 'impact mapping' as used in Agile Business Analysis?

Answer: A collaborative planning technique that links business goals to user behaviors and deliverables

Impact mapping is a collaborative technique that connects the business goal to the actors who can influence it, the behaviors needed, and the deliverables that support those behaviors.

During sprint review, a stakeholder says the delivered feature doesn't meet their expectation even though it matches the acceptance criteria. What should the business analyst investigate FIRST?

Answer: Whether the acceptance criteria adequately captured the stakeholder's actual need

When delivered work meets criteria but misses expectations, the gap is usually in how well the acceptance criteria captured the true need.

Which Agile ceremony provides the BEST opportunity for a business analyst to validate that delivered features meet business objectives?

Answer: Sprint review

The sprint review is designed for the team to demonstrate working software to stakeholders and validate that it meets business objectives.

In Agile Business Analysis, 'tacit knowledge' refers to:

Answer: Knowledge that stakeholders possess but find difficult to articulate or write down

Tacit knowledge is know-how that people carry from experience but rarely state explicitly, making elicitation techniques like observation essential for capturing it.