Agile Business Analysis Common Agile Analysis Techniques 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A BA is analyzing a process using value stream mapping. The 'process time' versus 'lead time' ratio reveals:
- Team velocity relative to planned capacity
- The proportion of time spent adding value versus total elapsed time (Correct answer)
- The number of defects introduced per sprint
- The ratio of functional to non-functional requirements
Correct answer: The proportion of time spent adding value versus total elapsed time
Comparing process time to lead time reveals how much of the total flow time actually adds value, highlighting waste and inefficiency.
Question 2: Which technique would a BA use to identify risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies (RAID) early in an agile project?
- RAID log analysis (Correct answer)
- Story point estimation
- Release burndown tracking
- Cycle time analysis
Correct answer: RAID log analysis
A RAID log is a structured tool used to track and manage Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies throughout the project.
Question 3: An agile BA uses 'personas' as an analysis technique. The PRIMARY benefit of personas is:
- They replace the need for user interviews
- They create a shared, vivid representation of key user types to guide design decisions (Correct answer)
- They document system architecture decisions
- They serve as legal user consent records
Correct answer: They create a shared, vivid representation of key user types to guide design decisions
Personas give teams a concrete, shared understanding of user goals and behaviors, preventing generic 'user' thinking during analysis and design.
Question 4: During elaboration, a BA identifies a story that is too large to complete in one sprint. The BEST action is to:
- Carry the story across multiple sprints as a single item
- Split the story into smaller, independently deliverable stories (Correct answer)
- Assign the story to the most senior developer
- Convert the story to an epic and remove it from the active backlog
Correct answer: Split the story into smaller, independently deliverable stories
Splitting large stories into smaller, independently deliverable pieces ensures each can be completed within a sprint and delivers incremental value.
Question 5: A BA facilitates a 'pre-mortem' analysis technique before a release. This involves:
- Reviewing what went wrong after a failed release
- Imagining the project has already failed and working backward to identify causes (Correct answer)
- Calculating the cost of defects found in production
- Running regression tests on the release candidate
Correct answer: Imagining the project has already failed and working backward to identify causes
A pre-mortem asks the team to assume failure has occurred and then identify what could have caused it, surfacing risks proactively.
Question 6: In agile analysis, non-functional requirements (NFRs) are BEST handled by:
- Documenting them in a separate specification document never referenced during sprints
- Embedding them as acceptance criteria within relevant stories or as explicit backlog items (Correct answer)
- Treating them as out of scope for the agile team
- Handling them exclusively during the final sprint
Correct answer: Embedding them as acceptance criteria within relevant stories or as explicit backlog items
NFRs should be embedded as acceptance criteria in related stories or treated as first-class backlog items so they are not deferred or forgotten.
Question 7: A BA uses 'affinity mapping' after collecting a large volume of user feedback. The primary purpose is to:
- Score each feedback item by severity on a numeric scale
- Group related ideas or observations into themes to identify patterns (Correct answer)
- Assign feedback items to individual developers for resolution
- Create a prioritized list using weighted scoring
Correct answer: Group related ideas or observations into themes to identify patterns
Affinity mapping organizes large amounts of qualitative data into natural clusters or themes, making patterns and priorities visible.
Agile Business Analysis Common Agile Analysis Techniques 5
A BA is analyzing a process using value stream mapping.
The 'process time' versus 'lead time' ratio reveals: