5 Strategies For BA Within Software Projects
In a world of assumptions, Business Analysts ask the right questions.
Sticking to a set strategy within a software development projects is almost impossible.
With changing client demands, issues around clarity of process flows and obstacles to overcome with legacy technology systems - it’s often unsurprising that software development projects are delayed and likely over-budget.
As for the Business Analyst’s amongst you, how does this impact you?
Well, aside from the all to common banging your head the against wall practices, it can lead to re-defining of business requirements, multiple meetings to clarify stakeholder expectation and refinement of process flows and acceptance criteria. All that, alongside ensuring the build, test and change management teams are well versed in what is aiming to achieved - a walk in the park.
Yet, your trusted partner is here to share some strategies as to how to overcome this, and for this to make sense, I will use the following Agile framework of (1) Plan (2) Design (3) Develop (4) Test (5) Deploy (6) Review
Business Analysis Strategies: Lessons from 6 Years in the Agile Trenches
Quick overview: the agile Business Analyst plays a hybrid role: part strategist, part business communicator, part technical translator and the overall glue for the whole project to function.
🧭 Planning
Being involved in the planning stage for a BA is incredibly valuable - often however, the strategy, vision and scope is set well before the BA even hears the projects name for the first time. Becoming familiar with the projects intended goals in crucial to understand what is being proposed, by when and at what level of detail.
Tip: Capability maps set the direction and intended areas to develop which align to the organisations strategic objectives - a BA should get familiar with this mapping as it can contribute to the development of epics and user stories.
📊 Analysis
Business Analyst who are familiar with the technology, tools, systems around the software that is being built - have a winning edge. Those who don’t, you will by the end of the project. This phase is critical for the BA, in understanding the business needs, documenting the high-level requirements, and managing the backlog that builds. Often this is done through workshops, interviews and survey gathering methods.
Once high-level requirements are elicited, the task is now to convert them to user stories and prioritise them according to technical feasibility and build estimations - using a MoSCoW (Must have, should have, could have, won’t have) framework and allocating a rough estimate of build time is what I’ve seen work in the past.
Tip:
Workshops Planning are a great way to involve multiple stakeholders early on, it helps surface core business challenges collectively and avoids gathering information in a siloed manner.
Prioritisation Matrix to ensure teams are onboard with changes and know what can be delivered.
Process Flow Diagrams: To display the current and potential future-state changes.
📊 Design
The requirements are signed off, stakeholders aligned on what is to be delivered - everyone is happy.
Until they’re not. It’s mid-way through the sprint a new requirement surfaces, which requires the business analyst to analyse along with the solution architect, to determine the build estimates and technical feasibility. The new user story could have knock-on impacts to the stories already built and ready for quality assurance. Often the design phase requires multiple iterations, demos and feedback from the client to ensure the requirements are built in the right way.
Tips: Ensure story point estimates are as accurate as possible to provide the build team with realistic completion goals. The BA should work closely with the solution architect to ensure the user stories are refined and any open questions are addressed with the client.
🏗️ Build
Development starts once user stories are solutioned - yet the BA doesn’t disappear here. Agile delivery is a live sport—BA’s are coaching, clarifying, and course-correcting in real time. The BA plays a crucial role in more technical stand-ups and ensuring any changes which are fed through (yes they do happen mid-way through sprints) are captured clearly and communicated to all relevant parties who may be affected. This can help in speeding up the process for build/test teams and facilitate in identification of any bugs before they are raised.
Tips: Demos are a great way to exhibit what has been built without going into the technical/coding jargon. BAs can fact-check that the configurations have been built correctly and as intended for the end-users.
🧪 Test
A strong BA adds value here by defining meaningful test scenarios and acceptance criteria—before code is written.
Quick win: Pair with QA early. Use your business lens to guide edge case thinking—this partnership reduces defect leakage and boosts trust.
Don't forget: Incorporating exploratory testing scenarios from the business point of view catches what automation often misses.
Deployment:
Post implementation maintenance.
Change management and impact assessments.
The BA’s role in the SDLC is crucial in bridging the gap between business needs and technical solutions. By effectively managing these stages, a BA ensures that the software not only meets the requirements but also adds value to the business. Whether using Waterfall, Agile, or any other model, the BA’s involvement is key to the project’s success.
RICE Scoring – When backlog items pile up, RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) keeps prioritization defensible and transparent.
Bonus: My “Quick Wins” Survival Kit for Busy BAs
Templates: Keep go-to templates (context canvas, journey map, decision logs) in a shared folder—teams love speed.
Language: Use visual language. Whiteboards, Miro, or Lucidchart > long email threads.
Curiosity: Ask “why” until you can’t anymore. Then ask “what happens if we don’t build this?”
Let’s move beyond ticket-churning and become strategic influencers. That’s the real win.
👋 Curious—what’s your go-to analysis strategy when a project starts in chaos?
#BusinessAnalysis #Agile #ProductStrategy #BACommunity #ConsultingLife #QuickWins
Iterative and Incremental:
Agile projects are developed in iterations, with each iteration delivering a working version of the product.
Customer Collaboration:
Agile teams actively collaborate with customers to understand their needs and adapt the project accordingly.
Responding to Change:
Agile is designed to handle changes in requirements and priorities throughout the project lifecycle.
Continuous Feedback:
Agile teams gather and act on feedback regularly to improve the product and process.
from fintech to logistics—I’ve seen firsthand how the right strategy can mean the difference between a stalled initiative and a product that delivers real business value. If you’re a BA (or managing one), this post is for you.
Discovery / Refinement / Build / Test
The customer (clients) demands are constantly evolving, one minute they have a concept in mind and the next internal politics arises and causes a change to direction and approach - resulting in changing reqs or re-prioritisng the reqs in focus to be built. It results in a potential slow down.
Around Miro , Co-Pilot, Lucid Chart,
Mention tools like Figma, PPT, etc
