Tight timelines put pressure on the entire project team. When the project plan dictates unreasonable durations, BAs become document dispensers focused on cranking out BRDs or cramming user stories into JIRA.
PM pressure often forces BAs to focus on documents instead of dialog. BAs feel pressured to start with templates and use line-by-line document review to generate discussion. But this is backwards and it’s NOT faster! It’s actually a long, painful process that stakeholders loathe.
Modern PMs and BAs understand the drawbacks of the “write-review-repeat” cycle—it produces unstable, ever-changing requirements.
Instead of forcing text-based document review from day one, the modern team supports a requirements process that begins with stakeholder dialog and analysis. The modern BA elicits and models techniques to facilitate structured conversation with stakeholders about the current state, future state, people impacted, process, data, rules, etc.
If you start by developing shared understanding, then the rest of the process (document writing, review and approval) moves along quickly. Overall, this collaborative approach is faster and yields higher quality requirements.
Learn more by reading my recent BA Times article: “Is Your Project Manager-Business Analyst Collaboration a Pressure Cooker?”