I’ve been on the road this fall, sharing my “Face the Strange” message with conference attendees across the United States. Inspired by David Bowie’s 1971 song, “Changes,” I am encouraging BAs to face and embrace the changes taking place in our industry.
Many changes are being driven by an intense interest in making the solution delivery processes agile, adaptable and valuable, which often leads to new roles and modified team structures.
For example, many organizations are introducing the product owner role. As they integrate this new role into their solution delivery process, a bit of strangeness ensues, forcing the entire team to rethink roles and responsibilities. Especially confusing is the apparent overlap between the role of the BA and the role of the PO. How do they work together? If your struggling with integration of the PO role, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- How do the BA and the PO collaborate?
- Do the BA and the PO both work on details or does the PO stay conceptual?
- Which techniques does each role manage? Who runs a requirements workshop? Who facilitates a status meeting or a prioritization session? Who creates personas or road maps?
- What is the role of the BA or PO within the team? Does the role change if your team is agile or waterfall? Does the PO face outward and the BA face inward?
- How are decisions made? Do the BA and the PO work together to make decisions or does the PO have full decision-making authority?
- Is there a hierarchy? Does the PO manage the BA or are they equals/peers/partners?