Johannesburg, 02 Oct 2014
Collaborative agile teams hold the key to successful software development, particularly as companies are looking for quicker, more effective project delivery combined with a bigger return on investment.
That was one of the key themes running through the recent International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) SA Chapter Business Analysis South Africa Summit (BASSA) held in Sandton. IndigoCube sponsored international speakers from B2T Training International, Jonathan "Kupe" Kupersmith and Kent McDonald.
"The emphasis on seeing business analysis in the context of the team rather than as a standalone discipline derives from the agile approach, but it's something that has validity for software development as a whole, no matter what development philosophy is followed," says Robin Grace, principal consultant at IndigoCube, and one of the speakers at the conference. "The days of the business analyst, the tester, and the developer passing the spec between themselves are gone: now each one has to understand what the others do. Working as a team makes the process much more efficient."
It also, Grace adds, produces much better software that's more in line with what the business needed in the first place something that's increasingly vital as business's reliance on applications continues to grow.
This type of multi-disciplined, team-based approach to software development has big implications for the way in which team members are trained. For example, the whole team needs to be trained in business analysis for them to make an effective contribution to the team. Similarly all team members need to be trained in quality assurance and development concepts. This allows each member of the team to gain a much better insight into each other's skills and responsibilities. .
"Individuals need to become multi-skilled to make the team approach work, whilst still retaining primary focus on their specific areas of expertise," says Grace. "Business analysts typically have the skills and tools to enhance collaboration between team members. Understanding how to best use these skills and tools to enhance the way the team works can therefore be of great value in an agile team, or any other - provided, of course, they are prepared to break out of their traditional moulds."
Share