Business Analysis for Software Projects: Priorities, Challenges, KPIs, and More
Dear LinkedIn Community,
Welcome back to Velvetech’s IT Talks!
Proper business analysis is a sure way to level up your software project. It focuses on all areas of software success from how well it satisfies end-user needs to how much time developers need to spend on a particular feature to stay on budget.
In this Q&A we cover how to start with business analysis for software projects, anticipate challenges, measure success, and document what needs to be documented.
If any of the questions remain unanswered afterward, feel free to join an upcoming webinar, where our Senior Business Analyst will share even more best BA practices and answer hot questions.
Okay, don’t forget to reserve your spot, and explore this Q&A before we go real talk during the webinar!
Q1: How do I find and prioritize the main needs for a software project?
To identify crucial needs for a software project, start by engaging stakeholders. Conduct interviews, surveys, or workshops to gather input. You might use techniques like the MoSCoW method (Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, Won't-haves) to prioritize needs.
For example, in a project to develop a mobile banking app, must-have needs might include secure login, account balance check, and fund transfer features. For the MVP, you need to prioritize mobile features that users already expect based on their interaction with similar apps. But don’t forget to prioritize those unique competitor-fighting features as well to make a final difference with your app.
Q2: What problems might pop up during business analysis, and how do I solve them?
Issues during business analysis can range from conflicting requirements to changing priorities and, consequently, project delays. To solve conflicts, facilitate discussions between stakeholders. If priorities shift, reassess and update the project scope or requirements accordingly.
What can actually happen truly depends on the industry of operation and the type of software at the very minimum. Such as, in a project involving an e-commerce platform, conflicting needs might arise between the marketing team's wish for sale pop-ups and the development team's concern for website loading speed due to the higher demand during the event.
Make sure that the updated documentation and artifacts are properly shared with everyone to be aware of the latest decisions regarding pitfalls. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about these later on here.
Q3: What signs tell us if the business analysis and the whole project are doing well?
Success indicators for business analysis include stakeholder satisfaction, a clear and agreed-upon scope, and well-defined functional and non-functional requirements.?
领英推荐
Additionally, progress meeting timelines and budget expectations indicate project health. For instance, meeting milestones, such as completing user requirement documentation within the set time frame, signals project success.
If you’re looking for hardcore success KPI names, they usually include:
More likely you already get the idea behind them from how they sound. A good business analyst will be more than aware of how to calculate all of these to evaluate how your software project is doing.
Q4: What documentation and artifacts are made in business analysis, and how can it help later?
Documentation usually includes requirement specifications, process models, use cases, and wireframes. These help in future maintenance or enhancements by providing a clear understanding of the project scope and needs.
As we’ve mentioned earlier, you will want to update them in case of shifting requirements and use them as a single source of truth to stay on the same page with the stakeholders.
For example, in an app development project, use cases and wireframes assist in adding new features or modifying existing ones. You can store the versions of them and apply even more detailed user-centered product analysis later when different versions of your software have already been live for a while.?
Besides, these artifacts speak the common language of managers and tech-savvy guys. Both developers and management people can easily perceive these types of documents and translate them into what matters most for their role.
Q5: How can we make sure the software project fits our business aims and pleases our users? And, what methods gather those needs?
Align project goals with business objectives by regularly validating requirements against business aims. Techniques like surveys, focus groups, and user interviews capture user needs. It’s a good idea to hold them regularly rather than at the start exclusively. At the end of the day, you really want to know if users liked that new feature or if it all was just your BA’s fantasy.
For instance, in a mobile software project for a ride-sharing app, conducting user interviews might reveal the recently released feature for pre-booking rides was really handy for those who knew what they were about to do during the day. Your mobile app analysis outcomes were telling you this for months, but you were convinced that instant booking was the only reason why people used cabs at all!
Want to Give Business Analysis a Try?
Hopefully, you start with BA as smoothly as a good cab finds its passengers in the wildest destinations on a Friday night! A quick reminder, it’s still not too late to register for our Strategic BA webinar to learn more and ask your very own questions.?
Anyway, good luck with your BA efforts, and stay tuned for more software development best practices!