Story Slicing
Impact Analysis is an indispensable technique that forms part of the Business Analysis toolkit. This technique is particularly crucial when there are proposed changes to a project, product, or system. Let's delve into the specifics to understand its structure, stages, and application in both adaptive and predictive project environments.
Why
Impact Analysis is essential for determining how a change will ripple through the various facets of a project. The objective is to make informed decisions based on the identified impacts, risks, and opportunities. This is to safeguard both the integrity of the project and to ensure that value is maximized for stakeholders.
Influenced Elements
Requirements Baseline
Using a traceability matrix or other tracking mechanisms, Impact Analysis helps in understanding the ripple effect on the existing requirements. Every requirement that could be influenced by the change is evaluated for potential alterations in its attributes, such as complexity, priority, and dependencies.
Conflict Assessment
By contrasting the proposed changes against the current backlog or requirements baseline, the business analyst identifies areas of conflict. The objective is to ensure that existing requirements aren't compromised or rendered obsolete due to the new change.
Business Analysis Activities
Business Analysis activities such as elicitation, validation, and documentation may need to be revisited post the change. This involves adjustments to the Business Analysis Plan, including possible re-allocation of resources, timeline revisions, and stakeholder re-engagement.
Project Management Considerations
The Impact Analysis isn't restricted to just business analysis facets; it extends to the project management sphere as well. This includes re-evaluating various management plans like scope management, time management, cost management, risk management, etc.
Recommendations
Following the evaluation, the business analyst synthesizes the findings into a coherent report. This report usually includes a recommendation that could range from immediate implementation, deferment, to complete rejection of the proposed change. The recommendation is often buttressed by a mini-business case or a cost-benefit analysis.
Story Slicing in the Context of Impact Analysis
Why Slice Stories?
Story slicing is a technique that has significant implications on Impact Analysis. Sometimes, requirements or user stories are too large to be effectively analyzed for impacts. In these cases, slicing these large stories or epics into smaller, manageable pieces enables a more focused Impact Analysis.
Mechanisms for Story Slicing
Slicing can be done in multiple ways—by interface, user or persona, functionality, data, business rules, constraints, or any combination thereof. The slices are then prioritized based on the value each delivers, making it easier to assess the impact of each slice individually and in combination.
Relation to Predictive Approaches
In predictive approaches, story slicing is akin to creating multiple scenarios from a broad requirement. Each scenario can then be subjected to Impact Analysis independently, allowing for a more granular understanding of potential effects.
Focus Areas
Sometimes slices are further divided or prioritized based on complexity, risks, or business value. For instance, if one slice involves significant changes to the database, a separate Impact Analysis might be conducted specifically for this slice due to its high complexity and risk.
By slicing stories and then conducting Impact Analysis on each slice, business analysts can more accurately estimate the consequences of proposed changes. This ensures that the implementation team can strategically focus their efforts where they will bring the most value and mitigate risk effectively.
Conclusion
Impact Analysis is a multi-faceted and deeply structured technique crucial for effective business analysis. The depth of this analysis can range depending on the project environment, but the core objective remains the same: to make informed decisions that add value to stakeholders while mitigating risks. Story slicing acts as an enabler in this context, allowing for a more focused and granular analysis.