Introduction
Depending on where you are in your agile business analyst career, we explain the key benefits of taking an AgileBA course and earning a professional qualification.
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Learn AgileBA to start your agile career
Growth of Agile
Agile has rapidly grown in popularity in the last 20 years. No longer an IT-specific framework, Agile has been successfully applied in all types of organisations in almost every industry!
In many cases, the development of Agile practices has progressed faster than the development of those professions which work in agile environments.
Project managers and business analysts are just a few examples of roles that, while not made redundant by agile practices, don’t quite ‘fit in’ with agile ways of working. That is, until now!
New qualification
Many organisations still try to ‘brute-force’ value out of traditional roles by applying traditional skills, tools, and processes to agile frameworks.
AgileBA is a newly created agile qualification scheme designed to help business analysts learn to fulfil their role in an agile project environment. It is also designed to help business owners learn the importance of how agile business analysis works in relation to the organisational mission and strategy.
Business analysis and agile
While traditional skills are still valuable, business analysts must learn new skills to deliver the full value made possible by Agile due to the different relationships between staff, managers, developers, and stakeholders.
Learning to work up to your full potential in an agile business analyst role can give you the edge over your competition and provide access to new, unique, and exciting career opportunities.
Is agile business analysis a good career?
Skills needed by business analysts
In general, business analysis is a varied and demanding career which requires a range of problem-solving, communication and time management skills.
These soft skills are even more critical in an agile business analyst role in which working alongside agile product owners and stakeholders is a vital function of the role.
Agile business analysts need flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing challenges, problems, and contexts.
It’s the perfect role for someone who values a dynamic work environment which requires continuous improvement of problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
Business analysts work at all levels
Agile business analysis is a great career choice for those looking for their first business analyst job.
Business analysts operate at all levels across an organisation. Junior agile analyst roles have a low barrier to entry as few junior analyst roles (outside of the IT sector) demand advanced technical skills. Instead, they prioritise soft skills and your ability to work in agile spaces.
Transferable skills
Working with an agile mindset requires agile practitioners to actively apply lessons learned while finding creative solutions to complex problems.
Luckily for those looking to begin a new career in agile, you may already have many of the skills that agile practitioners require.
If you’ve ever occupied a position that required open and transparent communication, creative thinking and problem solving, or the ability to work autonomously, you’ll find that many of these skills can be easily transferred to an agile role.
Salaries
The importance of business analysis and the ability of agile business analysts to generate value is reflected in the average salary of agile business analysts in the UK. The median salary of an experienced BA is £52,000 p/a [1].
How can an agile business analysis course help me?
Recognised methodology
The Agile Business Consortium created AgileBA qualifications with the express intent of helping organisations and aspiring business analysts extract as much value as possible from the opportunities afforded by the combination of traditional business analysis with an agile mindset.
The Agile Business Consortium and APMG International are also responsible for creating several other internationally recognised methodologies, including DSDM and qualifications such as AgilePM® (Agile Project Management).
Things you will learn
AgileBA Foundation & Practitioner training covers the full range of skills and knowledge you’ll need to begin working as an agile business analyst. Topics covered in virtual classroom training include:
- The role of a business analyst in an agile world
- Agile fundamentals and the agile business analyst
- Stakeholders in agile projects
- Requirements and user stories
- Requirements planning, estimating, prioritisation
- Agile modelling
- Timeboxing and iterative development
- Facilitated workshops.
If you’re interested in starting a career in agile business analysis, we’re ready and able to help facilitate your training and help you get the skills you need.
Since 2005, Knowledge Train has helped thousands of candidates begin successful careers in their chosen industry.
Add agile to your existing business analyst skills
Complement your existing skills
The needs of modern businesses are changing, as are the ways in which they seek out and deliver value to customers.
Much of this has to do with the widespread adoption of Agile, which promotes far greater flexibility and adaptability than many traditional approaches to product development and business management.
The role of the traditional business analyst has always been to help create new, innovative solutions.
New agile methods
In recent years, agile approaches have continued to mature. New agile methods have been developed to suit different types of industries, organisations, and management styles.
However, the business analysis profession has failed to exhibit comparable development in the techniques and skills used to approach contemporary issues faced by modern businesses — a common result of this is the awkward application of traditional business analysis to agile contexts.
Aligning business analysis with agile
While still valuable, traditional business analysis fails to take full advantage of all the benefits made possible by Agile.
To correct this oversight, the Agile Business Consortium, together with APMG International has developed the AgileBA training and qualifications scheme, which aims to align business analysis techniques with agile management and the agile mindset.
How can AgileBA training help me?
Iterative projects
With the advent of agile methods, business analysts need to align their skillsets to the iterative and incremental approach of Agile. AgileBA courses will teach you how to apply your business analyst skills in the context of agile projects.
Helps to deliver greater value
The AgileBA framework helps train agile business analysts and helps agile teams and managers understand how the role functions and how to work with business analysts to deliver the most value.
AgileBA philosophy
The underpinning philosophy, principles, and practices of AgileBA helps business analysts unfamiliar with agile practices learn how to:
- Understand and apply common agile practices such as timeboxing, facilitated workshops, and MoSCoW Prioritisation in the context of performing business analysis
- Produce, evaluate, and communicate agile business analysis deliverables
- Test, estimate, and evaluate benefits delivery within agile projects
- Apply the DSDM agile project framework
- Define roles and responsibilities within agile projects
- Support and facilitate the implementation of Agile
- Manage requirements in agile environments.
AgileBA Handbook
Agile Business Analyst training is based on the AgileBA Handbook. It helps provide clarity and insight for anyone working on agile projects. It is also closely aligned to the DSDM and AgilePM framework, making the skills taught through AgileBA training easy to apply to a wider variety of agile project contexts.
What are the benefits of choosing AgileBA over other qualifications?
Benefits of AgileBA
As the role of agile business analysts has become more distinct from their traditional counterparts, more agile business analyst qualifications have been created to satisfy demands.
The benefit that AgileBA training and qualifications can provide over other agile business analysis qualifications has to do with the comprehensive and robust method on which it is based. All Agile Business Consortium qualifications are based on the same agile project framework shared by DSDM and AgilePM.
DSDM (now called AgilePM) was one of the first truly agile management frameworks. Few other agile methods can boast the amount of empirical testing, development, feedback, and evolution used to create, what is now, a household name in agile development.
Various aspects of the agile business analyst role
The developers of the AgileBA qualifications scheme have gone to great lengths to address every aspect of the agile business analyst role – paying particular attention to those ideas which other frameworks do not address in sufficient detail.
For example, AgileBA explains how the business analyst role can be implemented in Scrum – a method that, notably, lacks any instruction as to the correct implementation of the business analyst role in product development.
Integrate more easily
AgileBA training equips business analysts with the understanding required to adopt an agile approach in their work and provides project managers with an understanding of the agile business analyst role.
This helps agile business analysts integrate more easily into existing agile teams to deliver value faster and more efficiently.
Advance your career with an AgileBA qualification
Professional development
AgileBA is a relatively new addition to the list of agile qualifications and a niche certification within the business analysis profession.
Earning your AgileBA qualifications shows a proactive approach to your career development and that you possess the initiative to advance your career with the addition of new skills.
As AgileBA is based on the same framework shared by other APMG International qualifications (including the popular DSDM and AgilePM). It can help you explore new agile career paths, better cooperate with other agile team members and advance to more senior roles within your organisation.
Employment opportunities
The Project Management Institute (PMI®) predicts that by 2027, employers worldwide will need nearly 88 million individuals in project management and related roles [2].
Business analysts, too, can take advantage of these opportunities. Being a niche qualification, gaining an AgileBA qualification can make you stand out.
You will be much better placed to combine your new globally recognised qualification with existing business analysis experience and apply for roles anywhere in the world.
About our training
Knowledge Train is an accredited training organisation for Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA).
Trainers
Our trainers have years of applied experience in agile business analysis and the skills needed to help others learn from their experience.
We hire trainers who can engage and motivate our students and help them learn the intricacies of each subject.
Our rigorous selection process for trainers and ongoing improvements means you can be assured you’ll get the best training experience available.
For more information about our training courses which lead to AgileBA qualifications, see our AgileBA courses page.
References
[1] Glassdoor. 2022. Salary: Agile Business Analyst (May 2022) | Glassdoor. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/agile-business-analyst-salary-SRCH_KO0,22.htm [Accessed 19 May 2022].
[2] PMI | 2017 | Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017-2027 | PMI [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.pmi.org/learning/careers/job-growth [Accessed 19 May 2022].
