Scrum – Are BAs Invited to Standups and Their Roles?

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I read with interest this answer from Jeff Sutherland, co-founder of Scrum:

Q: What's your view on the Business Analyst and how it relates to Scrum? Is there a place for the role or should the skill set of that position be spread across/owned by the team?

A: The Business Analyst is responsible for clarifying the requirements for the team so this effort belongs partly with the Product Owner and partly with the team. I usually assign a Business Analysis to work with the Product Owner until the backlog is ready and then work with the team to make sure it is implemented well.

And this article lists these roles for a BA:

  • Gathering requirements by managing relationships with stakeholders and facilitating those conversations;

  • Providing guidance on what to build when to release as much value as possible as early as possible;

  • Helping the Scrum team to plan and improve their ways of working through retrospectives;

  • Ensuring the work done by the team aligns with the wider business strategy.

Does this mean a Business Analyst in Scrum should be attending standup meetings, as a pig?

Best Answer

There are three questions asked of every participant at a standup meeting. They are:

  1. What did I do yesterday that helped the development team meet the sprint goal?
  2. What will I do today to help the development team meet the sprint goal?
  3. Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the development team from meeting the sprint goal?

Notice that "requirements clarification" is not part of the three questions.

The entire meeting should take no longer than 15 minutes. In that time frame, it is possible that question 3 may raise an issue with a requirement specification, but the resolution of that problem would take place outside of the standup meeting, with the BA present.

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