Should business analysis be integrated into sprints? Many are skeptical. They emphasize that business analysis is crucial in order to develop clear and feasible user stories. Integration in sprints could lead to inefficiency and ambiguity. Experts warn that analysis in sprints reduces productivity and quality. Let's move away from this.

Let's get the conclusion out of the way: in an agile environment, it is crucial that business analysts work closely with the development team. By implementing Domain Driven Design, business requirements can be effectively incorporated into the sprint. Domain Driven Design also opens the door to modern business analysis integrated into the sprint. Product owners and teams benefit from the clear structure and focus on the company's needs. Agile methods such as Scrum and Kanban offer the opportunity to seamlessly integrate business analysis into the workflow. As a result, tasks are completed more efficiently and collaboration within the team is strengthened.

Close collaboration between analysts and the team means that it is possible to react flexibly and quickly to changes and products can be developed under high time pressure. Domain-driven design makes it possible to optimize the user experience "on the fly" and to provide products from the idea to productive commissioning much better and faster than usual.

What is Domain Driven Design?

Historically, Domain Driven Design emerged as a reaction to the challenges of traditional development methods, in which functional and technical aspects were often separated from one another. This separation often led to a lack of coordination and inefficient software solutions. By integrating business and technical perspectives, Domain Driven Design has had a lasting impact on efficiency and innovation in software development.

Although the topic of domain-driven design has been known since Eric Evans' book of the same name was published 20 years ago, it is more present today than it has been for a long time. One reason for this development can already be found in the term Domain Driven Design: the domain should determine the design. This means that analysis, architecture and development are strictly geared towards technical requirements. The focus on the domain is obvious, as software is usually developed to support business processes.

Domain Driven Design puts business analysis in an agile light

Evans emphasizes that "the most important task of software developers is to ask the right questions". This illustrates the importance of business analysis in the sprint, which contributes to deep domain knowledge and a shared understanding between developers and specialist departments.

The successful combination of business analysis, domain-driven design and agile methods requires effective and continuous communication. Nevertheless, a "mini-waterfall process" is often observed in agile projects, in which the specialist department creates requirements and then hands them over to the development team - in the hope of correct implementation. Because requirements, architectures or concepts are only half understood or implemented, software development is not effective.

Domain Driven Design...

• helps to define the product scope in an agile manner and implement it quickly.
• enables technical leadership that actively controls the creation of solutions in close contact with development.
• builds the bridge between business and IT. It also ensures successful cooperation.
• supports the right tools and processes to establish a modern business analysis.

If you are wondering whether an agile project makes sense for your company, how a team can be set up optimally or which requirements must be met for business-centered software development, we will be happy to help. We look forward to hearing from you!