About Business Analysis Planning
A business analysis planning skill for business analysts who need to define an approach before requirements work begins. It covers delivery methods, stakeholder engagement, governance, information management, complexity, and effort estimation.
Key features
- 01Predictive, adaptive, and hybrid approaches
- 02Stakeholder engagement planning
- 03Change control and approval planning
- 04Requirements information management
- 05Complexity and effort assessment
Use cases
- 01Planning BA work for a new project
- 02Choosing stakeholder sessions and review cadence
- 03Defining requirement change and approval processes
- 04Estimating business analysis effort
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ danhvb/ my-ba-skills --skill business-analysis-planningAfter installing, type/business-analysis-planningin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEBusiness Analysis Planning Skill
Purpose
Define how the BA work will be performed. Before jumping into requirements, a Senior BA must plan their approach to ensure efficiency and alignment.
Core Planning Areas
1. Plan Business Analysis Approach
Predictive (Waterfall) vs. Adaptive (Agile)
- Waterfall: Heavy planning upfront, formal docs, formal sign-off.
- Agile: Iterative planning, lightweight docs, continuous feedback.
- Hybrid: Strategic definitions upfront, execution in sprints.
Deliverables:
- Which artifacts will be produced? (BRD? User Stories? Prototypes?)
- When are they due?
2. Plan Stakeholder Engagement
- Who needs to be involved? (Refer to Stakeholder Analysis).
- How will we engage? (Interviews, Workshops, Surveys).
- Frequency: Daily standups? Weekly reviews?
- Authority: Who has the final sign-off?
3. Plan BA Governance
- Change Control: How do we handle changes to requirements?
- Process: Submit Request -> Impact Analysis -> CCB Approval.
- Prioritization: Who decides priority? (PO, Sponsor).
- Approval Workflow: Who approves BRD? FRS? UAT?
4. Plan Information Management
- Tools: Where do we store requirements? (Jira, Confluence, Server).
- Traceability: What level of tracing is needed?
- Reuse: Can we reuse existing requirements?
BA Plan Template (One-Pager)
Project: CRM Migration BA Lead: [Name]
1. Approach: Hybrid using Agile Sprints for Dev, formal BRD for Data Migration.
2. Key Activities:
- Wk 1-2: Discovery Workshops (Sales, Marketing).
- Wk 3: BRD Draft for Migration.
- Wk 4: Sign-off.
- Wk 5+: Sprint Support / User Stories.
3. Deliverables:
- Stakeholder Map
- Current State Process Flows
- Use Cases (Migration)
- User Stories (New Features)
- UAT Plan
4. Communication:
- Weekly BA Status Report to PM.
- Bi-weekly demo to stakeholders.
5. Tools:
- Docs: Lark Docs.
- Tracking: Jira.
- Modeling: Figma.
Assessing Project Complexity (The cynefin framework)
- Simple: Best practices apply. Standard approach.
- Complicated: Good practices apply. Analysis required.
- Complex: Emergent practices. "Probe-Sense-Respond" (Agile ideal).
- Chaotic: Novel practices. Act to stabilize.
Estimating BA Effort
- Top-Down: X% of total project timeline (typically 10-15%).
- Bottom-Up: Estimate each activity (e.g., 5 workshops x 4h prep/conduct/doc = 20h).
Best Practices
- Align with PM: Ensure BA plan fits the overall Project Management Plan.
- Get Buy-in: Stakeholders must agree to the engagement plan (e.g., committing time for workshops).
- Be Flexible: Update the plan if the methodology isn't working.
References
- BABOK Knowledge Area: Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring.