Next-Level Business Analysis: Tools & Techniques for Impact

Prerequisites:

• Basic understanding of business analysis fundamentals and terminology
• Familiarity with user stories and basic stakeholder engagement
• Comfortable using digital collaboration tools like Miro, Jamboard, Excel, or similar
• Analytical mindset with an interest in improving problem-solving and decision-making skills

Audience:

• Business Analysts
• Product Owners/Managers
• User Researchers

This workshop is designed for experienced Business Analysts, Product Owners, and User Researchers who want to master advanced techniques that drive real business value. Through hands-on exercises and practical tools, participants will learn to analyze complex data, optimize processes, engage stakeholders, and translate strategy into action using OKRs. By the end, they’ll have a clear toolkit to boost impact and deliver measurable results.

Learning Outcomes

• Shift from documentation-centric tasks to driving business value creation
• Confidently apply powerful tools such as OKRs, stakeholder analysis, and story mapping
• Engage effectively with stakeholders through real-life simulations
• Gain clarity and focus when navigating complex, cross-functional problem spaces

Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Style: 80% hands-on / 20% facilitator input
Tools Used: Miro / Jamboard or physical whiteboards, Excel / Lucidchart / your preferred BA tools

1. Role Reset: Business Analysis in Agile & Product Teams

• Explore Business Analysis as an enabler beyond just documenting requirements
• Activity: Team Mapping — identify your position in the product/team lifecycle, your customers/users, and uncover alignment or blockers
• Output: Personalized “Business Analysis Position Map”

2. Data-Driven Decisions with BA Techniques

• Practice interpreting complex, raw user research data
• Hands-on: Formulate problem or opportunity hypothesis statements
• Techniques introduced include Pareto Analysis (80/20 rule), Root Cause Analysis (Fishbone / 5 Whys), Decision Matrix, and Hypothesis Writing

3. Process Optimization Simulation

• Collaborative mini-project to redesign a customer business process inspired by real-world challenges
• Tools applied: SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers), User Story Mapping
• Teams present “before & after” diagrams for critique and iteration

4. Advanced Elicitation in Complex Environments

• Develop skills in writing user stories and acceptance criteria, mapping complex stakeholders, prioritizing competing needs, and roadmap techniques (Now/Next/Later)
• Roleplay activity: Eliciting detailed user stories from story maps

5. Translating Strategy into Action: OKRs & Beyond

• Scenario-based team sprint focusing on the objective to “innovate faster”
• Teams define Objective, Three Key Results, and Business analysis action plan
• Presentations followed by peer feedback

6. Wrap-up & Templates Toolkit

• Share a comprehensive BA toolkit including templates for stakeholder mapping, story mapping, prioritization, and more
• Collect and discuss top insights and takeaways from participants