The definition for sub-discipline is “A field of study or work that is related to one aspect, but not the whole, of a broader field of study or work”. There are a few sub-disciplines that are areas of expertise for business analysts, they can and are used in any framework agile, scrum, lean or waterfall. Business analyst roles differ from organization to organization, and sometimes the framework that the organization is using will define the BA’s role further. But I believe that there are a few disciplines that all business analysis will incorporate into their job no matter what framework or how the organization is set up.
Disciplines of Business Analysis:
• Requirements Gathering: Activities and processes that are designed to gather information from product owners/business/stakeholders.
• Requirements Planning: Plan that charts the requirements activities of a project and will detail project scope changes.
• Requirements Analysis and Documentation: Analyze organizational processes and document reports, tables and graphs to analyze all of the gathered information.
• Requirements Communication: Comprehensive communication of requirements to product owners/business/stakeholders either by face to face, email, or communication meetings.
• Enterprise Analysis: Analysis of the organization's business needs their structures and processes.
• Assessment and Validation: Initiative that consults with technical product team/quality assurance teams to make sure solutions developed to fulfill the requirements.
Business analysts working in today’s technology arena must have the ability to bridge the gap between the product owners/business/stakeholders and the technology person in the enterprise, communication (in any communication style) will and has always been the key to being a successful business analyst.