“If you are interested in proper Business Analysis and Product Ownership techniques: This is an opportunity to listen to one of the few authors who managed to put it all into one of the best books available (The Agile Guide to Business Analysis and Planning). I use this on a regular base and it has helped me a lot with my daily work topics. 

I set up a new team early 2021, and we aligned almost everything with your “rules of thumb". Guess what: It was GOLD.. Most of those parameters are still the same (even though we could change them anytime).  Major Props for that as well.

Your book finally put all the different perspectives of BA in an agile environment together and is at least for me the best reference for any BA or PO at the current point in time. Even when we get over the agile "method prison" (as pushed by Ivar Jacobson) it will still be valid. Because having a structured thinker on your team will always be mandatory for software engineering. Call it BA/PO or just any team member.  Looking forward for the next session.. Will be there as well”

- M.R., Product Owner, UBS

“Several months ago I was invited to attend a most unusual … class. As a senior program manager working for Microsoft I sometimes receive similar invitations to evaluate classes for the MS IT training program… I realized almost immediately that the next four hours were going to be refreshingly quite different than the usual types of business training courses and seminars that I had attended and evaluated in the past.  The presenter was quite warm and established an immediate rapport with the audience. I honestly have to admit that the next four hours literally just seemed to fly by. Even though it was only an introductory overview, it was quite refreshing to watch the various reactions and the fully engaged participation of all of the attendees throughout the morning sessions - including the mini workshops that followed each section. While I was one of the more veteran attendees, I too came away with some new "best practices" that I could immediately go back and apply in my day-to-day work. During one of the breaks, I shared with [the instructor] that I was surprised that so much could be learned by newcomers in such a short time. I also told him that I was thoroughly enjoying his entire presentation, especially the "real world" case study that we were working to develop further in each of the mini-workshop sessions.

Last month, I had the privilege of attending a full day of each of the two actual classes …. I again learned quite a lot during those two full days…  Let me just say in closing, that I highly recommend both courses -- and if ever there is a third course developed as part of this series, I will gladly be one of the first to sign up for it (in a heartbeat) since I would have to say that the two days I invested in attending the classes … were well worth my taking time out of my packed schedule ... I truly learned quite a bit from this experience, and that is why I am writing this letter to you to share my thoughts and experience.

Immediately following the course, I even went out to Amazon.com and pre-ordered the presenter's book, and have since written a review and recommended both it and the courses to other people that I work with and for at Microsoft.”

- K.W., Senior Program Manager, Microsoft

“The workshops and use-cases made the course a big success. Everyone found the course very valuable and I know it will provide consistency to our process mapping going forward.” -  P.T., Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

“Best and most comprehensive book on agile business analysis and planning: It covers everything from preparing the organisation and process, product visioning, seeding the backlog, using MVPs and story maps, personas, journey mapping … It is all in the book, up to scaling the agile process and achieving enterprise agility. Highly recommended!”  Patrick Van Renterghem, CEO, IT Works Belgium

“Howard Podeswa has long been respected as an authority and author in the field of business analysis. With "The Agile Guide to Business Analysis and Planning," Howard integrates his BA expertise with his deep and broad understanding of agile software development methods. At some 700 pages, the book … constitutes a comprehensive and accessible resource for anyone involved with agile projects. It is well organized in bite-sized chunks and structured for ready access to the essential concepts, terms, and practices that can help any agile team be more successful. Howard's approach is nondogmatic, something I always appreciate. For many of the topics he addresses, he describes multiple techniques from which the practitioner can select instead of dictating the One True Way to perform an activity. Rather than worrying about conforming to any particular one of the many agile methods now in vogue, he provides recommendations that emphasize doing what works best in a given situation.” - Karl Wiegers, Author of “Software Requirements Essentials