Defining “Ready to Build”: A Business Analyst’s Perspective
When teams talk about delivery readiness, “done” is often reduced to a simple checklist: a user story is written, acceptance criteria exist, and the item is placed in the backlog. Yet many of the most expensive issues in delivery—rework, late defects, unclear scope, and UAT surprises—originate from work that was considered “ready” but was not truly buildable.
Defining what “ready to build” really means is a core responsibility of Business Analysts, yet it is rarely made explicit. This session examines readiness from a Business Analyst’s perspective and explores what must be in place before development starts—not in terms of heavy documentation, but in terms of clarity, quality, and decision-making.
In this session, we will learn the following:
a) why “story written” is not a reliable indicator of readiness;
b) what elements Business Analysts should consider when deciding that work is ready to build;
c) how a clear notion of readiness helps teams reduce rework and deliver more predictable outcomes.