On the Business Analyst's Responsibilities in an Agile Software Project - A Multi-Method Study

[Context] Agile methods are now used in the majority of software projects, but the definitions of such methods rarely include the role of a business analyst (BA). [Objective] This paper investigates the responsibilities assigned to BAs participating in agile software projects. [Method] We identified potential responsibilities through a systematic literature review (3 databases) and interviews with 6 practitioners. The most commonly mentioned responsibilities were further evaluated in a questionnaire survey study with 72 respondents. [Results] The combined findings from the SLR and interviews resulted in 89 unique responsibilities grouped into 7 areas. 49 of these were ranked according to the frequency with which they were assigned in the survey respondents' organizations. [Conclusions] Our findings show that BAs typically support Product Owners (rather than taking on that role) and focus on requirements engineering, business needs, and working closely with development teams.