review-as-ba

Review as Business Analyst

Overview

Review a technical analysis or specification document from a business analyst perspective. Focus on whether the document completely and correctly captures business requirements, user workflows, and edge cases.

Announce at start: "I'm reviewing this document as a Business Analyst."

Input

• Design + analysis document (typically docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md)

Review Checklist

1. Requirements Completeness

• Are all requirements from the design doc reflected in the analysis?
• Are there implied requirements that were not captured?
• Is the scope clearly defined (what is IN and OUT)?
• Are acceptance criteria clear enough to verify?

2. User Workflow Consistency

• Does the proposed solution cover the complete user journey?
• Are all user-facing changes described?
• Is the workflow intuitive and consistent with existing patterns?
• Are state transitions documented and complete?

3. Edge Cases and Error Scenarios

• What happens when things go wrong?
• Are boundary conditions addressed?
• Is error messaging user-friendly?
• Are concurrent usage scenarios considered?
• What about empty states, first-time use, data migration?

4. Business Logic Gaps

• Are all business rules documented?
• Are calculations/formulas correct and complete?
• Are there implicit assumptions that should be explicit?
• Do the proposed defaults make business sense?

5. Phase Prioritization

• Are the phases ordered by business value?
• Is there a viable MVP in phase 1?
• Can phases be delivered independently?
• Are dependencies between phases documented?

6. Data Integrity

• Is data migration addressed?
• Are backward compatibility concerns noted?
• What happens to existing data?
• Are there data validation rules that need to be defined?

Output Format

Structure your review exactly like this:

# BA Review: <topic>

## Summary
[1-2 sentence overall assessment]

## Requirements coverage
- ✅ [Requirement that is well covered]
- ❌ [Missing or incomplete requirement -- explain what's missing]

## User workflows
- ✅ [Workflow that is complete and consistent]
- ❌ [Workflow gap or inconsistency]

## Uncovered edge cases
- ❌ [Edge case 1 -- what could go wrong]
- ❌ [Edge case 2 -- boundary condition]

## Business logic questions
1. [Question about business rule or assumption]
2. [Clarification needed about behavior]

## Phase evaluation
- Phase 1: [Assessment -- is it a viable MVP?]
- Phase 2: [Assessment -- correct priority?]

## Recommendations
1. [Actionable recommendation]
2. [Actionable recommendation]

## Verdict
**Analysis quality:** [Complete / Needs revision / Major gaps]
**Recommended next step:** [Proceed to planning / Incorporate feedback / Needs rework]

Key Principles

• Be specific -- Reference sections/tables in the analysis by name
• Questions over assumptions -- If something is unclear, ask rather than assume
• Business value focus -- Prioritize feedback that affects business outcomes
• Constructive tone -- Acknowledge what is done well, then identify gaps
• Actionable feedback -- Every concern should have a suggested resolution