Watermark Learning
The Entrepreneurial BA Practitioner Part 4

The Entrepreneurial BA Practitioner Part 4: How Business Analysis Helps Innovation

So, you don’t think you are an entrepreneur? How business analysis helps innovation. You might think you are not going to start a company or build a business from the ground up. Maybe you don’t want to risk your livelihood or work crazy hours or wear multiple hats like an entrepreneur does. We suggest you …

Top 3 Reasons Companies Struggle with Agile and Scrum

Top 3 Reasons Companies Struggle with Agile and Scrum

Agile, as a philosophy, has “crossed the chasm” as organizations seek to respond to dynamic market conditions and fickle, quality-focused customers. While every organization has certainly explored Agile methods to some extent, many continue to struggle with their application and implementation. In this blog, I will explore the top three reasons that these organizations are …

Babok Version 3 vs Version 2

BABOK Version 3 vs. Version 2 – Taming the New Guide

Most people in the BA field know that the IIBA® has produced an important update to its definitive Business Analysis Body of Knowledge, the BABOK® Guide. Released in April 2015, the BABOK Version 3 Guide includes major upgrades, ranging from the BA Core Concept Model™ (BACCM), to changes in most Knowledge Areas, the addition of …

PMI Certification Changes What You Need to Know

PMI Certification Changes: What You Need to Know

There is no grass growing under the feet of folks at PMI.  And that’s going to have most of us hopping this summer and into fall as we work to make sense of what’s happening in the PMI certification world and the implications for each of us. First, PMI recently completed the first Role Delineation …

Small Business Leadership Summit Recap

Small Business Leadership Summit Recap

We were fortunate to be invited to the Small Business Majority’s inaugural Leadership Summit in Washington DC recently. Because of our previous efforts on behalf of the group, we were asked to attend along with 100 other small business leaders from across the country. The conference focused on entrepreneurship and provided us a chance to learn …

The Entrepreneurial BA Practitioner Part 3 Life Stages

The Entrepreneurial BA Practitioner: Part 3

Part 3: Life Stages of Entrepreneurs In previous blog posts, we compared how people who work in business analysis have many parallels with entrepreneurs. Much of the similarity rests with the products that BA practitioners help create and the solutions they bring to organizations. There are also many, many personal traits and skills that the …

Exclusive Invitation for Watermark's CEO and President

Exclusive Invitation for Watermark’s CEO and President

Exciting news for Watermark Learning! Our CEO, Elizabeth Larson, and President, Richard Larson, received an exclusive invitation to attend the Small Business Leadership Summit in Washington D.C.  May 11-13, 2015. They are a part of a select group of 100 small business owners from across the U.S. to participate. In the last few years, Elizabeth …

Webinar Recap Agile Contracts

Webinar Recap: Agile Contracts

In our March 12 webinar presentation, Agile Contracts, by N.K. Shrivastava we covered many of the essentials for creating and using Agile contracts.   This summary provides an overview of the key take-aways, but you’ll want to view the webinar recording available on demand to get more detailed examples. If you’re new to Agile or missed …

The Entrepreneurial BA Practitioner Part 3

The Entrepreneurial BA Practitioner Part 3: Life Stages of Entrepreneurs

In previous blog posts, we compared how people who work in business analysis have many parallels with entrepreneurs. Much of the similarity rests with the products that BA practitioners help create and the solutions they bring to organizations. There are also many, many personal traits and skills that the two have in common. In our …

PMP Thoughts From the Field

Project Management Professional (PMP)® Thoughts From the Field: To Certify or Not to Certify?

To certify or not to certify, that is the question. I certainly have my own perspectives on the topic, but I thought I’d take the question on the road to see what others have to say about their certification pursuits and how it has or hasn’t helped them. I interviewed two Project Management Professional (PMP)® …