What is Business Agility? | Agile Business Process
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Agile Business Process: What is Business Agility?

The organizational alignment of leadership, culture, and strategy, focusing on the value provided to stakeholders, is termed “business agility” or “organizational agility.” With change constant in almost every industry, the organization that can quickly adapt to meet changes while still bringing value to stakeholders is positioned for long-term success. On this page: What is Business …

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Megan Bell

business analysis role in scrum
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Business Analysis Role in Scrum Events

In our previous blogs, we covered what Agile business analysis is and how business analysts add value in an Agile environment. In this final blog, we talk about how to leverage Business Analysis skills in each of the five Scrum Events. On this page: Scrum Events The Sprint Sprint Planning Daily Scrums Sprint Review Sprint …

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Susan Heidorn, Ed.D., PMP, CBAP, HSDP, CSM, BRMP

Dr. Susan Heidorn, PMP, CBAP, HSDP, CSM, BRMP is the Director of Business Solutions for Watermark Learning in Minneapolis. Susan is an experienced consultant, facilitator, speaker, and trainer, with over 25 years of business experience. Susan directs programs in business analysis, business relationship management, and leadership, including developing and delivering courses and providing consulting. She has been a speaker at a number of IIBA® and PMI® conferences as well as local and regional organizations, boards, and private clients. She is a lifelong learner whose passion it is to guide people into achieving excellence in their personal and professional lives and works on creating positive impacts to the organization.

organizational change management in an agile environment
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Organizational Change Management in an Agile Environment

Table of Contents What is Organizational Change Management (OCM)? Whose Job is it Anyway? Bringing an Agile Perspective to OCM Eight Tips to Create a more Agile OCM Effort What is Organizational Change Management (OCM)? Organizational Change Management (OCM) focuses on the people side of change. It is the process of helping people let go …

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Susan Heidorn, Ed.D., PMP, CBAP, HSDP, CSM, BRMP

Dr. Susan Heidorn, PMP, CBAP, HSDP, CSM, BRMP is the Director of Business Solutions for Watermark Learning in Minneapolis. Susan is an experienced consultant, facilitator, speaker, and trainer, with over 25 years of business experience. Susan directs programs in business analysis, business relationship management, and leadership, including developing and delivering courses and providing consulting. She has been a speaker at a number of IIBA® and PMI® conferences as well as local and regional organizations, boards, and private clients. She is a lifelong learner whose passion it is to guide people into achieving excellence in their personal and professional lives and works on creating positive impacts to the organization.

failing fast in a pandemic
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Failing Fast in the Age of Pandemics

When I first heard the phrase “fail fast, fail often,” I was horrified. It was cited as a mantra by the early adopters of Agile methods. But I didn’t understand what it meant in those relatively early days of Agile. The expression conjured up missed deadlines, broken promises, and an undisciplined approach to software development. …

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Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, CSM

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM is a consultant and advisor for Watermark Learning/PMA. She has over 35 years of experience in project management and business analysis. Elizabeth has co-authored four books and chapters published in five additional books, as well as articles that appear regularly in BA Times, Project Times, and Modern Analyst. Elizabeth was a lead author/expert reviewer on all editions of the BABOK® Guide, as well as the several of the PMI standards. Elizabeth also enjoys giving presentations, and her speaking history includes repeat keynotes and presentations for national and international conferences on five continents. Elizabeth enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, theater, and spending time with her 7 grandkids.

a primer on working with executives
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A Primer On Working With Executives: Swim With The Sharks Without Getting Eaten Alive

Even though my wife Elizabeth Larson and I owned and ran a business, I wouldn’t exactly have used the term “executive” to describe us. But, we have both worked with several. And, in building and running Watermark Learning, we shared an important characteristic with executives which this series of articles will explore. Early in my career, I was …

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Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA

Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, was the founder of and is now a consultant for Watermark Learning. He is a successful entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in product development, business analysis, project management, training, and consulting. As an internal entrepreneur, Rich led the development of several Watermark Learning online products as a business analyst and product owner. Rich is a frequent speaker at Business Analysis and Project Management national conferences and IIBA® and PMI® chapters around the world. He has contributed as a lead author to the BA Body of Knowledge version 2.0 and 3.0 and was a lead author on PMI’s Business Analysis Practice Guide. He and his wife Elizabeth Larson have co-authored five books on business analysis.

is ai a solution
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Is AI A Solution, A Technology, Or A System…And Why Should I Care?

A recent article in Harvard Business Review (HBR) asks if AI is a system or is it a solution like so many organizations think? An interesting question, but one that I would rephrase: Is AI a solution, is it technology that supports the solution, or is it part of a larger system? I have always …

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Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, CSM

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM is a consultant and advisor for Watermark Learning/PMA. She has over 35 years of experience in project management and business analysis. Elizabeth has co-authored four books and chapters published in five additional books, as well as articles that appear regularly in BA Times, Project Times, and Modern Analyst. Elizabeth was a lead author/expert reviewer on all editions of the BABOK® Guide, as well as the several of the PMI standards. Elizabeth also enjoys giving presentations, and her speaking history includes repeat keynotes and presentations for national and international conferences on five continents. Elizabeth enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, theater, and spending time with her 7 grandkids.

five trends in business analysis
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Five Trends in Business Analysis, Project Management, and Agile for 2020

Since 2009, we have enjoyed reflecting on what’s happened the previous year in the world of projects and making predictions for the upcoming year. Here are some of the recent trend topics we have discussed: The digital transformation Roles that help organizations maximize value Agile successes, challenges, and use beyond software Scaling agile BAs and …

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Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, CSM

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM is a consultant and advisor for Watermark Learning/PMA. She has over 35 years of experience in project management and business analysis. Elizabeth has co-authored four books and chapters published in five additional books, as well as articles that appear regularly in BA Times, Project Times, and Modern Analyst. Elizabeth was a lead author/expert reviewer on all editions of the BABOK® Guide, as well as the several of the PMI standards. Elizabeth also enjoys giving presentations, and her speaking history includes repeat keynotes and presentations for national and international conferences on five continents. Elizabeth enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, theater, and spending time with her 7 grandkids.

Agile Isn't Enough Part 4
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Why Agile Isn’t Enough, Part 4: Lean Startup Learn Phase and BA Techniques that Enhance It

In previous parts of this article, we covered an overview of Lean Startups and its Build-Measure-Learn (BML) methodology. We also explored the Build portion of the cycle, the first step in a Lean Startup. Another article examined the Measure phase of the methodology, which can provide the measures to learn if our product is on …

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Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA

Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, was the founder of and is now a consultant for Watermark Learning. He is a successful entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in product development, business analysis, project management, training, and consulting. As an internal entrepreneur, Rich led the development of several Watermark Learning online products as a business analyst and product owner. Rich is a frequent speaker at Business Analysis and Project Management national conferences and IIBA® and PMI® chapters around the world. He has contributed as a lead author to the BA Body of Knowledge version 2.0 and 3.0 and was a lead author on PMI’s Business Analysis Practice Guide. He and his wife Elizabeth Larson have co-authored five books on business analysis.

Lessons Learned from Bhutan and Nepal
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Lessons Learned From Bhutan And Nepal: Part 2 – Process Thoughts About Digital Transformation

In this age of digital transformations and the digital BA, data matters. Without data there would be no big data, no data mining, no machine learning or predictive analytics. No AI. Nothing digital to transform. So yes, we have to focus on data. But what about poor process, once the king of projects, now often …

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Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, CSM

Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM is a consultant and advisor for Watermark Learning/PMA. She has over 35 years of experience in project management and business analysis. Elizabeth has co-authored four books and chapters published in five additional books, as well as articles that appear regularly in BA Times, Project Times, and Modern Analyst. Elizabeth was a lead author/expert reviewer on all editions of the BABOK® Guide, as well as the several of the PMI standards. Elizabeth also enjoys giving presentations, and her speaking history includes repeat keynotes and presentations for national and international conferences on five continents. Elizabeth enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, theater, and spending time with her 7 grandkids.

Project Managers and BA
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Hey Project Managers: Got BA?

The tempo of change and level of uncertainty on many levels keeps organizations constantly having to strategize to sustain their customers’ interest and remain competitive. Similarly, project professionals have to strategize to keep their organizations’ interest in keeping them on board. It’s an effort that constantly requires learning new tools and developing new skills to …

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Andrea Brockmeier, PMP, CSM, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, BRMP

Andrea Brockmeier, PMP, CSM, PMI-PBA, BRMP is the Director of Project Management for Watermark Learning. Andrea is an experienced trainer, facilitator, speaker, and project manager, with over 25 years of business experience. Andrea oversees certification and skills development curriculum in project management, business analysis, and leadership. She has been a speaker at IIBA® and PMI® conferences and is an active volunteer. She enjoys practicing what she teaches and has a steady stream of projects that she manages. Andrea is highly committed to partnering with her clients through projects, consulting, and training, and seeks to make every engagement enjoyable as well as valuable.