New Horizons New Horizons Project Management Academy Project Management Academy Six Sigma Online Six Sigma Online Velopi Velopi Watermark Learning Watermark Learning
Educate 360 Educate 360
Educate 360  Educate 360

Watermark Learning Blog

Discover insights, tips, and articles from industry experts on leadership, business analysis, and professional development.

A Heavyweight Fight--Scrum vs. Waterfall Estimating Part 1
Agile, Business Analysis, Estimating and Planning, Planning, Project Management, Scrum, User Stories, Watermark Learning

A Heavyweight Fight–Scrum vs. Waterfall: Estimating Part 1

I think people like a good fight. Certainly the media seems to, not only in the world of politics, but also in the worlds of sports and entertainment to name a few. In the world of business analysis, the current fight seems to pit Agile methods against the Waterfall approach. For the next several blogs we’ll

What to do with Meeting Saboteurs
Communicating, Facilitation, Watermark Learning

What to do with Meeting Saboteurs?

In a recent project management class, we were discussing meeting effectiveness, and a student asked if it was ever appropriate to flat out excuse someone from a meeting for being rude or obnoxious? Fortunately, I have not been in a situation in which I wondered if I should do that. Unfortunately, I think this student had a

Culture and Communications
Communicating, Virtual Teams, Watermark Learning

Culture and Communications

Projects cross cultural boundaries probably as often as not anymore.  How many people either go to other countries to work on projects, find themselves working with team member from other countries here in the US, or work with virtual teams that include people from other places?  Of course, you don’t have to cross an ocean

Two ingredients To Spice Up Meeting Effectiveness
Business Analysis, Communicating, Facilitation, Project Management, Watermark Learning

Two ingredients To Spice Up Meeting Effectiveness

As project managers and business analysts, you are undoubtedly familiar with the misery of poorly planned and poorly run meetings.  It’s a long list of things that drive meeting madness: unclear purpose, wrong people in attendance, lack of ground rules, inadequate preparation, poor time management, etc. Thought given to key elements of the meeting ahead of time can make for a

Five Tips for Estimating Requirements
Business Analysis, Communicating, Estimating and Planning, Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Stakeholders, Watermark Learning

Five Tips for Estimating Requirements

Years ago I worked on a large effort to reengineer a distribution center for a large retailer. We provided an estimate for both the business analysis work and for the entire project, which would involve the organization’s first use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), new business processes, many software changes, and the purchase of new barcode