What's Wrong With Lessons Learned Sessions

What’s Wrong with Lessons Learned Sessions?

What’s wrong with lessons learned sessions done at the end of a project? If the sentiments of my project management training students are any indication, plenty. The complaints are many and varied: “They take too long and we don’t have time.” “At that point, the project is over so people don’t really care anymore.” “By …

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.

Is a Watermark Learning Certificate Program Right for You

Is a Watermark Learning Certificate Program Right for You?

Getting your business analysis or project management industry certification is a notable accomplishment for individuals and a benefit to organizations. For organizations it helps promote consistency on projects and shows that practitioners working in the organization have a level-set understanding of important concepts. For individuals, it can make a big difference towards advancing your career. …

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.

3 Take Aways from PMI’s Pulse of the Profession Requirements Management

3 Take Aways from PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: Requirements Management

A planned requirements approach is essential to a successful and smooth-running project.  Just like the project itself needs a project plan, the requirements process needs a requirements plan.  This necessity has been recognized most recently in PMI’s 2014 Pulse of the Profession: Requirements Management – A Core Competency for Project and Program Success. According to …

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.

My PMI-ACP Journey

My PMI-ACP Journey

This week I added PMI-ACP® to my signature after passing my PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) certification exam. According to PMI, there were 5,999 active PMI-ACP credential holders worldwide as of June 30, 2014, and the certification is becoming increasingly popular as agile skills remain in high demand in the project management industry. Applying for …

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.

PMI-ACP Training for Project Professionals

PMI-ACP Training for Project Professionals

Why PMI-ACP Training? Today’s businesses are as diverse as the people running them, but they all operate in today’s business environment which is always changing, fast-paced, and customer-driven. In that environment, traditional project management approaches are often too cumbersome to adapt fast-enough to evolving customer needs. For many organizations and project teams, agile offers a …

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.

Project R.E.A.L. Project Management and Business Analysis Training

Project R.E.A.L. Project Management and Business Analysis Training

Watermark Learning is proud to be a pioneer of live simulation in project management and business analysis training.  We have been offering our Project R.E.A.L Live Simulation and helping students apply their skills and build confidence since 2011. In fact, our Project R.E.A.L. course won the PMI Continuing Education Product of the Year award that year. Find out …

Watermark Learning

This is the corporate source for Watermark Learning posts. Watermark delivers engaging and practical training and coaching in Business Analysis, Project Management, Agile & Scrum, Business Process Management, and Influencing Skills since 1992.

Watermark Learning Industry Events Recap – Spring 2014

Watermark Learning Industry Events Recap – Spring 2014

Watermark Learning has been busy this spring! The last few months, Watermark Learning has made appearances at several industry events in the Midwest including IN-BADD, WI-BADD, and most recently I-BADD.  Below is a roundup of the highlights. IN-BADD – April 22, 2014 Elizabeth Larson presented “Is Your Organization Agile-Ready?” Richard Larson presented “BA Toolkit: Top …

Watermark Learning

This is the corporate source for Watermark Learning posts. Watermark delivers engaging and practical training and coaching in Business Analysis, Project Management, Agile & Scrum, Business Process Management, and Influencing Skills since 1992.

Be Careful what you Ask For: A Good Business Case May Uncover Something Better

Be Careful what you Ask For: A Good Business Case May Uncover Something Better

On the way home from the Building Business Capability (BBC) conference last week, my wife Elizabeth and I stopped in at an electronics store in Las Vegas. We wanted to listen to an audio book on her new iPod, and the gizmo we have to play the iPod in the car has the traditional iPod connector …

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.

Five Tenets of Project Customer Service

Five Tenets of Project Customer Service

The trip my wife Elizabeth Larson and I took to South Africa to speak at this year’s BASSA 2013 ended well. The conference had over 200 registered participants, and the organizers kept the sessions moving smoothly. We were delighted with the response from the attendees, made new friends, and re-connected with existing ones. While travelling …

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.

So You Think You Want to be a Project Manager

So You Think You Want to be a Project Manager?

I ran across an online discussion recently that posed the question: What would make you quit your job as a project manager? What would make someone not want to be a project manager? As I considered this, it didn’t take long for things to come to mind. I got to thinking about my students’ and …

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.