Friday, December 9, 2022

‘Twas the Night before Implementation

 ‘Twas the night before implementation and all through the warehouse
not a program was working, not even a browse.

The programmers hung by their screens in such despair,
with hopes that soon, a miracle would be there.

The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of working systems danced in their heads.

When out in the snow there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew in a flash,
tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash.

And what to my wondering eyes would appear,
but a Senior Business Analyst with a six-pack of beer.

His resume glowed with experience so dear,
I knew in a moment; the miracle was here!

More rapid than the programmers could consume, his requirements they came,
and he shouted and clamored and called them all by name:

“Now Update! Now Inquiry!
Now, Create and Delete!
On Batch Job! On Interface!
On, Closing and Functions Complete!
To this programmer! and to that programmer!
Now code away! Code away!
Code away all!”

He was dressed in a tux, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were bright, all glowing and afoot.

His eyes—how they shined! Fingers nimble and lean,
from weeks and weeks in front of the screen.

His cute little mouth was drawn up in a smile,
and his hair, every strand in place as he worked a mile.

He stopped only to take a swig of his beer,
as the work ahead circled in the atmosphere.

He worked so fast, and smiled aware of his self,
and I looked upon his work with dismay, in spite of myself.

A wink of his eye and a twitch of his head,
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to work in great affair,
turning out specs and models with such flair!

And laying his finger upon the “Enter” key,
and giving a wink, the system came to life to a tee!

The updates updated, the deletes deleted,
the inquires inquired and the functions completed!

The testers tested each whistle, and tested each bell
with nary an abend, all had gone well!

The system was finished, the tests were concluded,
the users’ last changes were even included.

And the client exclaimed with a snarl and taunted,
“That’s not what I asked for, but exactly what I wanted!”

                                                --Aaron Whittenberger

Friday, November 18, 2022

Business Analysis Webinars for November 2022 - Week IV

Please scroll down to the date, or name, of the webinar in which you are interested.

50 Frequently Asked Scrum Master Questions Answered

Presented by Evelien Roos and Laurens Bonnema

 

Join Professional Scrum Trainers Evelien Roos and Laurens Bonnema for Scrum Pulse webinar focused on 50 Scrum Master frequently asked questions. In this session, they will share the answers to some of the most popular questions they get from students during their training courses. This session is based on their handy ebook.

This will be an interactive webinar, so come prepared with your own questions about Scrum to get them answered live!

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 23, 2022; 10:00 am – 11:00 am EST

Host: Scrum.org

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

How to Succeed in Your IIBA® Exam in The 1st Attempt

Presented by LN Mishra, President, Adaptive US

 

By the end of this webinar, you’ll know:

     How IIBA certifications can play an important role in your BA career

     How to pass IIBA exam in the 1st attempt

     Adaptive support for IIBA Exam prep

     Q&A

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 24, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Host: Adaptive US    @AdaptiveUS

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Designing Data Visualization to Make a Real Impact On Your Audience (Data Visualization Stream)

Presented by Mark Griffin, Insight Business Analytics

 

Studies have shown that readers will only spend 3 to 8 seconds looking at each plot in a report before deciding whether to invest more time examining that plot or to move on to the next part of the report. Hence as a data illustrator we need to design our plots very carefully so that within that very brief time window we have achieved the following aims:

    To highlight the key pattern that we want readers to take away from the plot (we should not expect readers to be able to identify this pattern for themselves, instead we need to do everything we can to make this pattern obvious to them)

    To motivate the reader to a “Call to Action” (if the reader simply learns something from a plot then that is of little value more than just entertaining the reader, instead we want to motivate the reader to perform a certain action or make a certain business decision as a result of that plot)

    Hopefully to motivate the reader to invest additional time and mental effort to discern what else they might be able to learn from that plot.

 

In this webinar we discuss the key elements involved in the production of high-quality data visualization.

The importance of these skills is discussed in the IIBA Guide to Business Data Analytics (see Techniques 3.2 Business Visualizations, 3.7 Data Storytelling, and 3.18 Technical Visualizations).

 

No previous knowledge of data visualization is assumed of webinar participants, though participants with some personal experience producing data visualizations will be more able to appreciate the more advanced material within the webinar.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 24, 2022; 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST

Host: International Institute of Business Analysis    @IIBA

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

  

 

 

Value Analysis

Presented by Sam Drauschak

 

In this webinar we will look at the benefits and costs of IV&V as well as the various dimensions to consider when calculating ROI for the effort. We'll look at the factors to consider when deciding when, how, and why to engage in IV&V activities along with the value the organization expects to get from its efforts.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 30, 2022; 11:00 am – 11:30 am EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer - Jay Rahman - Leadership and more!

Presented by Jay Rahman, PST

 

Scrum has been in existence for more than 25 years as a simple framework for effective team collaboration on complex products. While it is lightweight and simple to understand, it can be difficult to apply effectively. The Scrum.org Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer series features Professional Scrum Trainers (PSTs) in a live session, answering your most pressing questions regarding the challenges and situations your Scrum Teams are facing.

In this episode of Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer, PST 
Jay Rahman will be available answer your burning Scrum questions as well as topics related to leadership including:
   
Practicing Professional Scrum as a Leader
   
  Common leadership mistakes
   
Why leaders should focus on organizational change and delivery

 

Bring your questions for this interactive session!

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 30, 2022; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EST

Host: Scrum.org

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Business Analysis Webinars for November 2022 - Week III

Please scroll down to the date, or name, of the webinar in which you are interested.

The One Project Metric that Matters: Business Objectives

Presented by Betsy Stockdale

 

In this webinar, we’ll focus on projects and how you can use business objectives to prioritize features for development to ensure they all help deliver the desired business value. We will teach you how to develop good business objectives and how to apply them to control project scope.

  

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 15, 2022; 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

Agile for Business

Presented by Benoit De Grace, Eng., PMP, PSM

 

There is no more doubt among the information technology and software project management crowds that agile project management can help contribute to better project outcomes. But is the world of IT projects the only one that can benefit from agile concepts, tools, and methods? In this webinar we will explore how a bit of agility may benefit your other business projects.

 

Topics include:
    An overview of what an iterative, incremental delivery looks like
   
How to tell if your business project is a candidate for an agile approach
   
What agility looks like in a business project

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 15, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Host: Corporate Education Group    @CorpEdGroup

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Business Process Reengineering: 6 Key Steps + Some Secret Sauce

Presented by James Proctor, Director of Professional Services, Inteq Group

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 15, 2022; 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST

Host: International Institute of Business Analysis    @IIBA

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Project to Product: Unlocking Product Agility

Presented by Anne Steiner, CEO, Cprime

 

Adherence to time, budget, and scope has been the gold standard measure of project success since the beginning of time. Many occasions, we are delighted if we can meet even two of those targets.

Now, as the digital world shifts from thinking in fixed-time period projects to ongoing product efforts (with associated teams, markets, and horizons), adherence to time, budget, and scope has little to do with the actual success of an initiative.

In this webinar, Anne Steiner, CEO at Cprime, will cover the challenges and advantages companies and teams unlock when they apply product thinking over project thinking.

We’ll explore topics including:

    Team formation

    Budgeting and planning

    Reducing cycle times in order to fuel continuous product learning.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2022; 10:00 am – 11:00 am EST

Host: Cprime    @Cprime

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Agile Metrics: More Effectiveness by Measuring What Matters

Presented by Jutta Eckstein

 

In this webinar, you will find out quickly what is delaying your project - and how to speed things up!

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2022; 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Give Your Product A High Five: Five Business Analysis Essential Steps And Tools

Presented by Tomette Kirk, CBAP, Manager, Business Customer Experience Team, Humana

 

The five essential components of business analysis can be summed up in these steps: Stakeholder Analysis, Current State Analysis, Future State Analysis, Gap Analysis, and Requirements Management. Master these, and the rest is gravy. The session will focus on these five areas and corresponding tools that can be implemented at your desk tomorrow. Surprisingly, some of these areas are often overlooked leaving holes in a project. Essential Business Analysis is the core of any successful program. Give your product a High Five!

 

Audience: IIBA Members

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Host: International Institute of Business Analysis    @IIBA

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]   Login and scroll down to IIBA Members webinars

 

 

 

 

Where Does Business Analysis Occur in a SAFe Enterprise

Presented by Marguerite Sterns, SPC, LPM, RTE, CSM, SAFe Consultant and Trainer

 

We will discuss where business analysis occurs in a SAFe Enterprise and how practiced proficient business analysis professionals can contribute to Enterprise Business Agility at every level of the enterprise. Focusing on human chains of knowledge and vision coupled with incremental delivery where we employ Plan-Do-Check-Adapt cycles to iterate to optimal solutions for the companies we support.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday m November 16, 2022; 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST

Host: Bluegrass IIBA Chapter    @IIBABluegrass

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Give Your Product A High Five: Five Business Analysis Essential Steps And Tools

Presented by Tomette Kirk, CBAP, Manager, Business Customer Experience Team, Humana

 

The five essential components of business analysis can be summed up in these steps: Stakeholder Analysis, Current State Analysis, Future State Analysis, Gap Analysis, and Requirements Management. Master these, and the rest is gravy. The session will focus on these five areas and corresponding tools that can be implemented at your desk tomorrow. Surprisingly, some of these areas are often overlooked leaving holes in a project. Essential Business Analysis is the core of any successful program. Give your product a High Five!

 

Audience: IIBA Members

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2022; 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST

Host: International Institute of Business Analysis    @IIBA

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]   Login and scroll down to IIBA Members webinars

 

 

 

 

The Power of Scrum for Olympians, Entrepreneurs and Solopreneurs

Presented by Toby Jenkins, PSM and Ferzeen Anis, PST

 

What do the Scrum Framework and an Olympic journey have in common?

Turns out, a lot. Olympian, PSM and entrepreneur Toby Jenkins was trained by, and is now coached by, PST and Scrum Master Ferzeen Anis. 

 

In this session, Ferzeen and Toby will draw lessons from lived experience in applying Scrum, building businesses and working toward achieving an Olympic dream. 

 

They will be exploring the alignment of core principles such as coaching, feedback, planning, adaptation, reflection and recovery. 

 

They’ll also be discussing how these principles are applied to entrepreneurship for small teams (even as small as 1) in order to create the conditions for sustainable, high performance, learning businesses.

 

Key takeaways

    How an Olympic experience translates directly into Scrum

    How to Scrum helps to focus on doing what truly matters

    "Done" in entrepreneurship - self accountability checklist

    How the events (and mindfulness) help to switch accountabilities in a team of less than 3

    Practical ways the Scrum framework and complementary practices have helped entrepreneurs 

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 17, 2022; 9:00 am – 10:00 pm EST

Host: Scrum.org

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Benchmarking as a Creativity Technique

Presented by Michael Dobson

 

In project metrics, as in many other areas of management control, benchmarking is a fundamental technique. Instead of limiting yourself to one-to-one comparisons, you can benchmark “laterally,” using real metrics from laterally-chosen products or services to reveal new insights and opportunities. This webinar is based on research conducted at The Weather Channel and game manufacturer TSR.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 17, 2022; 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

 

How to Succeed in Your IIBA® Exam in The 1st Attempt

Presented by LN Mishra, President, Adaptive US

 

By the end of this webinar, you’ll know:

     How IIBA certifications can play an important role in your BA career

     How to pass IIBA exam in the 1st attempt

     Adaptive support for IIBA Exam prep

     Q&A

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 17, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Host: Adaptive US    @AdaptiveUS

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

Friday, November 4, 2022

Business Analysis Webinars for November 2022 - Week II

Please scroll down to the date, or name, of the webinar in which you are interested.

When "Ask the Team" is not appropriate, Psychological Safety for Effective Facilitation and Better Team Interactions

Panelists: Andy Hiles, Jessica Martin, and Ravi Verma

 

Sometimes when Scrum Masters, other Scrum Team Members or Agile Coaches facilitate conversations for teams, they will reflect questions back to the team members or say, "it depends." But when are we encouraging team self-management versus ignoring situations that are exacerbating unsafe and isolating environments? Join PST Andy Hiles, Jessica Martin, Agile Coach and PST Ravi Verma in a panel discussion hosted by Patricia Kong, where they will share their experiences with creating psychological safety in teams by using effective facilitation skills in conversations and other interactions.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 8, 2022; 10:00 am – 11:00 am EDT

Host: Scrum.org

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 
 

IT Cost Estimation Jeopardy: the Management Game that's Behind the Times

Presented by Carol Dekkers

 

This session outlines a streamlined and professional approach to software cost estimation together with an estimation maturity model for companies who want to improve their software cost estimating success and ultimately develop better software.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 8, 2022; 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

How Well Is Your Digital Thread Initiative Going?

Presented by Arlene Minkiewicz

 

This webinar introduces the concept of digital thread and presents important project metrics to ensure best practices and health of such an initiative.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 9, 2022; 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

5 Practical Tips to Launch an Exciting Business Analyst Career

Presented by LN Mishra, Co-founder, Adaptive US

 

If you are an aspiring BA looking at launching an awesome BA career and winning exciting BA job opportunities, there is no better time than now. The exciting news is that you are in one of the fastest-growing professions with an all-time high growth rate of 14% from 2014-2024, while the average growth of any profession is 5%, as per the US Bureau of labor statistics.

With technology offering tremendous opportunities to improve businesses and the demand for BAs going on the rise, what are the skills and competencies you need to set yourself apart from the crowd?

This webinar tells you how exactly you can launch a successful BA career and empower yourself with the best BA jobs in the market.

Agenda:
    • Is Business Analysis the right career choice for you?
    • 5 growth hacks to launch your awesome BA career
    • BA tools and skills to excel in today’s job market
    • Proven approach and tips to stand out and succeed as a BA
    • Q&A

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 9, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Host: International Institute of Business Analysis    @IIBA

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Artificial Intelligence, Complexity and Project Management

Presented by Robert Lee Gordon

 

In this webinar we will explore the different uses for artificial intelligence in projects and discuss what changes project managers can expect in the future. We will discuss complexity theory and complexity application in projects and will explain current best practices and how project managers are using artificial intelligence for successful projects.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 10, 2022; 11:00 am – 11:45 am EST

Host: The Great IT Professional

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

 

How to Succeed in Your IIBA® Exam in The 1st Attempt

Presented by LN Mishra, President, Adaptive US

 

By the end of this webinar, you’ll know:

     How IIBA certifications can play an important role in your BA career

     How to pass IIBA exam in the 1st attempt

     Adaptive support for IIBA Exam prep

     Q&A

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 10, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Host: Adaptive US    @AdaptiveUS

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Business Analysis Webinars for November 2022

Please scroll down to the date, or name, of the webinar in which you are interested.

November 2022: 7 Core Power Skill Required in the Face of Rapid Change

Presented b David Mantica, Vice President and General Manager, SoftEd USA

 

Business Analysts and SDLC professionals work in complicated and complex environments. You have critical work to complete but do not have the positional powerbase to “drive” your solutions and ideas forward as well as to “compel” people to engage you. This requires strong “power skills” that enable you to work successfully in a matrix environment and drive your work / solutions forward.

 

The power skills we will cover:

    Systems Thinking

    Critical Thinking

    Presents

    Utilizing Silence

    Value Analysis

    Radical Candor

    Unlearning

 

We will dig into each power skills and discuss simple tools and techniques to build up these skills. These are not practices or templates that you can learn and just do. These are hard skills that take practice and require you to “stretch” and become comfortable when you make mistakes.

 

Learning Objectives

    Understand the importance and value of power skills

    Leverage them for success

    Techniques that will strengthen them

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 1, 2022; 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT

Host: Bluegrass IIBA Chapter and Albany Capital District IIBA Chapter    @IIBABluegrass   @IIBAacd

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

My Context Diagram Is Done. Now What? Business Analysis Planning!

Presented by Ryland Leyton, CBAP, PMP, CSM, SPC4

 

If you joined Ryland for his IIBA webinar on Context Diagrams (you can watch that recording here: https://vimeo.com/696637048/12b9d6fef7), you'll remember that we ended by asking the question "what happens next?" The good news and the bad news are the same news: there are a TON of things you could do next, and you get to figure out which ones by applying BA skills to it!

   
Starting with a context diagram, Identify and prioritize your follow-on work.
   
Be able to design and explain your analysis plan to project team members and stakeholders.
   
Consider and apply optimizations based on your software development framework.

 

Audience: IIBA Members

Date/Time: Wednesday, November 2, 2022; 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT

Host: International Institute of Business Analysis    @IIBA

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]   Login and scroll down to IIBA Members webinars

 

 

 

How to Succeed in Your IIBA® Exam in The 1st Attempt

Presented by LN Mishra, President, Adaptive US

 

By the end of this webinar, you’ll know:

     How IIBA certifications can play an important role in your BA career

     How to pass IIBA exam in the 1st attempt

     Adaptive support for IIBA Exam prep

     Q&A

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 3, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: Adaptive US    @AdaptiveUS

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]

 

 

 

 

Is it Time to Pivot? What to be Ready for in 2023

Presented by Marcus Klein (Planview), Steve Wolfe (Planview), and Ken France (Cprime)

 

Flexibility is the key to unlocking agility. However, we also must remember that we can bend in multiple directions and at different points. As we look ahead to 2023 and beyond, we will share forecasted market trends and impending market opportunities.

In this webinar, our experts from Cprime and Planview will discuss how aligning strategy to execution can be achieved by intentionally accelerating your people and technology so you can stay on trend and on target in 2023. Is your organization ready to pivot?

Objectives of the webinar:

    Plan for 2023 by understanding where you need to pivot.

    Improve flexibility by aligning people and technology tactically.

    Learn how Planview helps enterprise digital transformation with the right metrics and automated workflows.

 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, November 3, 2022; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: Cprime    @Cprime

Cost: Free

[REGISTER HERE]