Introduction

Dear Fissure Friends,

 

It is spring in Minnesota and everything is turning green and it is a time of renewal and renewed energy. There is a lot going on at Fissure that you will find interesting, so be sure to check out the Fissure News link.

 

There is one news item I want to talk about in my introduction! Fissure is currently developing a new Simulation Powered Learning® (SPL®) workshop for Business Analysis, and it will be ready in September. Identifying, analyzing, defining, tracking and validating requirements is an important part of project management and this new offering will meet that specific need. As in our other SPL training, the workshop will be a blended learning approach using lecture and computer simulation to develop confidence in using best practices for business analysis.

 

In developing the Business Analysis SPL workshop we have teamed with Hollstadt & Associates, a Twin Cities-based project management and business analysis consulting firm and with Hans Jonasson who is a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP™). Hans is also a PMP® and a founding member of the Southeast Michigan chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA™). Susan Heidorn and John Skovbroten, our resident BAs, are also major contributors to this development.

 

In association with the announcement of our Business Analysis workshop Hans has provided an excellent article on the “Coming of Age” of the business analysis profession. Those of you familiar with the growth and pace of PMI® and PMP® will really be able to relate to what is going on right now with business analysis.

 

Talk about renewal, Sandy Kimmer, M.D., Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, provides a letter she wrote describing an amazing day she had in Iraq shortly after beginning her tour of duty recently. What she and others are doing to help the people of Iraq is truly inspiring. Sandy is the daughter of Fissure Board member and bookkeeper, Brian Toren. You may remember that she contributed an article on leadership several years ago.

 

Geof doesn’t talk about renewal in his article, but it does relate to Business Analysis and as always, he is inspiring. Geof’s article highlights the advantage of trying to “walk in someone else’s shoes” which is an important BA skill. He talks about the advantage teams have when they are made up of people with different perspectives and how sharing those perspectives and being open to other’s perspectives can result in better solutions. Of course he uses an example of sharing perspectives with his teenage daughter as proof that if you do it right, sharing perspectives at home can be a relatively pain free method of resolving differences.

 

Our upcoming public workshops are in the left hand panel - our computer simulation powered workshops are an effective and fun way to learn AND EARN PDUs. Make sure you also check out what’s happening at Fissure (Fissure News).

 

Thanks for reading and take some personal time to renew or reframe yourself,

 

Jesse Freese

Fissure, President