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In May, the annual Iowa Business Analysis Development Day, or IBADD, event was hosted by the Central Iowa Chapter of IIBA at Prairie Meadows Event Center. We were very excited because this year we expanded IBADD to be a 2 Day event. While we still held our traditional day of Keynotes and Speaker presentations, we added in a day dedicated to workshops. Separate morning and afternoon workshops gave our members an opportunity to dive deep into specific topics and work toward truly mastering a subject. Trainers came from far-and-wide starting with our local Des Moines area and coming as far as from Brazil. We got a lot of great feedback, both positive and improvement oriented, on this year's format and are planning on another two-day IBADD next year.

In particular, I was excited to once again see the PMI Central Iowa Chapter at their booth in our Sponsors Hall and look forward to being at the IIBA booth at the PMI PDD on October 12^th. The relationship between the local Chapters of PMI and IIBA goes back further than my involvement with the IIBA organization and I feel fortunate to have seen the relationship grow over the years. We have traded a booth at each other's Development Day for several years now. In the last year, we've worked together to have joint networking events and speaker presentations. The upcoming year will see our groups continue to work together which is fitting since both domains need each other to be successful.

Having spent most of my career in the PM field, I found my most successful projects to also be the ones where I had the best relationship with my BA. Now that I have spent time on the other side of the equation, I understand why. As a team, the PM and BA both manage to the project constraints project albeit from different angles. The BA focuses on the Product Quality – a key factor in any project's success – while the PM focuses on the Cost and Schedule. Both roles have a responsibility to communicate with stakeholders and manage risk. If these two roles aren't aligned, the project will have a bumpy road as the key constraints aren't managed in unison and, ultimately, diverge which decreases the chance of project success.

We are true siblings in our marketplace. Sometimes we fight and sometimes we're best friends, but we're always working for the betterment of our companies and communities. We in this together and frequently face the same problems. Agile is a great example because it's a big disruptor in our industry. Agile is an opportunity we all have to show that it's not a title, but the skillset that allows each of us to provide value. For those with a BA or PM skillset, we're valuable members of a team that provide a critical function in communications to stakeholders and organization of deliverables and stories. For those that have both BA and PM skillsets, they are the unicorns that have the ability to fluidly move between teams, systems, and knowledge domains. They are truly Agile and continuously find new ways to add value. These people recognize that skill in Scope Management (PM) improves the ability to perform Solution Scope Definition (BA). They understand that creating a WBS (PM) benefits from skill in Requirements Elicitation (BA) by drawing out that next level of detail. There's just a lot of synergy between the two fields yet each skillset is truly unique in it's domain and audience.

I urge everyone to hone your skills in both the PM and BA spaces through practice and through education. Whether you're a member PMI CIC or IIBA CIC, get on the mailing list of both organizations and take note of the speakers each group brings to town. Attend the monthly meetings. Sign up to have a mentor or to be a mentor. Volunteer for both groups. Register for the PDD and for IBADD to take your skillset to that next level. We have a great community here in Des Moines because both organizations are dedicated to advancing the knowledge of their members. I look forward to the continued relationship between the PMI and IIBA Central Iowa Chapters and hope to see everyone at the PDD on October 12^thand at the next IBADD in May 2019.

Kevin Rose is the current President of the Central Iowa Chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). He is a certified Project Management Professional and ScrumMaster and has spent 14 years working in the Project Management field at various companies in the Des Moines area. Several years ago, Kevin jumped at an opportunity to lead a team of Business Analysts and sought to learn more about BA practices. This lead him to join the Board of Directors of IIBA CIC in 2015 as Director of Programs and he became President in 2017.

The IIBA CIC is a non-profit organization working to strengthen the presence and understanding of Business Analysis skills throughout Des Moines and central Iowa. To learn more, please visit www.centraliowaiiba.org or www.iiba.org.