Minneapolis, MN, October 16, 2006 – http://www.watermarklearning.com – Watermark Learning, a leading business analysis and project management training firm, is addressing the top 5 challenges faced by project managers.

As the project management industry evolves, so do the challenges faced by project managers. Watermark Learning is coaching project managers on how to communicate effectively with their entire project team and improve their project success rate.

“I think there are several major challenges in project management today,” said Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CEO and Principal of Watermark Learning, “one of the largest is gathering requirements from clients who believe they already have the solution.”

Communication is a key element to effective project management and many of the challenges that project managers face are relationship-based. According to Larson, the top 5 challenges are:

1. Gathering complete business requirements.
2. Working with teams from different backgrounds and cultures.
3. Working with geographically-dispersed team members.
4. Establishing trust and getting buy-in from business customers.
5. Having sponsors and business customers take responsibility for the project’s requirements.

“Many clients do no understand why the project manager wants to spend time defining their needs,” said Larson. “This in turn makes the project manager reluctant to ask questions that are important in determining the real business need behind the client’s stated solution.”