Herding Cats

Quote of the Day

Worked a $20B Manned Space Flight program a few years ago, when called in to help with getting back on schedule. The Finance Manager (CFO of the Program) opened the kickoff meeting with ... What's the difference between our program... Read more →

Quote of the Day

In the space of two days, I had evolved two plans, wholly distinct, both of which were equally feasible. The point I am trying to bring out is that one does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit... Read more →

Quote of the Day

When personal judgment is inoperative (or forbidden), men’s first concern is not how to choose, but how to justify their choice. —Ayn Rand Read more →

Quote of the Day

Agile is about inspecting and adapting, but most of the things that will get in our way during Transformation are actually knowable up front. And those real, knowable constraints are often what make organizational change difficult. - Mike Cottmeyer Agile... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“If a profession is to sharpen its skills, to develop new skills and applications, and to gain increasing respect and credibility, then theory and practice must be closely related” – Martin Shrub Opening quote in IMP / IMS Step By... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The best thing that can be done to a problem is to solve it. False. The best thing that can be done to a problem is to dissolve it, to redesign the entity that has it or its environment so... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The theory of probability is at the bottom, nothing but common sense reduced to calculus. Pierre de Laplace, Theorie Analytique de Probabilitesy introduction, 1812-20 Read more →

Quote of the Day

Probabilities direct the conduct of the wise man. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, Book 1, chap. 5, sec. 12 When you hear that you can make decisions in the presence of uncertainty WITHOUT estimating the impact of that decision, the Greeks... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Solum certum nihil esse certi The only certainty is uncertainty Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, Bk ii, 7 All projects operate in the presence of risk which is created by uncertainty. Uncertainty comes in two forms. Reducible (Epistemic) and Irreducible... Read more →

Thought for the Day

When you hear someone make a statement that is suspect, ask - What's the basis of that statement? Any Principles to support that claim? If the statement is about science, ask what peer reviewed journal did you read that in?... Read more →

Book of the Month

This is the only one of Sinclair Lewis's later novels to match the power of Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take... Read more →

The Problem with Planning

Eisenhower's quote Plans are worthless but planning is everything is the basis of an article in the Army Leader well worth reading, downloading, and keeping at you side at all time. In our Federal Acquisition world, the Integrated Master Plan... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Military officers are by their very nature generalists who are required to apply a set of commonly accepted management techniques and leadership principles to an unending parade of situations in an equally limitless set of disciplines and circumstances. The constant... Read more →

Quote of the Day

All projects are affected by cost, schedule, and technical risks, created by reducible and irreducible uncertainty - Virien and Trumper 2013. Cost and schedule growth for complex projects are created with unrealistic technical performance expectations, unrealistic cost and schedule estimates,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

May the sun always shine down on you. As a constant reminder that there is a giant nuclear-powered fireball in the sky just barely holding it together. Read more →

The False Logic of No Estimates

There are a lot of logical fallacies in today's software development world. Good logic it seems is hard to come by. Here's two simple known-to-work logic principles Modus ponens - If A is true, then B is true. When A... Read more →

Climate Science from Scientist or Climate Science from Radical Talk Show Host

There are still voices of climate science denial. I had a conversation of sorts with a colleague about actual science sources of climate science. He was quoting an opinion of a person funded by Alex Jones. Here's a very short... Read more →

The Story Counting Fallacy Without Knowing Underlying Statistics

There's a popular meme on social media that goes ...just count the number of stories, instead of Story Points that's all you need to estimate a software development project. That's an OK idea if several things are in place. But... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. ‒ Samuel Johnson Read more →

Quote of the Day

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be lead to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins all of them imaginary - H. L. Mencken, in Defense of... Read more →