Herding Cats

Subjective Assessments

There is a whole lot of information out there on the failures, success, and attributes of projects and project management methods. Some claim the sky is falling and IT projects have an abysmal success rate. Others claim the have discovered... Read more →

Units of Measure

Many a discussion on the web or in a Blog starts with a conjecture of sorts about some topic that the writer wants the reader(s) to become familiar with and eventually share as their own. This attempt to convey meaning... Read more →

Software and Systems Engineering

Many aerospace projects consider software as an embedded part of a system or subsystem. Avionics, ground operations, guidance, navigation and control, command and data handling. Similar concepts can be found in embedded controls, software based instruments, process control, and other... Read more →

Fictitious Schedules

Jack Dalgren suggested projects with tangible outcomes have fewer fictitious schedules than projects that have internal or "softer" deliverables. I'd suggest that the source of the problem is the lack of a definition of "done" in any project, tangible or... Read more →

Managing Uncertainty

The Declaration of Interdependence states that uncertainty is managed through frequent iterations, anticipation, and adaptation. A Monograph at MIT's Engineering Systems Division describes how uncertainty is managed in an engineered systems domain. If you go looking it will be discovered... Read more →

Truth Over Harmony

The development of Agile Project Management is an idea who's time has come. The migration from principles to practices is the next step. This transition likely involves more discussion about how to identify these practices, segregate them across business domains,... Read more →

Shuttle Calibration

I work for one of the suppliers to the Shuttle program (External Tank) and flight software. I get asked questions that I really can't answer, since I'm in Finance & Business Operation on proposal and transition teams. Here's some "facts"... Read more →

Why Group Accountability Doesn't Always Work

One of the principles of Agile Project Management is Group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness The shared responsibility for team effectiveness idea is powerful in that it removes the blame game from play. The methods of... Read more →

Agile Project Leadership Network - Part 2

I caused consternation with the past post. "You're being negative" was one response. Maybe so. Or maybe just being skeptical. The question still remains: How can we put the Principles of Agile Project Management into Practice? Without a practice of... Read more →

Agile Project Leadership Network

I just know this is going to seem like a fly in the ointment, but it's not and I'll state unequivocally that I'm a big fan of agile everything, but are the core principles stated in the Agile Project Leadership... Read more →

Some Guiding Principles

Much is spoken about the "principles" of Agile Project Management. Although I don't think these Agile Project Management principles are mature yet in terms of the "actionable outcomes" I'm used to working with - but that's a personal problem I... Read more →

3 by 5 Cards

One of the core concepts in the Extreme Programming approach to software development is to put information on 3 by 5 cards and post them on the wall, rearrange them, and use them to convey information to the team, customer... Read more →

CMMI and Agile

David Anderson describes how the Declaration of Interdependence and the Capability Maturity Model Integrated are related on his post. The DoI is a set of principles for managing agile projects. The CMMI with its various models is a framework for... Read more →

Some More Friends

The Six Friends in the previous post have other friends as well: (these come from Jim Chapman with a few changes and updates) Determine What the Business Is Make sure the business is viable Select projects that are good for... Read more →

Six Friends

Some posters to Project Management forums use the Six Friends signature or mention a small number of principles. There is a slide in a recent training class that used them as well. Maybe it's time to restate them here as... Read more →

Old Versus New

A recent conversation on New Grange suggested there are two basic type of people in the world of Project Management (or possibly management in general). A group that sees everything as new. It is a religion and nothing we say... Read more →

Everything is a Project

There is a discussion topic in many firms about "what is a project and what is support." One place to look for some advice is The Curse of Earned Value Management...Level of Effort, Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppelman, The Measurable... Read more →

Project Management as Mission Assurance

Large aerospace projects have a role called Mission Assurance. This role is closely aligned with risk management. Most risk analysis techniques assume a linear view of the world, where the scope of the analysis is defined by the organization or... Read more →

Revisiting the DoI

The Declaration of Interdependence describes 6 behaviors of an agile project: We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus. We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership. We expect uncertainty... Read more →

Managing Chaos

The previous post outlined the origins of Chaotic systems from a simple starting point of accumulated error. Managing Project Uncertainty, Meyer, Loch, and Pich, Sloan Management Review, Winter 2002, defines 4 types of uncertainty. These types are not related to... Read more →