Herding Cats

Probability

Just picked up Chances Are: Adventures in Probability, Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan. It's a book about probability and its impact on everyday life. Chapters on gambling, health, judging, fighting, and predicting. One of the predicting aspects I'm most interested... Read more →

Missed Opportunity

I've looked through the recent PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling. Disappointing is the first word that comes to mind. But disappointing for several non-obvious reasons. The Practice Standard has little to actually say about the practice of scheduling. 2/3's of... Read more →

ETC versus EAC

Estimate to Complete versus Estimate at Completion A recent discovery was to realize that many project managers – some of which work for me – confuse the importance of an “estimate to complete” (ETC) with an “estimate at completion.” (EAC)... Read more →

Wicked Problems?

There has been much discussion on the forums about complex adaptive systems, agility, “all processes are design processes,” etc. This triggered a thought about the ability of agile methods to address “wicked problems.” The concept of "wicked problems" in design... Read more →

Myths in Project Management of IT

Trouble starts when the traditional high–ceremony project management methods used in some industries are applied to Information Technology projects. In the IT domain, this trouble comes from several “myths” associated with a high–ceremony approach: Planning – It is not humanly... Read more →