Herding Cats

What Does It Mean To Have A Plan?

A Plan is the strategy for the successful completion of a project. A strategy is not a list of objectives, but the means of achieving those objectives. Any project without a Plan is a project wondering in the wilderness. What... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"Common Sense is neither common nor sensical. Much of what passes for common sense is not based on any underlying principle it’s just anecdotes that have worked for the current situation." - Benjamin Franklin Read more →

Friday Round Up

The Contribution of Earned Value Management to Project Success on Contracted Efforts: A Quantitative Statistics Approach with the Population of Experienced Practioners, Robert A. Marshall, October 2006. There is a suggestion from one of the proponents of a project manager... Read more →

Plan the Work - Work the Plan

The old saw of Plan the Work, then Work the Plan is at the heart of the success of any non-trivial project. The core concepts go like this: If we don't know what done looks like, how will we recognize... Read more →

Quote of the Day

I don't give a damn for man that can spell a word only one way. - Mark Twain Read more →

Time, Budget, Scope - Pick Two - NOT TRUE

The old saw of "Time, Budget, Scope," pick two is attributed to Greg Larman. I can't say that Greg is the author of this quote or not. But it's referenced in a paper "Quantum Mechanics, Buddhism and Projects," which itself... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Science determines what IS… Component engineering determines what CAN BE… Systems engineering determines what SHOULD BE. Systems Engineering is a holistic, product oriented engineering discipline whose responsibility is to create and execute an interdisciplinary process to ensure that customer and... Read more →

Project Failure Sins and How to Stop These Sins

Thanks to Ron Rosenberg for another useful post about the failure modes of projects. The Lecture can be found HERE The Challenge of Scale Middleware or Fiddleware? Method or Madness? Where are we? Software development is still an art Integration,... Read more →

What Does a Good PLAN Look Like

The recent post about What Does a Good Schedule Look Like? brought out a response on What Does A Good Plan Look Like? This brings up the issue of planning and scheduling inside of projects, especially projects where planning and... Read more →

What Does a Good Schedule Look Like?

A good schedule doesn't tell what you want to hear, it tells you what you need to know, so you must ... A good schedule is predictive - it shows what is going to happen in the future and what... Read more →

How To Behave Like a Professional Project Manager

Have all the facts at hand No searching through your notes. No making things up No trying to convince people your idea is better in the absence of actual field experience and testimony that it is in fact better Understand... Read more →