Herding Cats

Quote of the Day

By ‘uncertain’ knowledge, let me explain, I do not mean merely to distinguish what is known for certain from what is only probable. The game of roulette is not subject, in this sense, to uncertainty ... The sense in which... Read more →

Test of Hyperdrive Planned for Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

Every once in awhile my particle physics background is useful. I wrote digital filters in grad school a for deep inelastic scattering experiment, which turned into my first "real" job on a radar project. The MIT Technology Review has an... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Here and elsewhere, we shall not obtain the best insights into things until we actually see them growing from the beginning — Aristotle Put your theory to the test through application on real projects. Read more →

Planning

The idea of planning seems harder than it looks. The idea of scheduling in the absence of a Plan is not only harder than it looks, it is a complete waste of time. Let's start this is a familiar quote:... Read more →

Quote of the Day

It is possible to measure virtually any activity in the program, but if the measurement does not support a key objective, it is not worth the cost of data collection and analysis. From the Dayton Aerospace Integrated Project Management Handbook.... Read more →

Risk Management - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There is a large amount of material floating around on managing risks in projects. I'll start with a nice post at SeaLight, "Making Theory Usable: A Risk Register for the Rest of Us." The top 16 reasons projects fail and... Read more →

The Real PM 2.0 - An Example in Practice

Take a look at Alistair's key note address to see an example of the progression of development and the management processes around the development. A couple of comments. Barry Boehm was at TRW when I started there in the late... Read more →

Quote of the Day

One of the best definitions of a team is: "A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable." (Katzenbach and Smith,... Read more →

The Real Project Management 2.0

The Project Management 2.0 has yet to state how project's are improved in units of measure of the beneficial outcome. Oh there's some time savings in communications of the project team. Lot's of marketing hype. Hype 2.0 is a popular... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Significant investments require a clearly understood process for ensuring that the program budget, expected outcomes and cost/schedule performance measurements are integrated with risk management. .” - OMB A-11, Part 7, Exhibit-300 Read more →

Orion (Crew Exploration Vehicle) Coming Together

I started on the Crew Exploration Vehicle program with the first proposal, building the Integrated Master Plan / Integrated Master Schedule. That proposal was replaced with a second RFP when the NASA Administrator changed. Again I worked the IMP/IMS. The... Read more →

Cost Estimating Guide

The GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide describes the success factors for managing cost. Chapter 19 is all about Earned Value. While this document may appear to be yet another government tome, it provides important information needed to increase the... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Web 2.0 and the related Project 2.0 just isn't about social media, it's about being smart and productive. It's not the technology, it's the people and the process. Tools can implement processes better. Bad processes mean PM 2.0 and Web... Read more →

Process Improvement Project Check List

Michiko Diby referenced a GAO (Government Accountability Office) report titled Business Process Reengineering Assessment Guide. This report, written in 1997 rings true today for any re-engineering for for that matter any IT enterprise project. A quick (generic) summary Assessing the... Read more →

Black Letter Project Law

Paul Ritchie introduced a new idea – the Black Letter Law. This is the notion that there are basic standards for any practice. The original practice for Black Letter Law was of course Law. So are there Black Letter Law’s... Read more →

Leadership Framework

The Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordan England has a simple foundation for how to "make" a leader: Treat every person with dignity and respect – nobody is more important than anyone else Be forthright, honest and direct with every person... Read more →

The Eight Step Process

The US DoD has started using an "Eight Step Process" for logistics and other activities. These are (in general terms) Look at the overall picture Determine the work unit accomplishments Determine individual accomplishments that support the work unit goals Convert... Read more →