Herding Cats

An Inconvenient Truth

There are many discussions around what works and what doesn't work in the management of projects. Words like: Earned Value can't work for our problem. I've seen it fail, so it can't work. Agile is nonsense, it's not right for... Read more →

"Don't Do Stupid Things On Purpose"

I came across (actually Pat Richards alerted me) to an article about how Earned Value is not applicable for Software Development project. This article was in a PMI IS SIG news letter. See Pat's post. You can retrieve the article... Read more →

Quote of the Day

If you can't afford to mitigate the risk now, be absolutely sure you can afford to resolve the problem later when it happens. - Introduction to Universal Risk Report, The Risk Management Research and Development Program, INCOSE Risk Management Working... Read more →

Teams

The Design, Development, and Support of High Performance Teams from The Hunter and the Hunted, James B. Swartz When you study companies that have bee very successful in the development of teams and compare them to companies that have floundered,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Nowadays, I make it a practice to call them into consultation on any new work ... I observe that they are more willing to set about a piece of work on which their opinions have been asked and their advice... Read more →

Quote of the Day

While not a fan of the "popular speakers," this quote struck close to home... Success is the result of good judgment; good judgment is a result of experience; experience is often the result of bad judgment. - Tony Robbins Read more →

So Why Aren't We Paying Attention?

Ranging from posting like "math is too hard," to "let's let the requirements emerge," I always troubled by the lack of attention to the underlying - many times the deep underlying - principles of managing software development projects. Back in... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Everything important has been said before, by someone who did not discover it. - Alfred North Whitehead, 1916 address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science Read more →

Agile and DoD Software Development

We're working a paper on the integration of Agile software development process and ANSI/EAI-748-B Earned Value Management. Came across Considerations for Using Agile in DoD Acquisition. Worth a read. Read more →

The Work Breakdown Structure

While doing some research for a new engagement on a DoD program, I came across a paper on the Work Breakdown Structure from a PMI Global conference. Applying the Work Breakdown Structure to the Project Lifecycle. The paper provides a... Read more →

What Does Done Look Like?

I've participated in two session at Carnegie Mellon Silcon Valley's Masters Program, as a speaker. And one of our staff is completing his Masters Program there. he sent me this picture. The inside joke, besides the graduates completing the work,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded... Read more →

The Problem With Deadlines

Ron Rosenhead has a great post about Bring Back The Meaning of Deadlines. The use of deadlines is common in project management. It's part of the culture of projects to speak about Milestones, Deadlines, and single items like that. But... Read more →

Mathematics is our Friend

Over the past months, there has been several posts about the mathematics of project management. Cost estimating, schedule estimating, programmatic and technical risks. I was cleaning up my server, looking for materials to aide a client for "getting back to... Read more →

Watching Dogs Eat Spaghetti

That's a good description of what schedules look like when they are assembled in the absence of any program architecture. This architecture is of course best built using the Integrated Master Plan (IMP) paradigm. Without going into the details of... Read more →

Earned Value v. Earned Schedule

Andrew Makar posted a comment about Earned Schedule and if I had read Ray Stratton's papers on Earned Schedule. It has awhile since I looked at www.earnedschedule.com. So please go there, read the papers, look at the pictures on the... Read more →

The Three Deadly Sins of EVM?

Mark Mullaly has a nice post at Gantt Head where he speaks about the three dealy sins of EVM. While I enjoy Mark's posts, and he does bring up good points, I'm not a fan of this approach for some... Read more →

Anchoring and Adjustment - Part Deux

Dan Ward posted about Gray's Paradox. When Dan describes his experience at the Baltimore Aquarium: The truth is, the animals have it right and we've got it wrong. When our math indicates one thing and observation reveals something else, um,... Read more →

A Credible Resource of PM Materials

There are many resources on the web for Project Management. Some from offical organizations. PMI's Project Management Journal is one. Some from government organizaitons, The Defense Acquisition University's site is a wealth of materials. PMI's College of Performance Management. Cross... Read more →

Earned Value and Agile "Connecting the Dots"

There is lots of discussion about applying agile development in an Earned Value project domain. The inverse is discussed as well but not with the same intensity - applying Earned Value in the agile domain. Here is small sample of... Read more →