Herding Cats

Quote of the Day

It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience. —... Read more →

Veterans Day

Let us remember today all the Soldiers, Sailors, Airman, and Marines we have served with, who are our friends, family, and colleagues. But more importantly, let us remember those Comrades in Arms that did not return. Read more →

The Simple Picture of Earned Schedule

The use of Earned Schedule has been around for awhile. There are some in the EV community that don't see ES as useful, some that use it weekly, and some who are starting to understand ES as a tool for... Read more →

Statements about Absolutes

Of late there have been several instances where "absolute" statements have been made regarding project management, software development processes, ISO-9000 deployments and general things I'm interested. Most often these statements are made by renowned individual held in high esteem by... Read more →

Managing Projects with EMail?

There is a conjecture that email is the next big thing in project management. Tools that scrape information out of emails and use them as content for project management decisions. Well let's play a little game. Actually it's not a... Read more →

Update to Agile Manifesto and Its Impact On Traditional Project Management

Scott Ambler writes in an IBM Developer Blog that the agile manifesto needs updating. Scott is one of the original thought leaders in "agile" process. In the past, he has confused the concepts of Earned Value Management (ANSI-748B style) with... Read more →

What Does It Mean When Someone Says Agile EVM?

When someone mentions "agile" in the same sentence as "earned value," I'm always puzzled what they mean. Using Earned Value with Agile software development projects? Agile use of earned value? Agile deployment of Earned Value and the Management System? The... Read more →

Blacks Swans and Three Faces of Risk

Recent comments on Unknown Unknowns needs some background. I'm not a fan of Taleb. I know there are many in the PM community who are. But there needs to be a starting point for any discussion around "long tailed" distributions... Read more →

Blog des éditions Technip et Ophrys Blog

Have you seen many projects completed on schedule? Neither did I. Here are a few ideas that hopefully may help. Let’s first have a look at how a Project schedule is established and the progress measurement is made. via www.toblog.fr... Read more →

Project Management Day

I try NOT to read blogs that use bad PM practices as their starting point. But I just could not control myself this time. I was responding a comments and made a new post on "Black Swans."This types of post... Read more →

Unknown Unknowns

Michiko Diby wrote a piece on "unknown unknowns" singing Rumsfield's infamous quote about the situation in South West Asia. Michiko suggests there is nothing we can do as PMs about the unknown unknowns. They just come along and "slap us... Read more →

Team Building

I'm not a fan of the typical team building. Geoff Crane wrote a great post that resonated with me. My first question to anyone suggesting team building is If we have a team, who's our opponent? I personally prefer to... Read more →

Earned Value Badge Tag

We work in a "badge rich" environment. My wife calls then "feathers", the more feathers you have to more visible you are. At times I've had 3 layers of badges to get through gates, building doors, and office doors, plus... Read more →

What is a Capability - Deciphering the Intent of Management

There is always talk about what the customer wants versus what the customer needs. Talk about capturing requirements, turning those requirements into outcomes. Talk of describing how the customer comes to understand what is needed for success. The US Department... Read more →