Herding Cats

Project Management Books

I've been trying - I really mean it - to read Jurgen Appelo's Management 3.0 book. With lots of hype - much of it self-promoted - I bought the book and started reading. I bought John Goodpasture's book as well,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The proper response to poor execution of the appropriate process is not to replace the process. It is to come up with the proper application of the process. If the process is truly inappropriate, then it can be replaced. But... Read more →

Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day - 30 March

March 30, 1973 marked to end of the Vietnam War. For those of us who served in that war, there is a reminder on the last Sunday of March. Congress and most states now recognize that day as "welcome home."... Read more →

What Does a Program Manager Do?

When there is a conversation on most any outlet, many times the term Program Manager or Project Manager, Developer, or any other term is used in the absence of a domain or context. In our space, defense, and government contracting... Read more →

Stages of Understanding

The notion we can have a conversation about agile software development in the absence of a domain, context, and level of maturity of the participants is just that notional. we use the AT&L Life Cycle Management System in our domain.... Read more →

IT Intensive Domain

When the term "software intensive systems," is used here, some examples include, the PEO organizations of the US Army. Similar software intensive environments exist in other services, other FedCiv organizations, and of course large commercial enterprises. Read more →

Quote of the Day

Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but nevertheless, what you get out depends on what you put in; and as the grandest mill in the world will... Read more →

Core Competencies of a Successful Project

For a project to be a success, there are core competencies of the project itself, that must be in place. Are the cost, schedule, and techncial scope firmly supported, integrated, and validated with appropriate tools, with sound underlying technical, economic,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“If someone is trying to contract for a system, and they can properly identify all the necessary ‘requirements’, then it makes sense to do so. The preference then usually becomes: “meet the requirements, and pick the lowest cost.” But the... Read more →

Project Success Criteria

There is always a discussion about what does it mean to have a successful project. Here's a sample from the Department of Energy External Independent Review (EIR) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Before having any discussion around "success" of a project... Read more →

Agile Management is Actually Systems Management

The term "agile project management" is a slight oxymoron. There is no way to seperate "agile project management" from "agile software development." I worked this problem a few years ago (2005) and here's the briefing that resulted. Agile project management... Read more →

Alert - Enterprise Project Management

When the term Enterprise IT comes up there are a variety of "images" that come to mind. When the term "agile" and Enterprise IT comes up, the connection to Enterrise IT needs an a domain. Here's an example of Enterprise... Read more →

My World View Changes My Conversation

When there are discussions around the use of software development methodologies in the absence of a domain and context it seem to lead to disconnects. Case in point is the difference between working at an e-Commerce firm, applying agile as... Read more →

Alert - Cost Estimating of Agile Projects

The Department of Defense Data & Analysis Center for Software has a webinar titled Cost Estimation of Agile Projects: Agile Estimating Challanges. Take a look and listen to see and hear how agile is deployed in the US Department of... Read more →

Another Presentation on Agile

Dennis Stevens gave a presentation on Agile Development at a PMI Atlanta Chapter Agile Local Interest Group, titled Agile Fundamentals. The early part of the presentation addresses some of the perceived failure modes of traditional project management needed to produce... Read more →

The Core Principles of Projects and Their Management

The previous post around Jim Highsmith's presentation, several Agile "thought leaders," and loads of Agile Blogger's all start their conversations around the evils of "water fall" and how agile removes all those evils and replaces them with a new approach... Read more →

Highsmith's Beyond Scope, Schedule, and Cost

Jim Highsmith's presentation at the PMI Agile Community of Practice, titled Beyond Scope, Schedule, and Cost: Optimizing Value caused me to think about were we're going with agile development methods on our large programs.There are words used in Jim's presentation... Read more →

Project Success Rate? Let's Look Someplace Other Than IT

From the Aberdeen Group 2010 Project Management Report: Standarized Best Practices and Technology Adoption in the AEC Industry, AEC Companies with defined, documented and standard “Best Practices” can deliver 11% more projects on time and 83% are more likely to... Read more →

The Privilege of Expertise

There is this notion there is a "Privilege of Expertise" in the software development world. Kailash Awati posted a piece on Conflicts Over Identity. In it there is discussion about conflicts between the roles of "project management" and "software developers."... Read more →

A Simple Fix for the Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto has caused consternation in the traditional community ever since it came out. By Traditional I don't mean BAD project management, POOR discipline, and ROGUE software developers. I mean the disciplined management of software development. I mean management... Read more →