Herding Cats

The Naviety of Solutions to Wicked Problems

In this silly season of national elections, the notion of simple solutions to wicked problem is rampant. The same is true for wicked problems in the project and program management space. Government procurement is a wicked problem. There are always... Read more →

Systems Engineering Technical Review (SETR) Timing

In the past NAVAIR had a CD with all the SETR Program Event Checklists. Each had an Excel spread sheet that you filled out to determine if you were ready for the Event and a supporting document that describes all... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature. — George Bernard Shaw Caesar and Cleopatra Read more →

Agile in the Federal Government with Tony Barrett

Agile project management in the Federal Government is coming of age. A colleague from the Earned Value Management domain - Tony Barrett - was on Federal Tech Talk. Tony has several important points that are critical to the success of... Read more →

What Is Strategy?

There is a discussion of sorts on LinkedIn about project management and competency that moved to the notion of strategy and how PMs are connected to strategy. Lots of diverse opinions. Many have suggested strategy for project based organizations is... Read more →

Your Speech is Toxic

I usually don't repost other peoples work. I love to read other peoples work. I get great ideas from other peoples work. I reuse many of these ideas in my work. But it just seems redundant to repost what someone... Read more →

Managing Your Project Performance Using 2nd Grade Class Concepts

Our daughter is a 2nd grade student teacher this semester. On her board is a poster. It is the framework for the learning process used in the district. I visited today and read in small groups to the cutest 2nd... Read more →

Quote of the Day - Planning

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success. - Stephen A. Brennan The Plan is a... Read more →

9/11

Quote of the Day

One must learn to think well before learning to think. Afterward it proves too difficult - A. France Read more →

It's Finally Come True

Saw an ad for the Google tablet with kids on a play ground looking things up and interacting with each other. Here's a picture of a mockup of Dynabook. The paper that described the operation of this "tablet" computer is... Read more →

Parallel and Series Tasks and Merge Bias

Had a conversation today with a colleague around probabilistic modeling of cost, schedule, and the impact on risk management. Lots of topics touched, but one was the concept of Merge Bias. Merge Bias is the impact of parallel tasks on... Read more →

End-to-End Delivery of Business Solutions

The delivery of "business solutions" depends on many things. But it starts with knowing and then producing the needed capabilities for success. Capabilities provide defined outcomes that are not a final conclusion, but the basis for continued assessment of value... Read more →

The Basis of Capabilities Based Planning

I'm working on a book proposal for Performance-Based Project Management. Here are the elements of this concept, The 1st element of this framework is Identify the capabilities needed to achieve te project objectives ... The notion of Capabilities Based Planing... Read more →

Quote of the Day

She's one of those third-year girls that gripe my liver. You know, American college kids. They come over here to take their third year and lap up a little culture. They give me a swift pain. They're officious and dull.... Read more →

Why Competency Surveys Still Lack Fundamental Understandings Basic Number Theory

I apologize for the long title. This week end my cycling partner and I rode a century ride from Gunnison Colorado to Crested Butte, Colorado for a fund raiser for our son's collegiate cycling team. It was 100 miles, and... Read more →

You Know You've Been a Program Manager Too Long When ...

You insist that you do some more market research before you and your spouse produce another child. You ask the waiter what the restaurant's core competencies are. You decide to reorganize your family into a "team-based organization." You believe you... Read more →