Herding Cats

Books for 2012

During the year I buy books, lots of books. Some on impulse, some with intent. Here's my list that has served me well. In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations that changed the World, Ian Stewart - Stewart is a... Read more →

Golden Ratio

Once in awhile, I come across an concept I didn't think I would. Something I've been fooling around with that turns out to be exciting in a special kind of way. Here's one of those things. How do you construct... Read more →

Scheduling Guides

Yesterday's post on overusing and misusing activity relationships needs some follow on. In the domain we work - space, defense, energy, process industry - there are scheduling guides. These guides provide the framing assumptions for constructing a credible Integrated Master... Read more →

NOOOO, Don't Do It

There are several posts on the web this week about relationships (predecessors and successors) in project schedules. Some suggest using all the relationship to create as Cleaver a schedule as needed to represent. Another asks the question, who uses all... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they're organized for ‒ Laura Ingalls Wilder Read more →

Quote of the Day

The core problem in modeling of anything, especially of project performance, is not understanding what the answer should look like. This leads to naive and uninformed decisions. Know what you're looking for before you start looking for it, than you'll... Read more →

Standing on the side of the road and pointing out problems

There a number of people in the Project Management world that seem to take delight in standing on the side of the road pointing out all the failures of projects, processes, and the people managing them. I'm working a program... Read more →

Project Controls is the Basis of Project Management

Shim Marom has a great blog post about a conversation around using Earned Value Management. The exchange is typical of those not starting with the Project Controls paradigm for managing projects. I attribute this typical exchange to missing information about... Read more →

So You Want To Work In Program Planning and Controls?

The domain we work in is unique in some ways compared to the general roles of a Project Manager. First is the "management" of the project or program is done by a specific set of people. The Program Manager and... Read more →

It's August 1972

Alan Kay's 1972 paper "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages," has come true in many ways. The paper shows childern looking at the Dynabook at a pitcure of a spacecraft. There are several Google Nexus's ads where children... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The whole problem with the world is fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell Our work on aleatory and epistemic uncertainty and its impact on programmatic and techncial... Read more →

Quote of the Day

A mind once expanded, never regains the same shape - Oliver Wendell Holmes Read more →

Everything is a Random Variable

In the project domain, probabilistic management of cost, schedule, and technical performance is mandatory. Without a probabilistic model, the outcomes are always suspect. A simple example we use is the most likely high temperature is some location in the world.... Read more →

Time to Revisit The Risk Discussion

There have been several posts of late about agile development, failures, and risk. Let's start with Tim Lister's quote. Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects But managing risk has many varieties and approaches. From informal lists of what can... Read more →

Quote of the Day

A rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with... Read more →

Failure is NOT an Option!

When I here terms from the agile community like Who says failure is not an option? I have to wince a bit. The notion of failure as a starting point for managing project, ignores the core principle of Risk Management.... Read more →