Herding Cats

Is There Such a Thing As Making Decisions Without Knowing the Cost?

Extensive research has shown given that a current project is more than fifteen percent complete, the overrun at completion will not be less than the overrun incurred to date; and the percent overrun at completion will be greater than the... Read more →

The Calculus of Writing Software for Money, Part II

The dictionary definition of economics is a social science concerned with the description and analysis of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. [1] Another definition of economics, closer to software developemnt is the study of how people make... Read more →

The Calculus of Writing Software for Money

There is a nearly unlimited collection of views about how to write software for money. From the anarchy of gaming coders sitting in the basement of the incubator on 28th and Pearl Street here in Boulder to the full verification... Read more →

Do It Right or Do It Twice

I heard this phrase in a conference call yesterday with a DOD client and thought, how clever I'll write a blog about this. Only to find out there is a Forbes article with same name and several other articles as... Read more →

Agile as a Systems Engineering Paradigm

In yesterday's post, the notion of Systems Engineering was suggested as one solutuion to project failure. Here's the next step. The Agile notion started with a manifesto that turned into many interpretations and practices. In the standard project management paradigm,... Read more →

Why Projects Fail, No Matter the Domain

There are endless reasons for why projects fail. Some are correct, some are bogus, some are down right nonsense. Into this list I'd like at add my opinion, informed by hands on experience on software intensives programs in defense, energy,... Read more →