Herding Cats

Domain is King, No Domain Defined, No Way To Test Your Idea

From Mark Kennaley's book. When we hear of a new and exciting approach to old and never ending problems, we need to first ask in what domain is your new and clever solution applicable No domain, not likely to have... Read more →

Two Books in the Spectrum of Software Development

I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Kennaley a week ago in Boulder when he attended the Denver PMI conference. I have talked with Mark on several occasions on social media about the SDLC 3.0 book and concepts. And now... Read more →

The Customer Bought a Capability

Customers buy capabilities to accomplish a business goal or successfully complete a mission. Deliverables are the foundation of the ability to provide this capability. Here's how to manage a project focused on Deliverables. Deliverables Based Planning from Glen Alleman These... Read more →

The Flaw of Empirical Data Used to Make Decisions About the Future

It's popular in the agile world and even more popular in the No Estimates paradigm to use the term empirical data as a substitute for estimating future outcomes. And my favorite meme that further confuses the conversation. Probabilistic forecasting will... Read more →

Build a Risk Adjusted Project Plan in 6 Steps

When we hear about project planning and scheduling, we think about tasks being planned, organized in the proper order, durations assigned to the work, resources committed to perform the work. This is all well and good, but without a risk... Read more →

Want To Learn How To Estimate? Part Troisième

If you work in a domain, as I do, the need to answer the question when will we providing that needed capability to produce the planned value for the planned amount of money, then estimating is going to be part... Read more →

The Reason We Plan, Schedule, Measure, and Correct

The notion that planning is of little value, seems to be lost on those not accountable for showing up on or before the need date, at or below the needed cost, and with the planned capabilities needed to fulfill the... Read more →

Doing the Math

In the business of building software intensive systems; estimating, performance forecasting and management, closed loop control in the presence of uncertainty for all variables is the foundation needed for increasing the probability of success. This means math is involved in... Read more →

Estimates

Estimation and measurement of project attributes are critical success factors for designing, building, modifying, and operating products and services. † Good estimates are the key to project success. Estimates provide information to the decision makers to assess adherence to performance... Read more →

Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis is a means to answer to why we keep seeing the same problems over and over again. When we treat the symptoms, the root cause remains. In Lean there is a supporting process of 5S's. 5S's is... Read more →

Economics of Software Development

Economics is called the Dismal Science. Economics is the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth. Economics is generally about behaviors of humans and markets, given the scarcity of means, arises to achieve certain ends.... Read more →

Approximating for Improved Understanding

The world of projects, project management, and the products or services produced by those projects is uncertain. It's never certain. Seeking certainty is not only naive, it's simply not possible. Making decisions in the presence of this uncertainty is part... Read more →

For the Upcoming Graduates

No matter your life experience, your view of the world, whether you've had military experience or not, this is - or should be - an inspirational commencement speech. Read more →

Debunking

“There’s nothing more dangerous than an idea – or a person – that’s almost right.” – Edward De Bono This Blog has been focused on improving program and project management processes for many years. Over that time I've run into... Read more →

Qui Bono

When we hear a suggestion about a process that inverts the normal process based on a governance framework - say Microeconomics of Software Development, we need to ask who benefits? How would that suggestion be tangibly beneficial to the recipient... Read more →

Who Builds a House without Drawings?

This month's issue of Communications of the ACM, has a Viewpoint article titled "Who Builds a House without Drawing Blueprints?" where two ideas are presented: It is a good idea to think about what we are about to do before... Read more →

The Flaw of Averages and Not Estimating

There is a popular notion in the #NoEstimates paradigm that Empirical data is the basis of forecasting the future performance of a development project. In principle this is true, but the concept is not complete in the way it is... Read more →

Top Project Management Blogs of 2015

The List in alphabetical order includes this blog. Thanks Read more →

The Microeconomics of a Project Driven Organization

The notion that we can ignore - many times willfully - the microeconomics of decision making is common in some development domains. Any project driven paradigm has many elements, each interacting with each in random ways, in nonlinear ways, in... Read more →

Capability Maturity Levels and Implications on Software Estimating

An estimate is the most knowledgeable statement you can make at a particular point in time regarding, cost/effort, schedule, staffing, risk, the ...ilities of the product or service.[1] Immature versus Mature Software Organizations [3] Setting sensible goals for improving the... Read more →