Herding Cats

The Unmyths of Estimating

Phillip Armour has a classic article in CACM titled "Ten Unmyths of Project Estimation," Communications of the ACM (CACM), November 2002, Vol 45, No 11. Several of these Unmyths are applicable to the current #NoEstimates concept. Much of the misinformation... Read more →

All Conjectures Need a Hypothesis

As far as hypothesis are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he... Read more →

Projects versus Products

There's a common notion in some agile circles the projects aren't the right vehicle for developing products. This is usually expressed by Agile Coaches. As a business manager, applying Agile to develop products as well as delivering Operational Services based... Read more →

Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects

Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects - Tim Lister Let's start with some background on Risk Management Tim's quote sets the paradigm for managing the impediments to success in all our endeavors It says volumes about project management and... Read more →

Why Do Projects Fail?

We all wish that there was a simple answers to this question, but there are not. Anyone suggesting there is, doesn't understand the complexities of non-trivial projects in any domain. There are enough opinions to paper the side of a... Read more →

Software Engineering Economics

When confronted with making decisions on software projects in the presence of uncertainty, we can turn to an established and well tested set of principles found in Software Engineering Economics. First a definition from Guide to the Systems Engineering Body... Read more →

Complex, Complexity, Complicated (Update)

The popular notion that Cynefin can be applied in the software development domain as a way of discussing the problems involved in writing software for money is missing the profession of Systems Engineering. From Wikipedia Cynefin is... The framework provides... Read more →

Determining Schedule Margin with Monte Carlo Simulation

Constructing a credible Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) requires sufficient schedule margin be placed at specific locations to protect key deliverables. One approach to determining this margin is the use of a Monte Carlo simulation tool. This probabilistic margin analysis starts... Read more →

Deterministic, Probabilistic, and Empiricism

When I hear a post like: If you use deterministic estimates you must ask the team. If you use probabilistic estimates you must not. #NoEstimates Two things come to mind: All project work is probabilistic. There is no such thing... Read more →

Idiot Wind

On the way home last week from a program managers conference, was listening to Bob Dylan's Idiot Wind Everything's a little upside down, matter of fact the wheels have stopped. What’s good is bad, what’s bad is good. Idiot Wind,... Read more →

The Economics Of Software Development

The development of software in the presence of uncertainty is a well-developed discipline, a well developed academic topic, and a well-developed practice with numerous tools, database, and models in many different SW domains. Economics is the study of how resources... Read more →

The Principles of Business Management

In business we exchange cost for value. This value is defined by the market in most cases. It can be defined by those paying if what they are buying of a purpose built piece of software. In the for Profit... Read more →

Slicing Work Into Small Chunks Is Not Without Hazard

You think that because you understand one that you must therefore understand two because one and one make two. But you forget that you must also understand and - Sufi teaching story The elements of a system, the software system... Read more →

Basis of Assessment for Current Approaches with 32 Year Old References

It is popular to use several references to the estimating problem that are three to four decades old A Software Metrics Survey Analysis of Empirical Software Estimation Models SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Report on a conference sponsored by the NATO SCIENCE COMMITTEE,... Read more →

The Myth of INVEST and Actual Systems

In agile there is a mnemonic INVEST. This term is one of those Holy Grails that is never subject to assessment within the agile community. I had a hands on experience with an agile tools vendor when we were selecting... Read more →

The Hard Headed Realism of Business Decision Making

I am rarely the person directly in charge of the business itself (CEO, CIO, CTO). Department yes (PMO, DIR) whole business no. I work for CEO's, CIO's, Program Managers, Policy Directors. What I have learned from all these leaders is... Read more →

To All Who Lost Their Lives on this Day

The Water Fall Myth

It is popular in some parts of the agile community to use Water Fall as the boggy man for all things wrong with the management of software projects. As one who works in the Software Intensive Systems domain on System... Read more →

Why We Need To Estimate Software Cost and Schedule

There is no good way to perform a software cost‐benefit analysis, breakeven analysis, or make‐or‐buy analysis without some reasonably accurate method of estimating software costs and their sensitivity to various product, project, and environmental factors. ‐ Dr. Barry Boehm The... Read more →

SLOC (Source Lines of Code)

In some "points of view" the notion of measuring software development parameters with Source Lines of Code is equivalent to the devil incarnate. This is of course another POV that makes little sense without understanding the domain and context. It's... Read more →