Herding Cats

Can You Make a Decision in Presence of Uncertainty Without Estimating?

The answer to this question starts with a simple principle based notion. Can you make a non-trivial (not de minimis) decision in the presence of uncertainty? The #Noestimates advocates didn’t start there. They started with “Estimates are a waste, stop... Read more →

Governance and Estimating

If your business is not subject to any external governance process, you’re free to spend your money as you please. But you’re not free to suggest your approach is applicable to those who are governed by external frameworks of spending... Read more →

Quote of the Day

For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie ― deliberate, contrived, and dishonest ― but the myth ― persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all... Read more →

30 Problems That Affect Software Projects

From Estimating Software Costs: Bringing Realism To Estimating, 2nd Edition. Initial requirements are seldom more than 50 percent complete Requirements grow at about 2 percent per calendar month during development About 20 percent of initial requirements are delayed until a... Read more →

What Is Management in the Context of Agile

There's a meme going around in some parts of agile that management is inhumane. This is an extreme view of course, likely informed by anecdotal experience with Bad Management, or worse lack of actual management experience. Managing in the presence... Read more →

Project Breathalyzer

The Project Breathalyzer provides question for the Program Manager to assess of the project is fit to be on the road. If the Program Manager cannot answer these questions about the current status, or answers in the negative , then... Read more →

Is Macroeconomics and Social Science the Same as Software Development?

There a popular notions in the agile development world that authors like Hayek and Taleb speak to how software development works. Let's look at one example. You Can’t Understand Agile Without Understanding Hayek. Let's look at Hayek's paper. "The Use... Read more →

Systems Engineering and Software Intensive System of Systems

There was a Twitter post mentioning Russell Ackoff YouTube about systems. A system is never the sum of its parts, it's the product of their interactions. This is a good start, but it needs to produce actionable outcomes, not just... Read more →

Process Improvement In the Second Grade

Our daughter is an elementary school teacher in Austin - and a Graduate student at UT Austin in the Board Certified Behavioral Analyst program. When I hear about some corrective action to an unnamed cause - not the symptom but... Read more →