Herding Cats

Without a Root Cause Analysis, No Suggested Fix Can Be Effective

In a recent Blog post titled Precision it is suggested Precision (or the implication thereof) is perhaps the root problem of most, if not all dysfunction related to estimation. Yes, projects have uncertainty. Everything has uncertainty. Projects are no exception.... Read more →

Acting Like an Adult in the Presence of Uncertainty

Risk Management is how Adults Manage Projects - Tim Lister There are two kinds of uncertainty on all projects, no matter the domain, including software development projects Both these drivers of risk will impact the probability of success of projects... Read more →

Agile Project Management Methods for Corporate IT Projects

When Agile development moves beyond a single scrum team and into the Enterprise IT domain, several considerations must be addressed. For Scrum (or most other agile methods) focus on the team is paramount. The behaviours of the team should follow... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Pablo Picasso When I'm asked to help a client with something new, it's usually close to the domain I'm... Read more →

Fair and Balanced in the Absence of Principles?

We hear fair and balanced is a desirable approach to problems. Turns out this is a false balance when the issue under discussion doesn't address an underlying principle. One side can be wrong It is seductive to state we're exploring... Read more →

Why We Need Estimates

The ability to generate reliable cost and schedule estimates is a critical success factor necessary to support business projects. Without this ability, business value is at risk of experiencing cost overruns, missed deadlines, and performance shortfalls—all recurring problems that projects... Read more →

Project Management, Performance Measures, and Statistical Decision Making (Part Duex)

There is a current rash of suggestions on how to improve the performance of software projects. Each of these, while well meaning, are missing the means to confirm their credibility. They are many times end up being personal anecdotes from... Read more →

Making Hard Stuff into Easy Stuff

Calculus is the most powerful weapon of thought yet devised by the wit of man - W. B. Smith Infinitesimal Analysis In the same book Burn Math Class and Reinvent Mathematics for Yourself, there is a joke that is applicable... Read more →

Find Root Cause Before Suggesting Any Fixes

It's the economy, stupid - James Carville This phrase is the basis of our failure when trying to fix dysfunctional conditions in any software technical domain. It's the basis of the principle of finding the root cause and stop treating... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The difference between failure and success is the difference between doing something almost right and doing something right. — Benjamin Franklin Related articles Just Because You Say Words, It Doesn't Make Then True Architecture -Center ERP Systems in the Manufacturing... Read more →

Quote of the Day

One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results - Milton Friedman When we hear any suggested corrective action for any supposed dysfunction, ask can you show me the testable results... Read more →

The Long Forgotten Nine Best Practices of Project Success

There are Nine Best Practices for success in enterprise Software Development. Here's a paper describing them and their use. Nine Best Practices from Glen Alleman Related articles Strategy is Not the Same as Operational Effectiveness What Can Lean Learn From... Read more →

Closed Loop Control and Granularity of the Estimating Process

For any closed loop control system ‒ let’s assume we want to manage our project with such a system ‒ has a signal representing the current state of the system. For software, this can be value produced (assuming we have... Read more →