Herding Cats

Projects and Products

It's popular in the Agile world to speak of Products and their value creation and the notion that Projects are not needed for this. The notion of #NoProjects follows the same logic as #Noestimates. There are #NoPrinciples at the foundation... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it." Thomas Jefferson Read more →

I Smell Dysfunction

A popular phrase in some agile areas is X is the Smell of Dysfunction. Y will fix that, usually by NOT doing some established principle known to work, only if you knew how to make it work. Estimates, governance, planning,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

It isn't only art that's incompatible with happiness; it's also science. Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled. − Mustafa Mond, Brave New Worlld, Aldous Huxley, 1932 Related articles Architecture -Center ERP Systems in... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.” – Paul Nitze (1907–2006), SecDef 1967–1969 Read more →

Quote of the Day

“There is nothing which rots morale more quickly and more completely than … the feeling that those in authority do not know their own minds.” — “Span of Control," Lionel Urwick, Harvard Business Review, May/June 1956 Read more →

MOE's and MOP's for a Capability

If we are to make logical decisions and choices in product and systems development, we need to have criteria to measure the value or relative importance of aspects of alternative proposals. This is an essential pre‒requisite for part of trade... Read more →

There is Little New Under the Sun

It is popular to claim we've never done this before, so how can we possibly estimate the cost and schedule. If it truly hasn't been done before, then the software project is likely to be an inventing new physics project.... Read more →

Five Immutable Principles of Project Success and Estimating

Let's start with a fundamental principle of all project management... Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects - Tim Lister All risk comes from Uncertainty - reducible uncertainty and irreducible uncertainty. [1] No uncertainty No Risk. If you're not managing... Read more →

Risk Management for Agile Software Development Projects

It is popular to state that Agile IS Risk Management - but that is not correct. Agile software development is a software development process. Risk Management is a process as well. The two - agile and risk management - are... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives an infusion from the will and affections; whence proceed sciences which may be called “sciences as one would.” For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Would you tell me please which way I ought to walk from here? asked Alice. That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat. I don't much care where - said Alice. Then it... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature; and in such things as these, experiment is the best test of consistency - Farady, Laboratory Journal Entry #10,040, March 18, 1849 Got an... Read more →

Quote of the Day - Work The Problem

Let’s work the problem, people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing. - Gene Kranz When solving important problems - or any problem actually - if we go with our intuition, and as Kranz admonished, it only makes things worse.... Read more →

Is Software Development Art or Engineering

I started my career as a Software Engineer, writing Fortran 77 signal processing algorithms to find and track missile launchers in the middle eastern desert. This skill was an extension of the signal processing work I did as a grad... Read more →

Book of the Month

It seems of late there is a campaign in the software development community, especially in the agile community where ignorance is a virtue. Ignorance of the microeconomics of decision making. The ignorance that all project work contains uncertainty, that uncertainty... Read more →

What Does it Mean to Focus on Value?

A common chant in the agile community is we focus on value. What does this mean? What are the units of measure of Value? How do we know we are actually producing the RIGHT Value? How much will it cost... Read more →

Quote of the Day

No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Read more →

Performance-Based Project Management®

Performance–Based Project Management® integrates five critical program management process areas with – Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance Measures. The inclusion of Technical Performance Measures (TPM) separates this approach from conventional methods based solely on managing cost and schedule. In conventional... Read more →