Herding Cats

Quote of the Day

Little boys and matches neither logically nor inevitably lead to fires, but the probability is distressingly high if it’s your boy and house. Armen A. Alchian “A Proper Role of Systems Analysis,” 1954 Read more →

How Can I Trust You, When I Don't Know You

One of the platitudes of the agile community is trust. Asking to be trusted, asking to be allowed to self-organize and spend other people's money in the development of value. Many times asking to not be asked for an estimate,... Read more →

When Will The G-Line Be Ready For Use?

This was the question asked at a Town Hall meeting that made the news here in Denver... When will the G-Line be ready for use? The answer was we don't know. This response reminds me of the notion conjectured by... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Life can only be understood backwards but you have to live it forward. You can only do that by stepping into uncertainty and by trying, within this uncertainty, to create your own islands of security….The new security will be a... Read more →

Little's Law - Use, Misuse, and Sometimes Simply Wrong Ideas

Systems amenable to Little's Law looks like this Inputs can be a discrete or continuous flow of work arriving for service in the System. The System is a general concept that defines the boundary for all the work activities that... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Somebody someplace has already solved this problem (or one very similar to it.) Creativity is now finding that solution and adapting it to this particular problem. — The TRIZ Journal So when you hear we've never done this before and... Read more →

Nothing Happens Without A Reason

When we see things happen, we attribute them to a reason. Not just basic observations in life, but observations on projects, and all the way down to the basics of ontology. If we observe certain things and those things behave... Read more →

Process Reduces Agility? Only on De Minimis Projects

A popular toss off phrase in some agile circles is process reduces agility. This is course is stated in the absence of any domain or context. I've been in the software development business for 30 years, mostly in the Software... Read more →

See Dysfunction? Find Root Cause Before Going Any Further

When we hear about some dysfunction and then hear about the fix for that dysfunction, without any Root Cause Analysis - Ignore it. No corrective action for any dysfunction of any kind is credible without identifying the Root Cause of... Read more →

Quote of the Day

It is wiser to find out, than to suppose - Mark Twain And how can we find out in the presence of uncertainty? We have to estimate, forecast, project - or some means of revealing possible future outcomes to some... Read more →

Not Even Wrong

"This isn't right," "It's not even wrong." — Wolfgang Pauli said of a student's physics paper. This quote is coming back in the modern era of internet-based misinformation pundits in many domains, including project management and software development processes. Pauli's... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Man’s Flight through Life is Sustained by the Power of his Knowledge This knowledge must be based principles, starting in theory and tested in practice. Starting with an opinion based on anecdotal practices in the absence of principle has little... Read more →

Quote of the Day

How does it feel? To be on your own. With No Direction Home. Like a Complete Unknown. Like a Rolling Stone. — Robert Zimmerman (Born May 24th, 1941, professionally known as Bob Dylan) Without a Plan, a Roadmap, a Strategy,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Systematically you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. Nevertheless, you build discipline by preparing for fast... Read more →

Quote of the Day

You’re not entitled to take a view, unless and until you can argue better against that view than the smartest guy who holds that opposite view. If you can argue better than the smartest person who holds the opposite view,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment." - John Wooden This advice is applicable to sports coaches as well as anyone claiming to coach - Agile Coaches for example. Read more →

Quote of the Day

“Organizations that only investigate big problems don’t have long to wait.”- Bill Corcoran Read more →