Herding Cats

Quote of the Day

The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher - Thomas Henry Huxley In the preface of Preparing for the... Read more →

Aleatory and Epistemic Uncertainty in Software Development Projects

All software development projects operate in the presence of uncertainty. This uncertainty is unavoidable. One might actually make the case in the Agile paradigm that uncertainty is desirable, otherwise, how can emergence add value to the deliverables. In the presence... Read more →

Integrated Master Plan - Revisited

Designing, building, testing, and deploying complex systems is fraught with risk. And as always risk comes from uncertainty. And uncertainty comes in two forms - reducible (Epistemic) and irreducible (Aleatory). Much has been written about the sources of risk and... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from those laws and reconstruct the universe. — P. W. Anderson But here's a critical understanding. Attempts to correct dysfunction that is not based... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. - Bruce Lee But do this within establish governance frameworks, principles of microeconomics of decision making and managerial finance. It's probably not your money and... Read more →

Big Batch, Small Batch, Right Sized Batch

It is popular in the agile community to speak about small batches delivered rapidly. Ignoring for the moment the ability of the business to absorb these deliverables, and when they are not put to use their aging properties, I had... Read more →

Quote of the Day

You're asking for a logical explanation for a totally illogical idea - Dr. David Moris, NASA Senior Scientist Reminds me of we can make decisions in the presence of uncertainty without estimating which is totally illogical from any principles of... Read more →

When to Estimate and When Estimates aren't Needed

Paul Boos has a post about estimating and makes a case for the Principles of when NOT to estimate. This struck a cord around a bigger topic - the inversion of estimating. When should we NOT estimate? What business decision... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Competence beats Obedience. Unite people under a goal and let them act autonomously - Dr. Jordan Peterson with Jocko Willink on Jocko's Podcast Read more →

Book of the Month

Network Science addresses a topic popular in the agile community but addressed with little or no mathematical foundation. The book describes topics in network and the complexity of network from physics to computer science, engineering, economics and the social sciences,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough." ― Niels Bohr... Read more →

Fallacy of the Day

Requirements, as traditionally used, are a separation tool. To separate the "thinkers" from the "doers". In software this is a HUGE mistake! This conjecture is a fallacy. The purpose of requirements elicitation, use, and implementation of the requirement that result... Read more →

Thought for the Day

Carl Popper, in The Open Society and Its Enemies, speak to a paradox of tolerance and intolerance Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Facts strung together don't necessarily result in the truth - Carl Bernstein Read more →

Independent Cost Estimating (ICE)

There is a notion floating around that Unless you have skin in the game your estimate for the work can't be credible Let's look at the potential for such an approach in light of the credibility of an estimate. First... Read more →

Product, Project, or Process ...ilities and the Systems Engineering Paradigm

During a twitter today, there was a question about what are the drivers of project success. This is the picture I provided The question was where is the Quality as a driver. Here's the answer to that Related articles Architecture... Read more →

Vetern's Day 2017

To all veteran friends and colleagues - in the US and Foreign Lands. Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. Let's remember those who serve, those who supported them, and those who experience the benefits of their service. Read more →

The Psychology of Human Misjudgement

I came across a paper by Charles Munger, Warren Buffet's advisor. His paper "The Psychology of Human Misjudgement." He starts his talk on the same subject with. I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't... Read more →

Quote of the Day

I reserve the right to be ignorant. That's the Western way of life - The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Read more →

Quote of the Day

A few centuries earlier ... humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. - C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters Yeah, well, you know,... Read more →