Herding Cats

Quote of the Day

Critics are our friends, they show us our faults ― Benjamin Franklin Read more →

Summary of Capabilities Based Planning

There have been some recent posts about managing scope, defining needed Features, determining how to release software to stakeholders - in both traditional and agile processes. While most are good ideas and are necessary, they are NOT Sufficient for project... Read more →

Quote of the Day

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

Quote of the Day - Mathematics

By concentrating on what, and leaving out why, mathematics is reduced to an empty shell. The art is not in the “truth” but in the explanation, the argument. It is the argument itself which gives the truth its context, and... Read more →

Agile Project Management Principles - Moving from Principles to Practices

“Only those general principles and attitudes that result from clear and deep understanding can provide a comprehensive guide to action.” [1] Agile Program Management contains practices found in traditional program management, delivered through the principles of agile. For the traditional... Read more →

People Versus Process

At the program level and above, the choice of a people focus or a process focus is not between two competing paradigms. They are two sides of the same coin. People are the raw material for teams, for not only... Read more →

Without a Root Cause Analysis, No Corrective or Preventive Action is Credible - Part 1

When you hear project failure statistics, and no Root Cause for those numbers, there is no hope that any suggested corrections can be credible. As well when you hear those statistics, many times those numbers have no credibility themselves to... Read more →

Quote of the Day - Motivation

When I was reading The Manhattan Project and came across a statement that resonated with me. Dr. Vannevar Bush (George Bush senior’s father and George W. Bush’s grandfather) was assigned the role to lead the development of the atomic bomb... Read more →

Quote of the Day

If you don't know where to look, you have to look everywhere - Professor Keith Ulmer, in a Physics Saturday lecture about his work on CMS in search for the Higgs Boson. Read more →

The CIO's Contribution to Project Failure

IT project failure starts with demanding the project maintain its budget and delivery times in the absence of a Plan to go along with the Schedule of the work. Failure starts with the lack of an adequate description of what... Read more →

Book of the Month

Program Management and Systems Engineering are two critical processes for the success of any product or project development endeavor. Programs are mechanisms for implementing the core strategy of an organization to maximize the value and benefits for the business, clients,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.” — Henry Havelock Ellis, British psychologist Read more →

Quote of the Day

Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature - George Benard Shaw, from Caesar and Cleopatra Read more →

Augustine's Laws

Norm Augustine was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Martin Marietta Corporation. Here are some Laws he defined The Laws of Unbounded Enthusiasm Law I - The best way to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear is... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." – Galileo Galilei The challenge is what is the basis of the truth. In our software-intensive system of systems domain, there are many claiming... Read more →

#NoEstimates in Six Boxes

Here's a picture from a Tweeter post (without attribution) that is suggested to represent what it means to apply #NoEstimates Let's look at the detail of each of the boxes in the context of the uncertainties encountered on all projects... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“A great systems engineer completely understands and applies the art of leadership and has the experience and scar tissue from trying to earn the badge of leader from his or her team.” - Harold Bell, NASA Headquarters Read more →

Resources for Good Project Management

Anecdotes abound of examples of Bad Project Management. Sometimes these anecdotes are used to suggest a corrective or preventive action that might actually work. Other times these suggestions are simply bogus. If those making unsubstantiated claims were to read the... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world. — Arthur Schopenhauer What does that mean? Each of us has our limits. For some, the limit is in the seeing, for others,... Read more →

Modeling the Future is the Basis of Project Success

There's a notion going around that ... “I don’t believe you can make a model of a possible future.” This ignores the principles of predictive analytics, and the direct management actions taken to produce outcomes from those analytical models found... Read more →