Herding Cats

Thought for the Day

When you hear someone make a statement that is suspect, ask - What's the basis of that statement? Any Principles to support that claim? If the statement is about science, ask what peer reviewed journal did you read that in?... Read more →

Book of the Month

This is the only one of Sinclair Lewis's later novels to match the power of Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take... Read more →

The Problem with Planning

Eisenhower's quote Plans are worthless but planning is everything is the basis of an article in the Army Leader well worth reading, downloading, and keeping at you side at all time. In our Federal Acquisition world, the Integrated Master Plan... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Military officers are by their very nature generalists who are required to apply a set of commonly accepted management techniques and leadership principles to an unending parade of situations in an equally limitless set of disciplines and circumstances. The constant... Read more →

Quote of the Day

All projects are affected by cost, schedule, and technical risks, created by reducible and irreducible uncertainty - Virien and Trumper 2013. Cost and schedule growth for complex projects are created with unrealistic technical performance expectations, unrealistic cost and schedule estimates,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

May the sun always shine down on you. As a constant reminder that there is a giant nuclear-powered fireball in the sky just barely holding it together. Read more →

The False Logic of No Estimates

There are a lot of logical fallacies in today's software development world. Good logic it seems is hard to come by. Here's two simple known-to-work logic principles Modus ponens - If A is true, then B is true. When A... Read more →

Climate Science from Scientist or Climate Science from Radical Talk Show Host

There are still voices of climate science denial. I had a conversation of sorts with a colleague about actual science sources of climate science. He was quoting an opinion of a person funded by Alex Jones. Here's a very short... Read more →

The Story Counting Fallacy Without Knowing Underlying Statistics

There's a popular meme on social media that goes ...just count the number of stories, instead of Story Points that's all you need to estimate a software development project. That's an OK idea if several things are in place. But... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. ‒ Samuel Johnson Read more →

Quote of the Day

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be lead to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins all of them imaginary - H. L. Mencken, in Defense of... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“ You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you. ” ― Anonymous Read more →

Quote of the Day

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin When claims are made in the absence of the knowledge of principles and instead only from personal anecdotes in the absence of principles and knowledge, Darwin’s quote becomes applicable.... Read more →

Thought of the Day

A father said to his daughter: You graduated with honors, here is a car that I acquired many years ago ... it is several years old. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But before I give it to you, take it to the used car... Read more →

Word of the Day

Authoritative Reference When writing or speaking about anything (beyond norma chit chat or uninformed opinion) authoritative reference citations are essential. The references give the reader confidence that you have done your homework in preparing your work, they show how your... Read more →

Quote of the Day

When dealing with nature, a clear and simple idea is almost certain to fail. Natural Law at first glance seems simple, but it is woven from the complex cloth of interconnected factors that always makes the outcome difficult to even... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.” - Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories from a South... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The world we are told, was made especially for man - a presumption not supported by all the facts - John Muir, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf Read more →

Quote of the Day

Comment is free, but facts are sacred. -- C.P. Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian, 1921 When you hear claims by anyone about any topic, ask for the data to support that claim. If it's an anecdote, that data is... Read more →

Quote of the Day

All risk comes from uncertainty, reducible, and irreducible. Making any credible decision in the presence of uncertainty requires making an estimate of the probability of success of that decision on the project Risk Management is Project Management for Adults -... Read more →