Herding Cats

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans... Read more →

Six Books for our Challenging Times

With seemingly unlimited voices shouting their message through all channels - from topical politics to how to spend our money, to how to spend other people's money, the level of volume increasing, with no simple way to sort out signal... Read more →

Quote of the Day

I would hardly think today of making my first flight on a strange machine in a 27-mile wind . . . I look with amazement upon our audacity in attempting flights with a new and untried machine under such circumstances.... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Of course, specialization is necessary today. But so is the integration of specialized understanding to make a coherent whole, as we discussed earlier. It is essential, therefore, that society assigns a higher value than heretofore to integrative studies, necessarily crude,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job. -... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Leaders think and talk about solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems - Brian Tracy The inverse is also true when you here a solution looking for a problem to solve Read more →

Resources for Managing Complex System of Systems

Project Performance Management using Earned Value Management and systems-based development processes, including Agile Software development, have much in common. Most important is progress to plan measured by Physical Percent Complete with tangible evidence of working products at the end of... Read more →

Climate Change Skeptics Need to Have Facts

I have a business colleague who is a climate change skeptic. Here's a set of resource to address this skepticism https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/16/qa-brian-cox-brings-graphs-malcolm-roberts - Cox produced a graph of global surface temperatures of the past century and immediately debunked the myth, pointing... Read more →

Quote of the Day

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. - Carl Sagan All we do, everything we encounter, all actions taken on any project ever executes, we encounter... Read more →

Quote of the Day

It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem. Malcolm S. Forbes This reminds me of those who suggest solutions to well known and intractable problems, with little or no experience in the... Read more →

Quote of the Day

A Fish Rots from the Head Down When an organization starts to fail, it starts at the top. We hear all kinds of supposed leadership talking hears, books, seminars, and podcasts in our project management world. But here are the... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Worked a $20B Manned Space Flight program a few years ago, when called in to help with getting back on schedule. The Finance Manager (CFO of the Program) opened the kickoff meeting with ... What's the difference between our program... Read more →

Quote of the Day

In the space of two days, I had evolved two plans, wholly distinct, both of which were equally feasible. The point I am trying to bring out is that one does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit... Read more →

Quote of the Day

When personal judgment is inoperative (or forbidden), men’s first concern is not how to choose, but how to justify their choice. —Ayn Rand Read more →

Quote of the Day

Agile is about inspecting and adapting, but most of the things that will get in our way during Transformation are actually knowable up front. And those real, knowable constraints are often what make organizational change difficult. - Mike Cottmeyer Agile... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“If a profession is to sharpen its skills, to develop new skills and applications, and to gain increasing respect and credibility, then theory and practice must be closely related” – Martin Shrub Opening quote in IMP / IMS Step By... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The best thing that can be done to a problem is to solve it. False. The best thing that can be done to a problem is to dissolve it, to redesign the entity that has it or its environment so... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The theory of probability is at the bottom, nothing but common sense reduced to calculus. Pierre de Laplace, Theorie Analytique de Probabilitesy introduction, 1812-20 Read more →

Quote of the Day

Probabilities direct the conduct of the wise man. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, Book 1, chap. 5, sec. 12 When you hear that you can make decisions in the presence of uncertainty WITHOUT estimating the impact of that decision, the Greeks... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Solum certum nihil esse certi The only certainty is uncertainty Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, Bk ii, 7 All projects operate in the presence of risk which is created by uncertainty. Uncertainty comes in two forms. Reducible (Epistemic) and Irreducible... Read more →