Herding Cats

Increasing the Probability of Program Succes

Cost and schedule growth for any project or program is created when there are: Unrealistic technical performance expectations, Unrealistic cost and schedule estimates, Inadequate risk assessments, and Unanticipated technical issues, all based on poorly performed and ineffective risk management. Each... Read more →

Quote of the Day

We pretend that technology, our technology, is something of a life force, a will, and a thrust of its own, on which we can blame all, with which we can explain all, and is the end by means of which... Read more →

Quote of the Day

A mind once expanded never regains the same shape. — Adapted from Oliver Wendell Holmes Read more →

Quote of the Day

Working together to accomplish great things will always be a part of the human experience and success depends on our people skills and individual courage to confront group consensus.—Irving Janis When we hear about self-organized teams and team consensus, and... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Don’t leave inferences to be drawn when evidence can be presented. —Richard Wright Evidence is data that supports our conclusions. To be effective evidence must be void of opinion and emotions. Evidence provides value to a problem-solving process when it... Read more →

Quote of the Day

We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality. —Ayn Rand Causal relationships are defined by a cause-and-effect principle. Understanding these principles creates the structure of reality where we can be responsible for our success. To... Read more →

Quote of the Day

A problem well stated is a problem half-solved. — Charles Kettering - founder of Delco, and head of General Motors research 1920 - 1947 This supports the principle that before we can talk about solutions we need to know what... Read more →

The Naivety of 5 Why's (Updated)

There are many approaches to Root Cause Analysis: [1] Events and Causal Factors Change Analysis Barrier Analysis Tree Diagrams Why-Why Chart Pareto Story Telling Fault Tree Failure Mode and Effects Analysis The Why-Why approach or the 5-Whys created by Sakichi... Read more →

A Solution Looking for a Problem to Solve (Part II)

When you come across a product or service and think Who wants or Needs this? What would I do with this if it were free? Why would I pay 100's if not 1,000's of dollars for this? From Solution Looking... Read more →

What Does Done Look Like?

I started using the phrase "do we know what DONE looks like?" at Rocky Flats. It was first coined by a project manager in our PMO (I was VP PMO). He started reminding me "No Glen it's not Done, it's... Read more →

Quote of the Day

I’ve never wished someone dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with great pleasure - Mark Twain Read more →

Willful Ignorance - Fallacy of the Week

Argument from Ignorance (Ad Ignorantium) - the assumption of a conclusion or fact-based primarily on lack of evidence to the contrary. Usually best described by, "absence of evidence of not evidence of absence" from Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of... Read more →

Quote of the Day

If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell. ― Carl Sandburg Read more →

Quote of the Day

“I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.” - Douglas MacArthur Read more →

Quote of the Day

‘What is the cost of lies? It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.’ - Valery Legasov, Chernoble the movie Read more →

Quote of the Day

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a Plan in which we must fervently believe and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route in success - Stephen A. Brennan Read more →

Quote of the Day

He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet - Joseph Jourbet a French moralist and essayist, remembered for his Pensées, published posthumously. A corollary in our software development domain might be he who has practices without principles... Read more →

Quote Of The Day

Situations in life often permit no delay; and when we cannot determine the course which is certainly best, we must follow the one which is probably the best. . . This frame of mind freed me also from the repentance... Read more →

Quote of the Day

It is the function of creative men to perceive the relations between thought, or things, or forms of expression that may seem utterly different, and to be able to combine them into some new forms - the power to connect... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The strong cannot be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong - G. K. Chesterton Read more →