Herding Cats

Compendium of Works to Increase Probability of Project Success

This collection of presentations, briefings, journal and conference papers, essays, and book content has been used to increase the Probability of Project Success (PoPS) written and applied over my career in the software-intensive system of systems and other business and... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free men. - Dwight D. Eisenhower Read more →

Quote of the Day

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we ,just rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We... Read more →

Veterans Day

To all Veterans I know and work with, thank you for your service Read more →

Quote of the Day

Americans are, of course, the most thoroughly and passively indoctrinated people on earth. They know next to nothing as a rule about their own history, or the histories of other nations, or the histories of the various social movements that... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Our conventional modernization programs seek a 99% solution in years. Stability and counterinsurgency missions - the wars we are in - requires 75% solutions in months. The challenge is whether in our bureaucracy and in our minds these two different... Read more →

Project Management + Systems Engineering = Increased Probability of Project Success

My workshop for the Project and Program Management Symposium in Canberra this August on the topic of integrating Systems Engineering and Project Management is now complete. The charts are available to the attendees and available here Projects delivered in complex... Read more →

Lessons Learned from the Space Shuttle Columbia

C-Span event part of a conference hosted by George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs on the 10th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Panelists talked about the lessons learned from the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy ten years... Read more →

The Integrated Master Plan Defines what Done Looks Like

My colleague, Pat Barker, is an instructor at the Defense Acquisition University. Pat has produced Practical Advice for Integrated Master Plans. Click on the image below to get started. The resources there will guide you through the development and use... Read more →

Project Versus Product in Agile Development

Agree, and focus more on discovery since in *delivery* you have 4 problems: 1. Requirements will change, 2. Requirements are never complete 3. It’s impossible to gather all requirements in beginning 4. You don’t have enough time or $$$ to... Read more →

How to Talk About Estimates

https://www.slideshare.net/galleman/paradigm-of-agile-project-managementWhat is an estimate? An estimate as a noun is an approximate calculation or judgment of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something. An estimate as a verb is to roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or... Read more →

Agile for Large Scale Government Programs

It would seem counter intuitive to apply Agile (Scrum) to large Software Intensive System of Systems. But it's not. Here's how we do it with success. Agile in the government from Glen Alleman Related articles The Microeconomics of a Project... Read more →

Agile at Scale - A Reading List (Update 12)

I'm working two programs where Agile at Scale is the development paradigm. When we start an engagement using other peoples money, in this case the money of a sovereign, we make sure everyone is on the same page. When Agile... Read more →

Turning Editorials into Root Cause Analysis (Update)

When we read about a big IT problem, like... The first impulse is to use this information to support some or other position, like here's an example of estimate driven bad management. Without the logical conclusion of finding the actual... Read more →

How Think Like a Rocket Scientist - Irreducible Complexity

Orion launched today and recovery after two orbits. The test of the launch system, Pad Abort system, and Heat Shield were the main purposes of the flight. I worked the proposal - after coming off the winning proposal for Hubble... Read more →

GAO Reports on ACA Site

With all the speculation on what went wrong with the ACA site and all the agile pundits making statements about how agile could have saved the site, here's some actual facts beyond all the opinions - that Daniel Patrick Moynihan... Read more →

Memorial Day

We have given some, Some have given all Read more →

Back To The Future

The discussion (of sorts) on Twitter around "no estimates" - what ever that actually means, since there is no definitive description other than exploring - brings me back to my core program management, project management, writing software for money, designing... Read more →

Three Kinds of Uncertainty About the Estimated Cost and Schedule

There is a post that references a concept I've come to use that puts uncertainty into three classes. This post it not exactly what I said, so let me clarify it is bit. First some background. I work on an... Read more →

Big Systems Acquisitions - Lessons for ACA Web Site

There are endless discussions about what went wrong with the Affordable Care Act web site development and deployment. It'll be hard to tell at this early point in the project assessment. But what is clear is this was most likely... Read more →