Herding Cats

Decision Analysis - Ordinal and Cardinal Measures

When we hear of the difficulties of making decisions in the presence of uncertainty, especially about software features and capabilities, there are straightforward ways to solve this problem. Decision Analysis is a principle, technique, and application to address complex decisions... Read more →

Quote of the Day - Plucked by Puffery

To the layperson, puffery seems like a license to lie, which, frankly, isn’t totally wrong. A well-known book on torts by William Prosser and W. Page Keeton stated it this way: “The puffing rule amounts to a seller’s privilege to... Read more →

Veterans Day

To all my friends, neighbors, and colleagues, who along with me, served our country and their country, in time of war and time of peace Happy Veterans Day. In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and... Read more →

Managing in the Presence of Risk

Information technology project risk often comes from non-technical aspects of the initiative. Assessing the impact of technology on people, management systems and other initiatives is essential to assure project success. "We automate problems" This department slogan was posted on an... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"Uncertainty management is not just about managing perceived threats, opportunities, and their implications; it is about identifying and managing all the many sources of uncertainty that give rise to and shape our perceptions of threats and opportunities. It implies exploring... Read more →

Quote of the Day

For companies where software is important to business operations and to the products that they market, excellence in software is a vital business goal. However, software has long been one of the most troublesome technologies of the 20th century, and... Read more →

Quote of the Day

I am used to thinking three or four months in advance, about what I must do, and I calculate on the worst. If I take so many precautions, it is because it is my custom to leave nothing to chance.... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Strategies are intellectually simple; their execution is not From "The CEO as Coach: An Interview with Allied Signal's Lawrence A. Bossidy," N. M. Tichy and R. Charan, Harvard Business Review, Mar-Apr, 1994, pp. 68-78. Read more →

Why Johnny Can't Do The Math

A previous post, Why Johnny Can't Estimate, mentioned some resources for estimating, the principles of business and technical management that demand estimates be made to make decisions, and background on the sources of uncertainty, that create risk, that require estimating... Read more →

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 →