Herding Cats

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 →

Quote of the Day

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which "people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it." The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Skills that engender competence in a particular domain are often the very same skills necessary to evaluate competence in that domain one's own or anyone else's - Justin Kruger and David Dunning, in "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The estimator’s charter is not to state what developers should do, but rather to provide a reasonable projection of what they will do. – T. DeMarco, Controlling Software Projects, Prentice Hall PTR, 1982. This quote is from the paper "Quantifying... Read more →

Start with the End in Mind

The notion - a fallacious notion - that done will emerge, is common in some circles of Agile and especially those agile advocates proferring No Estimates. The Greeks and Romans had a good understanding of most things we take for... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Although we often hear that data speaks for themselves, their voices can be soft and sly - Frederick Mosteller, Stephen E. Fienberg, and Robert E. K. Bourke, Beginning Statistics with S=Data Analyusism Reading Massachusetts, 1983, pp. 234. Read more →

Word of the Day

I've started a new topic for the Blog, thanks to several Tweeter friends The first word of this thread is. Solipsism - a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. - Martin Luther King Read more →

Quote of the Day

The only way to have a perfect system is to have perfect humans design and operate the systems. That is not possible. So failures will happen. ‐ Dr. Lawrence Chung Read more →

Quote of the Day

Negligent speech doth not only discredit the person of the Speaker, but it discrediteth the opinion of his reason and judgment; it discrediteth the force and uniformity of the matter, and substance - Ben Johnson, London 1614, first printed in... Read more →

Quote of the Day

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled - Richard P. Feynman, What do You Care What Other People Think? Read more →

Quote of the Day

This axiom often attributed to Albert Einstein about the definition of insanity. As it turns out, insanity might be crediting this quote to Einstein over and over again. He never said it. While the tongue-in-cheek definition may or may not... Read more →

Quote of the Day

The English Language ... becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts - Geroge Orwell, "Politics and the English Language Read more →

Systems Engineering Principles

A critically missing process in many IT projects, especially Agile development projects, are the principles of Systems Engineering. Where I work many times, Systems Engineering dominates the program. Space Flight, Embedded Systems, Software Intensive System of Systems. In these domains,... Read more →

Quote of the Day

“Danger, disquiet, anxiety attend the unknown—the first instinct is to eliminate those distressing states. First principle: any explanation is better than none. . . . The first idea which explains that the unknown is in fact the known does so... Read more →

Lessons Learned from the Columbia Disaster (Update)

This week I taught a 4-day course on Progressive Concepts in Program Management at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. One of the workshops used the NASA Columbia accident as an example (NASA report calls these things mishaps). This... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Practices don't follow rules Rules follow emerging practices Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster 10 Years Later, Wayne Hale, Former NASA Space Shuttle Flight Director. Read more →

Quote of the Day

If we understand what Capabilities are needed to produce business value or fulfill a mission, we can then identify what technical or operational requirements are needed to deliver those capabilities — Glen B. Alleman This is a closing quote from... Read more →

Quote(s) of the Day

“I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do.” — Charlie Munger “We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your... Read more →