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 →

Compendium of Blog Posts on Root Cause Analysis

Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to identify appropriate solutions. Increasing the Probability of Project Success Naivety of the 5 Whys's (Updated) How to Think Like a Scientist How Do... Read more →

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

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 →

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 →

A Solution Looking for a Problem To Solve

We see solutions being sold everywhere. From household cleaners to complex software management processes and tools But would you go to your favorite hardware store and buy a tool, because there was a salesman at the front door demonstrating a... Read more →

Strategies to Detect, Prevent, and Correct Causes of Project Stress and Failure

From yesterday's How to Think Like A Scientist, which spoke to encountering and countering, claims with no evidence, here's what was going to be a Master Class at PGCS 2020, but was canceled because of Covid. Hoping we'll be in... Read more →

How to Think Like a Scientist

A book in my library The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist rings true in our time of SAR-COV-2 pandemic when I encounter not only blatant science deniers, along with the climate deniers but just the... Read more →

Fallacy of the Week - Use and Misuse of Goodhart's Law

Goodhart's Law states when a feature of the economy is picked as an indicator of the economy, then it inexorably ceases to function as that indicator because people start to game it. Without a Macro Economics context, the Law is... Read more →

Book of the Month

In our current political turmoil, as well as project management and software development turmoil, claims are made - sometimes wild unsubstantiated claims - of how to NOT do something, how some process can fix your problems, without ever stating what... Read more →

Capabilities Based Planning (Wright Brothers)

Capabilities Based Planning provides a description of what Done looks like in units of measure meaningful to the decision-makers. These measures include Measures of Effectiveness (MOE) - Operational measures of success that are closely related to the achievements of the... Read more →

How Do Projects Fail? Let Us Count the Ways

Poor initial requirements definition ― failure to start with Capabilities and only then deriving the requirements. These Capabilities are assessed in Measures of Effectiveness and Measures of Performance Poor performance and cost trade-offs during development ― with the Measures of... 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

Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th-century transcendental philosopher from Selected Writings... Read more →

Retrospective Coherence - What Does That Mean?

Why is the past easier to predict than the future? Retrospective Coherence is looking back in time and creating a coherent narrative around what happened. The accuracy of this narrative is suspect because the narrative can only be based on... Read more →

Four Root Causes of Project Failure

In a previous blog, Root Causes of Project Failure, there were four root causes from research at the Institute for Defense Analyses. In that Blog there were measures missing. Here's the details of those measures, defined in the Technical Measurement... Read more →

A Compendium of Root Cause Analysis Resources

When mistakes occur, blame the process, not people. Root Cause Analysis is the means to fix the cause, rather than treat the symptom. • What allowed the mistake to happen? • What will prevent mistakes from occurring in the future?... Read more →