Herding Cats

The Free Puppies Syndrome

When Space and Defense crashed in the late 1970s in Southern California, I was fortunate to move to another domain and work for a person and his firm, where I learned much about process safety management. I came there from... Read more →

Compendium of Resources

Materials used to increase the probability of project success in the presence of uncertainty, with Capabilities needed for a defined cost on a defined date. Briefings, Papers, and Presentations are publications developed for clients, journals, books, and book chapters and... Read more →

A Compendium of Risk Management Resources

This blog page is dedicated to the resources used to manage in the presence of uncertainties that create risk encountered in developing and deploying Complex System of Systems using traditional and agile methods. Let's start with a critical understanding of... Read more →

Compendium of Resources for Agile Project Management and Earned Value Management

The growing importance of quickly and affordably delivering software intensive systems requires programs to swiftly react to changing demands of the operational environment and has led to an increased focus on capability-based planning and iterative product development. Capability based planning... Read more →

Compendium of Resources for Digital Twins, Model-Based Systems Engineering and Integrated Program Performance Management

It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that... one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they... Read more →

White Papers, Essays, and Journal Papers

White papers covering a wide range of topics while engaged in delivering outcomes. Ranging from software development, software and systems management, management of the project in several different domains, electronic document management, risk management, work breakdown structures, and science and... Read more →

Earned Value Management World Presentations

Earn value Management (EVM) is a project management technique for measuring project performance and process in an objective manner. EVM has the ability to combine measurements of scope, schedule, and cost in a single integrated system. It's notable for its... Read more →

IMP/IMS Conference Briefings, Training Materials & Master Classes

Building, deploying, and executing an IMP/IMS requires a change in the conventional paradigm of project planning and controls and the management processes. This chain starts by measuring progress as the completion of accomplishment criteria in the fulfillment of significant accomplishments.... Read more →

Managing Development of Complex System of Systems with Traditional and Agile Methods

The Immutable Principles of Project Success Leading on the Edge & Managing IT Departments - following the principles of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition Project Breathalyzer - asking and answering the breathalyzer test questions every week keeps the project team, management,... Read more →

Risk Management - from Conference Briefings, Training Materials and Master Classes

Risk Management is essential for the success of any significant project. All project risl comes from uncertainty - Epistemic uncertanty which is the lack of knowledge, handled by buying knowledge to reduce the risk. And Aleatory uncertainty, which is a... Read more →

Quote of the Day

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. John Maynard Keynes Read more →

Agile Program Management Part 1 of 5 - Moving from Principles to Practice

The Hearding Cats News Letter has a 5 part series on Agile Program Management. Agile Program Management Part 1 of 5 - Moving from Principles to Practice Agile Program Management Part 2 of 5 - Details of Agile Program Management... Read more →

Quote of the Day

”A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.” ― John Ruskin Read more →

Quote of the Day

This quote appeared in Skeptical Science as an environmental philosophy articulated in an ancient Native American proverb: Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do... Read more →

10 Steps to Charting a Project

These 10 tips come from a Baseline magazine article. But in the article, there were no substantial actions or expected outcomes. Starting with the 10 tips, here's how to put them to work. Step 1 – Make it a Two-Stage... Read more →

Relations Between PM, SE and EVM

Measures of Effectiveness (MoE) Operational measures of success that are closely related to the achievements of the mission or operational objectives evaluated in the operational environment, under a specific set of conditions. Measures of Effectiveness: Are stated in units meaningful... Read more →

Quote of the Day

If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. — Hannah Arendt Read more →

Quote of the Day

Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants... Read more →

Quote of the Day

"Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings." - Robert Benchley Read more →