The cargo cult of business jargon

My first thought when I saw this post by Glen Alleman was ”cargo cult“.  I’m wary of concepts from hard sciences that find their way into business jargon, largely because the concepts become incantations.  It feels like we’re appropriating the prestige of science, just like a cargo cult’s “focus on obtaining the material wealth (the “cargo”) of the advanced culture [...]

Using analogy to communicate complexity

Glen Alleman posts here on the need to ensure that analogies fit the domain.  He notes a common problem with metaphors, especially those adapted from math or science.  They sound right to the layman, but are off-key to the expert. This insight provoked a few thought on analogies in the ERP world.  We often use analogies to convey [...]

Big picture = big map (HT @galleman)

Now that I’m somewhat out from under, I’ve caught up with some of the usual suspects on my reading list.  Glen Alleman is timely with another reminder (here) that an integrated master plan is essential. Program-level plans are as welcome in IT circles as garlic on a Twilight movie set, and I’ve never quite understood [...]

The only time Crossderry will beat Herding Cats

I found out that Crossderry was named to another one of those best PM blog lists (here).  Thanks Nicole… One must, however, wonder about a list that has me listed above Glen, Bas, Rich, Elizabeth, and Craig.  I appreciate the mention, but I’m afraid my ranking may overpromise and I’ll underdeliver!

Structuring that presentation story

My last full post — on effective presentations — highlighted the “Post-It” method for composing and arranging one’s story.  There are other techniques that help to structure one’s story line and its foundation. I’ve found affinity diagramming an essential tool for brainstorming.  The process is can be really just as simple as outlined in the affinity [...]

Was software engineering ever alive?

The second phase of reanimating my blog is to re-start reading other bloggers. I gravitated back to Glen Alleman and Herding Cats, where his post Software Engineering is Dead? caught my eye.  Two comments: Google and Wikipedia are the “shining” examples used by detractors of planning and controls.  Funny that they never reference Technorati — [...]

Great post/thread on Mathematics, PM, and complexity

Glen Alleman and a number of commenters contributed to a great thread on math, PM, and complexity (here).  I try to keep the ideas of complexity “science” in mind when planning strategy and its execution.  In particular, I have a deep respect for the power of self-organization and the need to create flexible rather than [...]

More on estimation principles

I saw this comment by Dennis Stevens (Dennis’s blog is here) on Glen Alleman’s post on software estimation practices (here).  His comment hit on two points that stood out. Effective estimating requires a strong understanding of variance in estimating and how to account for/govern this variance. Ditto and amen… my experience in implementing logistics optimization (I [...]

Deliverables, work packages, and the schedule

This temptation to fix a schedule and get to work is constant in enterprise IT.  It is particularly alluring for any application tied to a SOX-compliant landscape — some governance models only allow two opportunities/year to deliver – where project durations strongly suggest themselves and time is always “a-wasting”. Of course, as Glen Alleman reminds us here, starting with the [...]

Methodology Scaling/Selection Outline

Or maybe I should say “Methodology Scaling/Selection Graphic”… Glen Alleman’s recent post on PM and Agile (here) reminded me to post this picture (click to enlarge) of a slide we use when discussing which methodologies to use for which project.  Note that we do not directly oppose “Agile” vs. “Waterfall” in our continuum.  Sure, SAPScrum [...]