Herding Cats

AUGUST 27, 2017

There's a recent post titled Four Fallacious Reasons to Estimate. It lists the usual suspects for why those spending the money think they don't have to estimate how much they plan to spend when they'll be done producing the value they've been assigned to produce for that expenditure. Let's look at each one in more detail.

Estimate 46

Estimate Software Review Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 46

Herding Cats

APRIL 29, 2017

What is an estimate? An estimate as a noun is an approximate calculation or judgment of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something. An estimate as a verb is to roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of. But those estimates, nouns, and verbs themselves's have other attributes.

Estimate 46

Estimate Risk Management Risk SCRUM 46

International Institute for Learning

OCTOBER 4, 2022

All companies desire to remain competitive and continuously improve their project management performance by becoming more efficient and more effective in the execution of their project management processes. Step 3: Be able to analyze the business and project management processes of other companies/organizations.

Aerospace 59

Aerospace Underperforming Technical Team Governance Government 59

Wrike

JUNE 11, 2023

These frameworks involve the use of statistical techniques, probability theory, and mathematical formulas to estimate the likelihood and impact of risks, calculate expected values, and determine risk exposure. It provides a set of control objectives, best practices, and management guidelines for effective risk management and IT governance.

Risk Management 36

Risk Management Risk Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 36

Herding Cats

DECEMBER 8, 2017

I work in a domain where the CoU is baked into the Integrated Program Performance Management (IPPM) processes flowed down from the buyer, in this case, the Federal Government. The CoU paradigm defines the needed reduction in uncertainty is some performance metric. Here's a summary of these elements.

Performance Measurement 35

Performance Measurement Technical Review 2017 2008 35

Herding Cats

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

The only answer to that is a measure of Physical Percent Complete (P%C). P%C starts with defining the Measures of Performance and Technical Performance Measures for each deliverable as a function of time. These measures are supported by Quantifiable Backup Data. What is your actual condition? .

2010 39

2010 Performance Measurement Governance Government 39

Herding Cats

DECEMBER 5, 2017

We're working on a White Paper for the Joint Space Cost Council which is an organization composed of government (NRO, NASA, USAF, and others) and industry representatives with an interest in space. And to make those risk-informed decisions in the presence of reducible and irreducible uncertainty we need to ESTIMATE. Cost Impacts.

Aerospace 37

Aerospace Estimate Governance Government 37

Herding Cats

OCTOBER 12, 2018

It is applied through the application of systems engineering processes within a managed lifecycle working with a number of other management, engineering, and specialist disciplines. In Earned Value Management paradigm, progress is always measured as physical percent complete. The Measures of Performance are.

Engineering 32

Engineering Performance Measurement Underperforming Technical Team Risk Management 32

Herding Cats

DECEMBER 4, 2017

Project Controls are Management Actions, either preplanned to achieve the desired result, or taken as a corrective measure prompted by the monitoring process. Project controls are concerned with the metrics of the project – quantities, time, cost, and other resources and their measurable beneficial outcomes for the project.

2005 37

2005 Performance Measurement Closing Controlling 37

Herding Cats

AUGUST 12, 2017

Measures of Performance (MOP) – characterize physical or functional attributes relating to the system operation, measured or estimated under specific conditions. These measures are attributes that assure the system has the capability and capacity to perform.

Performance Measurement 39

Performance Measurement Estimate Risk Defining 39

Herding Cats

JUNE 19, 2017

The Cone of Uncertainty as a Technical Performance Measure. Of late, Cone of Uncertainty has become the mantra of No Estimates advocates claiming that data is needed BEFORE the Cone is of any use. The Cone of Uncertainty as a Technical Performance Measure. Measure of Effectiveness. Measure of Performance.

Technical Review 35

Technical Review Performance Measurement Underperforming Technical Team Estimate 35

Herding Cats

FEBRUARY 9, 2018

I've seen estimates abused by bad managers, so let's NOT estimate and that will fix the behavior of Bad Managers." The "bad management" is itself a symptom of untrained, inexperienced, unskilled decision making processes in the presence of uncertainty. . Let's look at what an estimate is.

Underperforming Technical Team 44

Underperforming Technical Team Estimate 2003 Software Review 44

Herding Cats

JANUARY 5, 2017

This means having a set of Principles, Process, and Practices to test the suggestion against. These Five Immutable principles are time phased into Processes that provide answers to the Five Principles. and the connections between each Process are made to form a Closed Loop control systems needed to manage any project.

Estimate 81

Estimate Closing Controlling Defining 81

Herding Cats

JUNE 4, 2016

It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth. This is used in support of the fallacy that estimates aren't needed to make decisions in the presence of uncertanty. Technical Performance Measures. Why Guessing is not Estimating and Estimating is not Guessing.

Software Engineering 28

Software Engineering Finance Performance Measurement Manufacturing 28

Herding Cats

JANUARY 22, 2017

The Cone is a project management framework describing the uncertainty aspects of estimates (cost and schedule) and other project attributes (cost, schedule, and technical performance parameters). This is a closed loop control system for managing the program with a T echnical Performance Measure (TPM).

Technical Review 28

Technical Review 2005 Estimate Software Review 28

Herding Cats

FEBRUARY 4, 2017

The Cone is a project management framework describing the uncertainty aspects of estimates (cost and schedule) and other project attributes (cost, schedule, and technical performance parameters). Estimates are needed but are subject to large level of uncertainty. This is due to many reasons.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review Estimate 2005 Software Review 28

Herding Cats

JANUARY 17, 2017

The Cone is a project management framework describing the uncertainty aspects of estimates (cost and schedule) and other project attributes (cost, schedule, and technical performance parameters). This is a closed loop control system for managing the program with a T echnical Performance Measure (TPM).

Technical Review 28

Technical Review Estimate 2005 Software Review 28

Herding Cats

JANUARY 14, 2017

The Cone is a project management framework describing the uncertainty aspects of estimates or any other project attribute (in this post, cost, schedule, and technical performance parameters). This is a closed loop control system for managing the program with a T echnical Performance Measure (TPM). Related articles.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review Software Review Underperforming Technical Team Risk Management 28

Herding Cats

JUNE 4, 2017

No matter the engineering processes used to produce the outcomes from the project. The test of the hypothesis for projects are the Measures of Effectiveness, Measures of Performance, Key Performance Parameters, and techTechnicalformance Measures used to assess progress to plan for the project. No Estimating?

Estimate 39

Estimate Risk Management Risk Engineering 39

Herding Cats

AUGUST 12, 2016

Unrealistic performance expectations missing Measures of Effectiveness and Measures of Performance. Unrealistic Cost and Schedule estimates based on inadequate risk adjusted growth models. Before diving into the details of these, let me address another issue that has come up around project success and estimates.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review 2003 Estimate Aerospace 28

Herding Cats

JANUARY 29, 2018

The principles of microeconomics of decision making in the presence of uncertainty mandates you make estimates of how to achieve that Value in terms of cost and schedule, those three (and all) variables are random variables, usually driven by a stochastic process.

Manufacturing 40

Manufacturing Estimate Risk Management Budget 40

Herding Cats

JUNE 9, 2018

There is always lots of complaining about the biases introduced into managing projects and making the estimates needed to make project decisions. Because of that, we don't separate the thinking processes into a dual-system. This means putting a formal process in place for making that decision. System One - automatic.

Transportation 39

Transportation Software Engineering Finance 2011 39

Herding Cats

APRIL 16, 2019

Management Processes (#MP). Project Performance Management (#PPM). Technical Performance Measures (#TPM). Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance Management (#CSTPM). Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance Management (#CSTPM). Governance (#Governance). Management Processes.

Technical Review 42

Technical Review Performance Measurement 2003 Underperforming Technical Team 42

Herding Cats

JUNE 9, 2018

There is always lots of complaining about the biases introduced into managing projects and making the estimates needed to make project decisions. Because of that, we don't separate the thinking processes into a dual-system. This means putting a formal process in place for making that decision. System One - automatic.

Transportation 28

Transportation Software Engineering Finance 2011 28

Herding Cats

JULY 17, 2017

I work in a domain where estimates are made every single week. Estimate to Complete (ETC), Estimate at Completion (EAC), Estimated Completion Date (ECD) are the life blood of our software intensive system of systems programs. People, Processes, and Tools all interacting in complex and complicated ways. .

Estimate 34

Estimate Logistics Performance Measurement Governance 34

MPUG

JUNE 27, 2022

I myself found that at both a major bank and a major government department, project managers were re-baselining their projects every week, and when I asked why, their answers essentially were, “Just because we can.” Ellen clarified: “Do you re-baseline your entire project every week?” “Yes” Yes” was the emphatic answer.

Governance 52

Governance Government Estimate Performance Measurement 52

Herding Cats

APRIL 30, 2019

A recent lawsuit by Hertz Rental Car against Accenture has turned into a rallying cry by Agilest and No Estimates advocates. Of course, No Root Cause analysis has been performed by these advocates, but it makes good click bait for their followers. Were there: Measures of Effectiveness. Measures of Performance.

Software Review 41

Software Review Technical Review 2018 Engineering 41

Herding Cats

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

When the initial IMP is prepared after contract award, it is common to have the performance team in place. CAMs are available to generate the bottom-up detail planning that fits with the top-down planning of the IMP development process.

Planning 42

Planning Software Review Governance Government 42

Workamajig

JANUARY 11, 2021

Acceptance Test: A process through which a project's end users run through the project to identify any potential issues before it can be formally accepted. Actual dates are different from planned or estimated dates. Actual Effort: The actual effort spent to complete the activity, as opposed to the planned or estimated effort.

Underperforming Technical Team 78

Underperforming Technical Team Project Life Cycle Estimate Software Review 78

Herding Cats

MARCH 11, 2018

Take for example the deployment of an ERP system, the installation, and startup of a process control system, the release of a suite of embedded software controllers for a car, aircraft, petrochemical plant. risks that may prevent the end item from performing as intended or not meeting performance expectations. Programmatic ?

Software Developers 34

Software Developers Software Development Risk Management Risk 34

Herding Cats

JANUARY 23, 2018

In the same way, when we build a unified set of principles, practices, and processes, and the information they depend on for successful program management by connecting unrelated pieces and parts a confusing and disjointed view of the program is the result. This is like building a tree by gathering sticks and rubber banding them together.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Performance Measurement Engineering Estimate 44

Herding Cats

AUGUST 5, 2017

These risks can be mitigated with a good risk management process. For risks that are beyond the vision of the project team a properly implemented risk management process can also rapidly quantify the risks impact and provide sound plans for mitigating its effect. What are the “units of measure” for this increasing maturity?

Risk Management 42

Risk Management Risk Estimate Underperforming Technical Team 42

Epicflow Blog

OCTOBER 16, 2023

” Eli Schragenheim The lesson is: when you ask for a clear one-number estimation, without defining the level of common and expected uncertainty, then you either might face big surprises or face frequent occurrences, where the project/mission finished exactly on time.

2016 52

2016 Monitoring Healthcare Risk Management 52

Wrike

NOVEMBER 7, 2018

Having a knowledge transfer process in place boosts the chance of project success by over 20%. [6]. More than 90% of organizations perform some type of project postmortem or closeout retrospective. [9]. Most Popular Agile Tools and Processes: Scrum – 43%. Government – Federal. Government – City/State/Local.

2015 60

2015 Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team Software Review 60

Herding Cats

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

In 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 to increase the probability of project success.

Software Review 34

Software Review Technical Review Estimate Software Developers 34

Herding Cats

MAY 12, 2018

When an agile advocate says, software development is a product, not a project, and provides all the reasons why the thought process needs to switch from project to products, they may be unfamiliar with how many businesses actually work. Go write code that every few weeks produces value to the next step in the process.

Agile 44

Agile Finance Software Developers Software Development 44

Herding Cats

MARCH 30, 2019

The elements include all hardware, software, equipment, facilities, personnel, processes, and procedures needed for this purpose; that is, all things required to produce system-level results. The results include system-level qualities, properties, characteristics, functions, behavior, and performance. References . [1]

Software Developers 39

Software Developers Software Development Agile Software 39