Herding Cats

MAY 16, 2019

All project progress is measured independent of resources expended - Mr. Gary Bliss, Director Performance Assessment and Root Cause Analysis (PARCA), US Department of Defense. Call me when you find a customer who thinks it is cheaper to not plan and forecast the short, medium, and long term expected performance in exchange for a planned cost, delivered at the needed date to fulfill the business mission. Measuring progress must be in units meaningful to the decision maker.

Performance Measurement 31

Performance Measurement Risk Management 2019 Engineering 31

Herding Cats

OCTOBER 11, 2016

There is a current rash of suggestions on how to improve the performance of software projects. I work in the Software Intensive System of Systems domains in Aerospace, Defense, Enterprise IT (both commercial and government) applying Agile, Earned Value Management, Productive Statistical Estimating (both parametric and Monte Carlo), Risk Management, and Root Cause Analysis with a variety of capabilities. Figure 1 - Planned Estimates versus Actual Performance from [1].

Performance Measurement 57

Performance Measurement 2016 Risk Management Aerospace 57

ProjectManager.com

APRIL 24, 2019

While making money is the overriding mandate of any for-profit enterprise, each individual organization is governed by its own set of standards and practices. Those standards and practices are called corporate governance, and they are going to influence your project. While managing a project it is easy to become myopic and focus solely on success as measured by the project. All these factors are counted and calculated into corporate governance.

Governance 233

Governance Government 2019 Risk Management 233

Herding Cats

MARCH 17, 2019

Project Governance. Integrated Master Plan: The Foundation of Program Success , College of Performance Management, May 21, 2014. The Nine "I's" of Program Success ," College of Performance Management. Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. Project Performance Management. Connecting the 5 Principles and 5 Practices of Performance-Based Project Management ® To Increase the Probability of Project Success. Technical Performance Measures.

2003 45

2003 2008 2011 2012 45

Herding Cats

APRIL 16, 2019

Project Performance Management (#PPM). Technical Performance Measures (#TPM). Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance Management (#CSTPM). Governance (#Governance). The overarching theme is focused on defining what Done looks like, assessing progress toward Done in units of measure meaningful to the decision makers. Those units always start with Measures of Effectiveness and Measures of Performance. Governance.

2003 37

2003 2015 2009 2014 37

Herding Cats

JANUARY 5, 2017

These charts are an extract from the book Performance-Based Project Management: Increasing the Probability of Project Success and the abstracted training materials Handbook. Capabilities Earned Value Estimating Governance Management Performance-Based Project Management® Principles Requirements Risk Root Cause Analysis Technical Performance MeasuresIncreasing the Probability of Project Success Simple in Theory, Complex in Practice.

2017 69

2017 Performance Measurement Closing Process 69

Herding Cats

APRIL 29, 2017

We can't talk about estimates or estimate, without also talking about the precision and accuracy of the estimate (the noun) after we have performed the estimate (the verb). . Every month there is a Month End reports, both showing cumulative cost to date, cumulative schedule performance, and Physical Percent Complete. What is an estimate? An estimate as a noun is an approximate calculation or judgment of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something.

Estimate 40

Estimate 2017 SCRUM Performance Measurement 40

Herding Cats

MAY 12, 2018

But if the development work is a Project is a fixed period of performance, for a fixed (with margin) budget, and a fixed set of Capabilities, then the question is can agile be used to develop the software? Developers may be working on a Product, but the CFO is recording the work as a Project that has a bounded period of performance, a bounded budget, a bounded set of Capabilities, from which revenue will be generated.

2018 38

2018 Finance Agile Software 38

Herding Cats

JUNE 9, 2018

What dos Done look like in units of measure meaningful to the decision makers? What are the measures of physical percent complete needed to inform the decision makers of progress to plan in order to take corrective or preventive actions to stay on plan? Decision Making Economics Estimating Governance Management Mathematics Performance-Based Project Management® Planning Principles Product Management Project Management Scheduling Technical Performance Measures

Risk Management 35

Risk Management Transportation 2011 Finance 35

Herding Cats

JANUARY 29, 2018

NoEstimates Agile Decision Making Estimating Governance Planning Principles Scheduling Technical Performance MeasuresThere's a popular notion in Agile that says Focus on Value. 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 36

Manufacturing 2018 Risk Performance Measurement 36

Herding Cats

AUGUST 27, 2017

I need an estimate because… I need to measure productivity. Although I understand measuring productivity could work well for repeatable activities, it's hard to believe it works well for abstract and, ultimately, non-repeatable tasks like software development. Thus, the common approach to "measure productivity" is to compare the estimates against what, in fact, happened. The audit, surveillance, performance reporting, measurement are at the core of all business processes.

Estimate 40

Estimate 2017 Performance Measurement Risk Management 40

Herding Cats

OCTOBER 12, 2018

Progress and Value are measured with the same in Earned Value Management. In Earned Value Management paradigm, progress is always measured as physical percent complete. This physical percent complete is measured as compliance with the Technical Performance Measures of the outcomes of the work efforts, that consume the budget for that work. The Measures of effectiveness. The Measures of Performance are. Key Performance Parameters.

Engineering 31

Engineering 2018 Performance Measurement Defining 31

Herding Cats

AUGUST 12, 2017

No matter the project domain or the technical development method, project success is dependent on knowing what Done looks like in units of measure meaningful to the decision maker. These measures are: Measures of Effectiveness (MOE) – are the 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.

2017 35

2017 Performance Measurement Defining Closing 35

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. The origins of this paper came about at a recent JSCC meeting here in Boulder, with local Aerospace contractors, the DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) and several government agencies (NRO and NASA). Top Four Sources of Unfavorable Program Performance.

Aerospace 34

Aerospace 2017 Manufacturing Performance Measurement 34

Herding Cats

JUNE 7, 2018

Cohesion is the measure of how well module fits together. The component may be performing more than one function. Informational cohesion: performs a number of functions, each with its own entry point, with independent code for each function, all performed on the same data structure. NoEstimates Decision Making Estimating Governance Management Planning Principles Product Management Project Management Requirements Strategy Systems Theory Technical Performance Measures

SCRUM 31

SCRUM Risk Management 2018 Performance Measurement 31

Herding Cats

AUGUST 5, 2017

Managing Cost, Schedule, & Technical Performance Risk Is The Basis Of Good Project Management. Certain information about key project cost, performance, and schedule attributes are often unknown until the project is underway. What are the “units of measure” for this increasing maturity? Using the Triangle Distribution for the costs and durations, a Monte Carlo simulation of the network of activities and their costs can be performed.

Risk 37

Risk 2017 Risk Management Cadence 37

Herding Cats

JUNE 19, 2017

The Cone of Uncertainty as a Technical Performance Measure. Active reduction requires we have a desired reduction goal, perform the work, and measure progress toward the rduction goal. Management of this reduction work and measurement of the progress is a Close Loop Control System paradigm. Closed Loop Control, has a goal, an action, a measurement, and a corrective action. The Cone of Uncertainty as a Technical Performance Measure.

2017 32

2017 Risk Management Controlling Performance Measurement 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. In the Project Controls paradigm, Value is a measurable attribute of the project controls process - a Closed Loop Control measure.

Controlling 34

Controlling 2017 Closing 2007 34

Herding Cats

JUNE 9, 2018

What dos Done look like in units of measure meaningful to the decision makers? What are the measures of physical percent complete needed to inform the decision makers of progress to plan in order to take corrective or preventive actions to stay on plan? Decision Making Economics Estimating Governance Management Mathematics Performance-Based Project Management® Planning Principles Product Management Project Management Scheduling Technical Performance Measures

Risk Management 28

Risk Management Transportation 2011 Finance 28

Herding Cats

JUNE 7, 2018

Cohesion is the measure of how well module fits together. The component may be performing more than one function. Informational cohesion: performs a number of functions, each with its own entry point, with independent code for each function, all performed on the same data structure. NoEstimates Decision Making Estimating Governance Management Planning Principles Product Management Project Management Requirements Strategy Systems Theory Technical Performance Measures

SCRUM 28

SCRUM Risk Management 2018 Performance Measurement 28

Herding Cats

JUNE 4, 2017

Without these measures, Done will usually mean . Without these measures, Done will usually mean we ran out of time and money. . 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. Physical Percent Complete is the only measure of progress to plan. No matter the size of the project.

Risk Management 35

Risk Management 2017 Risk Performance Measurement 35

Herding Cats

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Transparent – Comprehensible display of what needs to be done and how completion is measured. It is essential that the IMP represent the work that must be performed. If the IMP is being prepared as part of a proposal, then the Request for Proposal (RFP) and RFP attachments will be the primary documents to define the work to be performed. The IMP shows the Accomplishments and the measures of Accomplishments that are essential to get through a design review.

Planning 37

Planning 2017 Governance Government 37

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. It can be the needed performance of a measure - Effectiveness, Performance, Key Performance Parameter, or a Technical Performance Measures.

2008 32

2008 2017 2014 Performance Measurement 32

Project Health Check

OCTOBER 9, 2017

The entire purpose of the Start-up Phase of a Project is to produce a comprehensive Plan for the Project; consisting of an integrated Performance Measurement Baseline (Time, Cost, Scope) and an associated Project Management Plan to monitor and control it. The Project should then be reporting its status regularly to senior management via a Status Report, as part of its overarching Governance arrangement. Governance Status Reporting

2017 192

2017 Prince2 Performance Measurement Influencer 192

Ron Rosenhead

JANUARY 30, 2017

The project manager had no view at all of his performance and no development needs were discussed. He told me that he had not had the usual performance management review nor sat with anyone to produce a personal development plan. Set it up with a questionnaire which asks some key questions including some regarding your performance. – It is pretty common in the retail sector so why not ask your client and include questions about you and your personal performance.

2017 136

2017 Retail Performance Measurement Governance 136

Project Health Check

AUGUST 8, 2017

Du ring the Project Start-up and planning phase, projects will execute detailed planning processes to produce a Performance Measurement Baseline of Cost/Schedule/Scope and an associated Project Management Plan. The project schedule will then steer the project through the foggy waters of its lifecycle and eventually help it to find its way to delivery and closedown. But what about the planning phase itself when the schedule doesn't exist yet?

Planning 177

Planning 2017 Performance Measurement Governance 177

Herding Cats

JANUARY 23, 2018

The goal of every program manager is to have a set of practices that connect all the programmatic planning, risk, and performance information in a single unified view needed to support the decisions that increase the probability of success of any project or program. Cost is measured in dollars and schedule is measured in time. Technical performance is likewise difficult to integrate with either cost or schedule because its units of measure vary with the subject matter.

Performance Measurement 38

Performance Measurement 2018 Risk Management Engineering 38

Herding Cats

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

In the ConOps are measures of Effectiveness for the components of the project that implement the Capabilities . 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. Progress Means Measuring Physical Percent Complete.

2018 35

2018 Performance Measurement SCRUM Engineering 35

Herding Cats

OCTOBER 1, 2016

For software, this can be value produced (assuming we have a unit of measure for that value in the for of effectiveness, performance, key performance parameters, or technical performance measures ). For your Honeywell or Nest controller on the wall, that sample rate is measured in seconds. It can be the cost, schedule, and technical performance measures of the software project.

Closing 46

Closing Estimate 2016 Controlling 46

Herding Cats

OCTOBER 25, 2018

Get the best people (A players), put them on the toughest problems and incent them to perform. [3] The approach for increasing the performance of people outside the small group level includes: Develop a model for execution that fits culture, skills, needs, and capabilities of the participants of the initiatives being managed by the program. Metrics that connect strategy with execution and measure the increasing maturity of the identified capabilities.

Process 49

Process 2018 2002 2001 49

Herding Cats

MARCH 30, 2019

The customer is accountable for knowing what Done Looks Like (in Unity of measure meaningful to their domain). The results include system-level qualities, properties, characteristics, functions, behavior, and performance. Systems Engineering assess the processes for achieving stakeholder functional, physical, and operational performance requirements in the intended use environment over the planned life of the system within cost, schedule, and internal and external constraints.

Engineering 35

Engineering 2009 2005 Risk Management 35

Herding Cats

JULY 9, 2018

If a system of systems is disassembled into the component systems, these component systems are capable of independently performing useful operations independently of one another. The system of systems performs functions and carries out purposes that do not reside in any component system. Measures of Effectiveness, Measures of Performance, Technical Performance Measures, and Key Performance Parameters are the units of measure meaningful to the decision makers.

2001 30

2001 2018 Engineering Performance Measurement 30

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). Estimates of cost, schedule, technical performance on the left side of the cone have a lower probability of being precise and accurate than estimates on the right side of the cone. The Cone is NOT the result of the project's past performance.

2017 33

2017 2007 2005 Engineering 33

Herding Cats

JULY 9, 2018

If a system of systems is disassembled into the component systems, these component systems are capable of independently performing useful operations independently of one another. The system of systems performs functions and carries out purposes that do not reside in any component system. Measures of Effectiveness, Measures of Performance, Technical Performance Measures, and Key Performance Parameters are the units of measure meaningful to the decision makers.

2001 28

2001 Engineering 2018 Performance Measurement 28

Herding Cats

AUGUST 12, 2016

Unrealistic performance expectations missing Measures of Effectiveness and Measures of Performance. There is a common chart used to show poor performance of projects that compares Ideal project performance with the Actual project performance. Here's how we think about cost, schedule, and technical performance modeling. †. Unrealistic performance expectations missing Measures of Effectiveness and Measures of Performance.

2016 42

2016 Risk Management 2003 Aerospace 42

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 of cost, schedule, technical performance on the left side of the cone have a lower probability of being precise and accurate than estimates on the right side of the cone. The Cone of Uncertainty describes the evolution of the measure of uncertainty during a project.

2017 30

2017 2007 2005 Engineering 30

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). Estimates of cost, schedule, technical performance on the left side of the cone have a lower probability of being precise and accurate than estimates on the right side of the cone. This is a closed loop control system for managing the program with a T echnical Performance Measure (TPM).

2017 30

2017 Engineering Performance Measurement Controlling 30

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). Estimates of cost, schedule, technical performance on the left side of the cone have a lower probability of being precise and accurate than estimates on the right side of the cone. The Cone is NOT the result of the project's past performance.

2007 28

2007 2005 Engineering 2017 28

Herding Cats

APRIL 5, 2016

In our domain this is the Performance Measurement Baseline, which is a time-phased budget plan for accomplishing work against which contract performance is measured. NoEstimates Agile Economics Estimating GovernanceThere a popular notions in the agile development world that authors like Hayek and Taleb speak to how software development works. Let's look at one example. You Can’t Understand Agile Without Understanding Hayek. Let's look at Hayek's paper. "

2016 36

2016 Cadence Risk Performance Measurement 36

Kiron Bondale

APRIL 17, 2016

Organizational project management support can be either a blocker in lower maturity companies or an accelerator to project performance in higher maturity ones. Objectives and performance measures for these staff should include a healthy balance between operational and project success metrics. Project managers will be expected to provide feedback into the performance evaluations of the team members who had worked on their projects.

2016 146

2016 Risk Management PMO Influencer 146