As many of my colleagues in project management know, I wrote a series of articles on the application of technical performance risk in project management back in 1997, one of which made me an award recipient from the institution now known as Defense Acquisition University. Over the years various researchers and project organizations have asked me if I have any additional thoughts on the subject and the response up until now has been: no. From a practical standpoint, other responsibilities took me away from the domain of determining the best way of recording technical achievement in complex projects. Furthermore, I felt that the field was not ripe for further development until there were mathematics and statistical methods that could better approach the behavior of complex adaptive systems.
(more…)Integrated Program Management
The Monster Mash — Zombie Ideas in Project and Information Management
Just completed a number of meetings and discussions among thought leaders in the area of complex project management this week, and I was struck by a number of zombie ideas in project management, especially related to information, that just won’t die. The use of the term zombie idea is usually attributed to the Nobel economist Paul Krugman from his excellent and highly engaging (as well as brutally honest) posts at the New York Times, but for those not familiar, a zombie idea is “a proposition that has been thoroughly refuted by analysis and evidence, and should be dead — but won’t stay dead because it serves a political purpose, appeals to prejudices, or both.”
(more…)Second Foundation — More on a General Theory of Project Management
In ending my last post on developing a general theory of project management, I introduced the concept of complex adaptive systems (CAS) and posited that projects and their ecosystems fall into this specific category of systems theory. I also posited that it is through the tools of CAS that we will gain insight into the behavior of projects. The purpose is not only to identify commonalities in these systems across what is frequently asserted are irreconcilable across economic market verticals, but to identify regularities and the proper math in determining the behavior of these systems.
(more…)Talking (Project Systems) Blues: A Foundation for a General Theory
As with those of you who observe the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I find myself suddenly in a state of stasis and, as a result, with feet firmly on the ground, able to write a post. This is preface to pointing out that the last couple of weeks have been both busy and productive in a positive way.
Among the events of the last two weeks was the meeting of project management professionals focused on the discipline of aerospace and defense at the Integrated Program Management Workshop. This vertical, unlike other areas of project management, is characterized by applying a highly structured approach that involves a great deal of standardization. Most often, people involved in this area tend to engage in an area where the public sector plays a strong role in defining the environment in which the market operates. Furthermore, the major suppliers tend to be limited, and so both oligopolistic and monopolistic market competition defines the market space.
(more…)New Directions — Fourth Generation apps, Agile, and the New Paradigm
The world is moving forward and Moore’s Law is accelerating in interesting ways on the technology side, which opens new opportunities, especially in software. In the past I have spoken of the flexibility of Fourth Generation software, that is, software that doesn’t rely on structured hardcoding, but instead, is focused on the data to deliver information to the user in more interesting and essential ways. I work in this area for my day job, and so using such technology has tipped over more than a few rice bowls.
(more…)Do You Believe in Magic? — Big Data, Buzz Phrases, and Keeping Feet Planted Firmly on the Ground
My alternative title for this post was “Money for Nothing,” which is along the same lines. I have been engaged in discussions regarding Big Data, which has become a bit of a buzz phrase of late in both business and government. Under the current drive to maximize the value of existing data, every data source, stream, lake, and repository (and the list goes on) has been subsumed by this concept. So, at the risk of being a killjoy, let me point out that not all large collections of data is “Big Data.” Furthermore, once a category of data gets tagged as Big Data, the further one seems to depart from the world of reality in determining how to approach and use the data. So for of you who find yourself in this situation, let’s take a collective deep breath and engage our critical thinking skills.
(more…)The Water is Wide — Data Streams and Data Reservoirs
I’ve had a lot of opportunities lately, in a practical way, to focus on data quality and approaches to data. There is some criticism in our industry about using metaphors to describe concepts in computing.
Like any form of literature, however, there are good and bad metaphors. Opposing them in general, I think, is contrarian posing. Metaphors, after all, often allow us to discover insights into an otherwise opaque process, clarifying in our mind’s eye what is being observed through the process of deriving similarities to something more familiar. Strong metaphors allow us to identify analogues among the phenomena being observed, providing a ready path to establishing a hypothesis. Having served this purpose, we can test that hypothesis to see if the metaphor serves our purposes in contributing to understanding.
(more…)The Song Remains the Same (But the Paradigm Is Shifting) — Data Driven Assessment and Better Software in Project Management
Probably the biggest DoD-centric project management news this past week was the unofficial announcement by Frank Kendall, who is the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics USD(AT&L), that thresholds would be raised for mandatory detailed surveillance of programs to $100M from the present requirement of $20M. While earned value management implementation and reporting will still be required on programs based on dollar value, risk, and other key factors, especially the $20M threshold for R&D-type projects, the raising of the threshold for mandatory surveillance reviews was seen as good news all around for reducing some regulatory burden. The big proviso in this announcement, however, was that it is to go into effect later this summer and that, if the data in reporting submissions show inconsistencies and other anomalies that call into question the validity of performance management data, then all bets are off and the surveillance regime is once again imposed, though by exception.
(more…)Brother Can You (Para)digm? — Four of the Latest Trends in Project Management
At the beginning of the year we are greeted with the annual list of hottest “project management trends” prognostications. We are now three months into the year and I think it worthwhile to note the latest developments that have come up in project management meetings, conferences, and in the field. Some of these are in alignment with what you may have seen in some earlier articles, but these are four that I find to be most significant thus far, and there may be a couple of surprises for you here.
(more…)Ace of Base(line) — A New Paper on Building a Credible PMB
Glen Alleman, a leading consultant in program management (who also has a blog that I follow), Tom Coonce of the Institute for Defense Analyses, and Rick Price of Lockheed Martin, have jointly published a new paper in the College of Performance Management’s Measureable News entitled “Building A Credible Performance Measurement Baseline.”
The elements of their proposal for constructing a credible PMB, from my initial reading, are as follows:
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