How to “control” a software project, and why control is never achieved with planning

When a software project starts, and we’ve put considerable effort into the planning tasks, we feel the project is under control. Or “in control”.  However, that’s fundamentally wrong. I tried to come up with a way to describe how I understand control in software projects, to illustrate the need and applicability of the empirical management …

The Project Slippery Slope: why the concept of Projects lead to Waterfall, sooner or later, but inevitably…

All that is below applies in the context that is defined here. This is not supposed to cover your personal “projects”, musical “projects”, art “projects”, home improvement “projects”, etc. You get the picture. In a company that uses the concept of “projects” to decide what to work on, fund, plan, control work (contextual boundary), projects …

#NoEstimates for the perplexed – a simple principle that makes estimations obsolete

When we think of estimation, we immediately associate some concepts that are attached to the estimation activity: listing all the work, sequencing all the work, assigning all the work, etc.  All of those activities are accessories to estimation. The fact is that a task does not have an intrinsic duration, it has a duration that …

Estimates anchor (limit!) benefits while not limiting costs! – a #NoEstimates blog post about value delivery

Estimation and estimates are a dreadful way to run a business. The basic idea is this: Estimates anchor benefits while not limiting your costs at all. Let’s look at this statement in parts. The second part (“estimates don’t limit costs”), is self-evident. Anyone looking at the track record of software projects will see the evidence. …

Don’t plan to fail! Or how to never be late, never ever! #NoEstimates

Project management methodologies involve some kind of estimates on the content of the project (i.e. scope) and effort/duration (i.e. schedule). Simple techniques like WBS (work breakdown structure) with Gantt Charts or more complex techniques like PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) involve estimating the content and ultimately the duration or effort of each of the …