As part of a presentation I’m putting together on managing software projects, I want to talk a little bit about what not to do and how things can go spectacularly awry. A great recent case study for this is the FBI Virtual Case File system, cancelled last year after spending over $100 million. The original slide I put together (click to enlarge) showed the basic facts of the case illustrated with a photo of a rocket sled crashing into a wall. The heading I put on there — “Another fine mess” — didn’t seem to add anything to the mix, and I couldn’t think of a better one, so I started to think about other ways to lay out the slide. In the second version, I dropped the header, used the rocket sled photo as the background, and overlaid the text on top of it. I think it came out… Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
Whatever Happened Five Minutes Ago
The whole “whatever happened five minutes ago was the biggest thing that ever happened” school of making sports arguments has to be one of the most annoying sports media trends of this decade. — Bill Simmons Amen, brother! As far as I can tell, sports media do three things: Make predictions. Second-guess coaches and game officials. Blow things out of proportion. None of which add to anyone’s understanding or enjoyment of the games . . . Read more →
Another Argument Against Day Care
Cypress babysitter jailed after infant’s death — Orange County Register Read more →
The Intellect of “Ordinary” Employees
It took Detroit more than 20 years to ferret out the radical management principle at the heart of Toyota’s capacity for relentless improvement . . . Only after American carmakers had exhausted every other explanation for Toyota’s success — an undervalued yen, a docile workforce, Japanese culture, superior automation — were they finally able to admit that Toyota’s real advantage was its ability to harness the intellect of “ordinary” employees. — Gary Hamel Read more →
A Methodology Question
Let’s say your software development methodology tells you to do A, then B, then C, then D, and so on, until you get to Z, at which point, you’re done. And let’s say you do A, then B, then C, then D, and you notice that your project is not going according to plan for reasons that appear to be related to the methodology. What do you do? Do you forge ahead with E, F and G, even though that now looks like the wrong thing to do? If you’re committed to the methodology, you have to, right? Or — do you fall back on the knowledge and experience of the project manager and the project team, and rely on them to do the right thing? And if you can rely on the knowledge and experience of the project team now, what was the point of the methodology in the… Read more →
Lightning Goes to the Beach
The Seven Wastes of Software Development
The seven wastes of software development are: Partially Done Work (the “inventory” of a development process) Extra Processes (easy to find in documentation-centric development) Extra Features (develop only what customers want right now) Task Switching (everyone should do one thing at a time) Waiting (for instructions, for information) Handoffs (tons of tacit knowledge gets lost) Defects (at least defects that are not quickly caught by a test) — Mary Poppendieck, “Lean Software Development” Read more →
God as Pete Carroll
I heard the UCLA scout team uses God to simulate Pete Carroll in game preparations. — csufmatt Read more →
Cory Lidle: 1972-2006
It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement . . . and they underestimate what is of true value in life. — Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents Two men die in a plane crash. One man’s death is widely lamented; the other man is barely mentioned. Why? Because the first man was good at throwing a ball. It just goes to show how insignificant some of the things that we think are significant really are. — Various sportswriters and ballplayers Really? Well, now that this has been brought home to you, are you going to quit your job as a ballplayer or a person who writes about ballplayers and do something “significant” with your life? I didn’t think so. Read more →
Homework Follies
“This is racist,” my son says. I look over to see what he’s talking about. He’s sitting on the sofa doing math homework. “What’s racist?” I ask. “The math book?” “Yeah. They have answers in the back for problem 9 and problem 13, but not problem 11. Because I’m a Mexican.” “You’re a Mexican?!” “I’m a mixed kid,” he corrects me. His mom is Asian. “You think the white kids’ book has the answer to number 11?” “Yup. The Asian kids’ book has got all the answers.” “Dude, check this out. Jackson collected s seashells. Petra and Tyrone collected 13 less than twice s. Now here’s the stupid part: I have to figure out how many seashells each person collected! COME ON! And the racist book doesn’t have the answers!” I say, “Jackson’s pretty lame if a girl collected more than he did.” “He’s pathetic!” Read more →
“One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. [Read more . . .] Read more →
Leaders Who Don’t Care About People
Leaders who don’t care about people don’t have anyone to lead, unless their followers don’t have a choice. — Jerry Weinberg, Becoming a Technical Leader Read more →
Which Way is the Finish?
From the Mighty Rubber Ducky Derby at Wild Rivers in Irvine: Originally uploaded by Spike in Irvine. Read more →
“Yesterday” by W.S. Merwin
My friend says I was not a good son you understand I say yes I understand [Read more . . .] Read more →
In Praise of Invective
Via Alicublog: He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up to the topmost pinnacle of tosh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash. — H. L. Mencken, on the speeches of Warren G. Harding Read more →
Tyler’s Puppy Face
Originally uploaded by amethystrainn. Read more →
The Dog Clairvoyant
I can tell what dogs are thinking by reading their facial expressions. This dog, for example, belongs to a friend’s sister. As you can see, they bought a pumpkin costume and put it on the dog. She is thinking, “If I was bigger, I would kill these people.” Read more →
Cooper, Benson and Rudy (rescued)
Originally uploaded by Doxieone. Read more →
A Pug Above, a Pug Below
Originally uploaded by Dunechaser. Read more →
Four Questions to Ask a Hiring Manager
I’m rereading parts of The Psychology of Computer Programming and I notice that several of Weinberg’s “food for thought” questions at the end of each chapter would be good questions to pose to a hiring manager: How long have you been in charge of your present group? How many of the original people remain? How many people have left and what were the reasons for their departure? What sort of provisions do you make for this kind of turnover? Describe the sequence of work planned for your current project. Is the actual work proceeding according to the original plan? Do you expect it to continue in this manner? How close is your progress reporting scheme to the reality of the work that goes on? What checks do you have to find out if it corresponds to reality? What is your impression of what motivates your staff? Is it the same… Read more →