Submitted by Joseph Hurtado on Fri, 11/22/2013 - 03:31
The Problem with Planning & Estimation
In the 1950’s Cyril N. Parkinson noticed a curious trend in projects assigned to the British bureaucracy: working hours would always expand to fill the time available for it’s completion. Today his conclusion is known as Parkinson’s Law. A funny, but quite truthful observation that seems to extend to all walks of life, the more time we assign to planning, or to do anything, the more time we need!
Submitted by Joseph Hurtado on Sat, 03/02/2013 - 01:42
The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.
By Tom Cargill. Bell Labs.
It sounds a bit funny, yet so many times it’s true. The question is why?
The reason is what I call: “The Waterfall Trap.” Any project, at the moment it starts, uses logic, knowledge, experience and good practices to guess the future. That’s right the plan is at best a very good educated guess.
Submitted by Joseph Hurtado on Fri, 03/01/2013 - 23:56
It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.
By Winston Churchill. In Project Management this is a rule, and the consequence to this rule is that the further into the future we try to plan, the less reliable plans become.
However we still must plan! How can we solve this paradox? The answer lies in Agile Methodologies, particularly Lean Kanban. I will explore this subject in the near future.
Submitted by Joseph Hurtado on Fri, 03/01/2013 - 22:42
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
By Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Although he was referring for war, I have found that on any important human project, planning gets us ready to face the unexpected.
